The UA’s College of Nursing welcomed 54 new students into its program this semester. Only five of them are men.

Pursuing a career field dominated by women did not deter Christopher Anderson, Eric Bracamonte, Brian Corey, Daniel Rust and AJ Tio from entering the nursing program.

Since Tio was young, he had been taking care of his grandmother, which was a big factor in his decision to pursue a career in nursing. Tio said it is something he always wanted to do, despite the stigma of entering a traditionally female career path.

Corey said he was drawn to the diversity within the field and the chance to be a part of something that can make a difference in someone’s life. Rust and Anderson also said they have always been interested in nursing because they love to work with people, and are interested in the medical health industry in general.

“I have always wanted to be in the medical field and have a job that can leave an impact on people’s lives,” Anderson said.

He added that he has always wanted to become a nurse — it didn’t matter to him how many men or women worked around him.

Having five male students in the class was actually more than what Rust expected. Rust said he was surprised when he heard that five men were accepted to the College of Nursing’s class of 2013, and that he had gone into the program expecting only one or two other male students. He was excited to see that there were other guys in the room, he said.

For Corey, the male-to-female ratio came as no surprise.

“I wasn’t expecting more than just 10 male students, and seeing that there were only five of us was no surprise to me,” Corey said.

During a physical assessment day, the nurses participate in activities that require female students to wear shorts and a sports bra, while the men wear nothing but their shorts. Corey was the only male student in one of the rooms during a physical assessment day, which contained 20 other female students. By the end of the day, Corey said he had gotten used to taking off his shirt five different times. Incidents such as these don’t bother Corey, because he often must touch a woman in the breast area for a procedure, he said.

“It’s not often that I am in a room where I take my shirt off in front of 20 other women and have them stare at me,” Corey said. “It was an interesting day.”

The nursing profession has always been known as a female profession because women tend to be more caring, Anderson said, but it’s slowly starting to break away from the stereotype.

“I applied (to the UA’s nursing school) a few times and didn’t get in, but that didn’t stop me,” Tio added. “Now that I am finally in, the female domination won’t turn me away.”