Current nurse applying in June, advice appreciated.

[Chardeemacdennis60]

Hello all,

First I will introduce myself and explain what I have done thus far in my application journey. I am currently a full-time registered nurse that will soon turn 26 years old and will therefore be 27 as an M1 if I matriculate after this coming application cycle. I graduated in 2016 from Ohio State with my BSN and have been working in the hospital's Surgical Intensive Care unit as a bedside nurse since graduation. My plan since going to nursing school was to fast-track myself to CRNA school and I was in the process of applying when I had my "epiphany" in 2017 and decided to re-enroll in undergraduate courses to fulfill prerequisites for medical school (I will leave out why I decided to make this change but will gladly talk about it in this thread if anyone is interested). Since 2017 I have been working as a nurse full-time and taking undergraduate classes part-time and I will be done with the 50 credits of perquisites I needed to take after this fall semester is completed. As I mentioned, I will be applying to medical school this coming cycle and have been getting my ducks in a row to prepare for this and I appreciate any advice and suggestions you may have for me.

GPA: 3.85 cumulative, similar core science GPA but exact has not been determined at this time.

MCAT: taking this coming April

Clinical Experience: worked full time as a nurses aid in undergrad, full time nurse since graduation. Roughly +10,000 direct patient care experience through these two roles.

Volunteer Experience: In undergrad I was a volunteer tutor through the college of nursing. Since 2017 I have been actively volunteering in 3 separate free clinics as a RN and will likely have +500 volunteer hours at the time of application. Some miscellaneous volunteer experience is I was a foster parent for a greyhound dog rescue for a month, should I count this?

Research: research experience has been the most difficult tenet of my application to improve on as I am limited due to my role through the university and jammed schedule. I took a genomic sequencing research elective as part of my post-grad coursework and have roughly 70 hours of experience through this which included analyzing and determining the genetic code of an unknown organism. I have just begun an unpaid clinical research position through the hospital which should provide me with roughly 50 hours of experience +publication by time of application, but this is still in the works.

Leadership: during undergrad I was the president of a large +300 member student organization and a mentor through the college of nursing. After graduation I have been actively involved on my nursing unit and traveled to a nursing conference to present a poster on behalf of my unit in 2017 which won an award. On top of this I am a preceptor to new employees and therefore have a direct, active role and training new staff.

Please let me know where you think I can improve my application to make it as competitive as I can. I have sacrificed a great deal to prepare myself for this application and have many a sleepless night worrying about my strengths and weaknesses.

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[RNthenDoc]

Do lots of practice questions for your MCAT, do a few practice tests, and only take the real deal when you are scoring where you want to be on them (>510 ideally). I think you’ll have a great shot!

I have a similar work history and have not regretted my decision thus far (I’m just an M2, though)

 

[Chardeemacdennis60]

Do lots of practice questions for your MCAT, do a few practice tests, and only take the real deal when you are scoring where you want to be on them (>510 ideally). I think you’ll have a great shot!

I have a similar work history and have not regretted my decision thus far (I’m just an M2, though)

Thanks for the advice! It has been quite the road so far but I am very proud with how far I have made it. I have started content review for the MCAT using Kaplan and have purchased the uWorld test bank to prepare for the practice tests. Plan is for content review until this winter and then start drilling the practice tests one per week until the real deal in the spring.

 

[RNthenDoc]

You are going to crush it!
I didn’t take the MCAT seriously enough, and that was a major hindrance to my app cycle. Everything worked out great in the end, but I troll this forum to keep people from repeating my mistake.

 

[gyngyn]

The MCAT will determine your fate. Take it seriously (and only when you are confident of a score consistent with success).

 

[Chardeemacdennis60]

The MCAT will determine your fate. Take it seriously (and only when you are confident of a score consistent with success).

Thanks for your response. I pretty much understand at this point that the MCAT controls my destiny (no pressure). For example, if I were to manage a 515 what sort of schools would be reasonable?

 

[gyngyn]

Your state publics and all the private schools with an MCAT around 515 (start with local geography and fan out).

 

[Chardeemacdennis60]

Your state publics and all the private schools with an MCAT around 515 (start with local geography and fan out).

Thanks for your advice.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

Thanks for your response. I pretty much understand at this point that the MCAT controls my destiny (no pressure). For example, if I were to manage a 515 what sort of schools would be reasonable?

Purchase a subscription to Medical School Admissions Requirements database (MSAR) so you can start putting together different school lists for different MCAT contingencies. It’s cheap and will be a very useful resource for you leading into your application cycle.

Also, it’s kind of fun to start digging into the MSAR and begin picturing yourself as a medical student at the schools

 

[DO_or_Die]

I am an RN as well that is interviewing this cycle currently. You application is solid. I did not see if you have mentioned that you've shadowed, I had called several schools when I was beginning this process and said that I should just to check off that box, so I ended up shadowing for ~97 hours between one of the attendings that I work with and a physician in the ED. You could definitely get by with only 40-50hours. The biggest thing that you need to do well on is the MCAT, I would suggest uworld for practice problems as well as kaplan, for full length exams I felt that Next Step was pretty comparable to my MCAT and save the AAMC tests until the last month for testing. I did not take biochem before my MCAT and felt that my score suffered pretty heavily because of it, so I would take biochem I if you have not already. RNthenDoc gave me some solid advice as well when I was just beginning this arduous pre med task and now I'm almost at the gates. You will be, too. Good luck! (As far as your age, I will be a 27 M1 as well, so no worries).

 

[Chardeemacdennis60]

I am an RN as well that is interviewing this cycle currently. You application is solid. I did not see if you have mentioned that you've shadowed, I had called several schools when I was beginning this process and said that I should just to check off that box, so I ended up shadowing for ~97 hours between one of the attendings that I work with and a physician in the ED. You could definitely get by with only 40-50hours. The biggest thing that you need to do well on is the MCAT, I would suggest uworld for practice problems as well as kaplan, for full length exams I felt that Next Step was pretty comparable to my MCAT and save the AAMC tests until the last month for testing. I did not take biochem before my MCAT and felt that my score suffered pretty heavily because of it, so I would take biochem I if you have not already. RNthenDoc gave me some solid advice as well when I was just beginning this arduous pre med task and now I'm almost at the gates. You will be, too. Good luck! (As far as your age, I will be a 27 M1 as well, so no worries).

Thanks for your advice! I actually just finished taking biochem over the summer, I had met with an admissions counselor and she had recommended doing that prior to taking the MCAT as had others. It seems so silly to get shadowing hours but I understand the pre-med "game" and will try to get as many hours as I can fit prior to my application. I actually have a uWorld and Kaplan books I have been using them together for content review prior to taking the full length exams. Good luck to you! Have you interviewed anywhere yet?

 

[DO_or_Die]

Thanks for your advice! I actually just finished taking biochem over the summer, I had met with an admissions counselor and she had recommended doing that prior to taking the MCAT as had others. It seems so silly to get shadowing hours but I understand the pre-med "game" and will try to get as many hours as I can fit prior to my application. I actually have a uWorld and Kaplan books I have been using them together for content review prior to taking the full length exams. Good luck to you! Have you interviewed anywhere yet?

I have my first interview in kansas within the next few weeks! =) Also I forgot to mention as far as letters of recommendation you should get a committee letter from your university if you can. For my school they wanted 3 letters of recommendation from professors/MD and I had a short interview but they will write you a letter where the school will either recommend or not recommend you, but this letter met every letter requirement that the different schools had. You should begin asking an attending that you work with for a letter if you have good report with any of them and then 1-2 science professors. I applied both MD and DO so I made sure to get a letter from each type of physician.

 

[CanIMakeIt]

First things first - It is "THE" Ohio State j/k
We may have crossed path in SICU on consults a lot LOL. Ok now to your questions:

1. Always a big question why MD after nursing - it will come up over and over and over … ad nauseum (no I am not an ex-nurse but having served on admissions I am sure it will come up) - have a very coherent reasonable answer prepared. The usual want to help people is not going to help and please do not underestimate rehearsal to come out confident. You can use anecdotal stories - which seems to be the case with you - and how it changed your thinking.

2. MCAT scores matter a LOT - ok Kaplan has a bigggg question bank/practice questions that are available if you are taking their full course etc. are broken down by topics and subjects. MCAT will come down to practice, practice, practice - so get your hands on as many questions as you can. Keep the UW for the final push - I think it runs close to $2000 (no I am not an instructor there or have shares in the company) - but for that money you get everything they have available. When I did it, did each chapter and associated questions, moved to bigger clusters and then to practice tests after having done all questions they had available. Take the full tests in last month leading to MCAT and ONLY under timed conditions. Finish all question banks including UW. Kaplan will give you access to AAMC full test (If I remember correctly) This way you can make up for the deficiencies that pop up along the way. In my case, I knew I could never score good on comprehension so I tried to score as close to 15 on other sections (Back in the old days when it 45 was the scoring scale ) so as not to be dragged down by one score.

Good luck!

 

[EKGdoc]

Agree doing well on MCAT will be critical and help determine where u should apply. Also have well thought out reasons for making the switch. We’ve had several former RNs in our EM residency program over the years (where I was PD >20 yrs and am core faculty) and they were all awesome and went on to become chief residents. Best of luck!!

 

[Chardeemacdennis60]

First things first - It is "THE" Ohio State j/k
We may have crossed path in SICU on consults a lot LOL. Ok now to your questions:

1. Always a big question why MD after nursing - it will come up over and over and over … ad nauseum (no I am not an ex-nurse but having served on admissions I am sure it will come up) - have a very coherent reasonable answer prepared. The usual want to help people is not going to help and please do not underestimate rehearsal to come out confident. You can use anecdotal stories - which seems to be the case with you - and how it changed your thinking.

2. MCAT scores matter a LOT - ok Kaplan has a bigggg question bank/practice questions that are available if you are taking their full course etc. are broken down by topics and subjects. MCAT will come down to practice, practice, practice - so get your hands on as many questions as you can. Keep the UW for the final push - I think it runs close to $2000 (no I am not an instructor there or have shares in the company) - but for that money you get everything they have available. When I did it, did each chapter and associated questions, moved to bigger clusters and then to practice tests after having done all questions they had available. Take the full tests in last month leading to MCAT and ONLY under timed conditions. Finish all question banks including UW. Kaplan will give you access to AAMC full test (If I remember correctly) This way you can make up for the deficiencies that pop up along the way. In my case, I knew I could never score good on comprehension so I tried to score as close to 15 on other sections (Back in the old days when it 45 was the scoring scale ) so as not to be dragged down by one score.

Good luck!

I appreciate your feedback! I suppose I probably could have withheld a few personal details as to not dox myself!

I have been modeling my answer to that question for the past few years and I will give it much practice in the time leading up to the interviews. I am doing my best to self-study for the MCAT right now because I am doing my best to work overtime and save up to be prepared for the financial aspect of applications.

 

[CanIMakeIt]

I appreciate your feedback! I suppose I probably could have withheld a few personal details as to not dox myself!

I have been modeling my answer to that question for the past few years and I will give it much practice in the time leading up to the interviews. I am doing my best to self-study for the MCAT right now because I am doing my best to work overtime and save up to be prepared for the financial aspect of applications.

The cost of applying to 50 programs is ~$2000 - you already know this. so don't get too much hung up on that and get too tired that the studying that you do is not high yield. Once MCATs are over you can do all the overtime you want to save up for travels.

let me know if you have any questions. I am no longer at the OSU

good luck.

 

[lucy24med]

I know I'm a bit late here, but I wanted to throw in my two cents as I, too, am an RN and applied/got accepted this cycle. Any time you come from a non-trad background, they wanna know the who, what, when, where, & why type of stuff...obviously. This is your opportunity to stand out as a unique applicant with a set of experiences and a different perspective most pre-meds do not have. I capitalized on this in all my interviews, essays, and had my explanation for my switch tied into my personal statement. They love hearing a different story and how you can contribute to a class differently. I literally have never been in a situation where I wasn't asked "So why MD and not nurse?" or "Why MD and not NP?"....it comes up every. time. Even just in normal everyday life! lol Make sure you work very hard on your why for that b/c honestly, it's a pretty fair question.

What people have said on here is correct. Take the MCAT very seriously and understand it's in a league of it's own. My first attempt, I did not appreciate this. I approached it like I did the NCLEX (which I did well on and passed on my first attempt). But you have to remember the MCAT is not a board licensure exam...it's a different kind of exam. I learned the hard way. Granted, I got my **** together and did fine on the MCAT in the end but I had to re-take it and re-calibrate my approach and my mindset.
In regards to prep, I personally wasn't a fan of Kaplan - I preferred the AAMC and NextStep resources, but that's just me - use what works for you best. I also can not reiterate enough how important taking full-length practice exams with real-exam time constraint is. It is literally what helped me the most despite how exhausting they are. (Section banks are great too for when you just want to practice throughout the week) A physician friend of mine recommended to me a great strategy for combating exhaustion and increasing endurance for the real exam: when you finish the full length and are "sooo happy" it's done - do another section. Literally pick C/P or B/B or whatever you want (preferably a section you need more practice on) and do another full section. Then, when you get to test day, 4 sections won't seem so bad b/c you're used to 5 I also highly recommend ANKI for making flashcards (this helped me so much when it came to memorizing formulas, abbreviations, equations, etc.)

Also, make sure if you are applying to schools that are picky about pre-reqs that you have all the courses you need to have done. I, personally, ran into a few snags with certain courses not counting due to whatever reason, and so I had to tack on an online course to meet the criteria for a few different schools. So just make sure you are thorough with that. This really just depends on where you're applying, but always double-check. It's a pain in the butt when you assume things...I'd know

Sorry for the novel, but wanted to contribute as us RN non-trads aren't super common! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about my nursing background (or my journey so far) if it would help you at all. I have been accepted already to multiple schools and my interviews so far have gone well. I will officially be a part of the class of 2024! You can do this too!! Our experiences and patient interactions can make us not only stand out but be very well-prepared for our next chapter in life! woo hoo!!

 

[lucy24med]

Also, I just turned 26 as well and will turn 27 shortly after starting med school, so I'm right there with ya on that

 

[DO_or_Die]

Also, I just turned 26 as well and will turn 27 shortly after starting med school, so I'm right there with ya on that

Congrats, I will be 27 starting med school too Class of 2024! Cool to know other RN’s in the same boat. Good luck in school!

 

[lucy24med]

Congrats, I will be 27 starting med school too Class of 2024! Cool to know other RN’s in the same boat. Good luck in school!

thank you, you too! and agreed, it's awesome to see others like us going to med school! I used to feel like I was the only one!

 

[tothechair]

Will be 29 when I start next July/Aug, only to become 30 in October. It's never too late to start!

 

[Nurse2MD2018]

Sending you good vibes as your MCAT approaches! Just finished my first M1 semester, and wanted to say the hard work you’re putting in right now is definitely worth it! Make sure to do as many AAMC full lengths as possible, and take twice as long to go over the rationales for both incorrect & correct answer. A great MCAT score doesn’t just make you a better applicant but the process allows you to become a more efficient self learner that will be better able to handle M1 year. Don’t stress too much about your lack of research, I had limited background research and it didn’t seem to hurt me during the app cycle. I may be in the minority but I don’t recall getting the why medicine over another mid level position, or even the why medicine question. A lot of my interviews and I ended up talking about the current state of medicine, creating a more diverse physician workforce, addressing disparities, etc.

 

[Newtonian21]

I am an RN applying this cycle as well. I took the MCAT twice. If you want to get along the train as I put apps together you're welcome to. Remember every applicant is different. Don't let what people say on here deter you, just take it as a grain of salt. Your situation is different from mine, and so forth. Goodluck!

 

[Itisnottoolate]

It sounds like you have a great shot. As others have said, the MCAT is important. I have taken it twice and still did not score great. I am 34 and lots of responsibilities. I am a nurse practitioner and I have a family and I was taking classes. With that being said, I just got offered an interview! I am so excited given my MCAT. It is at my state MD school. Even if I don’t get in, I am so honored to have the chance to show I am more than an MCAT score. Sounds like you are in a really good place in terms of GpA and bedside experience. Good luck!

 

[Ultimax]

Another NP here, will start med school next year at 34. The road from RN/NP to MD/DO is not easy, but you can do it. Agree with others that the MCAT will make or break your application, so definitely study hard for it and worry about everything else later. Since your are already an RN, securing LORs from physicians should not be a big challenge. I also recommend to network with hard science classes professors (biology, biochem, o chem, gen chem, statistis, micro, genetics) to secure at least 2 LORs as many schools I applied to required at least 2 letters from academic professors. Remember that you are never alone, there are many nurses and NPs that have walked your path. When you feel discouraged, post here, and we will always support you. Best of luck!