BSN or BS in Health Science?

[EmergencyChocolate]

Hi, I'm a 19 year old college student at USM (Southern Maine), and I am starting my sophomore year this fall.

I spend my first year at college studying Vocal Performance. I took mostly music classes required for my major plus a few core classes. As passionate as I am about my music, the lifestyle of a professional opera singer isn't for me, so I started looking at the other majors my school had to offer.

I started doing some thinking over the summer. If anything is certain, it's this: I want to work in the health field. I have no idea what yet, but anything that involves mental health or nutrition/wellness is a plus. Then I came across nursing: I could be either a psychiatric nurse or a nutritional nurse, or something completely different. I wouldn't have too hard of a time finding a job, and I didn't have to go any further than getting just a bachelor degree. The more I thought about nursing, the more it appealed to me. I'm compassionate, I love helping people, I find health science interesting, and I'm up for a challenge. Plus, the math and science classes I took in grade school came very easily to me, and there's a lot of that in nursing. I've enjoyed reading stories posted on here, and it sounds like a career that I would really enjoy. It's not the same old thing every day it seems, each day is unpredictable.

So I gave my adviser a call and completely redid my fall schedule, so now I'm taking just nursing pre-reqs. I am taking A+P 1, Intro to Psych & Soc, Human Growth & Develop, and English. I'm really happy about these new changes.

The only thing I worry about is actually getting into nursing school. I've heard at some nursing schools, the acceptance rate is ~10%. Yikes! I have a 3.7 right now, but that basically consists of all music courses. I suppose I could just transfer somewhere else if I don't get in, but I feel really established at this school, and I would really hate to leave. Also, I'm not absolutely positive if I'll like nursing. From what I've heard about it, it seems like something I would enjoy

So that got me thinking, if I don't get into nursing school, I could major in Health Science. But what about all that wasted time taking pre-req courses? Also, from what I've heard, you can't do a whole lot with a bachelor's in Health Science so I may need to get a masters in something else.

My head is spinning. I can't decide what to do, I'm wasting time and also money. What if I don't get into nursing school? Should I continue to take core classes and pre-reqs until I get in? Should I just assume that getting accepted is pretty much impossible and go for Health Science, even if that may require some additional schooling? Should I just stick with what I have planned, and give myself time to figure it all out?

[Pneumothorax, BSN, RN]

i would go with the BSN, you dont have to do bedside nursing right off the bat. you can get your RN license if you choose (or dep. on the job requirement) and go on to work in say, a WIC clinic, which focuses on the health and nutrition of low income women and babies. or even in the hospital work in the dietary department, knowing which foods patients will need to promote wound healing etc.

Mental health, there are probably loads of opportunites that are outpatient that you could get into. Oh, like a substance abuse facility... theres inpatient programs, detox, outpatients,...they need help with mental health and nutrition.

think outside the box a little bit. My suggestion is to talk to your academic advisor or, even better possibly speak to someone in the nursing dept at your school and explain to them what you just posted... they would know which way to direct you :)

[JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN]

Don't let fear about the possibility of having to change schools be a huge factor in making your choice. There are a couple of people in my nursing class (ADN program) who got their Bachelor's degrees in something health related and then realized that in order to get a mediocre paying job, they'd need a Master's. Money shouldn't be the guiding factor either but if you want to be a person who likes to work directly with the public and have skills and knowledge that can take you in about any direction, BSN would be the way to go. All these "what ifs" are crowding your judgment. You may decide at age 40 that being a bedside nurse s.u.c.k.s and go back for your Masters and go into teaching or changing public policy. A BSN will give you way more options.