I know that I want to become a nurse as my career in the future, and I understand all of the graduate programs for nursing, but as far as undergrad majors, I’m a bit confused.
Many of the schools I’m interested in (Yale, to be specific- my dream school) do not offer nursing as an undergraduate major. What would i major in then? Biology? Chemistry? One post said Psychology… or sociology? Do those even apply to nursing? I know you have to know how to interact with people but I want to be a recovery nurse.
Thanks for any help- I can’t find any information about this!
I know that Yale has a nursing school but that is a graduate program. What do I do for undergrad???
Please go to the Yale and other college websites. Yale nursing school of for people who already have a nursing degree from another college or who are willing to spend an additional 3 years in nursing school at Yale The college websites will tell you what high school courses are requires and what the BS Nursing curriculum involves.
Are your stats even in the ballpark for your dream schools?
If you’re interested in schools like yale (lots of strong course offerings across disciplines, northeastern location, urban, strong campus community, exceptional peers, top professors) you should check out the Nursing School at the University of Pennsylvania. Penn has the only undergrad school of nursing in the Ivy League and it’s housing system is actually modeled off of Yale’s (though it is not nearly as central to student life or as comprehensive as Yale’s). Furthermore, thanks to Penn’s One University Policy, you can complete your nursing degree while also taking classes, doing research, working with professors, and more at Penn’s other undergraduate, graduate/professional schools, hospitals, and research institutions, all on Penn’s beautiful, contiguous, urban, green campus.
Penn Nursing is often considered the top nursing program in the country and it’s relationship with Penn’s hospitals makes getting real clinical experience accessible and easy. You should definitely look into the program if you’re interested! Feel free to ask me any questions you might have about Penn. Good luck!
@PennCAS2014 Wow, thank you so much! That was so helpful. Is the nursing program at Penn very hard to get into/ more selective compared to applying with other majors at Penn? That’s the only question I have currently, but I’m sure I will have more in the future Thanks again!
Penn is one of the very few top universities to offer a BSN, but there are others.
Emory University
Georgetown University
New York University
University of California-Los Angeles
University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
University of Texas-Austin
University of Virginia
I know, I was just wondering if one specific major was more selective- colleges sometimes accept people interested in majors that aren’t as popular, new, or are underfunded @TomSrOfBoston Obviously Penn is an amazing school that is very hard to get into.
Unfortunately, universities do not usually break down admission stats for individual colleges, so it is difficult to know fo sure if the BSN programs are more or less selective than the other programs. However, most BSN programs are small (fewer than 200 freshmen per class), and in-demand, so I would not assume that they are less selective than the university at large.
If you know you want to be a nurse, major in nursing. There are some completion programs out there but that’s just adding a couple years of schooling.
Very often nursing programs are small because their student-faculty ratio is regulated by the state board of nursing (for my daughter’s schools, I think they have to have an 8:1 ratio in nursing classes). Nursing programs are selective no matter where you go, whether it’s direct or indirect admission.
If you are looking at Yale, you might also be interested in Case Western Reserve. It’s a direct-admit BSN program.
Otherwise, the great leveling factor is passing the NCLEX licensing exam. No matter where you go, if you pass that test you are an RN.
@biologygirl889 so Penn Nursing is definitely a selective nursing program. Historically, it’s acceptance rate has been “higher” than the university as a whole but that is EXTREMELY misleading. The people who end up applying to nursing school end up being much more self selected than those students who apply to top schools in general and thus application numbers are lower for the nursing school overall which can make it seem like its easier to get in when in reality, it’s still very difficult. As a consequence, the competition is still stiff. But it does sound like you’d be interested in Penn if you’re looking for the Ivy League experience in the context of your nursing degree. Glad I could be helpful
Okay thank you guys so much! @bearcatfan and @PennCAS2014 If I do apply to Yale with the major of biology but the intention of nursing, will they look down upon it? Not accept me because they don’t have an undergrad program? Do a lot of future nurses not major in nursing for undergrad?
@biologygirl889 I don’t understand why you would go to a school that doesn’t offer nursing as an undergraduate degree if you want to be a nurse? You realize you just need the 4 year undergrad to take the test? No secondary school required. Why would you want additional schooling? Like @bearcatfan said, it doesn’t matter where you go - all nurses start out the same way.
@biologygirl889 If you want to be a nurse, go to a school that has a nursing program. There are a lot of good ones out there, ranging from nursing colleges to “elite” schools.
I guess you could major in biology at Yale, but that means you would have another year or so of nursing courses after that to be able to sit for the NCLEX. I don’t know too much about them, but there are completion programs that accept people coming in with other bachelor degrees. And I would imagine you’d need a BSN/RN to get a master’s in nursing but I really don’t know.
Nursing and engineering are about the same in terms of undergraduate time commitment. You should go in with your eyes open, nursing is by no means an easy program and does not include a lot of electives. Your junior and senior years typically include clinicals and may require a car, depending on the school you attend. That being said, jobs are plentiful and very secure, and jobs can be very interesting especially if you are research focused.
Actually you just need an associates degree, and many community colleges offer just such a program. What you get from a 4-year in addition to eligibility for the RN test is a BSN that increasingly is a requirement for promotion (or even hiring at some larger hospitals).
Prestige should not be your guide when it comes to nursing. Lower tier schools often have stronger programs and higher first time pass rates on the boards. Moreover, all nurses makes the same the money no matter where they study. For example, the University of Scranton has historically had better first time pass rates than either Penn or NYU.
Thanks again!