I know that you can major in something such as psychology or creative writing while on a pre-med track. Is a pre-nursing track the same in that sense? Or is it the same as a nursing major?
Normally pre-nursing means that you will spend the first two years taking all of your prerequisites for nursing and will then have to apply to actually get into the nursing major . Some colleges also call pre nursing the lower division and nursing the upper division. It would be pretty difficult to have any other major while doing pre nursing as usually there are very specific courses that are required that normally include statistics,chem, anatomy , psych, patho ,micro , English, speech, and any general electives that the college requires. My d started out in a pre nursing or lower division nursing program and then just had to apply this past December for the upper division which will start next fall (her junior year) . In her program they took the highest GPA s and went down the list until the spots were filled . There were students who did not get in . My d was very calm through this process and kept a high Gpa these past three semesters, but many people find it very stressful to have to compete to move into nursing . Some colleges will allow you to have a minor while in pre nursing but many will not . It’s a pretty structured major and there’s often not a lot of room for other courses . Many students prefer to apply to programs where they are admitted directly to nursing freshman year instead of doing pre nursing . My d has had a great experience but you have to maintain a very high GPA to stay competitive in most pre nursing situations . You need to read each colleges description of pre nursing and whether there is guaranteed admission to nursing later or not, often it is not guaranteed .
Yes, as noted above, it is preferable to apply to programs where you can accepted as a nursing major straight from high school. However, those programs are not common in some parts of the US, and instead it is competitive to be accepted as a nursing major. Those are often called 2 plus 2 programs - 2 years of taking standard requirements for a bachelors degree plus prereqs for nursing, and then 2 years of nursing and clinicals if you are accepted. You would need to check each college for their policies on majors.
(At some colleges, you don’t officially get accepted to many majors until your second year.)
If you are in a 2-2 program, I’d have a backup plan for another major in case you don’t get into nursing. Many majors require that you take classes in a certain order in order to graduate in 4 years. Wherever you are allowed flexibility, you could be taking classes that would also meet the requirements for that back-up major.