My D is set on Nursing, but also wants to minor in Fine Arts (she was thinking of majoring in it at one point).
She also hopes to do a summer study abroad.
Is that doable or will there not be time for her?
Fall/spring study abroads aren’t really an option, at least at the schools we toured unless you are prepared to add another semester or two (depending on the nursing curriculum and how they filter students through it) in reality. You mentioned summer, and I would guess that would work. Most of the nursing schools we toured had summer or spring break study abroad (or service abroad) options.
My guess on minors would be that it might depend on which school your daughter ends up attending. Some have very tight curriculums with little room to add options (without adding an extra semester to accomplish it). Others do encourage minors and might have more wiggle room. If you haven’t already, you can easily access most nursing programs’ curriculums on their websites. Fine Arts might be harder to work in (say versus biology/chem which might already overlap some courses in the curriculum) without adding extra time. Maybe an option would be taking some of the minor requirements at local cc over summers to save cost and time at the end, especially since they might be more on the “fun” side. But I’m definitely no expert on minors so someone else might have better feedback.
She can take the fine arts classes that interest her and fit her schedule without worrying if she gets an actual minor. Many programs have pretty full schedules, and it will depend on how they fit in. There are some that offer a semester summer abroad. I know Villanova does. Many offer them for the summer or during breaks as stated above
One school we looked at - Walsh University in North Canton, OH - offered a semester/trip in Rome specifically for its nursing students. They also sponsor a trip to Tanzania, more a mission thing where they work at a school/hospital. I am not sure how it is structured, but they specifically mentioned it. Rome is the location of a sister campus, so maybe that’s how they did it - they swore no one fell behind, but you did have to work with your advisor closely. My daughter was set on Walsh until Cincinnati came through - Walsh is a lovely school.
I would second looking at the curriculum. Cincinnati’s program is very structured - one elective the whole four years, I think. If you are interested, it’s worth asking specifically about that.
We visited many nursing schools and a lot of them allow now for a variety of minors and study abroad and/or other opportunities unheard of the past. You have to talk to the programs of interest and see which one allows for what. A good advise we got is for the student to prioritize a few things and go from there and NOT try to do everything. Also a lot of schools offer minors that are more easily integrated to the program for example global health or Spanish. They might also offer a semester abroad that is integrated to the nursing curriculum. So if you want to do that it can be done. On the other hand if you want to do a completely different minor or semester abroad you might need to chose the one or the other and/or take some summer classes to cover the required classes. It also looks like that the nursing curriculum does not allow for last minute changes. A student should be kind of knowing ahead what they want to do so they can talk to the advisor and start building their schedule from day one. My D wanted a semester abroad initially but now she is thinking that a shorter global experience during a break will be better as that leaves more flexibility to do a minor. About the summer programs some schools told us that it depends on the year, on student interest etc. But they all seem to offer and least some type of a global experience.
U of Portland offered a semester abroad opportunity for nursing students. Not sure about minors.
Seems I misstated above. Villanova offers a semester abroad, not summer.
One student we met at UNH was double majoring with IR (they had some kind of special program for that) and a student we met at Villanova was minoring in engineering. Also one of the UNH nursing students is a football player.They also said they had a few gymnasts and they do all they can to offer the flexibility needed. My D inquired about the Spanish minor and few schools said no problem and other said it depends on the level of her Spanish entering the program as the minor was very hard and for a student to follow the nursing curriculum AND do the high end language classes would be demanding with no strong prior knowledge. The schools we visited were all in MA and NH with the exception of Villanova in PA.
Lots to ask when you visit!
I’d look at a Christmas break abroad. Once students start their 4th semester, the nursing curriculum is pretty tight.
We are only considering BSN that allow or offer study abroad…Either separately or as part of a clinical study abroad…Coe College has a clinical in Africa, Univ. of Portland mentioned Australia. Gonzaga offers an 8/9 semester program…you take 9 of you want that last semester to study abroad…Plus they all seemed to have summer abroad opportunites that were sep. from nursing…Linfield has a J-term…We are in PNW…My D. wants BSN plus French minor. Good luck!
It can be really expensive to add a 9th semester - particularly since most institutional, federal and state aid is usually limited to 8 semesters. Also, nursing admissions are competitive enough that I would not limit yourself to a few colleges. I think it would be more logical to do any study abroad during Christmas break or a summer.
San Diego State has a study abroad session for nursing students during winter break
https://ces.sdsu.edu/study-abroad-asia