What you'll learn in Pre-Nursing studies at UW-Platteville

Preparing you for one of the most demanding and rewarding careers available, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s Department of Biology Pre-Nursing program is a popular degree program. Nurses meet the physical and emotional needs of patients in a broad range of settings while providing care prescribed by a physician. With an increased emphasis on preventative care and growing rates of chronic conditions, there is a greater demand for nursing services, creating ample opportunity for you to excel in the specialty and career you want.

UW-Platteville also enjoys partnerships with other UW Universities, such as UW Oshkosh, that allow for a simplified transfer process for pre-nursing classes, should you choose to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Whether you choose to complete your pre-nursing courses online or on campus, you can build on your experience through student clubs and organizations, or undergraduate research. Plus, we offer a wide variety of campus support programs like STEM Living Learning Communities, mentoring, and others, that allow you to create a student experience unique to you and your goals.

Careers in nursing

Earning a pre-nursing degree is often a first step toward becoming a registered nurse, where you’ll help assess patients’ needs, administer care based on those needs, and maintain records. Studying pre-nursing can also open the door to a range of other exciting career possibilities in the healthcare field.

Common pre-nursing career opportunities include:

  • Caregiver
  • Emergency medical technician
  • Home health aide
  • Hospital transporter
  • Laboratory assistant
  • Medical assistant
  • Medical technician
  • Medical transcriptionist
  • Monitor technician
  • Nursing aide
  • Nursing assistant
  • Orderly
  • Phlebotomist
  • Research assistant 

Potential career opportunities with a nursing degree include:

  • Acute care nurse
  • Armed services nurse
  • Burn unit nurse
  • Camp/program nurse
  • Certified nursing assistant
  • Community nurse
  • Critical care nurse
  • Family nurse practitioner
  • Forensic nurse
  • Geriatric nurse
  • Home health nurse
  • Hospice nurse
  • Labor and delivery nurse
  • Nurse anesthetist
  • Nurse case manager
  • Nurse midwife
  • Occupational health nurse 
  • Oncology nurse
  • Operating room nurse
  • Outpatient care nurse
  • Paramedic
  • Pediatric nurse
  • Prison nurse
  • Psychiatric mental health nurse
  • Toxicology nurse
  • Traveling nurse
  • Wound care nurse

As you can see, whether you choose to pursue a career after studying pre-nursing or go on to earn a nursing degree, there are many options to put what you learn in college into practice, helping improve the lives of the people around you.

Discover by doing

Students pursuing a pre-nursing major at UW-Platteville learn both inside and outside the classroom. Take advantage of numerous experiential learning opportunities including research, internships, university events, and more — all designed to help you better understand and apply what you learn in your pre-nursing courses.


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