Any Bio Concentrated Bachelors Degrees

Lannister123 · Mar 5, 2017

All that "limited admissions crap" serves to weed out those applicants who have no chance of passing their licensure exam. Even with those limitations, a high percentage of any first year nursing class will not make it. If by private you mean for-profit, you are correct in that they will take anyone's money, whether they have a chance at success or not.

I dont think it even "weeds out" the bad apples. For example i got into a nursing program that i wasnt prepared for. I should of studied the material before i got in because it took me some time to completely understand some of the topics.If i was one of the bad apples then i shouldnt have been selected.I dont think any of the pre-req courses will ever prepare you for nursing school.You will need to prepare on your own.That was my downfall.

calivianya, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2017

Are there any allied health related careers on the bachelor level that is just as lucrative?

Short answer: No. Most of the bachelor's level allied health things are extensions of the associates degree programs: RN (associates and bachelor's), RT (associates and bachelor's), etc.

Anything that pays more is at the doctoral/master's level: NP, CNS, CRNA, MD, PT/ST/OT, etc.

My school has a bachelor's in biology with a concentration in biotechnology, but if you're only pursuing biotechnology at the bachelor's level, the most you can hope for is something like a medical lab technician in a hospital, running blood/urine/whatever samples in the lab. Those jobs start at a reasonably comparable salary to RNs, I believe.

However, you're basically taking the same heavy hitting prerequisites you need for med school with those degrees. As someone taking the med school prereqs right now, I can tell you they are 10x harder than nursing classes. I passed nursing school with mostly As with minimal effort, but I am really having to work hard to make As in physics, organic chem, biochem, etc. If you struggled with nursing school, you will likely have a very hard time with a true bio degree (not the "bio" classes needed for nursing, which I found to be much easier than the bio classes for bio majors).

calivianya, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2017

Another side note: the true biology/biotechnology major at my school would not count your all of your nursing bio classes towards it anyway. Anatomy, physiology, and "nursing micro" (sophomore level) are all sophomore level classes, and only four credit hours' worth of sophomore level classes can be counted towards the actual bio degree at my school. The A/P/micro nursing sequence constitutes 12 hours, so you get credit for 1.3 out of 3 classes towards a bio major, and since there is a senior level micro, I don't think micro at the nursing prereq level is counted at all.

Sucked because I thought I was going to get 12 credit hours of bio counted because of the nursing prereqs, but I didn't. The stuff you take for nursing is not at all equivalent and doesn't give you much credit at all compared to an actual bio degree.

Lannister123 · Mar 6, 2017

Another side note: the true biology/biotechnology major at my school would not count your all of your nursing bio classes towards it anyway. Anatomy, physiology, and "nursing micro" (sophomore level) are all sophomore level classes, and only four credit hours' worth of sophomore level classes can be counted towards the actual bio degree at my school. The A/P/micro nursing sequence constitutes 12 hours, so you get credit for 1.3 out of 3 classes towards a bio major, and since there is a senior level micro, I don't think micro at the nursing prereq level is counted at all.
Sucked because I thought I was going to get 12 credit hours of bio counted because of the nursing prereqs, but I didn't. The stuff you take for nursing is not at all equivalent and doesn't give you much credit at all compared to an actual bio degree.

Thanks for the tips. I was wondering if those higher level programs would be tougher. If i am struggling with nursing then i stand no chance.

roser13, ASN, RN · Mar 6, 2017

Thanks for the tips. I was wondering if those higher level programs would be tougher. If i am struggling with nursing then i stand no chance.

To be honest, that's why I posted the curriculum of the Northwestern Biology degree. It's brutal in the sciences, which is as it should be; but I wanted you to see just how far you'd have to go in the hard sciences if you chose that direction.

calivianya, BSN, RN · Mar 6, 2017

To be honest, that's why I posted the curriculum of the Northwestern Biology degree. It's brutal in the sciences, which is as it should be; but I wanted you to see just how far you'd have to go in the hard sciences if you chose that direction.

Exactly. My program actually takes it further than the Northwestern one - we are required to take at least 1 biology elective at the graduate level to graduate with a bachelor's in bio. I've taken four as an undergrad. :banghead: They're awful, and nobody curves the graduate level classes.

I've found that desperation plays a role in degrees like this. Whenever I want to give up, which is often, I just ask myself, "Do you want to do this job forever?" and I get a little bit of energy back to do more.

Once your motivation to change your life becomes your main focus, you're going to have the energy to accomplish a whole lot. If you're not desperate yet, it's not going to happen. These programs are just way too difficult to succeed in with just moderate motivation. They're doable if you make succeeding in them the only thing you want.

SunshineNRainbows, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2017

I got a Bachelor's in Neuroscience and Behavior, with the concentration being in Biomechanics and Neuronal Implications (we chose our upper level specializations either in Bio or Psych), and I found that when I decided not to go to Medical School (re: my choice), it was worthless. So, I translated my skills from the lab into another STEM area, and really worked hard to catch on. Eventually, I combined volunteer skills and technical writing skills, to become a Project Management Assistant in this totally unrelated field. And I am one of the top people in my field. Any Bachelor's Degree can get you where you want to be as you know how to translate and apply the skills you have learned. My coworkers were supported and devastated when I decided to go to Nursing school. But, I've made it work and so can you!

SunshineNRainbows, BSN, RN · Mar 7, 2017

I had to do a thesis in order to graduate! And I had to find my own lab, as a non-traditional and transfer student no professor on campus would take me on! They were too busy hiring sophmores to train up to seniors... so I found a lab in Europe, and I was able to help with their articles and presentations! It was the best time of my life! I don't think I would have traded my paid time in Europe for your grad classes... it sounds painful! PS, our school didn't curve any classes!!!And every science major graduated with at least a minor in Chemistry lol...scientists are hard core...

Exactly. My program actually takes it further than the Northwestern one - we are required to take at least 1 biology elective at the graduate level to graduate with a bachelor's in bio. I've taken four as an undergrad. They're awful, and nobody curves the graduate level classes.
I've found that desperation plays a role in degrees like this. Whenever I want to give up, which is often, I just ask myself, "Do you want to do this job forever?" and I get a little bit of energy back to do more.
Once your motivation to change your life becomes your main focus, you're going to have the energy to accomplish a whole lot. If you're not desperate yet, it's not going to happen. These programs are just way too difficult to succeed in with just moderate motivation. They're doable if you make succeeding in them the only thing you want.