Agriculture and Nursing

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Hello Nurses! I have two major loves, midwifery and agriculture. My eventual life goal would be to be a nurse-midwife and have a farm. My favorite school, ABAC(Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College,) has an associates in nursing and a RN-BSN program. My idea was to take all my nursing prerequisites(2 semesters) and finish most of the agriculture prerequisites during the summer. If I have my prereqs for nursing completely done, then when I start my nursing sequence, I'll be less then part time so I'll need to take extra courses anyways. So I guess my question is, do you think it would be possible to duel degree if I utilized my summer semesters? Most of the nursing prereqs apply to the agriculture degree. I've done a theoretical schedule based on what they offer over the summer what corequisites any courses have and on paper its possible but how possible is it really? I also don't know exactly how clinical hours work so if someone could give a "Day in the life," example with your schedule, classes and clinical hours, that would be greatly appreciated! :)

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Let me clear this up :p I would be in school for agriculture a year after I get an ASN, assuming doing both almost simulatiously is possible.

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Specializes in mental health / psychiatic nursing.

You'd have to talk to an adviser to find out if it is even allowed at the college. My instinct is that double-majoring with nursing as one major is pretty much unheard of. It is a full course load with fixed course sequencing. I don't know how it would be done with a second major, even if that major was light and very flexible.

Everyone I know who studied subjects other than nursing, did that either before or after getting their RN.

My current schedule as an ABSN student:

Monday: 3 hours of lecture

Tuesday: 8 hour clinical

Wednesday: 8 hour clinical

Thursday: 4 hour clinical

Friday: 6 hours of lecture.

While is true Monday and Thursday are short days that doesn't mean free time; I easily spend an additional 20-30 hours a week outside of lecture and clinical on school.

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Do you need an agriculture degree to run a farm tho? When I was in school, I had 4 hours of lecture on one day and then 5 and a half hour clinicals on two separate days. So in total, three days of my week were dedicated to school.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

Would the agriculture program involve a lot of lab/practicum/field (not sure what the correct term is) work? That sounds like it could be a logistical nightmare with nursing programs having the clinical component it has. I don't know anyone who has majored in ag, but I hail from a farming community; my school had an ag department and offered lots of electives (plus a quarter required for all 8th graders). Plus a very active FFA club. :) It seems like the guys who took ag classes spent a fair amount of time outside on field trips.

I had the same thought that LittyCity had: do you need an ag degree to have a farm? My one great-grandpa built a dairy/crop farm after emigrating from Denmark, and my grandpa went on to run it for decades. My two best friends were farm daughters; three more of my parents' neighbors are farmers as well. As far as I know, none of them had formal education.

Perhaps there are certain ag classes specific to what you want to do that you could take as electives? or audit?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Point of clarification - in order to become a Nurse Midwife (CNM), you'll need an MSN. Some states do have processes for "lay midwives", but it doesn't sound like this is what you have in mind.

An aside.... it's *dual degree*, not *duel degree*, although the latter may actually be a better description of trying to pursue both educational pathways simultaneously - LOL. Pre-licensure nursing education is a program, not a major. This distinction means that there isn't really any opportunity to individualize the educational pathway - every student must progress through the standard cumulative curriculum.

I love the idea of a farm also. I can certainly see the appeal of a life focused on growing and nurturing -- plants & people.

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I think I would tackle one at a time. With clinicals and studying I wouldn't want to take on even more classes. Why not get the bsn, get a job, work on your masters so you can be a CNM, get a CNM job, then, if you have time and the desire, pursue agricultural goals.

You may find that you are perfectly happy with the one, without time for the other!

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

Just the RN classes, at my school, are 20 hours a week. This doesn't include homework/studying time.

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