help or hinder?

[mfernando87]

becoming a physician is my main goal, but knowing this isn't the easiest thing to do, so i figured it would be best for me to think up as backup plan.
if i can't be a physician, i would like to be a nurse, but i've heard that people applying to med schools with nursing degrees find it a lot harder to get in...should i go for a nursing degree and hope that it doesn't hinder my chances of getting into med school, or should i major in something else?
i would think that getting into a nursing program would only help me if i was accepted into med school, but i haven't heard anything of the sort... if anyone could give me any information on this i would really appreciate it! thanks!

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[klubguts]

i was a nurse for several years prior to entering med school four years ago (almost done, yes). There is no reason you cann't be an MD if that is what you really want to do. Nursing is a great field, but being one can be problematic when applying to med school...i took a lot of crap about it on the interview trail (for med school) and it at times was very frustruating (esp. when interviewing with PhDs who have never been at the bedside and can not comprehend why a nurse would want to go to med school). Generally, i didn't feel like schools really looked positively on my past experience. The good part about being an RN was that i had met several MDs who greatly helped me with awesome LORs. If you are planning to enter med school directly out of college, then i wouldn't pursue nursing. The only benefit it gives you is work experience and connections in the field. This is a tough call, but if you want to be an MD then go for it...major in something that allows you to get all your med school prereqs (i had to do post-bacc work for a year to get mine completed). Best of luck to you.

 

[mfernando87]

i was a nurse for several years prior to entering med school four years ago (almost done, yes). There is no reason you cann't be an MD if that is what you really want to do. Nursing is a great field, but being one can be problematic when applying to med school...i took a lot of crap about it on the interview trail (for med school) and it at times was very frustruating (esp. when interviewing with PhDs who have never been at the bedside and can not comprehend why a nurse would want to go to med school). Generally, i didn't feel like schools really looked positively on my past experience. The good part about being an RN was that i had met several MDs who greatly helped me with awesome LORs. If you are planning to enter med school directly out of college, then i wouldn't pursue nursing. The only benefit it gives you is work experience and connections in the field. This is a tough call, but if you want to be an MD then go for it...major in something that allows you to get all your med school prereqs (i had to do post-bacc work for a year to get mine completed). Best of luck to you.

thanks for the info...this really sucks though because i thought nursing would be the perfect thing for a person who's interested in medicine...i would get a head start on what it really feels like to work in a hospital enviroment and in case i didn't make it to med school, i would have a job that i would enjoy...oh well, i guess it's back to the drawing board for me...congrats on getting into (and soon to be graduating) med school! i hope the experience wasn't too stressful ...

 

[klubguts]

it made perfect sense to me too...but for some reason, med schools just aren't as receptive to people with a BSN as other degrees (damn, they like lawyers better than nurses). You can still do nursing if you want, i just wanted you to know that you will take a little extra crap on the interview trail and have to take courses after graduation in order to apply for med school (ie physics, organic chem)...it is good IMHO to be exposed to the hospital environment before deciding you want to do medicine. Anyway, sorry this complicates things for you...once you get in, med school isn't all that stressful (everyone complains, but hey) and is actually pretty damn fun. thanks and best of luck to you...

 

[gnin]

Why on earth would an experience as a nurse be viewed negatively? Med schools claim to greatly value clinical experience in applicants, and nursing would seem to be an ideal background for having gained clinical experience.

 

[chocolate-e]

If nursing is a backup plan ... you can always major in something else & make sure that you complete the prereqs for one of the many post-bacc nursing programs (along with the med school prereqs). That way, if you didn't get into medical school, you could become a nurse in a year or two after college. That was my backup plan. Not as efficient, granted, but it is one more possibility.

 

[OSUdoc08]

becoming a physician is my main goal, but knowing this isn't the easiest thing to do, so i figured it would be best for me to think up as backup plan.
if i can't be a physician, i would like to be a nurse, but i've heard that people applying to med schools with nursing degrees find it a lot harder to get in...should i go for a nursing degree and hope that it doesn't hinder my chances of getting into med school, or should i major in something else?
i would think that getting into a nursing program would only help me if i was accepted into med school, but i haven't heard anything of the sort... if anyone could give me any information on this i would really appreciate it! thanks!

Why not PA school?

 

[j48seconds]

Med schools tend to shy away from nurses because of the shortage of nurses in this country. Many adcoms think that they will be taking a much needed nurse away from their field and are hesitate to do it. I think that you have to be more on point with selling your reasons for wanting to go from nurse to doctor, but it can be done.
Just my 2.