Does Nursing School Allow Any College Major?

[kaolla56]

Hey guys!

I am a college student at University of California, Riverside and am still Undeclared - Life Sciences going into my 3rd year there. However, I am struggling in some of my science courses and will be changing majors to something in the humanities area (most likely either Art-Studio or Psychology). My advisor and another counselor has told me that nursing and med schools do not just accept bio majors but ANY major as long as you finish the prerequisites and all other requirements for the school you're focusing on. Is this entirely true? I was planning to finish all my nursing prerequisites at my university while being a humanities major and graduating with a B.A. Also, the school does not have an undergraduate nursing program. If this was possible for any of you, please let me know and how you were able to go through the process. I would appreciate any advice given and maybe this post can help others too!

[Music in My Heart]

Yes, it's true.

There are many accelerated programs around for postbaccalaureate which award either a BS or an MS in nursing to folks who already hold BA/BS degrees in other fields. You can also get an AS degree without having to repeat all the GE stuff.

[JROregon, ASN, BSN, RN]

Why don't you look for a university that has a nursing program and try to get into that. It's a little late for year 3 but you could try for the following year and take all of your anatomy and physiology, micro, nutrition, and psych classes at the UC. Also, if you are looking to get a BSN, you will likely need some chemistry, statistics, anthropology, etc. Look into Cal State Fullerton. It isn't the only CSU with a nursing program but it's a place to start looking. Just know that you will have another 2 years of nursing school after you graduate with the psych or art-studio degree. Is that what you want?

[kaolla56]

Well, I am almost done with all my GE courses for a humanities major (I need 4 more classes left) and I'm hoping to at least finish in 4 or 5 years at my school. After that, I am looking into going to an EL-MSN program once I get my B.A. or B.S. in the major I choose to do. Would the credits I get in the GE/major courses at my school transfer to the EL-MSN program I am looking into though?

[UVA Grad Nursing]

Kaolla:

I am the Assistant Dean for Admissions at UVa. Our Direct Entry MSN program has students with an enormous variety of degrees. Our 2010 cohort has those with degrees in ranging from microbiology to cinematography to industrial design to Spanish.

A&P and other classes are admissions prerequisites. The credit from your BA/BS will not transfer to a graduate nursing degree; you are merely meeting the conditions for application.

[Noelani]

I'm at SLU now in the accelerated program. We have ALL kinds of majors, including religious studies, philosophy, engineering, finance, and French. Like others have said, as long as you have the prerequisites, you should be fine.