Hi everyone! I was accepted to PSU main and Bucknell for Biology. However, recently I’ve had a change of heart and want to pursue nursing instead. Since I don’t have any options now, I was thinking about maybe taking a gap year and applying to a large variety of nursing schools next year for Fall 2018. Will colleges look down on my decision to take a gap year? Can I apply to the same college, but with a different major (nursing instead of biology) a year after I originally applied? Thanks guys!
You haven’t started college yet, right? I would call the admissions departments at these schools and ask if you can switch into nursing since the semester hasn’t started yet. I’m not sure if people applying for nursing at those schools have other requirements to get accepted, so check on that too.
In the case that it’s too late to switch, I wouldn’t worry. There is no reason to take a gap year (unless you want to for reasons other than not being a nursing major). The first two years as a nursing major are just taking general education classes and nursing pre requisite classes. All other majors have to take general education and pre requisite classes for their major too, so you wouldn’t be behind. You could just take these classes your first semester and then look into switching/transferring into nursing (at your current college or other colleges you want to apply to) for your 2nd semester.
Some nursing programs only accept transfer students in the Fall semester though, so if that happens, then you can take general education and pre requisite classes your first year. Then you can transfer elsewhere for your second year of college. I would talk to your advisor to make sure you are taking the right nursing pre requisite classes the first year so they all transfer to whatever school you transfer to.
Also, I don’t believe colleges will look down on you for taking a gap year if you’re doing it for a legitimate reason. However, if it’s because you’re currently a biology major and want to do nursing instead, they might look down because you could have still taken general education + nursing pre requisite classes like I mentioned. Good luck!