RN to MD (already searched)

[Anabolism]

I've been reading and searching about how to transition from an non-traditional nursing student to MD for about a week now. However, my situation is a bit different so I'm trying to get the opinions of others to aid me in my decision.

I'm 21 years old and a brand new RN grad with an associate from a well known university in Ohio. I have plans of going to allopathic or osteopathic medical school. Ideally I would like to go to one of the five schools in my state. I'm not satisfied with nursing or advanced practice (CRNA, NP, etc.) nursing and I'm 100% certain med school is the way to go and I'm willing to sacrafice the time to do accomplish this goal.

My cumulative GPA is 3.8, and I've already fullfilled 100/128 of the BSN credits. I'm only 28 credits away from attaining my BSN. Problem is 24 of the credits for RN to BSN route is online (but fully accredited) so these classes will say WEB after their course description on my transcript, will this hurt my chances? Should I finish my BSN from another school?

Also, I have not fulfilled the 1 year gen chem, 1 year organic, 1 year bio, 1 year physics requirement. So I'm at a crossroads. I'm a brand new grad, I've got offers in the ICU for work, should I work part-time in the ICU while fulfilling the necessary pre-reqs for the next 2 years or skip it and dedicate the next 2 years getting my BSN and A's in the pre-reqs?

I understand getting A's in the 8 pre-reqs is important but is it 100% necessary to getting into an allo school?

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[Hoody]

I've been reading and searching about how to transition from an non-traditional nursing student to MD for about a week now. However, my situation is a bit different so I'm trying to get the opinions of others to aid me in my decision.

I'm 21 years old and a brand new RN grad with an associate from a well known university in Ohio. I have plans of going to allopathic or osteopathic medical school. Ideally I would like to go to one of the five schools in my state. I'm not satisfied with nursing or advanced practice (CRNA, NP, etc.) nursing and I'm 100% certain med school is the way to go and I'm willing to sacrafice the time to do accomplish this goal.

My cumulative GPA is 3.8, and I've already fullfilled 100/128 of the BSN credits. I'm only 28 credits away from attaining my BSN. Problem is 24 of the credits for RN to BSN route is online (but fully accredited) so these classes will say WEB after their course description on my transcript, will this hurt my chances? Should I finish my BSN from another school?

Nursing classes that are S/U or P/F do not count toward GPA for med school purposes. Graded (a/b/c/d/f) nursing classes are figured into the "all other" and "cumulative" GPA categories. If the university/college is accredited and the classes are legit then there should be no problems.

Also, I have not fulfilled the 1 year gen chem, 1 year organic, 1 year bio, 1 year physics requirement. So I'm at a crossroads. I'm a brand new grad, I've got offers in the ICU for work, should I work part-time in the ICU while fulfilling the necessary pre-reqs for the next 2 years or skip it and dedicate the next 2 years getting my BSN and A's in the pre-reqs?

I say work part time and take classes part time. Work will give you first hand clinical exposure, which you need on your application. Also you will become more familiar with anat/phys/patho phys. Things I had to study multiple times in school to understand make way more sense now that I'm in the real world and have real vs. textbook experience. But it all depends on how fast you want to do it. To get through the basic pre-req's to be able to take Organic to be able to take BioChem (required for many schools) will take approx two years (4 semesters). If you are taking only one or two classes a semester, you will take longer.

I understand getting A's in the 8 pre-reqs is important but is it 100% necessary to getting into an allo school?

Depends. You need to calculate your sGPA, your cGPA and your aoGPA. Then take the MCAT. Also, you're gonna need some LOR's, some shadowing, some volunteer and some leadership experience. And of course, a convincing PS. The higher the GPA/MCAT, the higher your chances of acceptance are. Simple, but still no guarantees.

 

[COMBAT MEDIC172]

Finish your degree, complete the pre reqs for medical school, take the MCAT and then apply.

 

[mzblue]

Honestly, i woulda said the BSN isn't worth it. I have my reasons but you do need a college degree for med school so if 24hrs is all you need, then go ahead.
Also, are you just making the decision to switch to medicine? like the other poster said, you're going to need the volunteering and all that jazz. Back when i was pre-med, i volunteered as a CNA, without a CNA license, and did a bunch of stuff for habitat and the rest. As nurse, you don't need to volunteer as a CNA, you can do other stuff as well. If you look through old posts here, you should find one of nurses and what they did. I know there's one post from 2007 where a bunch of nurses outlined what they did. i know it was 07 cuz i was on the brink of switching back to biology as a major.

In short, get the BSN as the degree of choice. Do your pre-reqs and ace every single one of them. You can work full time taking any courses. I worked full time taking 19 -24 credits per quarter as a nursing/chemistry major. I'm working full time as a nurse taking just 13 credits of classes each of them with a lab and doing a research project with a professor.
ICU is great if you have 1-2 patients, Pennsylvania has good nurse to patient ratios. do orientation and get into night shift. Even dayshift in the ICU isn't bad except you can sit but it ain't appropriate to read any other book except an old nursing book. At one hospital, i only had 1pt, max of 2 and dayshift was a breeze. pediatric ICU is excellent, one to one of you sitting the kids room watching equipment, i just can't stand parents so i do adults only. telemetry is ok for night shift, you get downtime after midnight.i wouldn't recommend you get into busy medsurg, i quit tele to follow the sign on bonus in a different state and the ratios here suck, Heck i wouldn't work in the ICU down here. Don't quit to do this full time, you only have to work 3 nights a week, plus you come across some nice residents who are willing to help you. Or seeing how crazy residency is might change your mind or make you more passionate about medicine. After you get one year experience, you can do a weekend program where you work either 2 days a weekend, i did fri and sat, a friend of mine does fri and sun and you get paid for 40hours a week. that should give you the rest of the week to deal with school while making good money. Heck, you can even do private care where you get paid 38/hr directly from the client and you can sit there and do your school work, my friend does that.
Nursing to me is a means to the end. Get into leadership positions in school an in the community. I did those in college cuz i knew i was heading to med school. i took nutrition for bio majors instead of the one for nursing. See med school as the end and things you do should be geared towards that.
Prep well for the MCAT, volunteer, network and utilize the resources here on sdn. And oh, get to know other pre-meds.
best wishes.

 

[shywilliams]

you are very young so time is on your side right now. I wish I had such a clear direction when I was 21 (now 25). Anyway, why don't you pursue a pre med or interdisciplinary major at a local college? If you do not wish to further your nursing education I don't see the point of getting a BSN. With a pre med or interdisiplinary major you can get your sciences done in a yr for med school. You can finish your bachelors in either of these majors. I think you should try to work part time and if the balance of work and school affects your studying you can always quit your job or work even less hours. You seem pretty smart and good at sciences if you got a 3.8 in your nursing AS. I admire that because nursing school is tough. Good luck with everything!

 

[mzblue]

Totally agree. I was going to say get a bachelors in Bio or something else instead. If i have to give advice to someone who wants to go through nursing for med school, i'd tell them to get an associates in nursing and get a bachelors in biology or something science related.
Also, you may be able to finish that bachelors in 2years with your pre-reqs included instead of doing your BSN in a year and spending another year completing or two completing the pre-reqs for med school. It's all up to you to make the decision. I only chose that over an associates program because i had a huge academic scholarship from the university and would end up paying less money than i would at a community college.
There are other things to consider. is the hospital paying for your BSN? if so, why pay out of pocket for 2 years for a different degree when they can pay for your BSN and you end up paying for the year spent taking the pre reqs?
i do agree with the other reviewer. Besides, a BSN isn't gonna change your paycheck. If nursing is a means for you and not an end, why invest any further. if your goal is to save money for med school through nursing, you can accomplish that with the degree you have now. If i had to do it over again, i'd have finished my bio and done a one year accel. BSN program. These are tough decisions about your future. Take the time to think things through. You're still young.

you are very young so time is on your side right now. I wish I had such a clear direction when I was 21 (now 25). Anyway, why don't you pursue a pre med or interdisciplinary major at a local college? If you do not wish to further your nursing education I don't see the point of getting a BSN. With a pre med or interdisiplinary major you can get your sciences done in a yr for med school. You can finish your bachelors in either of these majors. I think you should try to work part time and if the balance of work and school affects your studying you can always quit your job or work even less hours. You seem pretty smart and good at sciences if you got a 3.8 in your nursing AS. I admire that because nursing school is tough. Good luck with everything!

 

[Anabolism]

Right now it would take me just about 3.5 years to get a BS in the typical "pre-med" majors like Zoology, Microbiology, Chemistry, or Physics at my university and only 2 years to get the BSN + pre-reqs for med school (only 1 year if I did only BSN courses).

So I'm thinking of going with the BSN route unless it will really hampen my chances of getting into an allo school. Since the bulk of the BSN classes I have left are WEB based, I was thinking of working full-time hopefullly something like three 12's in the ICU (preferably weekend/night work). Meanwhile doing the pre-reqs for med school alongside some BSN web courses to keep me full time. In 2 years time I'd have both the BSN and pre-reqs complete.

Working as a RN would lend me the clinical/patient experience I need. I've been volunteering at the human society for about 3 years now, should I get additional volunteer work? I've got some mixed responses should I forget the BSN and just get a BS after looking at my situation? What kind of leadership activities or research would be good?

Thanks for everyones advice, all of you have given me a lot to think about and I truly appreciate it!

 

[bakanoisha]

I've been reading and searching about how to transition from an non-traditional nursing student to MD for about a week now. However, my situation is a bit different so I'm trying to get the opinions of others to aid me in my decision.

I'm 21 years old and a brand new RN grad with an associate from a well known university in Ohio. I have plans of going to allopathic or osteopathic medical school. Ideally I would like to go to one of the five schools in my state. I'm not satisfied with nursing or advanced practice (CRNA, NP, etc.) nursing and I'm 100% certain med school is the way to go and I'm willing to sacrafice the time to do accomplish this goal.

My cumulative GPA is 3.8, and I've already fullfilled 100/128 of the BSN credits. I'm only 28 credits away from attaining my BSN. Problem is 24 of the credits for RN to BSN route is online (but fully accredited) so these classes will say WEB after their course description on my transcript, will this hurt my chances? Should I finish my BSN from another school?

Also, I have not fulfilled the 1 year gen chem, 1 year organic, 1 year bio, 1 year physics requirement. So I'm at a crossroads. I'm a brand new grad, I've got offers in the ICU for work, should I work part-time in the ICU while fulfilling the necessary pre-reqs for the next 2 years or skip it and dedicate the next 2 years getting my BSN and A's in the pre-reqs?

I understand getting A's in the 8 pre-reqs is important but is it 100% necessary to getting into an allo school?

If your ultimate goal is to become an MD, just do what you have to do to get the A's and get a good MCAT score.

As for the online BSN, it is possible that could be an issue. I'd contact schools about it and see what they have to say.

GL

 

[bakanoisha]

Honestly, i woulda said the BSN isn't worth it. I have my reasons but you do need a college degree for med school so if 24hrs is all you need, then go ahead.

Yeah.. not "officially". But, you WILL get a conditional acceptance letter in the mail that says you must provide proof of all classes taken and your degree. It's an unwritten rule only so that they can break it on exceptionally rare occasions.

 

[mzblue]

Yeah, if time is an issue, that is your best option. That's why i said the BSN isn't quite worth it but then again, most meds schools require you have a bach. degree so if 24hrs is all you need, you could go ahead. There are people who've gotten into med school with BSN. People who major in english, philosophy, whatever get in. Of course they have good MCAT scores and ECs.
I mean by getting an online BSN, you're likely to find an employer who'll pay for you which means that you'll only have to pay for the one year you spend doing the pre-reqs. You're going to need a little more than your experience as a nurse and volunteering at the humane society to be very competitive. But then again, that depends on the kind of schools you're shooting for.
Weigh it out, you're young. One option would be to do the BSN while working and have your employer pay for you, you only pay for your pre-reqs. The other option would be to get a bach in a second field, spend a lot more time doing that and pay everything out of pocket. If money is an issue, that is if you feel you'd rather save your money for med school when a BSN would satisfy the degree requirement, option 2 may not be what you want. if you're just plain tired with school, take the pre reqs, kill the MCAT and work on your ECs.
Do what you think is best for your situation.

Right now it would take me just about 3.5 years to get a BS in the typical "pre-med" majors like Zoology, Microbiology, Chemistry, or Physics at my university and only 2 years to get the BSN + pre-reqs for med school (only 1 year if I did only BSN courses).

So I'm thinking of going with the BSN route unless it will really hampen my chances of getting into an allo school. Since the bulk of the BSN classes I have left are WEB based, I was thinking of working full-time hopefullly something like three 12's in the ICU (preferably weekend/night work). Meanwhile doing the pre-reqs for med school alongside some BSN web courses to keep me full time. In 2 years time I'd have both the BSN and pre-reqs complete.

Working as a RN would lend me the clinical/patient experience I need. I've been volunteering at the human society for about 3 years now, should I get additional volunteer work? I've got some mixed responses should I forget the BSN and just get a BS after looking at my situation? What kind of leadership activities or research would be good?

Thanks for everyones advice, all of you have given me a lot to think about and I truly appreciate it!

 

[Anabolism]

Thanks for the advice guys, I appreciate it. I'll look into the hospital paying for the BSN. So are you saying I should still do some shadowing to be competitive? I figured I'd need a lot more volunteer work, time to get started.

 

[RockGoddess]

Since this is my first year going through the application process, I can't be sure about what will work for sure or not. I also think that some schools are much more favorable toward nursing being an excellent experience in and of itself than others.

I would read carefully anything you can find from the school stating what kind of experience they are looking for. I am not sure that it necessarily has to be volunteer or shadowing. Maybe at some schools and not at others.

Part-time nursing would give you hands-on experience with patients, which is all that some schools are looking for.

I have a BSN, but I did not have an associate degree first. I went through an accelerated BSN program. I think you should get some sort of bachelor of science degree, but possibly a core science degree as one of the others respondents indicated, would be better. It would also prepare you better for the MCAT.

I took OChem and Physics after obtaining my BSN and worked; it was difficult. I think taking the extra time to get a degree heavy in basic sciences would be well worth it for the pertinence to medical school and, again, would better prepare you for the MCAT.

In my case, I believe it would have been better to take more sciences than the minimum requirements and, really, at your age, there isn't any big hurry, is there? Only you can say, but I would recommend the pre-med degree or Biology degree. And since you are already a nurse, no reason really to get your BSN if you are absolutely sure about going to medical school.

Also, some schools are more favorable toward web courses than others. Again, I would try to find out as much as possible from each school regarding those.

Good luck!

 

[blueflower77]

I could be wrong, but I thought it is a requirement to have a bachelor's degree in order to apply to some medical schools... If you are certain to which ones you are going to apply I would call them first and ask if you need the bachelor's. I am not certain if going online vs. in person is any different. I think as long as it is an accredited program, it should be ok.

I just graduated with a BSN and I also have a BA in Biology. I work in a peds ICU full time, but I have already taken all of the science class (as part of my first degree). I am currently taking Kaplan and have an 8-month plan to study for the MCAT... I think it's hard working full time and studying (truly) but if you can organize your time and stay consistently on top of it, then it shouldn't be a problem per se. That said, I am trying to decrease my work to part time to help when "crunch time" toward May will come with the MCAT and applications.

I would agree with the others, that you should really call the med schools where you want to apply to see if you need that BSN. If you are unsure if med school is what you really want to do and you may want to stay in nursing, then get that BSN while you can - otherwise you're stuck at bedside for the rest of your life. :/ But if you KNOW med school is what you want and you KNOW you'll get in (which I guess no one really knows until they try anyway) then ask them.

Nursing will give you a ton of clinical experience, go ICU - it's awesome - but I am a little biased. As for volunteering - don't do it in a hospital, I would do like a cause of some kind, or do some clinical research at work for free, something close to the docs where you could get a good letter out of it. Do something practical - something you'll enjoy and can really give time and passion toward - otherwise what's the point? I did a lot of stupid volunteering during my first bachelor's degree and I hardly remember what I did - but oh, my, I had a WHOLE list! And now it's wasted time because I did it for the applications and then life turned me another way for a while and what then? the time is lost and no use out of it.

Good luck to you and I hope it all works out for you!

 

[BrainBox]

I agree...

if all you have is 20+ credits to get your BSN, you might as well do it. Once you are done with that, start taking the pre-req for medical school and study for MCAT while working part-time. As long as you keep you eyes on the prize, you'll do well. Good luck.