Any MDs/DOs/med students with a nursing background out there?

[vivre17]

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What's your story?

I'm graduating nursing school soon and I'm about to start taking pre-med courses within the next year, but I've found myself needing reassurance because I'm not exactly getting the encouragement I wanted from the majority of friends and family. Even my advisor gave me a hard time, which I find is hilarious.

So now I'm asking, what was your journey like? Please don't sugar coat anything!
No one's ever given me a concrete "why not", so I wanna hear about actual experiences from actual people who've actually gone through the same thing. Thank you!

 

[Siromas]

RN to MD Progress/Support Thread

 

[vivre17]

RN to MD Progress/Support Thread

You've been extra helpful today and I honestly appreciate it so much! Thanks friend👍

 

[brainnurse]

Hi, @vivre17 ! There are many of us lurking around here. This journey is really what you make it. We're all coming in from different specialties and backgrounds. I second @Siromas' suggestion. Check out the support thread for various stories. We don't have enough residents or attendings from a nursing background on the forums, but I know several in real life.

To address your post:
1. As a nursing student/future nurse, you might want to keep your desire/plan to be a physician on the downlow at least until you've found a stable nursing job with a stable circle of coworkers for reasons discussed ad nauseam on the afore-mentioned thread.

2. The entirety of Student Doctor Network agrees on one thing and one thing only: academic advisors suuuuuuck! They can range from useless to downright damaging. Read all the many, many guides here, talk to people who are on the path or a little further along it, then make your own plan.

3. Encouragement is hard to come by. We all feel you on this. That's why it's important that your resolve is strong. The journey is long and often tough. In any case, the online community of nontraditionals are here and rooting for you!

Here are my whys and why nots:

4. Why not? Because damn, this is such a long road with very, very delayed gratification if it ever does come. Also, it's an expensive road!

5. Why? Because I wouldn't want to be doing anything else. I could have literally chosen to have a more flexible, more profitable, more comfortable life as a nurse (of course, there are why nots for nursing also - it is physically, emotionally, and mentally taxing. It's a relatively thankless technical job). For years, I tried and failed to put med school out of my mind.

And now that I'm here, honestly, it's the happiest I've ever been despite how tough it is and how long I have to be on this path.

 

[murfettie]

a girl from my med school was a nurse for a bit. She is an anesthesiology resident now.