Help I need information on double majoring.

[Dazed_Confused]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I am a sophomore at University and I have just been taking the basics.
I have come to a cross road where I had to choose my major.
My dream plan is to do Bachelors in Biology then go into medical school.
I was told you need a bachelors in whatever and then you can go into medical school.
Biology major sounds nice but what if something life changing happens and I wont be able to pursue that anymore, so my thoughts immediately went to nursing. Nursing will provide for me if need be and have opportunities for growth.
Yea its a back up plan some people may look at it as you where not committed, but it is a smart move.
I love it I was a CNA for about a year, I loved the nurses I worked with and what they did. But in my heart I want to be a physician.
And I know I can be. So, to not waste time I wanted to double major, I want to do pre med and nursing, save time multi task and get it done.
So when I mentioned this to my adviser she didn't know what to say to me, so I went to the Registrar office and the girls there where like," You really want to do this?". Uh yea. "Well you can't double dip classes", meaning if I take Chem 2301 for nursing I cant use that same class for Chem 2301 in pre med.
I thought you could take the classes since a lot of them are the same between nursing and pre-med and then just take the ones you need on the side.

And this is a concern since in Texas your only allotted an amount of hours and you can go past 130 hrs so if you double major they have to give you more hours to complete your course right?

So can you double major in nursing and pre med? Has anyone done it or researched it?
Have a bachelors in nursing then go for medical school, or how the hell does it work.

 

[BeornBear]

This is not a good idea. Either only go pre-med or only go nursing.

 

[Deranged Medic]

I thought you could take the classes since a lot of them are the same between nursing and pre-med and then just take the ones you need on the side.

A BSN will have very few of the premed requirements. For example, the chemistry classes required for nursing are peanuts compared to the classes needed for medical school. If you go the nursing route, you will probably need to do a post-bac, either formal or DIY, in order to complete all of the medical school prerequisites.

 

[PostDocCain]

"Biology major sounds nice but what if something life changing happens and I wont be able to pursue that anymore, so my thoughts immediately went to nursing. Nursing will provide for me if need be and have opportunities for growth"

Life changing could happen for the same deal with nursing. Do you like biology? If so major in it or find something else and that you like but will allow you to complete your pre requisite classes as free electives.

An example would be business. if what whatever reason things didnt not work out you would still have a business degree and could work for a company and make good money. Cant really say the same thing for someone with a degree in biology.

Also there really is NO NEED FOR YOU TO DOUBLE MAJOR. As above posters stated you wont be able to easily take your pre req classes from a BSN and you will just accrue unnecessary time.

 

[wholeheartedly]

I think you're worrying too much. How old are you? Are you really worried about something life changing happening? Is there something on the horizon? Or are you a little scared you might change your mind about medicine.

I think you should major in something you enjoy. It's important to note that there are a lot of shortened career changer pathways set up for allied fields like nursing if you do graduate and decide to go back. So it's not necessarily now or never.

If you really want an insurance policy you can check out clinical laboratory science and see if that's something you might be interested in. There's tons of overlap with the med school pre reqs so it was easy for many of my classmates to cover both without delaying graduation times. You get to learn a ton of cool stuff. It leads to gainful employment after graduation like nursing. It just doesn't privide the level of patient interaction you might've liked for nursing, but it's still rewarding.

http://www.med.unc.edu/ahs/clinical/about/glance

There's an interesting pdf at the end.

 

[QofQuimica]

Why not add on an accounting degree and some engineering classes too while you're at it? You know, just in case you have some tough tax questions in the future, or you need to build your own sedan out of safety pins and chewing gum some day, you can be prepared. :-d

All kidding aside, OP, it sounds like you need to finish your biology degree and move on from college. Don't get me wrong; I have earned many more degrees than what is strictly necessary myself, and I'm all in favor of taking classes for personal enrichment. But if your goal is to go to medical school, and you love biology, a double major in nursing and biology is an expensive and unnecessary boondoggle. Pick one major that you like (biology is fine), focus on getting straight As (or as close to it as you can), and make sure you are getting some good clinical experience (volunteering, shadowing, and/or paid clinical work). And when you go to apply for med school, really give it your all to make your app as strong as possible and apply strategically so that you can give yourself the best possible shot of getting accepted on your first attempt. Best of luck to you.

 

[jl lin]

I am a sophomore at University and I have just been taking the basics.
I have come to a cross road where I had to choose my major.
My dream plan is to do Bachelors in Biology then go into medical school.
I was told you need a bachelors in whatever and then you can go into medical school.
Biology major sounds nice but what if something life changing happens and I wont be able to pursue that anymore, so my thoughts immediately went to nursing. Nursing will provide for me if need be and have opportunities for growth.
Yea its a back up plan some people may look at it as you where not committed, but it is a smart move.
I love it I was a CNA for about a year, I loved the nurses I worked with and what they did. But in my heart I want to be a physician.
And I know I can be. So, to not waste time I wanted to double major, I want to do pre med and nursing, save time multi task and get it done.
So when I mentioned this to my adviser she didn't know what to say to me, so I went to the Registrar office and the girls there where like," You really want to do this?". Uh yea. "Well you can't double dip classes", meaning if I take Chem 2301 for nursing I cant use that same class for Chem 2301 in pre med.
I thought you could take the classes since a lot of them are the same between nursing and pre-med and then just take the ones you need on the side.

And this is a concern since in Texas your only allotted an amount of hours and you can go past 130 hrs so if you double major they have to give you more hours to complete your course right?

So can you double major in nursing and pre med? Has anyone done it or researched it?
Have a bachelors in nursing then go for medical school, or how the hell does it work.

People have done it, but those that I know that did it, even from good schools like Vandy, ended up feeling very pulled in two directions--b/c there are these things called clinical practicums in the hospital settings for each area--MedSurg, OB, Peds, Psych, Complex MS, etc. They are time-consuming, and if you have a bustybll nursing instructor/prof--and/or for some reason don't do well in the clinicals, you are out. In many programs, all you need is one bad clinical rotation review, and you're out. Doesn't matter what you GPA is. At least that is how it was when I went to RN school. Plus they are trying to prep you for the goofy way the NCLEX exam rolls. Some of the smartest people have problems with this exam; b/c either their core knowledge is weak somewhere and/or can't apply it, or they just don't understand how the NCLEX works--what the questions are really looking for.

Now, on top of that, you will have, say, your bio major, for which you will have to include all of your pre-reqs and labs for MS, and get great grades in them and be able to apply that knowledge on the MCAT. That's where I have seen some double-majors (with nursing as one of them) mess up big time. They'd even get nice grades in the sciences, but they were learning more superficially b/c of time restraints--thus they had a hard time with application of knowledge. I have seen new RN-to-be graduates that were also majoring in bio, chem, major struggle. Why? B/c now they are trying to prepare and study for the NCLEX and the MCAT as well. For most people--few exceptions I have seen, it doesn't work. They either pass the NCLEX and score low on MCAT, or they score well on MCAT, but then they fail the NCLEX. Failing the NCLEX means no RN licensure which = no ability to work as an RN. Now you can re-take it; but it puts you behind--and then you still have all those other pre-med hoops to jump through.

Yea, as a long-term RN, I'm not a big fan of the whole, "Do nursing as a back up plan," any more than physicians or adcom members would be super cool with "Doing medicine as a back-up plan."

If you want to do Bio or Biochem for undergrad, do that, and do it well. Prepare and do well on MCAT. You can still volunteer in an ED or hospital or hospice, etc. You can do some research. Nursing IMHO is something a person should study if they truly want to be a nurse--and really, it is it's own sort of art and science. I did. I have loved it and worked in it for quite a while now. I only learned after working in it that my brain likes more of the medical focus.

It can be done, but it's kind of like trying to ride two horses at the same time in a competition. One is going to pull a different way, no matter how controlled you think you have things. The nurses that I have seen excel in medical school and medicine are those that have worked for a while, first, in the field, and who were indeed committed to it, but then they later realized that it wasn't the more perfect fit for them. They don't or didn't hate nursing. In fact they loved many aspects of it, and this gave them an advantage for medicine.

 

[NursepractitionertoM.D.]

The concepts in nursing are not difficult to master. However, I will say it is a time consuming major. The clinical component is equivalent to a full-time job. I am a registered nurse and am in the process of deciding if medical school is the direction I want to take. I would say if medical school is your dream, do it right the first time and choose a major that will lead you there.

 

[Deranged Medic]

I think someone already mentioned this, but if you do a biology degree, then decide to do nursing, you can always get your BSN via this pathway: http://nursing.uc.edu/academic_programs/accelerated_programs.html

I'm sure other programs exist as well.