East Asian Languages and Culture Major ---> Transition to Nursing?

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Hey everyone,

Been lurkin' on this forum for a while now: definitely lots of great information here- great community!

I finally got to the point where I'm in need of a broad range of input. I'll give a lil background info:

-This coming fall I'll be a senior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and will be receiving my Liberal Arts and Sciences degree with an East Asian Languages and Cultures major come the end of that academic year.

-I began as a computer engineer but, honestly, that beat the **** outta me so I transferred over to LAS.

-Right now, the game plan is to graduate with my LAS degree and then find a graduate entry program in the Chicagoland area.

-As I'm finishing my major coursework, I'm also completing other prerequisite work for the various Chicagoland nursing schools

So, I've narrowed down my choices to three schools: Rush, Depaul, and U Ilinois at Chicago.

For now, I'll ask the most important question at hand:

Considering my major isn't exactly science based, will my major be a detriment when it comes to the admissions process?

My grades have definitely rebounded and the GRE's coming up soon, and I'm currently volunteering over at Carle Clinic in Champaign. I'm just worried that when the admissions officer looks at my major, they'll get this confused look on their face, haha.

Thanks a bunch for your replies, and I'm looking forward to becoming more active here.

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Don't graduate!!!!!!! That's my advice.

I was all set to graduate with a BA in Anthropology in December and lucked out by finding this forum. Folks on here told me that if you graduate with a bachelor's, you will no longer be eligible for federal aid. Instead, I added another major - a BSN. Even though I'm finished with my BA, I'm continuing on here and am thus still eligible for federal loans and grants! Best decision I ever made!

Congrats on realizing your passion. It's amazing how quickly it hits - I was all set with a focus in Medical Anthropology, about to apply to masters programs from Public Health. So thankful that I decided to pursue nursing prior to my graduation date.

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Just read that you're looking at... a graduate nursing program? Not entirely sure this is possible without either an ADN or BSN, but I could be wrong. That's originally what I looked into, too, when I still planned to graduate with my BA and go back, but nursing is a whole different world and that undergraduate nursing degree + experience is a requirement where I live.

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I don't know what the direct-entry graduate programs are like, but I graduated with a BA in Liberal Arts (I took exactly ONE science course and ONE math course during my 4 yr stint) and I was able to get into Nursing School. I'm currently in my second semester of a traditional BSN program.

I think your GPA and entrance test scores are more important than what you majored in the first time around. My GPA and test scores were extremely competitive. If you show that you can excel in science and math, I'd think you're good to go.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Just have to wade in here - hope I'm not butting in.

The OP's background education will certainly not reflect negatively by nursing admissions folks. Nursing is the liberal arts of health care. Our professional practice incorporates principles from social sciences, psychology, anthropology, etc rather than "pure" sciences. I know a lot of advance practice nurses & nursing professors with backgrounds in fields such as psychology, sociology, etc.... all very applicable to nursing practice. There is a growing awareness of the extremely important impact of culture & ethnicity on healthcare in general. A large hospital in my area has even developed Asian-focused care models in one of their larger hospitals. So you see, that first degree could very well turn out to be very beneficial to a nursing career.

These days, admission to most reasonably priced (non-commercial) nursing schools is extremely competitive - for a plethora of reasons that are outlined in many places on this site. Therefore, many of them are now requiring completion of all or many pre-requisites before even applying. Nursing school is a lot more difficult than other undergraduate majors. It is advisable not to try to take pre-reqs at the same time you take your nursing courses. Many "straight A" students are completly gobsmacked by the abrupt downslide of their GPAs after they begin a nursing program.

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Specializes in Step-down, cardiac.

I'm a second-career nursing student who has a bachelor's in linguistics and English and took exactly one science course and NO math courses in my entire undergraduate program. I am halfway through nursing school, and I LOVE it! I had to take a handful of prerequisites that I hadn't taken in my undergrad--two anatomy classes, two psychology classes (I tested out of them), and a math class. It sounds like you're already doing that. As long as you get GREAT grades, you'll be viewed just as well as the other applicants. At least at my school, all they care about is your grades and test scores--they give you a score based on all of those, and the 35 applicants with the highest score get in. It doesn't matter if your degree was in basketweaving or epidemiology. Good luck!

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