In nursing program, wish to complete premed courses and becomes a Doctor..

[zima]

After deciding to become a nurse(male) and attending a CC for 1 year now (currently in the clinical portion of the program) I have now decided that I WANT to become a doctor. I have to admit that I was extremely reluctant to even attempt to apply to medical school as I thought it is out of my league. But, after maintaining a 3.9 gpa (CC nothing special I know) and having a relatively "easy" time (minimal studying, had a more difficult time in high school) in the nursing program that many of my peers constantly thought of as "really hard", I have now built up some confidence in my abilities. I would personally regret to not even attempt to become an MD, so now I'm in this sort of "you only live once" mentality and feel motivated.

So, I certainly do not want to leave the nursing program, as I will have been here at Borough of Manhattan Community College(BMCC) for a year and a half and another year and a half till my associates and then become an RN. I have also completed all of my required courses toward the A.A.S. in nursing; I only have the 8 credit/semester nursing classes, so I have a LOT of free time on my hands. Plus, being an RN is a very stable economic support that would help pay for college expenses and provide the much needed clinical experience.

BMCC offers biology 1+2, organic and general chemistry 1+1, and physics 1+2. I have( I assume) 2 terms of math- one being basic algebra and another a nursing math course( math is math correct? course named MAT104). Do not care much on the matter of which medical school I attend, so I assume I would not need any advanced level science courses. I have read other posts about taking pre-req courses at a CC, but how about taking all pre-req science courses at a CC? I know generally a the pre-reqs taken at a CC is usually looked down upon, but am worried about taking every science pre-req here.

I do plan to transfer to a 4 year/univ to attain my bachelors in nursing mainly because it would be the quickest route to a bachelors, a good backup degree, and also more $ to pay colleges expenses.

After all of my blabbing, here is my question:

Would it be better to just attend a 4 year/univ simultaneously while I finish up a rather easy nursing program, or just take the pre-reqs at my CC now?

Here is a link to my CC's science course list

http://www.bmcc.cuny.edu/science/listing.html

O and another worry of mine, why is the general chemistry course termed "College Chemistry I and II"? I know it is a general chem course and pre-req to organic chem(which is termed correctly) but should I worry about this being acceptable as a general chem requirement? All the science courses are with labs.

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[zima]

Wow, I cannot edit that typo in the topic name.

 

[CmePaddlin]

Generally "college chem" is 105-106 or 111-112, something in those upper numbers that is never 101-102. Same goes for biology. It just varies for each university.
Also, math is not math, you need a upper 100 level calculus course in order to be able to take calc-based physics for your MCAT.
Same for orgo, you should take the 300 level orgo at a university, it will really only help.
And take it from someone who is completing a BSN right now, if you know you dont want to become a BSN-RN, dont waste your time. Its more of the same crap you're doing now, careplans, BS theory classes, all that fun stuff.
If you know you wanna become a doc, get a bachelor's in something you will enjoy and that will completely prepare you for med school, because BSN and its prereqs will do nothing of the sort.

 

[NonTradMed]

If you plan on taking all your CC at a prereqs, I recommend taking some upper level science courses at the local university. Adcoms do look at CC prereq courses as 'below' that of university but as long as you can show them that you are capable of doing upper level science courses at the university level, I think that will suffice. I do not recommend doing all sciences ONLY at the CC level.

Also, I believe med schools require a year of 'college level math'. I don't know if algebra and nursing math counts as college level. When I was in high school, we needed to do at least precalc/trigonometry in order to graduate and my university's lowest math course offered was calculus so I'm not sure if med schools will accept algebra level math as college level math. You may want to contact a few med schools and ask. Also, I recommend a biostats course in college. Don't shy away from math in college, at my med school, we have not be able to avoid it in our classes.

I personally know a couple of nurses at my med school and one of them said he had to really explain the 'why medicine and not nursing' question, and that one of the people on the committee was really put off by the switch, so I'm not sure if becoming a nurse first would be an advantage. However, I believe it is always a good idea to get a marketable degree as a premed, given that medicine is not a sure road.

 

[lrobin15]

Apply to Osteopathic schools. They look at NonTrads in a different light and some actively recruit older students. Also, they are more likely to take CC work. Another thing, I have been accepted to three schools this application cycle and I will only have 90 hours at matriculation! It is rare, but it is possible!

Good luck.