Hi! So I was wondering what other majors and minors should I take on if I am going to major in nursing. i was thinking a double major, Nursing and Biochemistry.
Please give me some advice!!
I assume you are planning on attending a college that does not have a nursing program that has direct entry from high school. You have a choice of getting a bachelors degree in something else and then getting a degree that allows you to take the RN exam, or applying to become a nursing major (which usually then starts in the junior year).
In any case, you want to get as much of the nursing curriculum out of the way in your first two years. Most people would be a bio major, unless your college has something more applicable. At a minimum, each nursing major program will have a list of required prerequisites. They will often have an online recommended curriculum. For instance, they often require a stats class, a psychology class, some type of social issues class, two bios classes with a lab, a chem class with a lab, a practical math class, a writing class, etc. Most nursing students take Spanish, which is useful in most of the US. You also need to meet the general education classes for your college, and want to look for classes that can meet those general ed requirements and also meet nursing requirements as much as possible. For example, using bio to meet your science requirement and stats to meet your math requirement.
As much as you can get needed classes out of the way early, you will have an easier time completing a degree in 4 years without needing to take summer classes or an excessive courseload per semester.
If you are a nursing major for a BSN degree, you probably will not have time to have a double major. The last 2 years of the nursing curriculum doesn’t have much room for electives. You may be able to have a minor if you plan your schedule out very carefully.
Taking a challenging bio class with a lab early in your college career also is a good indicator of whether you have the science aptitude to get through nursing school.
Most students who know (for sure) they are interested in nursing, apply to direct entry BSN nursing programs OR take the nursing track, freshman and sophomore years, if they choose a non-direct entry nursing program and have to apply to nursing within their university or college for the nursing program in their junior and senior year. Most nursing programs are so full of mandatory courses and set amount of clinical hours, there is not much room for anything besides nursing, 6-8 core liberal arts classes (which usually compliment nursing) and maybe two elective classes. It is very hard to double major and complete a nursing degree in 4 years. Nursing is just so concentrated and focused and progressively designed to build on previous classwork, that I would not think it possible to double major at most schools.