Hello everyone!

[Nahla]

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Nice to meet you all 🙂 I'm a new member here. I have some questions I wanted to ask and get some advise from those of you with experience.

I am currently an LPN working in LTC facility who wants to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor. I'm 21 years old and have been a nurse for 2 years.
When I graduated high school, I knew I wanted to become a physician, but I had many obstacles in the way both family and financial issues. I was working as a CNA at the time, my father was laid off from his job and my mother was sick. The only income we had was my father's unemployment and that was not enough to get by. So I needed something with a strong foundation, and good pay to support my family and nursing was a great option.
Please don't be offended thinking I only pursued nursing become of money. I did it become at the time I need to and I did it because I liked it. The other reason that I decided to pause my journey to medicine was the time length, commitments, and I had self doubts. I didn't have that confident feeling in myself, I felt like I wasn't gonna make it and I'm only gonna waste time and money. So I said to myself I'm gonna start out as a nurse and if I really enjoy nursing I'll pursue my RN.
I love my job as a nurse, but I know for a fact that it's not where my heart truly is. So after a long decision I decided I'm gonna go back to school chase my dream and make it a reality. 🙂

My question is:

1) How would med school view CC pre reqs? I've done some forum search and from the census it seems that a lot of them don't mind as long as I have a strong GPA, MCAT to prove myself and take some upper level courses.

2) Clinical experience: I'm currently a nurse working in LTC, what kinda of clinical experience should I go for? I've never shadowed a doc before. Should I volunteer at the hospital?

3) Extracurricular: What do suggest I get involve with?

4) Would med school view me as indecisive because I was nurse before and it seems like I'm jumping around?

Thank you everyone! 🙂 (I'm sorry the post is so long)

 

[theseeker4]

Nice to meet you all 🙂 I'm a new member here. I have some questions I wanted to ask and get some advise from those of you with experience.

I am currently an LPN working in LTC facility who wants to pursue my dream of becoming a doctor. I'm 21 years old and have been a nurse for 2 years.
When I graduated high school, I knew I wanted to become a physician, but I had many obstacles in the way both family and financial issues. I was working as a CNA at the time, my father was laid off from his job and my mother was sick. The only income we had was my father's unemployment and that was not enough to get by. So I needed something with a strong foundation, and good pay to support my family and nursing was a great option.
Please don't be offended thinking I only pursued nursing become of money. I did it become at the time I need to and I did it because I liked it. The other reason that I decided to pause my journey to medicine was the time length, commitments, and I had self doubts. I didn't have that confident feeling in myself, I felt like I wasn't gonna make it and I'm only gonna waste time and money. So I said to myself I'm gonna start out as a nurse and if I really enjoy nursing I'll pursue my RN.
I love my job as a nurse, but I know for a fact that it's not where my heart truly is. So after a long decision I decided I'm gonna go back to school chase my dream and make it a reality. 🙂

My question is:

1) How would med school view CC pre reqs? I've done some forum search and from the census it seems that a lot of them don't mind as long as I have a strong GPA, MCAT to prove myself and take some upper level courses.

2) Clinical experience: I'm currently a nurse working in LTC, what kinda of clinical experience should I go for? I've never shadowed a doc before. Should I volunteer at the hospital?

3) Extracurricular: What do suggest I get involve with?

4) Would med school view me as indecisive because I was nurse before and it seems like I'm jumping around?

Thank you everyone! 🙂 (I'm sorry the post is so long)

Welcome 🙂
I am going to keep the answers short, but feel free to ask for more information if you have something specific you wanted to know.

1) CC pre-reqs may be looked upon negatively by some schools, but as you said, if you did well and prove you can handle upper-level science coursework, it shouldn't keep you out. You will need a bachelor's degree anyway, so you will definitely have the chance to get some higher-level classes in.

2) I would bet that working at a LTC facility would count favorably as clinical experience, but shadowing would be helpful and hospital volunteering wouldn't hurt either.

3) You should volunteer for extracurricular activities, and get involved with research if possible (such as at your university while pursuing your bachelors). Volunteering can be both clinical and non-clinical (such as a food pantry, tutoring children, etc.)

4) I don't believe the fact that you worked as a nurse on its own will hurt you. It definitely won't make you unable to enter medical school. Just have a good reason for entering nursing in the first place (which it sounds like you do) and a good reason why you want to be a doctor instead of simply continuing your education in nursing.

One last note, as far as worrying about being seen as entering nursing to get money, if anything I believe choosing nursing will be to your advantage, not disadvantage. Adcoms are people and understand life happens, people have to support themselves. I think if anything, the fact that you chose nursing instead of some other field shows your dedication to medicine, which is a good thing.

If you have any questions, some of the regular posters here were nurses themselves before entering medical school (or working toward it). Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions, or post the follow-up questions here if you want input from others as well. Good luck.

 

[Nahla]

Welcome 🙂
I am going to keep the answers short, but feel free to ask for more information if you have something specific you wanted to know.

1) CC pre-reqs may be looked upon negatively by some schools, but as you said, if you did well and prove you can handle upper-level science coursework, it shouldn't keep you out. You will need a bachelor's degree anyway, so you will definitely have the chance to get some higher-level classes in.

2) I would bet that working at a LTC facility would count favorably as clinical experience, but shadowing would be helpful and hospital volunteering wouldn't hurt either.

3) You should volunteer for extracurricular activities, and get involved with research if possible (such as at your university while pursuing your bachelors). Volunteering can be both clinical and non-clinical (such as a food pantry, tutoring children, etc.)

4) I don't believe the fact that you worked as a nurse on its own will hurt you. It definitely won't make you unable to enter medical school. Just have a good reason for entering nursing in the first place (which it sounds like you do) and a good reason why you want to be a doctor instead of simply continuing your education in nursing.

One last note, as far as worrying about being seen as entering nursing to get money, if anything I believe choosing nursing will be to your advantage, not disadvantage. Adcoms are people and understand life happens, people have to support themselves. I think if anything, the fact that you chose nursing instead of some other field shows your dedication to medicine, which is a good thing.

If you have any questions, some of the regular posters here were nurses themselves before entering medical school (or working toward it). Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions, or post the follow-up questions here if you want input from others as well. Good luck.

Thank you so much 🙂 I'm in the process of finding doc to shadow. But most of them turned me down 🙁

 

[isoquin]

I feel the need to offer my usual response even though your situation is a bit different. What you need is a turning point - a time to say "everything before today was sub-optimal (for whatever reason), and everything after today will be dedicated to pursuing a career in medicine." You gave a number of reasons why you didn't become a doctor right away, and they're all bad. I say this not to be mean, but to reposition your mindset to become a better appearing candidate. You can't approach an admissions committee with the above. The reasons you became a nurse don't matter. What matters is that you are committed to becoming a doctor. To do that, you need to prove beyond doubt that you have the intellectual capacity to embark on a career in medicine. This is done through med-level coursework and direct clinical experiences (which you already have).

So, let's start here: why do you want to go into medicine? And why did you first go into nursing?

 

[Nahla]

I feel the need to offer my usual response even though your situation is a bit different. What you need is a turning point - a time to say "everything before today was sub-optimal (for whatever reason), and everything after today will be dedicated to pursuing a career in medicine." You gave a number of reasons why you didn't become a doctor right away, and they're all bad. I say this not to be mean, but to reposition your mindset to become a better appearing candidate. You can't approach an admissions committee with the above. The reasons you became a nurse don't matter. What matters is that you are committed to becoming a doctor. To do that, you need to prove beyond doubt that you have the intellectual capacity to embark on a career in medicine. This is done through med-level coursework and direct clinical experiences (which you already have).

So, let's start here: why do you want to go into medicine? And why did you first go into nursing?

Why medicine? There are many reasons why I want to become a physician. When I was younger my father was a house PA. Traveling with him to people's home and seeing the direct care he provided inspired me to pursue medicine. I really like the connections between the art of science and humanity. Having the ability to help people confront sickness within their body but also easing your patient's heart. My experience as a nurse definitely confirms my desire to practice medicine. Being a nurse gives me the privilege to care for my patients at the bed side level, but I chose medicine because I want to deepen and learn more about the complexity of the physiological process, being competent with diagnostic skills and treatment therapy I can use to implement for my patients toward the road to recovery.

I don't have a different answer why I chose nursing first. Life just happened. Part of it was definitely immaturity and insecurity from my part. But I have NO regrets going to nursing school first. It allowed me to support my family stably and financially. I had to step up and be the bread winner. I love my job as a nurse. I know I'm making a positive difference in all my resident's life even if word aren't spoken. But I know in my heart that it's time for me to move forward and chase my dream and turn it into reality.

If the ADCOM still feels I'm not ready or mature enough, than that's their opinion. In the end, I will be satisfied and know that I've put in 100% of my effort. 🙂

 

[shahak49]

Wishing you best of luck! I know the process of changing careers is really challenging....

Why medicine? There are many reasons why I want to become a physician. When I was younger my father was a house PA. Traveling with him to people's home and seeing the direct care he provided inspired me to pursue medicine. I really like the connections between the art of science and humanity. Having the ability to help people confront sickness within their body but also easing your patient's heart. My experience as a nurse definitely confirms my desire to practice medicine. Being a nurse gives me the privilege to care for my patients at the bed side level, but I chose medicine because I want to deepen and learn more about the complexity of the physiological process, being competent with diagnostic skills and treatment therapy I can use to implement for my patients toward the road to recovery.

I don't have a different answer why I chose nursing first. Life just happened. Part of it was definitely immaturity and insecurity from my part. But I have NO regrets going to nursing school first. It allowed me to support my family stably and financially. I had to step up and be the bread winner. I love my job as a nurse. I know I'm making a positive difference in all my resident's life even if word aren't spoken. But I know in my heart that it's time for me to move forward and chase my dream and turn it into reality.

If the ADCOM still feels I'm not ready or mature enough, than that's their opinion. In the end, I will be satisfied and know that I've put in 100% of my effort. 🙂