Looking for construcitve criticism

[ICU nurse]

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Hello, I am a practicing ICU nurse interested in going to medical school. The ICU where I work is a general ICU seeing anything from trauma to heart patients. I currently am completing my perquisites and should have all of them done by the end of this year. I plan on taking the MCAT in January 2015. My overall GPA so far is a 3.56 with a nursing specific 4.0. I was dean's list for my nursing course work for 5 semesters and was a member of the national honor society of nursing. I have retaken some classes on which I did less than ideal from my freshman year. The 3.56 is prior to any of my retake classes. I still have to complete my year of physics and another semester of OChem. I am always interested in constructive ideas to help make myself stand out as an applicant.
I don't have much time for volunteer work or research mainly due to the fact that I am in class 5 days a week and work mainly Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights and go back to class on Monday. So not much time for other things. I am however, actively involved at work and have assumed a leadership role having been recently elected to my unit's governance council as co-chair. The council helps make decisions regarding the overall work environment and function of the ICU. I am also a member of the evidence based practice committee which reviews research and searches for evidence supporting better patient outcomes and changes in medical and nursing practice. I am also currently planning on becoming a charge nurse and acquiring my critical care registered nurse certification. I currently have certifications in ACLS, TNCC, and am trained in SLED/CRRT, hypothermia, and soon aortic balloon pump. I am a member of professional organizations relating to critical care nursing and have spent a little time teaching nursing skills to nursing students in the town where I work.
As I previously stated any supportive information would be great. I know I need to do well on the MCAT but if there is anything else anyone can think of please share
-Thanks

 

[ketosisevangelist]

The cost of a dream is your sanity and a lot of time.

Temerity and patience.

Best luck!

 

[ridethecliche]

I'm not saying this to be pessimistic, but I'm just wondering if you've factored in the time and lost salary that will be the result of your getting an MD and residency before being able to practice again. Do they have DNP's in your field? That might also be something you could consider if you're looking for more autonomy.

I would also recommend looking into the MCAT requirements. They are changing for next year. You might want to take it before that happens!

I would also look through requirements for a few med schools to figure out which classes that you've already taken will be eligible for credit. Some schools have timeouts on coursework and are more finnicky regarding which classes they do and don't attempt.

I wish you the best of success no matter which path you decide!

Good luck!

 

[Nasrudin]

Hello, I am a practicing ICU nurse interested in going to medical school. The ICU where I work is a general ICU seeing anything from trauma to heart patients. I currently am completing my perquisites and should have all of them done by the end of this year. I plan on taking the MCAT in January 2015. My overall GPA so far is a 3.56 with a nursing specific 4.0. I was dean's list for my nursing course work for 5 semesters and was a member of the national honor society of nursing. I have retaken some classes on which I did less than ideal from my freshman year. The 3.56 is prior to any of my retake classes. I still have to complete my year of physics and another semester of OChem. I am always interested in constructive ideas to help make myself stand out as an applicant.
I don't have much time for volunteer work or research mainly due to the fact that I am in class 5 days a week and work mainly Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights and go back to class on Monday. So not much time for other things. I am however, actively involved at work and have assumed a leadership role having been recently elected to my unit's governance council as co-chair. The council helps make decisions regarding the overall work environment and function of the ICU. I am also a member of the evidence based practice committee which reviews research and searches for evidence supporting better patient outcomes and changes in medical and nursing practice. I am also currently planning on becoming a charge nurse and acquiring my critical care registered nurse certification. I currently have certifications in ACLS, TNCC, and am trained in SLED/CRRT, hypothermia, and soon aortic balloon pump. I am a member of professional organizations relating to critical care nursing and have spent a little time teaching nursing skills to nursing students in the town where I work.
As I previously stated any supportive information would be great. I know I need to do well on the MCAT but if there is anything else anyone can think of please share
-Thanks

I think you're looking great. EC's are less important for full time students who are also working full time. Or some variation on that, to whatever degree. Volunteering is often for people who need to say they peeked at medicine and are therefore passionately certain of what they're doing. Not that it wouldn't look good too for you. Idk. At a certain point EC's are sleep or exercise or just being a non-robotic machine for a minute or two.

It's really a notion of some importance for traditional routes and resumes. But don't quote me. This is just my opinion coupled with the fact that I don't think medicine is some holy passionate pilgrimage of sacrafice. Or worthy of those notions.

I think I'd focus on getting an MCAT score that is worthy of all your other assets. With that in hand I don't think you can lose.

 

[Goro]

I think being a nurse + student cuts you some slack. I strongly suggest that you get some shadowing in, because you WILL get the inevitable "how is doctoring different and similar to nursing?" questions at interviews. A 3..56 won't get you into harvard but is not bad overall.

Aim for an MCAT >30 for MD schools; high 20s for DO programs.

Hello, I am a practicing ICU nurse interested in going to medical school. The ICU where I work is a general ICU seeing anything from trauma to heart patients. I currently am completing my perquisites and should have all of them done by the end of this year. I plan on taking the MCAT in January 2015. My overall GPA so far is a 3.56 with a nursing specific 4.0. I was dean's list for my nursing course work for 5 semesters and was a member of the national honor society of nursing. I have retaken some classes on which I did less than ideal from my freshman year. The 3.56 is prior to any of my retake classes. I still have to complete my year of physics and another semester of OChem. I am always interested in constructive ideas to help make myself stand out as an applicant.
I don't have much time for volunteer work or research mainly due to the fact that I am in class 5 days a week and work mainly Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights and go back to class on Monday. So not much time for other things. I am however, actively involved at work and have assumed a leadership role having been recently elected to my unit's governance council as co-chair. The council helps make decisions regarding the overall work environment and function of the ICU. I am also a member of the evidence based practice committee which reviews research and searches for evidence supporting better patient outcomes and changes in medical and nursing practice. I am also currently planning on becoming a charge nurse and acquiring my critical care registered nurse certification. I currently have certifications in ACLS, TNCC, and am trained in SLED/CRRT, hypothermia, and soon aortic balloon pump. I am a member of professional organizations relating to critical care nursing and have spent a little time teaching nursing skills to nursing students in the town where I work.
As I previously stated any supportive information would be great. I know I need to do well on the MCAT but if there is anything else anyone can think of please share
-Thanks

 

[ICU nurse]

Thanks for the responses. I have looked into DNP programs and the general length of those programs stems 4.5 to 5.5 years. That is slightly over half of medical school. In addition, the scope of practice is not truly defined and many institutions are not sure how to utilize mid level providers to the best of their capabilities. Also the DNP at this point does not convey any changes to what a NP can do clinically. I believe in good teamwork and input from all experts in every field but from many of my experiences, nurse practitioners are often undermined by the physicians they are working with and I have even seen some NP's run out of institutions completely because they were not allowed to truly practice within their scope and physicians kept changing their orders. Currently, the scope of practice for an NP is just not there and I don't think NP's will be taken seriously till they have to complete the same or similar licensing tests as physicians and prove themselves on an educational ground. I am not really concerned with time or money as learning is something I enjoy greatly and my wife is supportive of me and my hopeful goals. I have checked the MCAT changes and will take the January 2015 version before it changes over in the Spring 2015. I do need to clarify that I am a part time student having taken 12 credits this last semester. I do not have any preference regarding MD or DO schools. I have worked with some truly great MD's as well as some truly great DO's. As for shadowing, I work with physicians who are nephrologists and critical care intensivists which is the fields I would like to go into so I do possess knowledge regarding there daily work schedules/experiences. Would anyone be able to clarify the importance of research?

 

[ridethecliche]

I guess my institution is more supportive of NP's and PA's in that sense then. The one's I work with like what they do quite a bit and don't feel that way. A few of the PA's here assist in the OR as well and this is at one of the best hospitals in the country. This also depends on the department, the supervisors, etc at the hospital and yes, it is vastly different across the country.

Regardless, you seem to really have thought this through and I wish you the best of luck. Your grades are good so keep them there and I would definitely aim for as high as possible on the MCAT.

 

[Nasrudin]

Thanks for the responses. I have looked into DNP programs and the general length of those programs stems 4.5 to 5.5 years. That is slightly over half of medical school. In addition, the scope of practice is not truly defined and many institutions are not sure how to utilize mid level providers to the best of their capabilities. Also the DNP at this point does not convey any changes to what a NP can do clinically. I believe in good teamwork and input from all experts in every field but from many of my experiences, nurse practitioners are often undermined by the physicians they are working with and I have even seen some NP's run out of institutions completely because they were not allowed to truly practice within their scope and physicians kept changing their orders. Currently, the scope of practice for an NP is just not there and I don't think NP's will be taken seriously till they have to complete the same or similar licensing tests as physicians and prove themselves on an educational ground. I am not really concerned with time or money as learning is something I enjoy greatly and my wife is supportive of me and my hopeful goals. I have checked the MCAT changes and will take the January 2015 version before it changes over in the Spring 2015. I do need to clarify that I am a part time student having taken 12 credits this last semester. I do not have any preference regarding MD or DO schools. I have worked with some truly great MD's as well as some truly great DO's. As for shadowing, I work with physicians who are nephrologists and critical care intensivists which is the fields I would like to go into so I do possess knowledge regarding there daily work schedules/experiences. Would anyone be able to clarify the importance of research?

Research is something top schools like because they are designed to be centers of knowledge creation. Sustaining this culture is the duty of every future rad onc or dermatologist or really any ambitious med student who wants a ticket to ride at the Big Show. You work for free so as to amass impressive resumes for academic physicians and PI's who have the knowledge of how to get funding and how to design projects to do that.

It can help your knowledge base in a particular field. Because you have to know everything around what your project is focusing on. I think this would be very helpful as a working physician to have this deep knowledge in specific areas germain to your field.

But these types of knowledge are very difficult to translate into the daily general education of medical students. So the work is really only beneficial for people who are either truly going into research as part of their professional interests or for extremely motivated and hard working students who are bolstering their application. Fiddling around with it on a superficial level isn't very useful or that impressive.

The logic winds back to premed studies the same way in my opinion. With potentially far less professional yield outside of learning to do research in general since you are very far from choosing an actual profession within medicine at that point.

But done well and with serious intent it's a very impressive asset to have at every application phase in medicine.

 

[ICU nurse]

Again thank you for your responses. I believe contributions from others are very important to help make informed, well rounded decisions. If you do not mind me asking, ridethecliche, what type of institution do you work at and what geographical location is it located in? If you do not fell comfortable answering I understand. I definitely agree that much of scope of practice is determined by region and I only have my experiences to draw on as reference.

 

[Jewels86]

Hey ICU nurse,

I'm a fellow nurse here but an ER nurse. I've read your postings and see you really want to go to medical school...but...what type of doc do you think you'd like to be? And why?

You do have a great gig there in the ICU. But why do you want to cross over? More autonomy? Decision making power? What about house sup? If I decide enough is enough, I'd like that (or baby catching). But that's when I hit the wall. However, if I don't, I'd like rural family medicine. That's it. As you know, in the ER, we see everything. But mostly it's those that have chronic conditions that many have allowed to become acute. Why...I think it's because people don't understand the nature of their illnesses. That's the one thing that attracts me to family medicine; teaching. What about you and your attraction to medicine?

I'm curious that's all. In the end, it's only you and your decisions.

 

[ICU nurse]

Nice to see a fellow nurse. I am a ambitious individual for starters. I am constantly trying to improve my practice as a nurse and my education in the classroom. I like to have goals for myself and this is obviously a major goal. I have nothing but positive things to say about nursing. One of my fellow nurses at work put it into terms well. She said people don't come to the hospital for doctors, they come for 24 hour nursing care. Nurses are there at patient's most difficult times. However, one of the biggest issues I have with nursing is autonomy. Again this can change based on who an individual is working with and what type of working relationship a physician has with a particular nurse. I would say I am in the top 15 percent of nurses on my unit experience wise. I have some physicians who I work with and there is a trust between them and myself which allows me to make requests and because they know how I work, many of these requests are granted. However, physicians I have not worked as much with tend to be more hesitant if I am asking for something such as a particular medication for a patient. I do like to make my own decisions, but I am never above asking for input from another individual, especially when someone's health is at stake. I want to become a physician because I believe I can contribute more to patient care, improving the health of the community where I live, and lead to a greater ability to help the less fortunate. I know it sounds grandiose but I do have some long term goals I hope to achieve and I believe becoming a physician is the best way I can do the most good for the most people.

 

[Darth Doc]

I want to become a physician because I believe I can contribute more to patient care, improving the health of the community where I live, and lead to a greater ability to help the less fortunate. I know it sounds grandiose but I do have some long term goals I hope to achieve and I believe becoming a physician is the best way I can do the most good for the most people.

I'm a PA going back for the same reasons. I've been accepted to medical school with numbers similar to yours, have 6 kids (and thus little time for extra volunteering), and will be starting medical school this fall. You're doing fine. Don't worry about anything extra, just keep the GPA up. Keep on going!