My daughter is applying to schools currently for fall 2027 admission and is interested in Nursing but not 100% certain that is her preferred or goal healthcare career. She’s also keenly aware that Nursing admissions, particularly direct admit BSN are incredibly competitive at most of the schools she plans to apply to. She would likely be on the lower profile end range for Nursing at most of her schools, likely making that specific major a reach where her profile would otherwise have her at more of a target for another pre-health major: bio sciences, public health, biobehavioral health etc. She’s also very interested and considering rehab careers like PT, OT, SLP and even PA.
My Q - does it benefit her to apply pre-health at some of her schools even if they have a direct admit Nursing program (some don’t allow a 2nd choice major unfortunately) since she isn’t 100% sold/committed to nursing? It seems like a more secure pathway to admissions (we know she can’t pivot to Nursing in year 2 or transfer in). But to instead complete the pre-health undergrad degree to maintain the most options in future career and if by the end of undergrad she’s sold on nursing, to complete an accelerated nursing program. Her credits will nearly all transfer at the in-state schools she’s applying to as we’ve confirmed through the transfer tools and articulation agreements and her credits go much further in chipping away at pre health majors, and only a few will count in a more rigid nursing curriculum. By our math, she’ll finish most pre-health undergrad programs in 2-3years versus 4 for nursing, offsetting some of the potential cost of an ABSN and keeping open the possibility instead for masters in OT, PT, Speech etc. as she explores those specialties in her pre-health coursework.
I don’t think it is a good idea to apply to direct admit nursing programs unless the student is sure that they want to be a nurse. I think it’s better to explore and then decide.
That’s just me, and others may offer a different opinion
I would not assume that she would have great difficulty getting admitted to a direct admit nursing program with her profile. Nursing schools are hard to get into these days because because they are incredibly popular but not because the applicants have a 4.0 gpa and 1600 SAT. Those students are heading for pre-med. I think that there are a number of nursing schools that she can get into.
If she goes to a college which has a nursing school is not direct admit, she will have some time to make up her mind in freshman year.
As a practical matter, a DPT, as an example, is hardly worth the time and money, given what PTs earn. In contrast, nursing is a very versatile degree. There are about 20 different specialties and various advanced degrees to pursue.
ABSN programs take varying amounts of time to complete. They can be as short as 1 year (U of Rochester) or as long as 3 years. Shop around.
Here’s another interesting pathway. There are 15 undergraduate colleges which have articulation agreements with John’s Hopkins’ very prestigious school of nursing whereby students at the feeder undergraduate college complete their bachelor’s degree but also begin courses toward the nursing degree which they then complete at JHU. There are both bachelor’s and master’s degree options. The bachelor’s degree option can be completed in as little as 4 to 5 years. Here’s the list of schools:
Dickinson College
Gettysburg College
Ursinus College
Muhlenburg College
Virginia Tech
Goucher College
Ripon College
St. Mary’s of Maryland (public)
Washington College (MD)
Notre Dame of Maryland (private)
McDaniel College Hood College
Salisbury College
Washington & Jefferson College
Allegany College of Maryland
Stevens University
There is absolutely nothing wrong with her taking time to make up her mind or to major in health sciences. He would be cautious with this major, however, because it almost certainly requires graduate school to do anything. I see too many of these majors working as low paid “medical assistants” and still trying to figure out what they want to do. The fact that she’s not yet sure if she wants to commit to a career in nursing doesn’t mean that she has to stick with nursing if she enrolls in nursing school; she can always change her mind and transfer out. But beginning in nursing schools gives her a chance to look at the field up close and decide if it is right for her.
I mentioned earlier that a nursing degree is very versatile because of its numerous specialties - not to mention health care & hospital management, public health, etc. But it’s also versatile in other ways. I have a friend with a PhD in nursing, but she doesn’t work as a nurse. She is a high paid pharmaceutical rep. The pharmaceutical companies live to hire nurses because they can immediately go into hospitals & doctor’s offices and talk the talk, relating to them as one health care professional to another. My daughter works as a pediatric cardiac intensive care nurse practitioner in one of the top children’s hospitals in the country. Several times a year the staff needs to go through training on new equipment. The company reps who do the training are invariably nurses. These are high paid positions which do not involve direct patient care. These are but 2 examples of the many and varied roles which nurses fill.
Question - and just playing devil’s advocate for informational purposes (for OP…and me)
Should nursing be treated like engineering - when, for example, someone may want engineering but may not - at schools where it’s a competitive major, the advice often is to start there and change out….rather than change in which might be more difficult.
OP, it sounds like your student is putting the school name as a first priority. Personally, I think there are many schools a student can be happy - but it sounds like they’d prefer School A Pre Health if School A is their top choice vs. School B nursing. But I do think kids tie onto one school but many will actually work.
Some schools will deny you in one major but admit you overall - so you might see if that’s a possibility at the schools of interest too. In other words, apply nursing, get rejected but offered another major at the school. That happened to me undergrad. You might ask each school if that’s somethng they do.
Exactly this. For instance, she loves Pitt. They don’t offer a 2nd choice major or reconsideration. She won’t roll the dice there for a Nursing spot given her profile and the fact that she isn’t sure. Same with Penn State - she’d likely rather secure her best shot at main campus with a less competitive major. That said, I think she would apply to a handful of direct admit nursing schools as well, although tailoring for programs that may be a better fit for her GPA and stats. If she applies to 12 schools I’d hope/expect her to have 3-5 direct nursing choices among them to have options as she continues to shadow and experience senior year.
I agree with all of the above avenues for “non-traditional” nursing roles too and love the idea that after undergrad you come out immediately employable with a very competitive starting salary in most cases.
I’m wondering if she could arrange to do some shadowing this month, before senior year starts, so that she can see what it is that PTs and SLPs and OTs do, on a day to day basis. Often, the people who are drawn to PT were high school and college athletes; they like rehabbing injuries. If it were me, I’d go for the direct admit undergrad 4 yr BSN degree unless she feels that she is very drawn towards one of the other fields, after shadowing. Nursing degrees are so versatile. They’re needed in every clinical field, and also in business, admin, insurance, etc. Plus Nurse Practitioners and Nurse Anesthetists can have very satisfying work and decent pay, if she wants to go further. It is not necessary to go to Penn or Duke for nursing - no need to pay 400K for a BSN. Your local state college is fine, your flagship in-state is fine, even the community college to state college route is fine.
But if someone loves Pitt, they might love - UAB (if they’re willing to go South). And no doubt there will be others she’ll love. It’s hard for kids to understand but so many go to the dream school and don’t like it. Others go elsewhere - affordability or admittance and 4 years later can’t imagine having been anywhere else.
It’s a tough call but it sounds like she won’t go in nursing at Pitt. But if she decides later she wants nursing, is it feasible to transfer in?
If not, I’d apply for nursing - but obviously she will make the best decision for her.
This is an enormous benefit - and not only because you come out immediately employable. It has the added benefit that you can go to grad school and work part time at a job paying many times the minimum wage which are so often the jobs available to students - even grad students. Furthermore, nurses can often switch from part time during the school year to full time in the summer and winter break, picking up extra shifts. Traveling nursing companies also hire nurses and place them in cities where there are shortages. They pay very well, provide benefits, and typically free housing. They also gain valuable experience. My daughter did this for a couple of years after college, getting to live in San Francisco, Chicago, and NYC. Become a nurse, see the world! One other benefit of being a nurse is that there are college loan forgiveness programs out there right now and some jobs are paying signing bonuses.
Another path is to go back to school and pick up the RN at a community college. These programs are also competitive. A friend of ours did that after working a few years as a teacher.
I don’t want to be misleading. Nursing school is hard work. It’s not a bed of roses. One of my grandkids recently failed out. Couldn’t handle the sciences.
I happen to teach at a relatively highly ranked direct admit nursing program.
If the school is direct admit and student does not apply for nursing, I would enter in assuming the child will NOT be able to switch into nursing in year 2 or 3. In my ten years of teaching at this school, I think there has maybe been 1 transfer student allowed in and it was a relatively rare case.
There are big debates on if its fair to “take” a bsn spot if not committed to the field. But yes, it is much easier to switch out of a nursing major than it is to switch in.
Community colleges/ADN programs often have 2 years of prereqs before entering into the official nursing program and can have a 1-2 year wait after those prereqs are completed so community college is not necessarily the faster route (but can be the cheaper route if able to live at home and community/tech schools often have cheaper tuition in general).
I do happen to teach at a college that has a second degree nursing program so yes I know many, many students who tried to get into non direct nursing programs and were not successful and finished with health sciences or bio or biosciences. We also get a ton of “PA school rejects” who couldn’t get into PA schools. There are several second degree programs out there (either MSN/RN or ABSN) but they are costly and have to consider cost as well.
So you’re of the belief to apply to nursing and move out vs. starting elsewhere and trying to move in?
So in regards to the student and Pitt, if it was you, you’d roll the dice with nursing even if the odds of admission were less and they weren’t 100% sold on nursing?
Such great advice here. From a cost and time standpoint, at some schools she can realistically earn her undergrad in a pre health degree (rehab science, communication science, biobehavioral health) in 2.5-3yrs with her dual enrollment knocking out most of the req gen eds and intro sciences. My thought with this path would be that she can continue to explore pre-PA, or SLP vs. nursing in a major potentially a bit more exploratory and possibly more protective of her undergrad GPA. If she ultimately chooses nursing at 20/21 vs not knowing now at 17, she’d still be ahead on time and tuition if she wanted to do an ABSN or ADN at local community college and bridge back to the RN-BSN once working.
In general, yes. If someone is very interested in nursing, I would apply as a nursing major because I don’t know of any college of nursing with a direct admit nursing program that has a high transfer into nursing rate.
As for Pitt specifically, I think if one really loves a school and it is financially within budget, they should apply as there are plenty of other degrees of interest to pivot to (whether that be they aren’t accepted into bsn or if they transfer out of the bsn to another major).
My understanding with Pitt is if you apply to the School of Nursing and are denied, you can’t be considered for another non nursing major i.e., pre-health within Dietrich etc. so it seemed like an all or nothing. A student that isn’t admissible to Pitt (main campus) nursing would be offered that major at a branch campus instead of a related major or 2nd choice at Pitt main. UDel on the other hand looks like they allow a student to list Nursing, and also a 2nd choice major so she may be more inclined to go that route there given her interest, stats etc.
I am generally in favor of direct admit nursing programs, but only for students that are sure they want to be nurses. For your daughter, who is uncertain, and prefers large schools with highly competitive nursing programs, I agree with you that it would be better to apply for another major, especially at schools like Pitt and Penn State that don’t offer a 2nd choice major. This will give your daughter the flexibility she needs. I personally know a young woman who graduated from Penn State with a Biobehavioral Health major, then completed an ABSN program at Duquesne in 12 months. For her, attending Penn State main campus as an undergraduate was the top priority.
Thank you for your response. I think for her being at a more preferred school in a health care or nursing adjacent major is the priority (much like the example you gave). With her Associate’s degree earned, she may actually have a faster/cheaper pathway to ultimate end with nursing if she elects a pre health major + ASBN than the rigid nursing curriculums where hardly any of her college credits will count. I know ASBNs can be costly and some are much longer than a year as well so if she gets to that point we will most definitely shop and compare value.
The only thing she may want to think about is her expected appetite for additional schooling if she doesn’t start with nursing. If she’s not a super student now, it may be because she just doesn’t love being a student - for any number of reasons. If that’s the case, anything requiring additional schooling is unlikely to be appealing.
That’s also consistent with someone choosing the experience of a school over the field of study. And yeah, Pitt is a great school on so many fronts.
