D21 worked in a hospital setting the summer after HS graduation and then over the course of her first semester of freshman year discerned she would like to be a pediatric hospital nurse. Second semester she was able to take the remaining courses needed to fulfill the pre-reqs at her school in order to be able to apply for the nursing program with the other freshman applying from the pre-nursing major (its not a direct admit program) for sophomore admission. She didn’t officially switch her major to pre-nursing for second semester because I didn’t think that was actually necessary as there were no restrictions on course registration from outside of the major and being in the pre-nursing major didn’t lead to guaranteed acceptance anyway. Applying from her original STEM program served to explain the first semester courses she took that the pre-nursing majors would not have taken. Nonetheless, she was not offered admission at the end of freshman year (I of course will always harbor some mom guilt for that guidance, but it could very well have been any number of other reasons, with nursing admission being so competitive and this being one of the stronger programs in the area). She returned to the hospital this past summer and worked closely with the nurses and continued to love the field, received her first promotion and left with high praises all around and a recommendation letter from a hospital “VIP.” However, the anticlimactic realization is setting in with classes starting Monday that this is going to be another long year “in waiting” to apply for admission again for next year. We are all feeling unsettled and starting to wonder if this is the best path forward.
There are not many programs with spring admission, I did see Michigan State admits twice a year, I wish I could find a ready made list of programs like that. She is nearly done with a Psych minor already, she has 57 credits heading into sophomore year (high school AP credits included). We also are considering whether she should just switch to a Psych major and then graduate in 3yrs and pursue an accelerated Masters instead, I think the timing works out to be pretty close if she has to wait through this entire year to reapply and then begin the 3yr program post acceptance. Thoughts? Advice? Experiences?
One possibility is transferring to an ABSN program that doesn’t require a bachelor’s degree. Some accept students with 60 college credits (including nursing pre-requisites).
Transferring to a nursing program might be the better option if she knows she wants to be a nurse. Keeping on as a psych major seems like throwing good money after bad. Maybe just stop and take a pause until she can get pointed in the right direction.
For nursing, school prestige really doesn’t matter. Clinical experience and passing boards is key.
My wife went to middling, small local college for nursing. Passed boards and went to a large trauma and teaching hospital. Fantastic experience. She’s a CRNA now and runs her area.
Maybe call some local smaller schools or CC’s that offer nursing ASAP. See what they can offer. There’s no shortage of need for nurses right now.
See if your state of colleges have a bachelors to nursing program. These are for students with bachelors degrees and relevant coursework but not a degree in nursing…so no practicals. Usually a year or year and a half, and where there are nursing shortages, can be fully funded.
I need Cliff’s notes for your posting. One huge paragraph is just too much for me. But the gist I got was regarding waiting for next year to apply to a nursing program.
My daughter is at Arizona State University (ASU) and they just started last Thursday. ASU has rolling admissions, meaning she could apply and they would look at her application now (unless it’s too late for this semester). Look into it.
The nursing program is on the Phoenix campus, which is really boring. My daughter stayed in the dorms her first year, then an apartment the second year, then moved to the main ASU campus in Tempe for more fun. Downtown Phoenix is dead as a doornail, there is only silence, it’s very surprising. The AZ Diamondbacks professional baseball stadium is there but not much else. The ASU president is outstanding, they really want students to succeed; we are very happy with the ASU administration, we feel really taken care of. They even hired movers for move-in day. Best wishes.
Lots of the nurses I work with (peds rehab) got their RN at a community college and did an online RN to BSN program like the one at Capella. It’s not the ideal route but it’s oftentimes the best way for some. So long as it’s an accredited school and the pass rate for the boards is high it really doesn’t matter where you go