Colleges that are good for both International Relations and Nursing?

I’m currently a junior in high school who is considering doing a double major in nursing and international relations (or something adjacent such as global/political studies). I want to create a list that includes reach, match, and safety schools and my only preference is that it’s on the east coast.

stats:
-gpa uw: 3.8
-gpa w: 4.56
-no sats or acts yet but probably 1400+/ 30+
-aps 9th grade: world history (5)
-aps 10th grade: us history (4) calc ab
-aps 11th grade: stat, comp gov
-aps/ibs 12th grade: ib lang & lit, ib philosophy, ap french, ap spanish, ap compsci (might also take an ap history or science but I haven’t decided yet)
-have taken college chemistry for credit and will take future college classes over the summer
-will take allied health next year (a program where you can shadow at a hospital while taking a course that teaches you hospital skills)

ecs:
-nhs member
-nehs member
-shf member (société honoraire de français)
-shh member (sociedad honoraria hispánica)
-member of executive school council
-student director of the school play
-president of art history club
-treasurer/cofounder of amnesty international at my school
-french/spanish/math tutor
-volunteer at a local animal shelter every week
-volunteer with various charities (not on a schedule)

Replied to your other thread.

tl;dr- very hard to do- will probably have to be a dual degree (ie, 2 separate degrees that you work on at the same time), not a double major. Also, IR might not be the best major for what you want.

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I agree with @collegemom3717. All of my friends who are nurses or were dorm mates in college, who majored in nursing, were swamped. With their course requirements, mandated hours, and other GE requirements, they rarely had time to eat or sit down.

As for AP classes giving you GE credit (your previous post), yes, some schools give you credit, but many still require you to take courses, in the same areas, because more information is covered in college courses, along with the required supplemental readings and labs. So, you end up getting elective credit.

Relying on online summer classes may not be a great idea. Many schools don’t offer online summer courses in specific majors. Professors take their summers to do other things. A number of nursing schools expect you to use your summers to cover your observation and practicum hours.

I don’t think high school students understand how much harder and faster their college courses will be. It’s a run and a marathon especially in the science and technology courses. The students are strong and intelligent. There are weed-out courses and doing well, is not easy. Nursing schools are impacted.

Double majoring in two very different disciplines would be tough. Sometimes, the location of classes will be a hike to another building or another campus sometimes requiring shuttles. Biking or skateboarding to another location can get old. (My eldest had to take a SHUTTLE bus to get from her bio classes to the engineering buildings at “lower campus”.)
There are just too many variables in double majoring and you may end up not doing well in both disciplines.

Your best bets would be to find an instate university that covers both majors and see if you can get admitted into the nursing programs that are available. Also, if your school has a nursing program for “candy-striping” you may want to look into it, now.

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Georgetown!

G’Town is definitely good in both. A minor in something like Global Health is possible but still difficult. Here is G’Town’s statement on minoring.

Minors

Georgetown University Nursing students are eligible to complete a variety of minors in both NHS and the College. Due to the lockstep nature of the nursing curriculum and limited elective opportunities, students pursuing a minor will almost always have to take classes in the summer. Students interested in obtaining a minor should meet with their Academic Dean early on to discuss their interest and impact on the BSN degree progression plan.

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thank you for your replies! I’m currently at the stage where I’m exploring a lot of different potential options since I don’t really know what exactly I want to pursue. I’m definitely going to look into the other studies you suggested because I want to find something that sets me up for success within an international humanitarian career.

I definitely think I’ll have to reconsider taking two majors concurrently so thank you for help on that. On the other note you brought up though, to what extent can you use credits from college courses/ap exams? Is it worth spending next summer taking colleges courses for credit?

It really depends on the school. Some colleges will let you bypass GE courses, but from what I’ve seen and heard from students, you still need those GE courses.
If you’re hoping to skip courses and enter at a higher level, it could be a disadvantage to skip the colleges’ freshman courses. They cover a LOT more that what a HS course does and you want professors to know you in the department.

I have 3 children who went to 3 very different schools with the following results for their AP classes.

  • The eldest: SUNY gave her elective credit and she was able to have priority registration and honors housing. She had about 12 AP courses in HS. The extra credits helped her later, towards graduation requirements.
    (She graduated with an EECS degree - Elect Engineer/ Computer Science Engineer.)
  • The “Middle” child also had about 12 AP’s. She attended a UC and also received priority registration and could bypass a couple of prerequisites. Most of her AP’s were elective credits. She was advised, by upper level med students, to take the basic GE courses in the sciences, because of the supplemental texts and information, that she would be referring to, frequently, in upper level chem and neuro courses. She just graduated from her med school program.
  • Youngest attended Caltech. He had about 14 AP classes. All of his classmates had similar AP or IB credits. It helped with familiarity of the courses and also were given “elective” credits. At this school, you didn’t want to miss the basic courses (AP or not). Everyone started at the same level. He’s about to graduate in CS.

You can do humanitarian nursing work abroad without a degree in international relations. Many health care professionals do volunteer work in underserved countries…and I’m quite sure most don’t have degrees in international relations.

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Oh, forgot to respond to this. Be careful of doing this after HS graduation. Some schools will consider you to be a “transfer” student if you take ANY courses after HS graduation. You have to check with the school where you have been admitted to make sure you’ll be considered as “freshman” status. Better benefits to being a new entering freshman.

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Classes that you take before enrolling in college (whether AP/CLEP/IB/DE etc) can exempt you from lower level classes (ie, allow you to skip the 101 and go straight to 201) or give you credit towards graduation. The catch is which courses, for what type of credit is specific to each university.

Typically there are restrictions on the number of credits that you can bring with toward graduation, as well as requirements that certain courses (especially in your major) must be taken at the university.

So, as you don’t know what college/university you will be going to you don’t know how useful any given class will be towards your program.

As an example, if you have a score of 4 or 5 on AP BIo, a 5 on AP Chem or a 5 on Calc AB Georgetown University Nursing (noted upthread) will let you count them as elective credits- but you still have to take their version of those courses.

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International Humanitarian, you dont need an IR minor to do that. But you could take elective courses in the summer during college for your own interest. You can volunteer for mission trips during school breaks. Get the actual hands on experience.

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You could always get your BA in IR and then do a 15 month BSN accelerated program. You would want to make sure that while doing the IR degree that you fit in the pre reqs for the accelerated program. (like Anat/Physio/ Micro etc)

You can get your first degree in just about anything. (just make sure to incorporate all the nursing pre reqs while doing your first degree)

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If studying abroad is part of your objective (noting that Spanish is one of your languages), you might want to look at the Madrid campus of St. Louis University. SLU is strong in nursing, and you can do a nursing major where you spend two years in Madrid and two in STL Madrid + St. Louis Majors : SLU International Relations is also offered as a 2+2 major, as well as Public Health. (I know STL doesn’t qualify as east coast, but SLU’s Madrid program is unique so I thought it was worth mentioning, especially since study abroad is often difficult to accomplish in a nursing program.)

What others are saying is true - the only way to add a substantial non-nursing component to an undergrad nursing degree is to add significantly more time… and at that point, you might as well spend the same amount of time getting a bachelors+masters spanning your areas of interest. As suggested above, you could do an IR or Global Public Health major and then do an entry-level masters program in nursing, or you could do an undergrad nursing program and then pursue an MPH or other related masters degree.

Another approach could be to look at schools that have Peace Corp Prep partner programs https://www.peacecorps.gov/volunteer/university-programs/peace-corps-prep-partner-schools/?#results There are quite a few schools with nursing programs on that list.

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Studying abroad is definitely a priority for me so that St Louis program seems wonderful! After reading the thread, it seems like nursing, IR, and public health are all viable majors for the career paths I want to go down, and I’m happy to hear that STL has many 2+2 major options.

This whole thread has been really helpful and I think what I’m considering is what you said: undergrad nursing program then potentially a masters in IR/public health/etc… Regardless of if I stick to that plan or not, that peace corps partner list is super helpful. Thank you!

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