Getting around the 18 y.o requirement

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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My 14 y.o daughter has 21 college credits and is currently enrolled full time in a community college. She would very much like to be a nurse but does not want to start an Associates degree in nursing at 18. ( All AS nursing degrees require you to be 18 to start clinicals) We know she can complete the handful of non clinical classes before 18 but is there a beneficial avenue in which she can complete a bachelor's degree before 18 and go back for a limited time after 18 to get the nursing done?

What is the best bachelors that will let her transfer to a BSN easily or is there another method to best utilize her time in college before she turns 18?

I just wanted to point out that in many countries, the standard age to graduate "high school" is 15 or 16. Here in the US, we generally go thru 12 years, but that isn't the case everywhere. Also, a standard college degree here is approximately 4 years; in many other countries it is 3 years. Oh, and medical school is only 3 years in some places.

Then it's also worth noting that in many cases when foreign graduates look for licensing in the US, nursing or medicine, they find that their education is missing components that are required here. Sometimes they can't pass the boards and sometimes they aren't allowed to take them.

Education, complete and ongoing, is a good thing :-)

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We've all been just talking to ourselves, OP hasn't been back on AN since the day of her post.

lol it's still a good discussion!

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
We've all been just talking to ourselves, OP hasn't been back on AN since the day of her post.
I noticed this as well.
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My gosh, there is so much more to nursing than science classes and clinical rotations. If a 16 year old came into my hospital room and started asking me my medical history, including my sexual history and use of substances just for example, I wouldn't know whether to laugh or be upset. Some nurses in their 20s and 30s have a tough time with patients, let alone teens. My message is: don't rush things. She has plenty of time. Plenty of time to explore school, healthcare, nursing and everything else.

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My son is 17, got accepted to an ADN program but has to wait a year to start.

He has 6 semesters as a full time college student under his belt and has chosen to go ahead and finish his BS in biology and then go through the ADN program since the one he was accepted to is ranked #1 in the nation among ADN and BSN programs.

In the meantime, he has gotten his CNA and is working part time in transport at the hospital where I am a med/surg nurse.

And he has done all of this on his own, truly. He filled out his own application for nursing school....I didn't even know he turned it in! He stated a concurrent enrollment high school at 13 and has been writing his own plan all along! He'll graduate with a BS in biology the same semester he has all his credits for high school graduation.

The thing about being 18 is that kids cannot be handling medications that are controlled substances when they are not even old enough to be held legally responsible for managing them appropriately! It's ok for her to wait....I know my son was disappointed but he is taking some classes for fun this semester and it makes me happy to see him studying world mythology and taking voice lessons!

It's great when they are over achievers....but it's also good to balance that with some fun!

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Specializes in ICU + 25 years as Nursing Faculty.

1. Congratulations on rearing such a bright young woman!

2. Your daughter's aspiration to be a nurse is admirable.

3. I have been teaching nursing in colleges and universities a long time. If you want your daughter to be successful in nursing... don't "get around" the age requirement, even if you can. (Although I doubt that you can.) Nursing school challenges students in ways that are far different than the typical "academic" class. Maturity and life experience are VERY valuable. The challenges and stress of nursing school are so significant that I keep a box of kleenex right next to the student chair in my office. That box of kleenex gets a lot of use! No, that is not a reflection of my being a Grumpy Old Bastard. (The "Grumpy Old Bastard" thing is kind of a smoke screen... my students would probably say that I am one of the most supportive and helpful nursing faculty members that they have encountered.) All of my peers have kleenex at the ready too.

4. I fully endorse the suggestions that have been made about steering your daughter toward a science degree before nursing school. That time and knowledge will NOT be wasted. Equally valuable would be ANYTHING that simply gives her more life experiences. Trans cultural experiences can be REALLY helpful.

5. One of the best things that your daughter could do in the next 4 years is develop competence in a non-English language. Certainly Spanish has great utility in the southwest US. However, there are other languages that are valuable too!

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