This question is for my first daughter who was pre-med and quickly realized it was not a good fit.
She spent one year at University of California and achieved a GPA of about 3 so not so good!
But she still wants to work in healthcare in a clinical setting and was considering nursing. Unfortunately, all of the Cal State and community college nursing programs are super competitive in California. So with her not so good GPA I don’t think she has much of a chance.
Fortunately we have some money from a relative to pay for private school. Are there any private schools on the the West Coast where there is a much better chance for getting in as a transfer student for nursing?
A 3 isn’t bad - and pre-med isn’t a major, but a desire. So what was her major and was the major the issue, because there may be some crossover?
How sure is she that nursing is it?? For example, I discovered a job last year (unfortunately) called Radiation Therapist. There’s so many roles in healthcare. @thumper1 publishes a link with those so if she sees this message, she hopefully can post for you.
There’s everything from religious (Loma Linda, Biola) to Community College to maybe a less competitive like Cal State Bakersfield.
Just for fun, since you mentioned West Coast, I went on the WUE savings finder and selected Registered Nurse, Bachelor and transfer students. They have many categories but I selected the one. Here’s the list - so you can look into some of these.
I have no doubt some will be transfer friendly…but I just hope your daughter is not hastily rushing into it.
Nothing wrong with a 3.0.
Best of luck to her.
PS - she might also check with her UC - they might, perhaps, be able to help provide some sort of path.
Sorry - the list is long but I don’t see another way to share it - the link doesn’t keep the data selected. But here’s that too.
What classes did she take?
Typically students would be in Pre-nursing before they’re allowed to transfer into Nursing, or directly admitted to the Nursing (BSN) program.
Could she get into a RN program at a local CC then apply to a RN->BSN program?
What about other health-related professions?
I’m not too familiar with West Coast nursing programs, other than knowing how competitive California programs are.
One option would be for her to complete another major and include the standard nursing prerequisite courses.* Then after receiving a bachelor’s degree, if she is still interested in nursing, she could do an ABSN or direct entry MSN program. Most ABSN programs are 12 to 16 months in length and require a 3.0 GPA. Much less competitive than other BSN programs.
Another option would be to expand her geographic area. There are plenty of schools that accept nursing transfers in the mid-Atlantic and Midwest. Pennsylvania alone has over 40 direct entry programs, and many of them accept transfers.
*Prerequisites vary by school but often include A&P I and II, Microbiology, Developmental Psych., Statistics, Chemistry, Nutrition.
Agree with this. Obviously I don’t know your daughter, but from your description it sounds like she is basically just looking for a Plan B in healthcare, but doesn’t necessarily have a passion for nursing. Nursing is awesome, of course, but there are so many patient-facing jobs in healthcare. Radiation therapist is one (and I LOVED my radiation therapists when I had the misfortune of needing their care), but there are many others. Before jumping into another educational experience that may end up not being the best fit, I hope she takes some time to research the MANY possibilities out there. Maybe she has done this already - I’m just going off of your post, so of course don’t have all the details of her thought process
That’s a wonderful observation. It is just plan B and she definitely wants patient facing clinical settings. Apart from radiation therapist. What else is there? Appointed to? A list would be terrific that I can give to her
Take a look at the link @kidzncatz posted above. If you click “Search all careers,” you’ll get a broad list, and then you can click on each item in the list to get more specific examples. There are many directions she could go in, depending on her interests.
Physical therapist (and PTA)
Occupational therapist (and OTA)
Physician assistant (also now called physician associate)
Certified Registered Nurse Practitioner (would need BSN degree first)
Surgical technologist
Social worker
Respiratory therapist
are some among many others (see my link above)
Blood bank technician. Blood is really fascinating and complex and while you don’t work with patients per se, you work with donors and do provide interaction and support. You do donor screening, blood drawing, blood testing, blood processing into component parts, proper storage, ensure sufficient blood supply (this is literally life and death work!), work with doctors, etc. It’s a really interesting job.
Mammography technician. Also life-saving work where you work directly with patients - both for screening and for diagnostics. Women’s health centers also have other screenings, such as DEXA scans, that are performed. You work closely with both patients and doctors and you’ll likely save several lives in the process.
Pharmacist is not underrated but I’ve personally always found it fascinating. You work closely with patients, helping them understand their medications - how to take them, the side effects, interactions with other medications. You become an expert in how to treat pretty much every ailment and disease.
But these are just based on my personal interests. Check out the lists from @kidzncatz There are many possibilities.
Why did she want to do premed? What attracted her to it? Was it the hardcore science-y stuff? Or was it the human interaction and opportunity to care for others? Or was it the importance of helping people during difficult times? If she can pinpoint what exactly she found exciting about possibly being a doctor, it will help her to shift to other positions that offer the same kind of experiences and responsibilities, without the med school.
Oh, some large hospital centers also employ patient navigators that help patients with complex illnesses navigate their appointments and support them with their various needs. For some patients - especially from marginalized populations - having a navigator can make the difference between following through with treatment and dropping out, just because it’s all too confusing. Again, this is a position that saves lives, and often doesn’t require a medical education (if it was the hardcore science stuff that turned her off premed).
I think this is an important factor to consider. Some of the careers listed here are more hardcore science (prerequisites and beyond) and some not or less so. Some are more patient facing, some are a lot less, and some require a lot of direct hands on.
I see at least one that shares prerequisites with premed (biochemistry, organic chemistry etc) and where research often plays a role.
It might be helpful for your student to think about what she is drawn to- that might help narrow it down.
Keep in mind the years of schooling and whether that matters. Also keep in mind that some programs/degrees view work experience to gain transferable skills as beneficial before applying to programs…while with others it may not matter as much.
Adding: I see she wants patient facing clinical settings. That could be narrowed down further as noted above (like/dislike required courses, other roles besides direct patient contact, etc).
I am currently at Grand Valley State University. The program at GVSU is a bachelor’s degree, so it’s two years of prerequisites and then two years in the program. Several other programs in the country are associate’s degrees, which would take a little over two years to complete.
