Another advice thread

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MCrais

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Hello everyone.

First off, a little info about myself: I am 25, and currently enrolled in a RN program at a local CC. This will be my first degree if I complete the program. Before this, I only worked odd jobs with no direct goals towards a career. I really didn't know what I wanted to do with my life so to speak, and I figured getting a degree in something I did not really love would be a waste of time and money. Ironically, this is essentially the situation im in now even though I tried to avoid it.

When I started taking classes a few years ago I knew I wanted to work in healthcare in some fashion. I explored different options, and decided on a nursing program not really knowing what I was getting into. At worst, I figured I could get my RN and this would give me exposure to the healthcare field and provide me with a decent paycheck when I finish. Hell, I might even grow to love it.

Fast forward to now and I am really not very happy with where I am. I don't really like nursing, but the practical side of me says I should keep going. The one great thing that has come out of this whole nursing experience has been my exposure to the role of the doctor. When I am at the hospital on a nursing clinical, I become jealous when I see all the cool stuff the attendings, residents and medstudents get to do every day.

On the other hand, the practical side of my brain knows this is a very long road to take. Plus, I will have at least two c's from nursing school when I graduate. Ive done the calculations and I would have to make straight A's the rest of my undergraduate studies in order to be competitive(3.8 gpa).

Anyway, I am sorry for the rant. Im hoping some of you have been in similar situations and can give some solid advice.

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IMO a lot depends on if you can go to school full-time or not.

If you need to work through school to support yourself and/or family, I would get a nursing degree, work to pay the bills, and go to school part-time to finish the rest of your classes. I worked in a non-healthcare job and took 2-3 night classes at a time to finish my pre-requisites at a CC. I had a non-related B.A. though.

If you CAN go full-time, I would just go ahead and get a bachelor's at a 4-year university in an area you are interested in and get the pre-med requirements out of the way at the same time, and not worry about finishing the RN program.

Are you definitely sure you want to go MD/DO? You can shadow PAs and see if that's something you're interested in, or other healthcare fields.
 
First off, thanks for the reply.

Secondly, how would I go about shadowing a PA? I don't know anyone that is a PA or works with PAs.

Thirdly, isnt is harder in some cases to get into PA school than Medschool?
 
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There should be PAs working at local hospitals or working for local doctors. You could look them up and call/email/send a letter asking them to shadow.

You could also contact local PA programs and see if they have any info for you.

Getting into PA school can be competitive in that there are more applicants who want spots than there are programs... but in a lot of places the same is true for nursing ;) I looked into some PA programs and the pre-requisites were similar but for my state schools the GPA required was not as high as GPA averages for med school applicants, and applicants needed to take the GRE, not the MCAT like med school applicants.

Definitely check out the PA forum on here. It's a great option- you train in a medical model as opposed to a nursing model and there are a lot of directions you can take it. It's a shorter, less expensive degree.

However, it would also be a great idea to shadow doctors so you can see which role you'd prefer.
 
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