first, yes, i'm a doc. i'm not a pre-anything any more. i've also sat on adcoms both for medschool and residency.
i've read this thread and am so moved i thought i'd share a few thoughts...plus, this will make a nice distraction from what i really should be doing. i'm so tired.
first, for ALL premeds, remember that it's your responsibility (a seldom used word these days) to educate yourself to the best of your abilities. the field you are choosing is one with the ULTIMATE in responsibilities: another person's life. as a doc, when push comes to shove, you'll be the one that another human being is looking towards for help. for the cynics out there, you'll also be target number one for our friends in the legal profession.
remember also that you will spend A LOT of time EARNING that responsibility; it's not one given on a whim. take it seriously.
that being said, i want to support two things earlier posters said. first, you ABSOLUTELY should strengthen your science background as much as possible. this means take cell bio as suggested and consider taking other advanced bio and chem courses as well. i know, half the people reading this will snark at my suggestion. ok, sure, you can skip that stuff, make it through med school and become a doc. so why blow the extra time and money and risk the gpa? i remind you, the med school prereqs represent the BARE minimum of science knowledge require to complete MEDICAL SCHOOL. the prereqs do not address anything beyond that point. and guess what? for the most part the first two years of med school don't either. in my experience, this translates thusly: whatever fundamentals you come in with science wise are what you're stuck with all the way through your training. the med school curriculum, while VAST, VAST, VAST in breadth, is actually not very deep. that's in part because of time (or lack thereof) and in part because it used to be damn near everyone going into medicine came from the sciences. that's not the case any more, maybe for better and maybe for worse.
either way, believe me, the "useless" degrees (undergrad or grad) in bio, genetics, biochem, chem, etc. WILL help you as a student and resident. and, MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, that knowledge will help you as a doc who has to spend a WHOLE LIFE sorting RAPIDLY through the literature to figure out what's best for your patient. the literature doesn't come from the nursing profession btw. (sorry, that's not a dig at nursing, just a statement of fact. for those who care, it doesn't usually come from the engineering or business fields either.)
it is assumed you have a solid, broad science background when you read this stuff. the stronger background you have, the faster you scratch out the wheat from the chaff. hell, if i could have, i would have done a PhD in biochem before starting med school for this one reason alone.
as for blowing time on this stuff, well, if you can't handle that as an undergrad then all i can say is watch out. trust me, do a little extra coursework now and your life will be easier in a few years. your patients will do better too. don't shy away from it and don't fool yourself, there is a difference between what's taught in a college of science and a college of nursing. there's a good reason for this. colleges of nursing teach what's necessary to make decent nurses. colleges of science teach what's necessary to make decent scientists. guess which one you're closer to as a doc?
next long drawn out comment... i really like one of the above posts that essentially says, "if ya wanna be a doctor, then go be a doctor." it's true. med school entry really isn't that hard if you put your mind to it. (some day i'll share my personal story...if i can do it you can...trust me on that.) even if you don't get in the first, second or tenth time, it can be done. and, to paraphrase one of the previous posts, "life DOES happen." if you're really certain you want to be a doc, do all that you can to make that happen NOW. it doesn't get easier as time goes on...your life will eventually intervene. i've seen that SOOOO many time and believe me, most of these people spend many years in misery wishing they had done things differently. sometimes if you really want something, it can actually be motivating knowing that there is no out. believe me, when you realize the size of your debt during school and as a starving resident, this fact (and maybe this fact alone) will be enough to put you through. because if you don't pay up, the "MAN" is going to come and put you in the poor(er) house. and no, if you don't get in, you won't starve. there aren't too many homeless people with bachelors degrees in bio.
finally...long comment number three. this one is directed at the pre-med nursing students in particular and again, not at the nursing profession. i hear (read) over and over how nursing training will leave you SOOOO much better off as an X-year or resident or what-have-you. sorry, it just ain't so at least in my experience. here's what you'll probably be better at:
1. blood draws.
2. starting IVs.
3. scrubbing.
4. navigating the hospital environment.
5. knowing the names of equipment and meds.
6. this is a big maybe...communicating with the patients.
if those "advantages" are enough for you, well, so be it. get the BSN, and please be sure to read paragraph one. for the rest, consider...we have people who do numbers 1 and 2. they are called phlebotomists and, well, nurses. will you do some of each as an X-year? yes. will it be your primary responsibility? no. as for numbers 3-5 well, those come real quick as a med student and resident. that leaves number 6. yes, you will definitely have more patient contact than your typical med student early on. but remember, that contact is something of a different nature. as a doctor you'll be addressing (and patients will be addresssing you) on a very different level than as a nurse. med school doesn't really prepare you for this either actually.
anyway, there are two phrases for what you're really hoping to gain advantage wise from the nursing program. you know...the "i've seen this treated before, i know what it is, i know how to work it, i know how to explain it, etc." stuff. the phrases are "clinical acumen" and "experience". and i'm sorry but a brand new nurse (like a brand new doc) doesn't have either one. they come with time. let me put it this way. give me the cranky, batty old nurse to carry out my orders any day of the week. yes, s/he is cranky and batty but s/he has done this A MILLION TIMES over. s/he really knows what complications to look for and what they present like, can really tell me if i've screwed up, can suggest alternatives, can get things done in short order (if necessary), can meaningfully explain things to the pt and so on. a green nurse? nope...just can't do it. lots of energy and cute to be sure, but experience? no. pulling a few night shifts at the local ER really isn't going to change this much either. sorry to be so harsh.
thus, for those who hope to go straight from BSN to med school, i think you'll find your advantages more or less boil down to the ones i've listed. and those will wear off rather quickly i think. in fact, you may have no advantages at all if you consider the other things i've said in this post.
at long last, one final word about nursing. if you choose to study nursing then good for you, it's a great profession. but do your fellow nurses and docs a favor: don't do it half-assed. because it's a tough profession too and to be a good one requires dedication just like pursuing med school (and becoming a good doc) requires dedication. so, spend some time learning your craft. if later on, you KNOW it isn't for you (and medicine really IS for you), then get your life in order, re-learn the fundamentals and go to med school.
lecture over. anybody still awake?
-drgiggles
