Jr at UofTexas, want to be a nurse HELP!

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hey everyone, so I am a junior at the University of Texas and I'm a history major. I just decided a few months ago that I wanted to go into nursing instead, I had always felt like it would be too hard but I finally realized it would be worth all the effort overall, anyways, I'm not sure what my next move should be. I have NO science/math classes under my belt at all and I don't know if I should just jump ship and start all over from scratch at community college for a BSN because I have no base of science/math courses at UT and I want to waste as little time as possible taking classes that I don't need. I'm just not sure what the smartest option is so any advice would be appreciated!

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Hmmm... you are close to finishing your degree. I would finish it. College degrees are valuable things to have, even if you don't ever have a history-related job. If you have room in your schedule, maybe you can start taking some of the science in your senior year, then finish up at community college. There is also summer school, can you fit in a science class this summer?

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That is what I had initially considered, finishing out my degree and then pursing the nursing. But I got thrown off when reading BSN entry requirements on CC websites. If you can clarify, would I just enroll in CC after I get my degree and then take the science pre-reqs that I'm lacking and then be able to apply to a nursing program after I have completed those pre reqs?

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Yes, you can do that.

But if you go this route, just make sure the BSN program you are applying to will accept people for a second bachelor's degree. Most of the ones I've looked into do.

The other consideration is financial aid. It is harder to get financial aid for a second bachelor's. However, the financial aid people may also frown on starting all over on a new degree. I don't know much about it.

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Once you receive a bachelor's degree you no longer qualify for a pell grant. You can still take out student loans but most cc will deny bc they have a max amount of credits to qualify for student loans which is usually 90 credits. You can finish your degree, look into an accelerated program which many universities have and apply to them once you finish your science pre-reqs. That is what I am doing and I will be starting my accelerated program in May.

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Depending on whatever is better for you financially, you could also take the pre-reqs at your current school and extend your graduation. That way you would finish your pre-reqs and graduate at the same time.

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thanks for the input everyone! finances are definitely a big issue for me so finishing out my pre-reqs while I'm still getting aid does seem like the best option. The pre-req list that I'm following is for one particular accelerated bsn program, but I'm assuming that even if I apply to other programs, the pre-reqs won't vary much?

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I would suggest looking at all schools that you plan to attend. Microbiology, anat&phys, statistics, nutrition and human development all seem to be pretty common. I've seen abnormal psych, chemistry and ethics for a few programs.

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If you're a junior, I would say get your bachelor's but definitely take the 5-7 prerequisites required for whichever schools you're applying to (apply to more than one and make sure you take everything you need). You might push back graduating with your first bachelor's by a semester, but all your prerequs will be covered. Then you apply to ABSN programs, and you might have to take a loan out for that, but most are 12-15 months.

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