Associate degree first hurts?

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rhp123

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Just saw somebody post something about community college. I was thinking getting an associate degree in nursing from a community college. Since medical school is hard to get into and preparation takes a long time, it is easier for me to be a RN and work in the medical field first.

I already have Bachelor's and Master's degree from other fileds. I plan to attend a good, reputable post Bac and apply for medical school after I work as a RN for a couple of years. But does anybody know associate degree from a community college will hurt for application? or it doesn't matter, as long as one has a Bachelor's. Also, will RN definitely help for the application?

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rhp,

My 2 cents.........save your time and $.......with a BA and MA you should just find a good post-bac program and go for it. Unless for some reason you really want to be a nurse.......why bother? You are essentially adding 2-3 years on to your pre-med time frame. After nursing you still need to take the sciences at a 4 year school. So now you are looking at 5+ years before you can even apply!!

Go for it and good luck!!!!
 
Thanks for the reply. I am still undecisive. I prefer the way to get fully prepared (the best you can get) before applying, even it takes a little bit longer. But just try to find out if an associate degree from community college hurts or not, does anyone know?
 
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Originally posted by rhp123
Thanks for the reply. I am still undecisive. I prefer the way to get fully prepared (the best you can get) before applying, even it takes a little bit longer. But just try to find out if an associate degree from community college hurts or not, does anyone know?

rhp

I realized after posting my reply that I really didn't answer your actual question. Sorry 'bout that....

Anyways, based on your description of the situation I don't think an AA or AS would do you any good. Just go to a post-bac program and take the pre-reqs. The community college might be helpful if you want to brush up on math or maybe take an intro chem or physics class but aside from that.......probably useless.

Again just my 2 pennies..........
 
Originally posted by Tommat
rhp

I realized after posting my reply that I really didn't answer your actual question. Sorry 'bout that....

Anyways, based on your description of the situation I don't think an AA or AS would do you any good. Just go to a post-bac program and take the pre-reqs. The community college might be helpful if you want to brush up on math or maybe take an intro chem or physics class but aside from that.......probably useless.

Again just my 2 pennies..........

I agree with Tommat... go for the post-bac. I think it will be worth it because it will med schools that you can handle a rigorous workload and that you are committed to medicine.

GOOD LUCK!
 
Then again...the nursing field is booming. If you need to work and earn money during your post-bac...there would be no better way to do it than as a nurse. Their starting pay is quite high, and shifts can be found for all schedules. Plus, if you are able to get a nursing job at a university hospital, you could take all your post-bacc courses for free or at a sizeable discount. Plus, you may even decide nursing is your calling and forgo medical school all together. I guess it all boils down to whether or not you want to spend two years on a degree. If you want more medical exposure or to get a job in the medical field, perhaps an EMT, nursing aide, or phlebotomy course would be more appropriate. At most, these programs take 3-6 months and you could still work and take post-bacc courses along with them. If being a doctor is truly your goal, I wouldn't waste two extra years in nursing school. But if you are undecided about nursing versus medicine, go ahead and get your RN. Good luck.
 
Have you any nursing experience? There is nothing easy about going the AA>>>RN>>>MD/DO route. It seems you may be a little indecisive. Take these next few months to volunteer in an ER/OR with RN's and physicans. Then choose which lifestyle, profession and sanity-level you wish to possess.
 
I have a BS and am getting an Associates of Arts in Sciences because my community college doesn't offer a true post-bacc program. I had the same question you had. I don't want someone to look at my application and assume (by not noting the dates achieved and in which order) that I first got the AA and then transferred and got the 4 year. I particularly want the 4-year at my undergrad school to stand out because it is a tough school and my cumm gpa is low because of that. I am still going to get the AA, just so I can have a label for the past couple of years of all biological science courses (with 4.0) while working full time and being a mother of two. As long as you can explain your route, I think it would be okay.
 
just thought that i would mention that the "2yr" degree for RN's at community colleges is more like 3 with prereqs, and some of the prereqs have prereqs. If you have a bachelors you may have some of the classes needed but maybe not. Going the RN route seems like it would take you a lot longer than doing a postbac. Also because of instructor shortages all the schools in my area are a lot more competitve than you may think and because of class space you could be waiting term after term to get into needed classes.:( (I am in washington by the way but I am also a member at allnurses and a lot of the students are facing the same waiting list issues for prereqs as I am.) Anyway the main point is I would look into something else as RN might take a lot longer than you intended. I fully expect for my Bachelors in Nursing to take 6 yrs even though i am a full time student because the Associates degree part is taking so long (2 yr degree might take 4 yrs because of overcrowded classes.
 
I am going throught the same thing I have a bachelors degree. My GPA is not that impressive 3.05 cum. I am in a process of doing my Pre-med Pre-reqs.

I am also doing an associate in nursing. In my case I have to do it for some reason. My associate degree is from a four year school and it is going to end by Aug 2005.

My plan is to finish pre-reqs and nursing at the same time and then take MCAT. I am taking pre-requsites from a community college. I am not going for post-bach I know that would be ideal in my case but being an international student I simply can't afford it. I will take some of the pre-reqs from a four year school to prove that I can do well regardless of the school.

I am more interested in DO schools as their as their philosophy apeals me.

Althought I dont want to go for masters but If things still didn't work out then I'll go for one year masters program.
It good to see you rhp123 seems like I am not alone :) Stay in touch.
 
Originally posted by rhp123
Just saw somebody post something about community college. I was thinking getting an associate degree in nursing from a community college. Since medical school is hard to get into and preparation takes a long time, it is easier for me to be a RN and work in the medical field first.

I already have Bachelor's and Master's degree from other fileds. I plan to attend a good, reputable post Bac and apply for medical school after I work as a RN for a couple of years. But does anybody know associate degree from a community college will hurt for application? or it doesn't matter, as long as one has a Bachelor's. Also, will RN definitely help for the application?

You know, it might hurt just because you have all those other degrees. Part of applying as a non-trad is explaining why you want to be a doctor now after being something else. Nursing is actually it's own whole career, not just a stepping stone to being a physician. So first you committed yourself to art history (or whatever your other degrees are in) then you committed yourself to being a nurse and now you are committed to being a doctor? It might be hard to convince the med schools that you are serious (and committed ;) ).

Also, the classes you take to get to nursing aren't the same as the classes you take for premed. So you are going to take bio for nurses and then later have to take general bio, etc. So that's a waste of money. AND you are going to waste several years getting the degree, working, and then going back for post-bacc classes. That is a lot of wasted time and opportunity cost. If you want to be a doctor, you should work toward that.

Finally it's also sort of an ethical problem since there's a nursing shortage and you would be taking a spot from someone who actually wants to be a nurse for the long term. This also might be something the med schools take into account. I remember reading that it's harder to get into med school from nursing than anything else. I think this was in one of those Barron's books.

Trust me, you are going to be sick of being in school eventually. Personally I would not have wanted to extend my education any longer. Remember you will still have to do a residency after med school!
 
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