Should I switch from engineering to nursing?

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about changing my major, but I’m not sure if it’s just a phase. I like engineering, but I’m not sure if I love it. I’m also done my sophomore year, so changing to a BSN program would turn me into a 6th year at best while I’d graduate on time from my current program. Engineering is more diverse, but nursing sounds interesting and I find healthcare important. If I got my nursing degree, I’d want to become a nurse practitioner. This worries me because those graduate programs are incredibly hard to get into so I don’t want to change if I feel like my GPA could potentially not be high enough upon graduation. Could anyone give me any insight or comparison?

A couple of thoughts:

  1. You don’t have to be passionate about or even love your major. Liking it is fine. Do you like engineering enough to stick with it and pursue it as a career, or are you having doubts about working as an engineer? In other words, what’s motivating this reconsideration?

  2. Why have you suddenly developed an interest in nursing? Again, what’s motivating this? Is this a longstanding interest rearing his head or a momentary passing interest? It’s pretty normal to be interested in a variety of careers and majors; few people are only perfectly suited for one thing only. The key is that you have to make a decision about something at some point. That doesn’t mean that you can’t change careers later - nursing is a popular career to change into - but explore that a bit and think about why you want to change. Is it momentary interest or is it something worth exploring more deeply?

What is it that you like about nursing? Keep in mind that you can work in healthcare as an engineer, too. albeit in a different capacity. Also keep in mind that nursing has a variety of different ways that you can enter the field after college. You could get an MS and become a clinical nurse leader (even without a BSN), or you could do a three-year entry to practice MSN program and be a nurse practitioner upon finishing (again, without a BSN). You could also do an accelerated BSN program after you finish college. So it’s not like if you don’t decide now that you’ll never be a nurse.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t change to nursing, but just consider carefully before you do.

Have you considered biomedical engineering?

As a freshman doing my pre-reqs to get into a nursing program, I can honestly tell you it will be a lot of work, but it pays off in my opinion. I don’t personally care about nursing or not nursing, but I want to be a CRNA. I’m willing to put in the time and effort to make the money that comes with the job. So, the question is what are you willing to do to make your dreams come true?

thanks for the responses!

@juillet I’ve always been interested in healthcare, but ultimately chose engineering as a freshman because I had a bad experience with my senior year biology teacher. The reason I wanted to change was because I want to possibly have a career as a Nurse Practitioner with a focus in women’s health or midwifery.

@TQfromtheU my university does not have biomedical engineering and I do not want to transfer. I’m also not as interested in biology from an engineering standpoint as if I was in healthcare I’d rather have it be directly with the patient.

@QuadCFreshie I’d make about the same or more mid career in engineering.

Don’t study nursing if you don’t LOVE people and caring for them. Its a high touch people job - and couldn’t be more different than Engineering. Please volunteer in a hospital to see if you like caring for sick people.

@suzyQ7 I already have volunteered in numerous hospitals throughout my time in high school and did enjoy it. And I am aware it is different. I’m not an idiot. That’s why I’m asking if anyone has had any experience in both and can tell me firsthand the pros and cons of each and how they compare in terms of rigor.

Engineering is a “white collar” corporate type job (business trips, project plans, meetings, non-union, etc…). Nursing is mostly unionized service profession that is completely different. There is not big career path growth in Nursing. Yes, you can become a senior nurse or OR nurse etc… but generally, if you get hired as an RN in hospital at 25, you’ll essentially be in the same role in 25-30 years (just making more money). With Engineering, you could move up into management and corporate leadership, etc. However, with Nursing, you can move anywhere in the country and get hired as an RN - so a very portable job.

If you asking about rigor of the program - they are both hard, period.

“but nursing sounds interesting and I find healthcare important.”

Your description of nursing in your post didn’t show you had any experience in it. Just that you thought it was interesting and that healthcare was important.

Ah, well that’s a good indicator that switching back to nursing might be a good option for you, especially as it sounds like you’ve volunteered and shadowed in hospitals to get a feel for it.

If your school has a BSN program, there’s got to be a director/administrator/department chair. Could you make an appointment with that person? They would be able to walk you through what it would look like to transfer and how much longer it would take you to complete the work.

SuzyQ7 - are you a nurse? Because my impression of the career path doesn’t bear this out. Nurses can indeed move up within the hospital administration chain - from charge nurse to other areas of administration, including clinical nurse specialists and Directors of Nursing within a hospital, preceptors, etc. Nurses move up into management and corporate leadership, too. There are also other positions adjunct to direct patient care that nurses can take - research, epidemiology/infection control, consulting, insurance, etc. I have a DNP in my org right now (I do technology research), and there’s also recent grad here who majored in nursing at UPenn and works as a program manager. (My mother’s a nurse and I’ve got quite a few nurses in my family.)

Besides, nurse practitioners have a very different role from floor RNs - they provide primary care to patients, particularly if they work within a doctor’s office or clinic. It’s not necessarily like doing med-surg on the floor.

Most people don’t love their jobs, and expecting to do so may be naive. Aim for a job that you’re good at, where you can be reasonably well compensated, in a career you find at least somewhat interesting or meaningful, where you work well with your managers/clients/coworkers, and in a city you want to live. Then, consider yourself lucky if you can achieve three of the five.

One of the main advantages of nursing is jobs are literally everywhere. Engineering can be much more limiting, depending on your field and whether you stay technical. After working for a few years, you may find yourself as the world’s expert on X, but if only three companies do X, then your opportunities to move around may be more limited. In the long run, you may have a SO, and it can be challenging to make two careers work. In those situations, it helps if at least one person has as suzyQ7, described it a portable job.

I think engineering is a great career, but it’s not for everyone. If you would prefer nursing, and don’t have too much student debt, you’re young enough to switch majors.