Could use some guidance....BSN or bust?

Parents Forum
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My DD’22 at this point is pretty much only considering direct admit nursing programs (Pitt, Udel, Temple, Clemson, UMiami) because, “what else would I study?” Due to covid she has had no opportunities to shadow or volunteer, and frankly really doesn’t know what a day in the life of a hospital nurse is like.

She doesn’t think she wants to go to straight into grad school, but is also slightly interested in a pre med/ pre PT/OT path or possibly NP. (Dad works in medical device sales and can see her thriving in that environment-she “thinks” anything in business is torture)

This is all riding on what she thinks she wants to do. I’m worried she has tunnel vision and will miss looking at schools that don’t have BSN programs and may end up not wanting to follow that path anyway after she starts there.

I believe she would love the curriculum. She does well in AP sciences and math and loves helping people, not squeamish at all, so I don’t at all think it’s a poor choice. I just want to make sure we’re considering the big picture.

Also worth mentioning she could likely swim at a good number of D3, and some D2 programs which is something she is possibly interested in as well…

Any advice? Places to look, people to talk to, things we should be thinking about? Thanks!

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All the schools you mentioned offer plenty of other majors if she decides to switch later on. I would not be worried about having limited options if she changes her mind.

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I think that it is most important to start with the most restrictive option. If Nursing is a possibility, starting off in a direct entry program is a huge plus. Nursing is so competitive, you take a lot of risk at non direct entry programs. Therefore, the switch out is much easier than the switch in. If she was going somewhere that really only had nursing, that may be a little risky. All of the schools that you have listed have many other options. I like her reasoning. An example of a risky direct entry program would be Milwaukee School of Engineering. If you decide to leave nursing, you likely would have to transfer schools due to the lack of other degree options.

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Pay attention to the requirements to stay in a direct-entry nursing program after being admitted. Some programs admit more than their capacity, then weed them out with very high college GPA requirements.

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5

I would highly urge she NOT go directly into grad school for NP if she chooses to become a RN.

As noted above, the schools who mentioned have lots of other options.