<p>I majored in nursing but I didn't get into the registered nursing program. I'm also a licensed vocational nurse, but I have been applying but so far.. it's been difficult because I lack experience or schooling. Plus the school I went to isn't like a well known school. It's a small private school. But I did take some community classes. I was wondering what else I could major in? Health promotion/nutrition/dietition/health/bio? I took some general ed courses that hopefully are still transferrable. Anyone major in this and can tell me what it's like? As far as jobs? </p>
<p>Well, it depends. What do you want to do? Do you intend to try again for nursing, maybe at a different school for for an accelerated second bachelor’s degree in nursing after you finish your first bachelor’s? Do you want to stay in healthcare even if you can’t be a nurse? Or do you want to branch out to something else? It also depends on what’s available at your school.</p>
<p>Don’t default to biology (or chemistry) because you can’t think of anything else. Certainly take some biology and chemistry courses in case you decide to try again later - like microbiology and organic chemistry - but otherwise you should major in what you want. A lot of med school/pre-health hopefuls choose psychology, because it helps people to understand human behavior, but there aren’t a lot of direct professional jobs that lead from psychology majors (although it’s a myth that you can’t get any job with a psych major). If you’re interested in public health, which is mostly using science to prevent people from getting sick and keep them healthy (and which is a core part of the nursing model of care), then health promotion is a good major for that.</p>
<p>But also consider practicalities. Nowadays a lot of hospitals are hiring only or primarily RNs, but if you have a combined BA in something useful you may find it easier to get a job. For example, there’s the possibility of business - you could do hospital administration, or nursing management (after you have a few years of nursing experience). Some nurses even go to work for consulting firms or insurance companies, although usually they expect an RN with that. A math or biology or statistics major could lead to risk/actuarial work in healthcare or to infection control at a hospital as a nurse epidemiologist.</p>
<p>My biggest piece of advice, though, is that if you want to be an RN don’t necessarily settle on something else or give up. That’s not to mean that you should stop pursuing another degree if you’re already at a university, but consider applying to other RN programs to transfer or applying for ABSN programs in your senior year.</p>