<p>i'm entering my sophomore year of college at a really highly ranked college (one of the top 5 in the US) and i've recently decided i want to pursue a nursing career, but my school doesn't offer a nursing degree. i might transfer to nyu mid-year to get one, and while i know nyu is a great school, i've been told it would be pretty different academically. it sounds shallow but i worked really hard in high school to get into the best school i could; it's hard for me to get past the perceived "prestige" factor. also i had a hard time in college this past semester adjusting to different changes (among other things, total heartbreak followed by depression) and now i'm worried about making another big move to somewhere where i don't know if i'll fit in or be happy...
i looked into other schools with nursing programs as well like upenn and georgetown but they either don't have mid-year admissions or have prerequisites for transferring that my current school doesn't offer, so i would have to be in school longer and pay more money, which i'd rather not do.
i guess i just want some advice, comfort, words of wisdom, perspective, whatever from those who are older and presumably have knowledge to share. thanks for reading.</p>
<p>You reference only East Coast schools, so I'm going to assume you're at an Ivy--maybe HYP? </p>
<p>What good are rankings if you are unhappy and unfulfilled. High school is behind you. Leave it in the past. This is a new kind of test. I bet you excel at tests. </p>
<p>You are strong, intelligent, ambitious, driven and now you know what you really want. Be proud of yourself and glad that at 19 or 20 years old (?) you have a direction that will bring you satisfaction down the road a bit.</p>
<p>I do not know all of your requirements or stats, but Boston College has an excellent nursing program--both undergrad & grad. You may even be able to do some combo program for advanced degree. (BC does have numerous distribution reqs but you may have met many of them at your school or through HS APs. You may have to carry 5 courses per semester, but you can probably handle it w/o difficulty.) </p>
<p>Connell School of Nursing. I don't know the specs for transfers but here's the web address: </p>
<p><a href="http://www.bc.edu/schools/son/%5B/url%5D">http://www.bc.edu/schools/son/</a></p>
<p>BC is one of the "new Ivies" if that means anything to you. It's run by Jesuits (Catholic sect) but the pre-professional programs attract a fairly diverse population. People are very friendly and charitable. You would definitely find support there. Location is ideal. Lovely campus. </p>
<p>It may or may not suit you. Only you can decide. At any rate, worth a look.</p>
<p>CC specializes in top tier schools and the veteran posters are supremely knowledgeable. I'm sure several will have good advice for you.</p>
<p>Hang in there and find someone who can give you a hug.
Good luck to you.</p>
<p>Can you graduate with a degree in Biology or Chemistry where you are and get a nursing degree for grad school? If you are happy at your present school overall, I worry that a change might not be a good idea with the things you mentioned which are going on in your personal life. It can be difficult to make career decisions, or a big location change, with a broken heart or depression. Make sure you speak to you MD about the depression thing. Perhaps you already have - just checking. </p>
<p>If you are at top 5 school you clearly are an extremely bright and talented person, and one who can be a leader and high achiever in the nursing profession if that remains your choice. Having an undergrad degree from a highly competitive school could help your career, especially if you perform well and get into a top grad school.</p>
<p>If you choose to transfer now, can you take prerequisites at a local, cheaper school for a semester and then go to Penn? Could you transfer to Penn as a different major and take the classes there? What about calling their admissions office and asking their advice?</p>
<p>The Jesuits aren't a Roman Catholic sect but an order of Roman Catholic priests. A Roman Catholic priest ordained in any Roman Catholic order is able to say the Mass.</p>
<p>One thing to remember if you can't tranfer until next year is that many of the nursing programs in the first 2 years are rather general with clinical (nursing) courses in the last 2.
In addition, the licensing exam is national so all nursing curriculums must address the same info.
BSN curriculums are very difficult no matter where you go. I remember taking anatomy courses with med -not pre-med -students when I was at Columbia. (And paying more for it , BTW.) The NYU program is nothing to sneeze at either.
Check out Fairfield U's program. I think the mid-year transfer thing is OK there as well. (It is however, one of those "Jesuit sect" schools. ROFL!)</p>
<p>The "bad" news is they don't pay nurses from Ivy League schools any more than they pay the ones from a 2+2 community college program.</p>
<p>"it sounds shallow but i worked really hard in high school to get into the best school i could; it's hard for me to get past the perceived "prestige" factor."</p>
<p>It's obviously NOT the best school - in fact, is inferior - if it doesn't offer you the curriculum you need. (Which appears to be the case, both in nursing programs, and even in prerequisites.) Weenie is correct, except that it is more difficult to get into my local community college nursing program than it is to any of the Ivies, nursing or not.</p>
<p>Handsmyown, I think that your problem is typical of many high achieving students today who see admission to a high prestige college as an end in itself. It is not an end in itself--it is a means to prepare yourself for your life goals. If being a nurse is your life goal, you should go to the school that best prepares you for that goal--whether it be HYP or your local community college.</p>
<p>you HAVE to get past the"pretige" factor</p>
<p>and weenie, nurses are paid very well thankyou and you "community college" comment, alluding to what you seem to think as an inferior trade is not fair</p>
<p>my Niece is a nurse and it was hard work, but she is very happy., and paid well</p>
<p>Cornell and Columbia both used to have 2 year programs that could be added on to 2 years elsewhere for a 4 year degree in nursing. My sister and I did the Cornell one and a good friend did the Columbia one. Both were excellent. Nurses are in high demand and you can get a job just about anywhere anytime. It's a very practical knowledge set for life and parenting also. Nursing instrucors are a dying breed, so if you decided to go on for advanced degrees, you would be in demand as a prof. Or nurse practitioner training is a great add-on.</p>
<p>CGM--I think you are misreading Weenie's comment entirely. Where in the world did you get the "inferior trade" inference from?</p>
<p>Weenie was simply, and clearly, pointing out that if the desired education is a bachelor's in nursing, it is just as readily available (if not more so) in a 2 plus 2 community college based program as at an Ivy, for a fraction of the price. In other words, for nursing, it makes little sense to use common indexes of "prestige," and will cost much more. Thus she put "bad" news in quotation marks, because it is actually good news.</p>
<p>Good idea to transfer to a school that offers your major. Check the stats for nursing boards pass/fail rates of schools you consider, you want the school to prepare you well . Trying to major in a science just to get the bachelors from your present school is not a good option, transferring to a school with a good BSN degree is. I presume you have done your homework regarding nursing. As for the prestige factor, you already have it to tell your grandchildren (your children won't listen...), so go for it. I also presume you are not interested in being a physician, you have been exposed to many premeds and you realize the two fields are very different. Nursing program admissions can be competitive so make sure you keep your grades up. Good luck.</p>
<p>There aren't many advantages to a BSN in my state. The working degree is an RN. Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners require masters level training, as do nurse midwives. As far as I am aware, the only two job categories for which a BSN is either required or helpful is school nurse, and public health nurse. </p>
<p>So if you plan to go further, the BSN may lead to graduate study, but won't do much more for you. Not that this helps: in my state it is easier to get into the 4-year BSN programs than into the two-year community college RN programs.</p>
<p>If you are staying where you are this semester, line up the pre-reqs as best you can. If you can't get the pre-reqs, you might be better leaving school now, signing up for the pre-reqs at a local community college (saving you a fortune in the meantime), and applying to the BSN program of your choice with the pre-reqs in hand.</p>
<p>"Can you graduate with a degree in Biology or Chemistry where you are and get a nursing degree for grad school?"</p>
<p>This is not so easy as it might seem. At our local community college, the sole criteria for admissions is GPA based on the 9 pre-req courses. And they don't care where you took them. In the year my wife entered, it required 8 As and 1 A minus. If you went to Harvard and got 7 As and 2 A minuses, you would not be admitted. They make no exceptions.</p>
<p>Reasons to go for the BSN, or a BS with the nursing degree- It will keep you with university, not technical college students, and give you the college education, not just job training. It is easier to finish a college degree straight out of high school, rather than getting the 2-3 year degree, working and then trying to take college courses. Also, there is more flexibility with a bachelor's degree; the trend has been to require one for management positions, you won't have to worry about relocating to a state that expects one and it is the path for other higher level nursing degrees. It is good to see high caliber students interested in nursing, I expect the profession to benefit from your involvement, perhaps even filling the role of professor in the distant future.</p>
<p>I think all of those are excellent reasons to go for a BSN in nursing except one: the trend we see is that management positions are LESS likely to require a BSN and more likely to require experience. This is basically due to: the shortage of nurses of all types, and 2) the BSN doesn't substitute well for experience, and RNs are essentially already three-year degrees.</p>
<p>My wife cousin studied nursing at Duke. Maybe you should look into their program. </p>
<p>Frankly, if you are that sharp, are you sure you would prefer nursing over medicine?</p>
<p>This is a very generalized piece of advice, not specific to nursing but to the age of the poster and how some decisions are made during those years. My brain is halfway onto the plane for drop-off, so please don't challenge me on the fine points. Also I know nothing about nursing career requirements, BSN vs. RN, as the other posters do. </p>
<p>My general advice: Time is on your side. When I was in graduate school, I chose unwisely to shortchange myself out of a one-semester add-on that would have enlarged my career options. I chose a 2.5-year "Landscape Planning" option rather than a 3 year "Landscape Architecture" option, within the same university. I was paying my own money; I was in my mid-20's (having taken gap between college and grad school to work and earn). I was so eager to get out and work at a career level.</p>
<p>Had I taken the extra semester, I'd have been able to withstand some changes in the job market that hit that field 10 years after I earned the more limited degree. The Landscape Planning work enabled me to do policy and research, which i enjoyed for the decade following passage of the Environmental Protection Act. With a new presidential administration (not naming names but think "early 1980's" ;) came layoffs in environmental R&D. If I'd had the larger "Landscape Architecture" qualifications, I could have regrouped within the same profession and found some "tide-me-through" work designing front lawns until the opportunities were redefined in a new political climate. Point is: economies change, career qualifications change; new para-professions come in to take away some of the work of the more fully qualified. I know nursing is a great profession, but even there were changes from lesser-qualified to requiring midlife B.A.'s for nurses already in the profession during the l970's I believe. Things CHANGE.</p>
<p>So, if you determine to finish your BA degree right where you are and then pursue nursing, providing you can afford the money, that plan has some merit, too, as it will give you a BA degree with wideranging foundation for many other futures, including nursing.</p>
<p>Thank you Garland, for correctly interpreting my post (#6).</p>
<p>I am actually always one to make sure kids know their various options for schooling - and, yes, that includes the cost! When has anyone ever heard me diss community college?! Ha, if only you knew the irony in that. And when has anyone heard me enraptured by prestige? Please. That "bad" was in quotes for a reason. </p>
<p>Nurses here are paid fairly well (although I suspect if they were actually paid what they were worth we wouldn't have to import nurses from Puerto Rice - which our hospitals actually do!), but their overall job benefits and clout are not nearly as good as, say, teachers.</p>
<p>A BSN keeps your options open, and for that reason I think it's the way to go.</p>
<p>handsmyown - I will go at this from a slightly different angle. Much valuable advice above.</p>
<p>But I'm wondering if you aren't rushing things. And I can't tell how much your desire to transfer - AND QUICKLY - is related to the rough time you had this past semester (break-up and some depression). I'm not at all sure that is the right time to make a major decision.</p>
<p>As you mention, some of the very best schools for what you now see as your desired major don't accept Spring transfers. Spring transfer, for any major, is very very limiting. So.... is there any real need to hurry? Is there any reason you can't stay where you are and take the time to allow all possible schools that might be best for you to be on the table? Not just those very few that take spring transfers?</p>
<p>Transferring involves its own stresses. I transferred, as did my son. I'm glad I did. He gained a lot by doing so. But it requires extra adjustments; spring transfer probably only more so.</p>
<p>So.... I'm wondering if you can't give yourself the gift of time. </p>
<p>Whether you should follow p2n's advice to get the BA/BS and go for the nursing specialty later or not, I don't know. But that is really worth considering. Most of us, in this millenium and the last half of the 20th century, have changed careers a number of times. Overspecialized degrees at the bachelor level may be quite limiting for your future. This is just a thought.</p>
<p>My primary concern is that you not short-change yourself, nor over-stress yourself, by feeling you have to act fast.</p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>My experience has been in metro and ex-urban areas. It may be different in more rural areas. Please don't think that you'll be ahead of the game by not pursuing your BSN. It is the standard for entry level practice.<br>
I received a BA in Classical Civilzation. I could do a great translation of Ovid if anybody wanted one - but no one did. I then did a 2 yr. BSN at Columbia. My then employer paid a full ride for my MSN at Columbia and I never regretted a moment. (They still do it BTW.) Fast forward 25 years: I just applied for an advanced practice position last week and I'll probably get the job over some other RNs who have more experience in the field because of my education.<br>
BTW - I still have a big place in heart for Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripedes and Aristophenes.</p>