More UNA students choose nursing than any other major.

Of the nearly 200 applicants to the College of Nursing each year, only 96 are accepted, said Dean of the College of Nursing Birdie Bailey.

One reason for the high interest in nursing is related to the availability of jobs on the market for nurses, Bailey said.

“Nursing itself is a career where students can graduate with jobs. That’s one of the problems in the university setting now that we are trying to address — students going to college and not getting jobs,” Bailey said. “Nursing historically has addressed that primary issue — not only getting jobs, but jobs in the field in which students prepare to graduate.”

She said the programs demands and requirements from state agencies and accreditation bodies are just as high as the rate of students who get a job.

Since the required GPA for acceptance was raised to 2.5, applications have gone down, but acceptance has remained the same, she said.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the jobs most common to get under the major are registered nurse, medical assistant and medical clinical laboratory technician. The estimate salary for registered nurses is $65,470 a year, for medical assistants $29,370 and $47,820 for medical clinical laboratory technicians.

Bailey said nursing at the bedside is still the primary career for nursing students. However, there are many career opportunities to work somewhere other than in a hospital or doctor’s office.

“The main jobs are nurses at the bedside, not only in the United States but worldwide,” she said. “Other areas include nurse midwives, nurse antithesis, travel nurses, military nurses, working for insurance agencies, drug companies, lawyers in healthcare, and school health nurses.

Bailey said hospitals are always in need of more nurses, so many get a job in the area at places like Huntsville Hospital, St. Vincent Hospital in Birmingham, Helen Keller Hospital in Sheffield and Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence.

Senior Kimberly Young, a nursing major, said there is not just one reason nursing is the most popular program at UNA, but that she thinks helping others is one of many.

“We are constantly interacting with people on a daily basis from the day we are born and with that, it can become easy to develop compassion for the human condition.” Young said. “We don’t typically find joy when we suffer-much less when we see others in pain or anguish.”

She currently serves in the Alabama National Guard as a medic.

After graduating she would like to broaden her work in an intensive care unit for a year, prior to seeking a Master’s Degree.

Judson Harville, a senior, in the Nursing Program chose the major for several reasons. He said he enjoys learning about the human body. He said it is awesome to pursue a career in his interest, but also be able to do his job and help the people of the world.

“When I graduate, I plan to go to work in an Emergency Room or Critical care area. I plan to continue my education and become an advanced practice nurse,” Harville said.

Shielk Underwood, a senior, said she is finishing her nursing degree at UNA and wants work as a nurse in another country.

“I’d like to move back to Korea where I lived with my husband five years ago when he was stationed there with the U.S. Army,” Underwood said. “I would like to apply as a nurse at the military hospital there.”

She said she hopes to get other learning experiences from picking up on the culture in Korea.

“Then I would like to go back home to my birthplace, the Philippines, and teach or maybe build my own little center for the indigent people who live in the outlying provinces,” Underwood said.