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- Thread starter Banner16
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If that's you in your avatar, I suggest changing it for anonymity's sake.
You can start by clinician shadowing, and non-clinical ECs.
You can start by clinician shadowing, and non-clinical ECs.
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Take the proper pre-reqs and take the new mcat. Come back and let us know your stats if you get that far and we'll go from there.
I would suggest working as an RN for a short while and maybe take classes and study part time. It will help keep your grades up and you can save up some money to help with medical school applications and future debt, it also may look better on the application that you have some work experience.
Also, I thought I was a good test taker... until I took the MCAT haha. It is a difficult test, study hard and you will do well though.
Also, I thought I was a good test taker... until I took the MCAT haha. It is a difficult test, study hard and you will do well though.
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Go for it. Do what will make you happy.
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Typically applicants with BSN degree have greater success after working in nursing for a few years then applying to medical school rather then a direct jump from an academic nursing program to medical school application. I would think that would even be more so when making such a major change at the very end of your program.
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You're still young so go for it! On top of that, as mentioned by gonnif, you should try working as a nurse because it may turn out to be a useful experience in being able to explain as to why you made to switch to medicine from nursing. I too made a huge jump from dental to medicine so dont hesitate to ask if you have any question!
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Just do it. You'll always have a chip on your shoulder if you don't- I know I would have. Good luck.
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If you want to jump over to medicine, I think you should start taking some biology/upper level science classes right away. If that is the kind of stuff you can see yourself diving deeper into (plus patient care obviously) then go into medicine. If not than go into nursing
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I did a full clinical year in my UG's RN program, that experience (amongst others) helped me realize that I wanted to go to med school. After the spring semester I switched to bio and did not look back... Start DO at the end of July.
Work as an RN, while going to school, maybe even PRN weekends if you want to school FT.
Best of Luck! Let us know what happens.
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This is a very very bad assumption. You will get your behind handed to you. This is coming from someone who scored in the 99th percentile on the nursing enterance exams. Listen to me. People who do well on the MCAT spend like 3 months studying for it 8 hours a day 6 days a week. Being a good test taker is not enough. I think you should get a nursing job also to get a better feel for the profession/healthcare before deciding to change quickly. Finish the prereqs before the mcat.
RN's don't have residencies generally. Although big hospitals will have 'Graduate Nursing' programs you can get into. The biggest hurdle for you is that you have no experience, and the only way to get it is to work FT for a year in one of these GN programs (most populated areas require BSN's now btw for GN's), or to go to somewhere more rural where an ASN would still be an option.
Another reason I recommend working is so you can see the full range of what being an RN has to offer. You can switch specialties all the time, you can take more school to do advanced practice while working full time (no other branch of medicine is so friendly to working while advancing like being a nurse is), also there are specialty programs like RN First Assist (helps surgeons IN surgery, not just followup), CRNA (Nurse Anesthetist, you prob have heard of that), Midwifes, Clinical Nurse Specialists, etc. All of these are advanced practice, and require much less time than DO. So I think you owe it to yourself to see if any of this can work for you.
But if your determined to never work as a nurse and to just go DO, then I suggest changing to a different bachelors and just focus on being a premed. Having the extra certification is not worth it if you will never practice.
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I 100% agree with this. I can't imagine trying to answer the 'why did you switch' without having ever practiced and yet having the ability to do so. Its better to not have a nursing degree at all and apply, than to have one without practicing.
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I strongly agree with the bolded. The people who go in thinking they are going to kill the MCAT have their @sses handed to them royally. I did very well in my science classes - including graduate level biochemistry, molecular genetics, immunology, etc, and I consider myself a decent test taker. I studied for the MCAT for 40 hours a week for 14 weeks, and still got a score that was really only good enough for DO schools. I am not trying to scare you away from doing DO, I definitely think you should go for it. But the MCAT is a tricky beast. Not to mention, at least for my CNA course, I specifically remember my professor (a nurse of like 25 years with a masters degree) teaching us things that I 100% know was wrong. How do I know? Because I was taking the graduate level sciences courses (stated above) at the same time I was doing my CNA. The content is a lot harder on the MCAT and in medical school than for nursing, just calling it as it is.
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Again, I strongly disagree with this sentiment that keeps getting thrown around on SDN.
How long you need to study to score well is very dependent on the person. I spent just under 3 weeks and scored 30+. I know many of my friends and peers at my undergrad who studied for 4-6 weeks max and scored high 30's. Then there's the hordes of pre-meds who insist on studying for 3 months during the summer with prep courses and all that - but I am yet to be convinced if that is actually as fruitful as prep companies claim- compared to if people just sat down, turned off facebook and their cellphones and actually got to work for a few weeks.
The MCAT is not a hard test if you just do focused practice AND payed attention during your pre-reqs. pre-meds always make it seem that the MCAT is some monster difficult test - when 90% of the material is something you've already seen before - in greater depth - in your undergrad classes. It is more or less about figuring out how to develop good test taking abilities -specific for the MCAT.
But yes 2-3 months of hard work can yield a strong score on the MCAT, but that is also why there is a problem with the scores being higher and higher these days - because students have the privilege( Yes, privilege) of doing nothing but studying for 2-3 months to get a good score. I once talked to a guy who studied for 4 months of 8-10 hour days, and it fathomed me how he is surviving in medical school - when you do actually have real volume to get through in efficient manners.
Yes, I countered your generalization with my own generalizations - it just irks me that everyone and their dog thinks you MUST study 3 months and take some prep class to score well on the MCAT, when it is truly not the case for both. Especially when people think they *need* to take a prep course to keep them on track - who is going to keep you on track when your actually in medical school? I can't imagine many med schools are babying people through - though i'm sure in many ways they are - but lord, i hope not.
** These comments do not apply to the 2015 MCAT, as I have no experience with it.
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How much of those 40 hours were actually productive doing work?
And before you go calling out nursing students and their curriculum - maybe acknowledge that your using your experience as a CNA. Maybe my understanding of the US nursing hiearchy isn't that strong, but isnt a CNA a step below a full fledged RN? Not exactly university level material. In Canada, nurses either do a 4 year bachelors degree, or do an accelerated 2 or 3 year degree AFTER completing their 1st bachelors degree. They are well trained. To say the MCAT material (freshman and a 2nd year university material courses) is a lot harder than a real nursing degree is a bit of a low blow. But then again, my understanding of the US nursing educational system isn't that strong - i hear you can get online nursing degrees? christ...
EDIT: So after looking it up more..yeah a CNA is more of a vocational training to becoming an nursing assistant - maybe that is why you have the wrong perception of difficulty of nursing. It isn't a real academic venture when you can complete the program at a community college over a semester in some places.
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Agree with the above, get some solid nursing experience under your belt before applying and while taking courses. I'd suggest ICU or ER, both of which would offer strong experience if you chose to become a mid-level instead. Also kill the MCAT and rock your post-bacc courses. PM me if you have any other questions.
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You better be prepared to explain why you decided to leave nursing and go into medicine. I mean...you better understand it and be able to explain it cold. Otherwise, if I am an adcom I would question your commitment TO ANYTHING. Are you just the type of person who is going to be a malcontent? They're out there and you need to convince programs that you are not that type of person and there are very specific and good reasons to make the switch.
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Aside from studying 40 hours a week, I was also working 20 hours a week as a medical assistant, finishing school, and planning for my wedding and eventual move 1000 miles away from home. So yea, when I was studying, I was on it hard, no screwing around, if thats what you were implying?... The reason I attribute to not doing better is that I spent too much time on review and not enough time simply busting through mountains of practice problems. I also think I actually studied about 2 weeks too long, as I was starting to burn out, which may have affected my score 1 or 2 points (enough to put me into MD territory). But all the same, my point stands, plenty of people go into the MCAT with the best of intentions and still do poorly, or at the very least, worse than they expected. My message was for the OP to not be over confident without having even taken the pre-reqs for it, let alone studying for the test.
Very true! I am aware that full fledged nursing training is for sure harder and takes A LOT more commitment than just a CNA. I am not trying to bash either RNs nor CNA's. What I was trying to point out is the science necessary in nursing is very different than what is expected on the MCAT. That is also how nurses are trained in America, so my point stands even stronger then. My experience of all this - via being taught by a well established academic nursing professor - she didnt know her core sciences (which is what is tested on the MCAT). It just is what it is, nothing wrong with it, just pointing out my experience. Doing well in the nursing field does not necessarily translate into doing well on the MCAT and/or medical school route. Again, I say all of that simply as a message to the OP to be humble going into the route towards medical school.
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This is getting out of hand. OP, you should use some discernment here on who you should listen too. Consider the sources carefully. I would remind you that I am an actual RN who has been admitted to a DO school.
FYI for anyone arguing a RN's science background, it is almost completely clinical based. No Physics, maybe a survey of Chemistry, no Orgo, no Biology (although A+P and Micro are common). You are poorly prepared for the MCAT as a BSN, and have to take extra courses even to make the basic premed requirements. My suggestion still stands that I think the OP should finish all prereqs, get a job, and study like hell for the MCAT. He will NOT have advanced science courses to help make it easier for him like Genetics, histology, immunology or any other class that a normal premed degree would include. This makes the MCAT much harder. Do I think taking the MCAT close to the prereqs will help? Sure! Will it make studying for 3 weeks a prudent and reasonable deal for a BSN? I doubt it.
FYI for anyone arguing a RN's science background, it is almost completely clinical based. No Physics, maybe a survey of Chemistry, no Orgo, no Biology (although A+P and Micro are common). You are poorly prepared for the MCAT as a BSN, and have to take extra courses even to make the basic premed requirements. My suggestion still stands that I think the OP should finish all prereqs, get a job, and study like hell for the MCAT. He will NOT have advanced science courses to help make it easier for him like Genetics, histology, immunology or any other class that a normal premed degree would include. This makes the MCAT much harder. Do I think taking the MCAT close to the prereqs will help? Sure! Will it make studying for 3 weeks a prudent and reasonable deal for a BSN? I doubt it.
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Your experience is not applicable to what the OP is going to experience. And whether you agree with it or not, there is a reason that the SDN thinks that, and it is NOT that everyone is just lazy and can't stay off facebook....
Wait a second... is this one of those humblebrag things....
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Your experience is not applicable to what the OP is going to experience. And whether you agree with it or not, there is a reason that the SDN thinks that, and it is NOT that everyone is just lazy and can't stay off facebook....
Wait a second... is this one of those humblebrag things....
Yea I didnt even see his first big post. I would not have even responded had I seen it.
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And with that I am out of this thread, dont even bother responding UBC2014.
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OP, you're only 20, get some real life experience. Use your RN as a lever to make connections and get some awesome LORs and create a knowledge base to make med school easy (easier?) for you. We have an RN and a PA in my DO class and they both knew an incredible amount of clinical information coming in. On top of that they already have their clinical skills down pat. I imagine they are going to rock rotations too because they've seen a lot of stuff and they have a general idea of how hospitals work. Rocking rotations--> good LORs--> better shot at residency of choice. It's obviously possible to rock rotations without having been an RN first, but it puts you at such a huge advantage. With all of the knowledge I have now as an MS2 if I were in you're position I would 100% be an RN for a few years and then apply to med school.
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Why not do both? Finish your nursing degree, get a job part-time, and go back and spend a year/two taking the pre-med pre-reqs so you understand the MCAT material better? Or if you don't want to retake pre-reqs you've already finished, spend the time really studying for the MCAT and dominate it. I wouldn't rely on nursing classes or your test-taking ability to prepare you for the MCAT. I know many people that studied less than a month and scored well over 30, but they all also did very well in their pre-med courses.The worst thing you could do is be cocky about the MCAT, get a bad/mediocre score, and need to retake it.
I'd also say working as a nurse will give you far better exposure to medicine than shadowing physicians or volunteering unless you're putting in a ton of hours regularly. Plus you'll be making money while you rack up EC hours, and money is far more of a factor than most people realize at your age. Like you said, you're only 20, there's no reason to rush into something when you can take the time to make your application superb.
Can't we just say that the MCAT is unlike any other exam any of us have ever taken, and previous academic and testing success have little bearing to how well you'll handle the MCAT? We don't need to get into an argument over how hard people study...
I think the whole point here for the OP is just this: Don't *count* on doing well on the MCAT. It may be easy for you. It may be a huge struggle. But right now it is impossible to tell.
And with that I don't really have anything else to add. Lots of good advice here! Good luck, OP.
I think the whole point here for the OP is just this: Don't *count* on doing well on the MCAT. It may be easy for you. It may be a huge struggle. But right now it is impossible to tell.
And with that I don't really have anything else to add. Lots of good advice here! Good luck, OP.
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Fair enough, it seems the US nursing system is very different than the Canadian system.
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Definitely not a humblebrag. Maybe just being in the Canadian system has skewed my norms? I'm definitely a below average student- my stats speak to that. The only reason I'm above 3.0 cgpa is grade replacment. My pre req average without retakes is a C+ at best.Your experience is not applicable to what the OP is going to experience. And whether you agree with it or not, there is a reason that the SDN thinks that, and it is NOT that everyone is just lazy and can't stay off facebook....
Wait a second... is this one of those humblebrag things....
My best guess is that my own educational experiences are biasing my viewpoint- I will wholley admit that. To most people I know or hear of through the grape vine(and I went to a big state university of 40,000 students) its pretty uncommon to score below the 10s on the sciences if you had a B+ and above average(which is really good) in your science pre reqs. The verbal is usually the toughest.
At this point I'm just rambling trying to rationalize why this thought is so engrained haha. Did not intend to offend but rather understand "why".
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Fair enough, I wasn't aware the full fledged RN programs were that less academic compared to the Canadian counterparts. That is my mistake.Your experience is not applicable to what the OP is going to experience. And whether you agree with it or not, there is a reason that the SDN thinks that, and it is NOT that everyone is just lazy and can't stay off facebook....
Wait a second... is this one of those humblebrag things....
But even then if the OP takes the full series of pre reqs at a CC then my statement stands.
Also someone mentioned upper levels sciences- if they were necessary to do well, then they would be required. Do they give a leg up? Well obviously. But not necessary to understand the fundamental concepts from the freshman series.
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Here's my opinion...
I would recommend working at least a year and then making the switch. That way you can say hey, I still want a lifelong career in patient care, but with my professional clinical experience I realized I want to practice as a physician does and not like a nurse. You really should've made that jump from several years of clinical experience to physician but now that you're on the nursing path I think it'd just be easier to try it for a year and say I definitely want to be in healthcare just not this area.
Going straight from nursing school to medical school application what can you possibly say? I realized in my nursing student experience that I'd prefer to be a physician? I'd argue that student experience in any healthcare field be it student nurse or medical student you really don't have that strong of a grasp of what practicing entails until you are fully in it and doing it yourself. So I would counter by saying when you're a nursing student there's so much more going on than you realize. So it's hard to say you have a full understanding of what being a nurse is all about and therefore you're switch is unfounded imo. When I was in nursing school my rotations gave me the tiniest idea of what nursing was like. It's so much more different once you're out on your own. Then you'll really understand what your job is and what it will be like in the future and you can then make an informed/experienced decision to switch.
I would recommend working at least a year and then making the switch. That way you can say hey, I still want a lifelong career in patient care, but with my professional clinical experience I realized I want to practice as a physician does and not like a nurse. You really should've made that jump from several years of clinical experience to physician but now that you're on the nursing path I think it'd just be easier to try it for a year and say I definitely want to be in healthcare just not this area.
Going straight from nursing school to medical school application what can you possibly say? I realized in my nursing student experience that I'd prefer to be a physician? I'd argue that student experience in any healthcare field be it student nurse or medical student you really don't have that strong of a grasp of what practicing entails until you are fully in it and doing it yourself. So I would counter by saying when you're a nursing student there's so much more going on than you realize. So it's hard to say you have a full understanding of what being a nurse is all about and therefore you're switch is unfounded imo. When I was in nursing school my rotations gave me the tiniest idea of what nursing was like. It's so much more different once you're out on your own. Then you'll really understand what your job is and what it will be like in the future and you can then make an informed/experienced decision to switch.
Thanks buddy
Thank you friend!
your post was helpful. congrats on your RN to DO acceptance, i am sure you will do great. everyone's points about different sciences being required are valid and that is something i have heavily considered, studying "like hell" for the mcat is definitely the top of my priority list, but thank you for the encouragement.
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