ADN wants to go MD

[holisticshrink]

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Hi! This is my first time posting my own thread, so here goes! I currently a pre-nursing student for the ADN program at Harrisburg Area Community College. I went back to school 5 years after graduating from High School. I decided to go for nursing because I am passionate about healthcare and the future of our people (globally) particularly our kids. They're our future and its up to us to build a promising tomorrow for them. I've always wanted to be a doctor, main interests have been EM,Orthopaedics and of course Pediatrics! Granted I've not been an active member in either of these professions but I have been given the opportunity to get an in depth view of what happens. So I decided to go into Nursing and take small step towards that goal.

My train of thought was this: Pursue and graduate with ADN, move onto a solid state school for BSN(taking any pre-reqs that are necessary for med school along the way) and work pt as a nurse while pursuing my bsn then take the MCAT. I'm only my first year,so gen eds are what I'm working on. Long story short, I'm wondering if I should just finish my gen eds at the community school and transfer to a state school to pursue my BSN and just skip the ADN. I am sure about getting a nursing degree as my BS because its important me that I have a useful degree should I not make it into med school or need to put off entrance. My main concern is Med Schools taking issue with my credits from a community college. HACC is notable school as far a community colleges but its still 'just' a community college. I'm also having a hard time wrapping my head around not working/ relying on loans to live after working and living on my own for 5 years. Anyone able to provide some wisdom/ encouragement? I'm more than willing to put in the hard work but I guess I need someone to tell me my idea/plan isn't 100% crazy! Anybody got success stories of going from full time workforce member to full time student??

 

[Rocketdog]

Something to keep in mind while you ponder your decisions: Nursing is geared toward a comfort/compassion/make you comfortable side of medicine while the Physician side of the "house" is geared toward the science/data/medical decision making side of things. Both sides have equal importance in medicine. There are a lot of professions you can pursue outside of being a physician or Nurse: First Assistant in Surgery, MRI tech, CT Tech, Lab tech, Medical Sales, ER Tech, Rad tech....etc.

 

[esob]

What are your support circumstances is really the big question. Do you have a significant other supporting you? Living with relatives? If you have your support being taken care of, then skip the ADN and pursue your BSN while doing med school prereq's. If you are sure you want to be a doctor, skip the BSN all together because most of the classes won't count toward prereqs, and many of them will be difficult and could lower your GPA.

 

[deleted480308]

Something to keep in mind while you ponder your decisions: Nursing is geared toward a comfort/compassion/make you comfortable side of medicine while the Physician side of the "house" is geared toward the science/data/medical decision making side of things. Both sides have equal importance in medicine. There are a lot of professions you can pursue outside of being a physician or Nurse: First Assistant in Surgery, MRI tech, CT Tech, Lab tech, Medical Sales, ER Tech, Rad tech....etc.

No. There is nothing about nursing that is more "comfort/compassion" than medicine. That's just a cliche'

 

[holisticshrink]

What are your support circumstances is really the big question. Do you have a significant other supporting you? Living with relatives? If you have your support being taken care of, then skip the ADN and pursue your BSN while doing med school prereq's. If you are sure you want to be a doctor, skip the BSN all together because most of the classes won't count toward prereqs, and many of them will be difficult and could lower your GPA.

I support myself entirely. My problem is mostly having a degree that is absolutely useless should I be unable to further my education into medical school. At least with a BSN I can move onto a MSN program or just work with the degree I have.

 

[esob]

I was sort of like that when I first started kicking the idea around too. I figured since about half the people don't get in I didn't want to waste 3 years pursuing a bio degree that would be worthless. I figured I would get a degree in engineering and then "try" for medical school. Somewhere I learned from SDN'ers that med school is really an all or nothing gamble. You can't really halfheartedly pursue medicine; you have to want to be a doctor badly enough that you are willing to be left broken and devastated if you fail. As the adage goes, if you can do something other than medicine, you should do it. The only way you will survive the journey is if you realize you will be miserable if you fail.

 

[Gastrapathy]

A nursing degree will not help you get into med school. If you want to be a doctor, be a premed. If you don't get in, there are short BA to BSN programs that will get you into nursing. It's good to have a back up plan but not at the expense of your goal.

 

[bulbosity]

I was sort of like that when I first started kicking the idea around too. I figured since about half the people don't get in I didn't want to waste 3 years pursuing a bio degree that would be worthless. I figured I would get a degree in engineering and then "try" for medical school. Somewhere I learned from SDN'ers that med school is really an all or nothing gamble. You can't really halfheartedly pursue medicine; you have to want to be a doctor badly enough that you are willing to be left broken and devastated if you fail. As the adage goes, if you can do something other than medicine, you should do it. The only way you will survive the journey is if you realize you will be miserable if you fail.

Couldn't agree more. Your response was excellent; there really isn't any middle ground, so one has to either internalize that in their soul or find another line of work.