B.S.N. vs. Biology? Which one is more challenging?

Nurses General Nursing

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Both are science majors...which one is considered more difficult to obtain a Bachelors in?

Specializes in ER, Trauma.

This goes on my list of one of the stranger serious threads. Best wishes to all.

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I would say it depends on the school. You have to take a lot of advanced chemistry (organic 1 and 2, for starters) and upper level biology classes (obviously) for a bio major (I'm a senior major in biology right now). I will be going to nursing school next year and I will let you know how that goes after I get there. ;)

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Specializes in Oncology.
That's what I was thinking...what nursing major wants to take organic chemistry? Biochemistry? Physics? Cell Biology? Genetics? None I know, anyways.

All that stuff really interested me, I just knew the BSN to eventually FNP route was much more practical.

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Specializes in Oncology.
I finished my BA in Physiology while on the waiting list, and though I am still in nursing school, I will say that the amount of course work for nursing is far easier then the work I was doing in my upper division classes for my degree. I think there is more time spent in class/lab/clinical for nursing, but difficulty wise my OChem, neurophysiology, and Endocrinology classes required a ton more study then what I think nursing school will take.

Let us know when you're done with your BSN how it compares. I won't say nursing school was easy.

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Specializes in Psych, EMS.

I don't have a biology degree, but I have a microbiology degree. Obtaining my BS in microbiology was much harder than getting my BSN, and I went the accelerated BSN route. The content of nursing was relatively easy. The hard part of nursing was the busywork, i.e. doing care plans, virtual clinical exursion exercises, papers on the theory of caring, group projects, etc. Completing all of the BSN coursework was hard. Contrarily, the content for my microbiology degree was extremely challenging, no busywork.

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I second what GoldenGirl said.

Having majored in biochem & biophysics before entering nursing via the ABSN route, I can tell you that the course content of the hard sciences is more challenging than that of nursing courses. But that doesn't mean that getting a BSN is any easier; the workload is grueling, and because nursing exam questions are frequently styled after the NCLEX (licensing exam), it can be tough to get high grades. So, both are formidable majors, but for differing reasons.

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There is not much you can do with a degree in biology. Most lab jobs are for "lab techs", which pays little more than minimum wage and requires a 2-year degree at most. Teaching requires a master's degree afterwards and that field is totally flooded, even more than nursing at this point (many states are laying off teachers now). You could probably apply to med school with a biology degree. However, of the people I've known who have majored in biology, none went into fields having anything to do with biology. Most wound up in low-skilled desk jobs, one was "well connected" and landed a high paying job at a financial institution in budgeting, but the company was laid off and the company went defunct anyway.

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Critical thinking in nursing....blah blah blah. Please.

Biology, as a degree, is much more difficult than any BSN. I've walked through both. Sure, nursing has clinicals. Ok, big deal. If the OP had any patient care experience the clinical component would be tenfold easier as well. The courses, which are what you're asking about, are much simpler than what you'd do with your science major.

I could be wrong, but I doubt there's a nursing degree that requires calculus, a year of organic chemistry, which of course somes after a year of general chemistry, along with a year of either algebra or calculus based physics. Calculus is often a five semester hour course, and the sciences all have a lab component some of which may be four hours per day. A lot of biology majors will require a statistics course as does many/most BSN programs.

Along with all of the above you also have the sundry biology courses. Nursing majors generally take anatomy/physiology I and II along with microbiology. Their pathophysiology and pharmacology courses, if taken at all, are unlikely to offered through the biology department, but occasionally they are. You'll have a course in microbiology, botany, zoology, genetics, ecology most likely, and one or two courses in cellular biology. Electives may include embryology, histology, a variety of anatomy courses, a variety of physiology courses, sundry microbial courses, and a host of ecological/enviornmental courses. These courses are more interesting to me as well than nursing, but as another pointed out there isn't a lot you can do with a B.S. in biology.

On top of all of this most majors seem to require a minor, and that's rare in nursing. Many biology programs also require two years of a foreign language which is also rare, if not absent, in BSN programs.

If you did biology and later moved onto nursing you wouldn't find nursing to be nearly as difficult as the people on here claim it to be.

Forgot to mention biochemistry since you may have to take that too. A LOT of biology majors inherently minor in chem. because you'll usually only need one or two extra chem classes to do that, and I don't think anyone here will say nursing is easier than chemistry, lol.

One person mentioned NCLEX. Bio won't have that. Nursing may have a lot of end of course exams. Your many chem courses will likely have an EOC American Chemical Society (ACS) exam. Some of those are a serious PITA as well.

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My opinion: BSN is harder to obtain. A BS in Biology doesn't include clinicals, passing rate of 77-80%, or NCLEX style questions. However, the work would be worth it. You can look for a job as a nurse if you get a BSN, with a BS in Biology there's really nothing specific you can do with it. Nursing jobs are in short supply but you'll have an even harder time trying to find a job with a BS in something that doesn't relate to ANY kind of job.

People always seem to think that nursing is so much harder than everything else, especially because of the time spent in clinicals. That's BS. Science degrees require tons of hours of lab time. Just becuase they were not in a hospital doesn't mean my 8 hour long chemistry labs were a cake walk. It's not the same as bio but I thought my chem degree was a lot harder.

Anyway no one really knows what will be harder for you, especially if we don't have the two degrees ourselves to compare.

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Also, you practically make Biology sound useless...I thought one could do a few things with it at least..teach it..and work in a lab ya know?

I think a BSN would definitely be the harder of the two. As to teaching with a BS I think to do that you still need to get a Masters within a certain number of years, and thats assuming there are not people with Masters already in hand competing with your for the same teaching job; it could be very hard to get hired with just a BS. I'm not certain what a straight BS really allows you to do without additional training in a specialty area. If you want to work in a lab I believe there are lab certifications you must have in addition to the BS.

No one is making Biology sound useless, it's just that there isn't all that much to be done in the employment field without an advanced degree. Like premed is not that useful unless you go on to get the advanced degree it was in preparation for.

At least that is my experience, others may differ.

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I think a BSN would definitely be the harder of the two. As to teaching with a BS I think to do that you still need to get a Masters within a certain number of years, and thats assuming there are not people with Masters already in hand competing with your for the same teaching job; it could be very hard to get hired with just a BS. I'm not certain what a straight BS really allows you to do without additional training in a specialty area. If you want to work in a lab I believe there are lab certifications you must have in addition to the BS.

No one is making Biology sound useless, it's just that there isn't all that much to be done in the employment field without an advanced degree. Like premed is not that useful unless you go on to get the advanced degree it was in preparation for.

At least that is my experience, others may differ.

How about just saying MOST bachelor's degrees don't translate into direct employment since that's not the purpose of college? Does that smooth it all over?

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I graduated with a BS in Biology May 2009 and a BSN December 2010. The coursework for the biology degree was much harder. I feel like I spent more time trying to understand how/why things work in my bio/chem/physics classes. For nursing I spent study time trying to fit lots of lots of facts into my head. Nursing was only harder in that there was so much to learn in a very limited time (accelerated program).

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