I came to Saint Louis University as a freshman with an undecided major, and believed that, by taking a variety of classes, I would find a major I loved. Last year, I decided to declare nursing as a major.
I discussed my interest in transferring to the nursing school with my advisor. I needed to apply with a minimum 2.5 GPA. We signed the necessary papers, and she informed me she would let me know as soon as she heard a reply. I am a student enrolled in classes only on the nursing track, and was awaiting a reply until I received this upsetting email:
“We have received word that due to high capacity enrollment, the School of Nursing has put a freeze on all internal and external transfer students into their program. This means that any student not directly admitted into the nursing program when they were admitted into the University, will not be able to transfer into the program at this time. It is unclear at this time when, or if, students will be able to transfer into the nursing program.”
I refuse to change my major. I am extremely upset, and I am actually considering transferring. Students who have not declared a major as freshmen should not be penalized for the unprofessional mistake of the nursing school. Staying at SLU would be a waste of my time and scholarship money. I was not told from the beginning that this would even be a possibility, and if I had been informed about it, it would have drastically affected my decision to attend SLU. Additionally, this email was sent in the middle of the semester.
I don’t know what to do at this point. I will continue to voice my story until it is heard. This is unjust.
Cherish Scott is a sophomore in the University College.
JJ • Dec 14, 2011 at 9:22 pm
What is unjust about a program that allows people that decide to go with nursing and declare it before students that don’t declare until a year later priority? First declared, first allowed. Seems pretty logical to me. That’s how pretty much any program works. You’re not special.
Andrew Sova • Nov 22, 2011 at 12:03 am
This is a fine reason why colleges need to stop offering ‘undecided/undeclared majors’, there is no such thing. When you begin your college education it may be difficult, but you need to know what you’re interested in. This is why students take career and college entrance exams in high school in the first place.
However it also comes down to program demand. There are a lot of nursing students at this school, and every university needs to ensure they’re not flooding the market with new graduates. I’m actually from Chicago and nursing is not doing very well up there. Once the recession hit new graduates were over competing for jobs because the majority of hospitals were only interested in hiring experienced nurses.
Another issue regarding nursing is our health care system. Currently nursing schools are expanding the number of students eligible to enroll more so then medical schools are. And the fact of the matter is, if you don’t have enough new doctors keeping up with demand, then nurses aren’t going to do you any good. My advice to you would be the following.
Take your email as a sign to seek interests in other programs. Also, if you’re passionate about nursing you should know that you don’t need a BSN to get an MSN. And if it means that much to you, then try to transfer into another program. I worked as a nurse assistant for nearly 4 years through my undergraduate and part of my graduate studies. Nurses take the brunt of the health care work, if you’re not getting dumped on by a physician you will be getting dumped on by your patients (I mean that figuratively and literally). At times nursing can be a very depressing job, comforting someone through an inevitable and painful death is not easy for anyone, no matter how emotionally disconnected from your patients you are. Best of luck.
Andrew Sova
MPH Candidate in Biosecurity & Disaster Preparedness