Despite being the smallest of the four schools, the NHS has a formidable presence on campus. Armed with some of the most overworked, scrubs-loving students on campus, the NHS comes with its own system of unique challenges and rewards. So, for those of you who consider “Grey’s Anatomy” a lifestyle as well as a primetime soap opera, read on — we have three points for you to mull over as you specialize in any of the many fields available to the NHS undergrad.
1. Odds are you’re a girl. Yes, the NHS does have the reputation for being the sorority of Georgetown, with a student population that is primarily female. So, guys, chances are your professors will love you — especially those rare male
nursing majors. But ladies shouldn’t despair – pretty soon there will be a new number-one man in your life: GUS. Otherwise known as the Georgetown University Simulator, GUS is a fullbodied robot that accurately replicates various physiological symptoms and reactions to treatments, and takes on the role of everything from a 60-year-old diabetic to a 20-year-old at the top of Mount Everest. He might not take you to dinner on a Friday night, but the hands-on experience will be well worth it.
2. Many of you will have to wake up for 6 a.m. clinical, so deal with it. While the rest of Georgetown is peacefully sleeping in the wake of last night’s studying, the NHSers will be rising with the sun, pulling on scrubs and making the trek to a D.C. hospital for clinical. This real-life experience of observing and helping professional nurses care for patients is a memorable and important part of the total nursing education.
The NHS also offers classes at the other end of the spectrum for the night owls among you, with some sections staring at 8 p.m. The slightly insane hours of NHS classes pay off, though — no other schools get to take gems such as Sexual Health Issues.
3. Everyone will assume that you want to be a nurse. The “Health Studies” part of the NHS curriculum actually comprises a majority of the possible courses of study, all dedicated at least in part to helping save the world. International health majors have the opportunity to go abroad in fall of their senior year to a developing country like Ghana, Mexico or Burkina Faso.
The health care management and policy majors also require an internship in the health care field to gain practical experience, while human science applies the science of traditional biology to issues of human health with internships and participation in research conferences. But no matter what major you pursue, at least once during your college career, you may be convinced that you will find the cure for cancer.
And one last fun fact: Since your schedule is so jam-packed with classes ending in “-ology,” the NHS is also the only school with no foreign language requirement. So if you don’t know Farsi from French, consider yourself blessed. Thanks to the relatively small population of the nursing school, each of its students acts as an ambassador to his or her fellow Hoyas. While we can’t guarantee the NHS lifestyle is devoid of “Grey’s”-esque drama, we can assure that four years scrubbing in will give you a rewarding spin on the Georgetown experience.
