Importance of Minors when getting BSN

[jdelijani]

Hi guys,

I am going to be an official nursing student this coming August! =)

I was just wondering from a nurses perspective if employers (hospitals/doctors offices) are impressed with academic minors at all when hiring a nurse?

I am thinking of getting a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing with a Biology Minor and Psychology Minor. Only reason why I am considering minors is because every semester the core nursing classes are below full time units(6-9 units per semester), and I must be full time (12 units) to receive financial aid. I am currently entering a Bachelors of Science Nursing school in Southern California and I have the opportunity of getting both a Biology and Psychology Minor. The biology minor is only 2 classes (7 units away) because i used to want to be a biology major before getting accepted into a nursing program. Also, the extra pretty easy psychology classes help me to maintain atleast 12 units during every semester in nursing school.

So my main question should I get these bio and psychology minors along with my BSN? Does it give me an advantage/ set me apart when applying for nursing job at a hospital? Or do employers not really care about minors?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! I look forward to any responses.

[cleback]

Short answer--no, not really. The only exception I can think of is a Spanish minor. The others won't help you. Think of the minors as a personal achievement, not a professional one.

[caliotter3]

It is hard enough to get them to acknowledge the BSN. They normally don't show much interest in your minor beyond it being a subject for small talk. As for Spanish, they want fluency, not just a listing of classes on your transcript.

[jdelijani]

So true, Spanish fluency is a skill that is actually useful and applied in the field. I too got the impression that a minor doesn't really help. Thank you for your responses cleback and caliotter3! I really appreciate it =)

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

Employers might not really care, but you can take classes that might help you if you go further in school. Statistics, for example. If you can get fluent in Spanish, get that for sure.

[caliotter3]

I have had employers 'require' Spanish fluency after the fact. In extended care home health, clients are taught to use "Spanish-speaking" as a way to get rid of caregivers that they don't want. The employer goes along with their request and does not mention that languages other than English are not a requirement for the nursing license. This is especially glaring when the client goes along with a nurse for more than a year, then suddenly, overnight, demands a nurse that speaks Spanish. All conversations in the home have been occurring in English for that year or so.

As for other language fluency in general, whether or not gained from education, it is a very handy skill set that can be used to advantage and the benefit of all when it is not pushed as a means to take away a person's livelihood out of spite.

[adventure_rn, MSN, NP]

The only other thing I'd add is that your minor may be helpful if it applies to a certain specialty you're interested in. For instance, your psych minor may be helpful if you're applying as a new grad to psych units, although it probably won't be terribly helpful for med-surg, ICU, etc. The same may be true if you have a childhood development minor and you're applying to peds units. I minored in bioethics, and that background made me a stronger candidate when I applied for my hospital ethics committee, although I don't think my managers cared very much about it when I first applied.