Nursing (3+1 partnership with Allen College - Biology)

For students who know their career goal is to become a nurse; there are three tracks for completion of a nursing degree at the University of Northern Iowa: 1) the Pre-Professional nursing track, 2) the Health Sciences 3+1 track, and 3) the Biology 3+1 track.

Each program has its own unique features and can be a great option for students looking to pursue a career in nursing. The Biology 3+1 nursing track is housed under UNI's Department of Biology and students are surrounded by other motivated and compassionate students eager to learn about the broad discipline of biology, as well as it's applications to healthcare.

After completing a series of core courses, biology students are able to specialize in several areas of study. One of those areas is a Bachelor of Arts in Biology with the goal of completing a nursing degree.

While UNI does not offer the full BSN program, we have an established partnership with Allen College in Waterloo, Iowa where those in the Biology 3+1 track can earn their BSN. In this option, students spend three years at UNI working toward a biology major and incorporating the pre-requisite courses needed to move onto the Bachelor of Nursing program at Allen College.

After completing Allen's accelerated (16 months) BSN program or traditional two and a half years course sequence, all transcripts are sent to UNI to award the Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Biology.

This option is most popular with students who are wanting to keep other healthcare options open to them, such as careers in physical therapy, physician assistant, pharmacy, optometry, dentistry, medicine or nursing school. Taking many of these courses helps them narrow down what direction they want to go.