Change of Major
Our Traditional four year undergraduate Nursing Program is closed to transfer students from any other school. The only opportunity for current University of Delaware students to enter this program after a freshman class has been admitted is through “Change of Major” at the University of Delaware.
Process
Change of major to nursing is a very competitive process. Each year at least 135 students are admitted to nursing as first semester freshmen. The School of Nursing must wait until students leave the nursing major in order to have “change of major” students approved to join the class. Usually 5 to 10 seats may become available each spring and fall semester.
All change of major applicants must have a minimum overall GPA of 3.0 at UD and complete essential courses, as outlined in the highlighted sections below, in order to apply for a “change of major” into the nursing major.
If interested or considering applying for change of major to nursing at UD, please complete and email nursing-com@udel.edu the Prospective Change of Major Document.
How to Apply
For spring and fall admission, students are instructed to submit the form on your own UDSIS home page for “change/program plan” and indicate “nursing BSN” as the major and degree. When you click submit, the UDSIS form is sent to the School of Nursing staff member designated to approve change of major requests.
Deadlines are December 15 for spring admission and May 15 for fall admission
For admission decisions, applicants are rank ordered by overall GPA. Also, science grades are regarded closely. Those students with the highest overall GPA are admitted into the available seats. Students are notified of acceptance or denial of admission by their UD email. Decisions are made in January and June every year.
Essays, recommendations, and interviews are not part of the admittance process.
Change of Major into the Spring Semester of the Freshman Year
Applicants are required to complete BISC 207 and CHEM 103 or CHEM 105. NURS 101 is recommended during fall or winter session. Decisions are made in the first two weeks of winter session.
Change of Major into the Fall Semester of the Sophomore Year
Applicants are required to complete the following:
- BISC 207
- CHEM 103 or CHEM 105
- NURS 101 or BISC 276
It is recommended that students complete both NURS 101 and BISC 276 prior to admission if possible.
Decisions are made in the beginning of June.
Additional Information for Essential Courses Required for the Nursing Major
All applicants must have at least one biology and one chemistry course at the University of Delaware to apply for change of major to nursing.
If you cannot register for BISC 207 or BISC 276, you should contact Ramona Wilson in the Biology Department.
CHEM 105 is the general chemistry course that is only for nursing majors. Because admission is so competitive, it is recommended that change of major students take CHEM 103 which is a requirement for several other majors. To get access to CHEM 103, you should contact Linda Staib in the Chemistry Department CHEM 103 is an equivalent course for CHEM 105. Students may also take both CHEM 101 and CHEM 102 as an equivalent to CHEM 105. Note: Math 114 or Math Placement Test Score of at least to the level of Math 114 to enroll in CHEM 103.
NURS 101, Human Anatomy or BISC 276, Human Physiology should be completed before admission to the fall semester of the sophomore year into the 4 year nursing curriculum. NURS 101 is offered in the fall and winter sessions. Permission from the change of major coordinator must be obtained to get a seat in NURS101. The email address is nursing-com@udel.edu Also please note that BISC 207 is a prerequisite course to BISC 276. Both NURS 101 and BISC 276 are prerequisite courses for the Pathophysiology courses in the second year of the program (NURS 241 and NURS 242). It is recommended that students take both NURS 101 and BISC 276 before admission to the fall semester of the sophomore year. Taking the Human Anatomy and Physiology courses at UD or a 4 year college provides a stronger foundation for the pathophysiology courses.
If students consider change of major too late in the academic year to register for NURS 101 or BISC 276 or if out of state expenses for winter and summer courses at UD are prohibitive, applicants may also take courses in anatomy and physiology in the summer at other colleges. They would need to provide evidence of registration of anatomy and physiology courses to the change of major admission committee at the email address nursing-com@udel.edu. Many schools have the content divided into courses titled Anatomy and Physiology 1 and Anatomy and Physiology 2. Both courses must be taken at the same school.
For other non-nursing courses in the nursing curriculum that could be taken prior to admission, please see the nursing curriculum in the undergraduate catalog.
For a semester by semester view of the curriculum, please see the program webpage.
Please note that students cannot take nursing courses prior to admission except NURS 101, Human Anatomy, with permission.
Associate in Arts Degree Students
Those students working towards an Associates in Arts degree at the University of Delaware may request change of major to nursing in the last semester of that program if they have met the requirements for application. Verification of potential completion of the program must be provided to the change of major admission committee at the email address nursing-com@udel.edu at the time of application. This would be a letter from the student’s academic adviser in the AA program.
Application for admission into the Nursing major in the fall semester would require 3 academic years of study (in addition to the 2 years already completed in the AA program). AA students would be entering the nursing curriculum in the fall semester of the sophomore year. See the program webpage for the semester by semester curriculum breakdown.
Your Associate of Arts advisor should be assisting you in selecting appropriate courses to prepare for change of major into Nursing. Because the change of major to nursing process is competitive, it is recommended that students have an alternate major in mind should they not be able to eventually change into nursing.
FAQ’s for Change of Major into Nursing
If you are not able to attain a seat as a “change of major student” in the traditional four year nursing curriculum, you may want to consider the Accelerated Nursing Program as an option. Note: A Bachelor’s degree in another field is required for this program, so applicants should consider what alternative degree they would want to pursue.
PSYC 100 General Psychology, ENGL 110 Critical Reading and Writing, STAT 200 Basic Statistical Practice, NDTD 200 Nutrition Concepts, & HDFS 201 Lifespan Development.
For spring admission, the deadline is December 15th. For fall admission, the deadline is May 15th.
You should consider finishing your first bachelor’s degree in another field and while completing the essential prerequisite courses for the Accelerated Nursing Program.
Yes.
Yes, you should continue to take the required courses for your initial major along with the required Nursing prerequisites. Our intent is to keep you moving forward in your current major in case you are not awarded a COM seat into the Nursing program.
Fall and Winter session. You will need permission from faywood@udel.edu to register for this course.
You must provide evidence to Nursing-COM@udel.edu that you are enrolled in BISC 276 at UD for summer session or enrolled in A&P I &II at any other school for summer session.
Students need to be in MATH 114 or higher at the same time as (or have had it before) taking CHEM 103. If a student has a Level 5 math placement (calculus) they don't have to have MATH at the same time as CHEM 103.
After reviewing all information provided: questions are to go through nursing-com@udel.edu.
