3rd Year BSN Student

[USMCveteranstudent]

Hello, my name is Austin. I am a Marine Corps veteran and I am about to start my third year of my BSN. I have come to the realization that I ultimately want to be a physician. Classes don't start until next week and then another week before add/drop ends. If I change majors now, I should be able to transfer enough credits and have enough semesters left in order to obtain my bachelors in biology and put me on a direct path to medical school. On the other hand, I have the security of a bachelors in nursing and employability for life if I finish out my BSN, and then take the required classes which could ultimately add on another year. I thought that having nursing experience would help make me a stand-out candidate, but I already have 4 years of quality life experience of being a Marine. My question for you would be: Is nursing school a sound choice in preparation for med school, or in my case, is obtaining a BSN a waste of time if I ultimately know I want to pursue medicine.

Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

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[Entadus]

Hello, my name is Austin. I am a Marine Corps veteran and I am about to start my third year of my BSN. I have come to the realization that I ultimately want to be a physician. Classes don't start until next week and then another week before add/drop ends. If I change majors now, I should be able to transfer enough credits and have enough semesters left in order to obtain my bachelors in biology and put me on a direct path to medical school. On the other hand, I have the security of a bachelors in nursing and employability for life if I finish out my BSN, and then take the required classes which could ultimately add on another year. I thought that having nursing experience would help make me a stand-out candidate, but I already have 4 years of quality life experience of being a Marine. My question for you would be: Is nursing school a sound choice in preparation for med school, or in my case, is obtaining a BSN a waste of time if I ultimately know I want to pursue medicine.

Any thoughts or comments are appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

As you mentioned yourself, your nursing degree will not fulfill pre-med requirements, so its not really a "sound choice" as a sole preparation for med school. It won't give you an advantage over your peers with traditional majors. It will take you at least an extra year to apply, delaying you becoming a physician. As for if it's a "waste of time", how much do you like nursing? Does it feel like a "waste of time"?

If you truly want to be a doc over a nurse, becoming a nurse first is a more roundabout path to your end goal.
Are you asking for permission to pursue your goal directly?


Do you anticipate failure, and need a backup that's more realistic for you?
You need to speak with a pre-medical advisor/counselor for some guidance on a career switch. You talk about applying to med school, but that is step#397. Step #1 is to get an 'A' in the more rigorous general chemistry/organic chemistry course that you're eligible for.

 

[xDNA]

Dont do it, if you know you want to be a doc go biology. I'm currently a Nurse taking prerequisites and I didnt have my revelation that I wanted to be a physician until recently, but now I have to take 2 years of prerequisite courses for Med School plus still all the volunteering, researching, physician shadowing, and MCAT prep . So in addition to your 1 year left for BSN, you'll have 2 Years of prerequisite + MCAT + ECs. Nursing school is NOT a choice for preparation into med school. If you know you want to be a physician I'm unsure why this is even a thread? Go biology and get your Bachelors, knock out your prereqs, Kill 2 birds one stone and you'll have more time for the extracurriculars. You're already Military vet im sure you can stack your CV for med school immensely with that alone. Don't rely on BSN as a "back-up", set a goal and accomplish it. Succeed or Nothing.

Best of Luck and Thank you for your service

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

If you apply directly after nursing, many wrong take your application seriously. There's nothing worse than someone taking a spot from a real potential nurse because they are too cowardly to pursue their dream

 

[RNtoMD87]

If you're a third year, it makes no sense to throw all of that time down the toilet. Trust me, its nice to get out of school with the ability to make +100k annually.


MAYBE if you were a first year. But you're a year away from having a bachelors which is required for med school. Then you just need to knock out prereqs and you're good to go.

With your BSN youll be able to work full time while knocking out prereqs.

SAVE your Gi bill for med school!!! Wish I had.