Pre-Professional Nursing
Your journey to nursing starts at DSU
Our pre-nursing curriculum prepares you for the next step in your healthcare journey. It includes the essential prerequisites for admission to most nursing programs, ensuring a smooth transition from your undergraduate degree to nursing school. You will be ready to care for individuals, families, and communities to help them achieve, maintain, or restore optimal health and quality of life. DSU will give you the experience necessary to thrive in SDSU’s nursing program and prepare you to help people in the medical field.
Dakota State University partners with South Dakota State University (SDSU) in Brookings, SD, to provide a clear pathway into nursing. Students who earn a Bachelor of Science in Biology or Exercise Science at DSU can seamlessly move into the application process for SDSU’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree. Because the programs are aligned, your general education and prerequisite nursing courses can be completed while at DSU, preparing you well for SDSU's nursing program.
Plans of study:
Aluma Spotlight: Sidney Fick Bonilla
“I loved the way I got my nursing degree. I had studied exercise science at DSU, which was a good starting path into the accelerated nursing program through SDSU. My academic advisor was great and helped me get into a couple more classes to make sure I had all my prerequisites done for nursing school.”
Fick Bonilla applied in spring 2023 and started with SDSU fall 2023. Her program was only one year long, so in August 2024 she graduated with her nursing degree and started her first nursing job that October.
“I am so grateful for that unique experience. It allowed more time for everything basketball related while attending DSU. Not that it cannot be done, but I have heard it can be difficult to juggle playing a sport in college while being is nursing school. This path allows you to devote time to something you love for four years with an opportunity after undergrad to focus on becoming the thing you will love the rest of your life, being a nurse!”
She currently works at Ophthalmology Ltd. as an OR RN in Sioux Falls, SD.
Aluma Spotlight: Olivia Ritter
DSU aluma Olivia Ritter said, “DSU gave me a strong foundation in my general education and exercise science courses that prepared me for the nursing program at SDSU. Classes such as Exercise Physiology, Kinesiology, and Biomechanics helped me develop a better understanding of human physiology and body mechanics that can be translated into patient care in nursing.”
Ritter’s advisors also played a key role in her journey. “My academic advisors and instructors were a big help in making sure I was taking the correct courses and staying on track. My advisors did a great job of directing my questions and getting in contact with SDSU if they didn’t know the answers themselves. Having people I could ask questions and rely on made the process of obtaining all my prerequisite courses less overwhelming when it came time to apply to nursing school.”
Questions?
Faculty advisors assist students in creating a four year academic and co-curricular plan, supporting you in finding research and internship opportunities and providing opportunities.
