Pre-Nurse interested in MSN

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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Hi, I'm a pre-nursing student at LaGuardia Community College in NYC interested in pursuing an MSN to become a nurse practitioner. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from 2011 with only a 3.0 cumulative GPA. So far I am doing well in the nursing prerequisites though, with A's in AP I and II, an A in General Chemistry, a B+ in Stats, A's in General and Developmental Psychology. I'm about to take Microbiology, Nutrition, and Sociology. I have a 3.88 GPA in the courses I've taken since I went back to school after my Bachelor's. I have no volunteer or health care experience.

The trouble is, I'm not that interested in being a nurse. I'd really like to be a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner. I want to counsel people and have the ability to diagnose their mental health disorders and prescribe meds for them. I've always been interested in mental health.

Do I stand any chance of being admitted into a direct entry BSN-MSN program with my low cumulative GPA and lack of experience? If not, what would you guys advise? I'd prefer to spend as little time and money as possible, since I'm already in debt from my first degree, but I am willing to do whatever I need to, however much it costs or however long it takes.

Unfortunately the advisors at LaGuardia are difficult to see and not very helpful, so I was hoping someone here might have some insight to share.

Any guidance would be very much appreciated!

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Welcome to AN! The largest online nursing community.

You do realize that a NURSE practitioner is a NURSE.

Accelerate programs tend to be expensive and you will have to become the BSN...AKA Registered Nurse...to become a nurse practitioner. Nursing is very competitive right now and there are no guarantees of jobs upon graduation. Especially in New York

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

Direct entry NP programs are extremely competitive. I would get some sort of healthcare experience prior to applying. If you have no interest in being a nurse, maybe PA is a better fit for you.

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You do not have to have a BSN or RN to go directly to Nurse Practitioner. There are many grad schools that offer different ways of entry. The one in my area is called pre specialty entry and is an accelerated program.

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Thank you for your responses! MyOwnBlueSky, do you know how competitive the pre-specialty entry program in your area is? Do you think my 3.0 cumulative GPA in undergrad will hurt my chances, or are my prereqs high enough to overcome that?

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Specializes in nursing education.

There are also non-medical routes to counseling such as via social work (licensed professional counselor, MSW). They cannot prescribe, which you mention wanting to do, but they diagnose and would refer for medications.

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
There are also non-medical routes to counseling such as via social work (licensed professional counselor, MSW). They cannot prescribe, which you mention wanting to do, but they diagnose and would refer for medications.

This.

There are plenty of LMSW who counsel people and are great at it I would check that out before deciding to even get into a direct entry program; if you don't want to be a

nurse, go the MSW route. :yes:

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nursepv21 - while the direct entry route is indeed competitive, there are programs out there that will look at your more applicable/current work instead of just your cumm GPA. I am in the same boat as you (though my undergrad was a while back) and am currently interviewing at 2 of the 3 schools that I applied to. Everything else I have done is very competitive (4.0 in most prereqs, LORs are great, 99th percentile on TEAS, etc.). If you are willing and able to look outside NY - do so! I am in LA and there are several programs here that can get you where you want to be. CSULA has the ABSN to MSN with a focus of NP in Psychiatry that takes about 3 years. Many programs (and nurses I have spoken with highly recommend) will require you to have some bedside experience before becoming a NP. However that would only be a year or two and can be done while you are working on your MSN portion. Definitely do not let anyone deter you from trying. I do suggest you get some volunteer experience at least to add to your resume and to make sure you are headed in the right direction. I am currently volunteering at county hospital in the ER department and I cannot tell you how much I love it. I cannot wait to actually work there. Good luck and keep your head up!!

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I know that my instructors in nursing school discouraged going straight into an NP program without experience as a bedside nurse. Bedside nursing teaches you a lot. My instructors told me that they had seen MSNs and NPs working as bedside nurses because they had never gotten that experience. Idk how true this is or other peoples experiences, but it makes sense to me. Best of luck...

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Oh Lord.

If you don't have a desire to be a nurse, believe me when I say you won't survive the nursing program on your journey toward your goal, NP. You first must become an RN, and THAT requires a whole heckuva lot of clinical coursework....which is fine if you are into it, but NOT being interested in nursing...? A recipe for disaster.

Please look into the kinds of work you can do without being a nurse.....because I really don't think you do want to be a Nurse Practitioner, honestly. What it would take to get you there would probably make you very unhappy, and increase the potential for dropping out of failing out--both expensive mistakes.

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Specializes in public health, women's health, reproductive health.

You are becoming a nurse so you don't have to be a nurse?

It looks like what you want is to be able to write prescriptions and you see becoming an NP as a faster/easier way to be able to do that as compared to going to medical school?

I don't know what direct entry BSN-MSN programs entail. I am in nursing school now and if I didn't want to be a nurse and do the things nurses do, I'd probably be out the door. It would be A LOT of hard work, stress and sacrifice for something I'm not actually interested in doing or being.

I'll admit I'm bothered by people who don't want to be nurses going to nursing school. I'll have to examine the reasons this bothers me. It just doesn't sit right...

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Hi, it's not that I'm not interested in many aspects of nursing, particularly helping people, advocating for them, and taking into account their emotional as well as physical well-being. I just have many of the concerns that I have seen others have on this forum: I don't really enjoy the thought of cleaning other people's urine and feces on a regular basis; I'd like to feel respected and appreciated at work and it doesn't sound like nurses feel that way (you hear "bottom of the totem pole, blamed for everything" a lot on here); I work best when I have autonomy, whereas it seems nurses must often carry out others' decisions, sometimes completely against their better judgment. I'm just trying to pursue a job in which I know I'll be happy.

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