MD or CRNA

[lax]

I am in the position right now of deciding if I want to apply to CRNA school or pursue MD. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a doctor, but when I entered college- I acted foolish and had too much fun and decided to become a RN (instead of professional student). I have learned so much and enjoyed my career choice, but I still have that fire inside to become a doctor. I obviously am not driven by money to pursue MD b/c my family income is very good...my husband too is a RN. I am considering applying to CRNA school for educational preparation, autonomy, and challenging experience. I have been a critical care nurse for over 5 yrs (trauma, CVICU, ICU). I have the specialty certification in critical care (CCRN) and a 3.89 gpa. I have taken General Chemistry I and II, Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Zoology I and II and done well in all of these. All I have to take to apply to MD school is Physics I and II and Organic Chemistry I and II and the MCAT. I realize these are hard classes. Well my dilemma is this...I am not sure if I would do well in the MCAT and be a good candidate for MD school. I took a practice MCAT and made a 6 on Biology section (haven't taken Organic Chemistry I and II), 6 in Physical Sciences (haven't taken Physics I and II), and a freakin' 4 in Verbal Reasoning??? So, I don't want to spend a bunch of time and bypass the option of CRNA school (if I can't get into MD school). I am 28 yrs old female and have a 6 month old baby. What do you all think?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[lax]

Well I just retook the VR section practice test (after reading some pointer with testing in this section) and didn't complete the test I had 5 or so unanswered questions and made a 7. That is much better....so looks like I need to take Organic Chemistry I and II, Physics I and II and maybe my BS 6, and PS 6 will increase and maybe after practicing with the VR section and getting faster I can get higher than a 7. That is a total of 19...low I know, but I think I can pull this up (after the above completed).

 

[WDeagle]

Go for it. Your GPA is good. Do you have bachelors degree? You could probably bring up your MCAT ALOT after taking physics and organic. Look into osteopathic schools, they are more friendly to non-trads and second career types.

 

[smgilles]

I am in the position right now of deciding if I want to apply to CRNA school or pursue MD. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a doctor, but when I entered college- I acted foolish and had too much fun and decided to become a RN (instead of professional student). I have learned so much and enjoyed my career choice, but I still have that fire inside to become a doctor. I obviously am not driven by money to pursue MD b/c my family income is very good...my husband too is a RN. I am considering applying to CRNA school for educational preparation, autonomy, and challenging experience. I have been a critical care nurse for over 5 yrs (trauma, CVICU, ICU). I have the specialty certification in critical care (CCRN) and a 3.89 gpa. I have taken General Chemistry I and II, Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Zoology I and II and done well in all of these. All I have to take to apply to MD school is Physics I and II and Organic Chemistry I and II and the MCAT. I realize these are hard classes. Well my dilemma is this...I am not sure if I would do well in the MCAT and be a good candidate for MD school. I took a practice MCAT and made a 6 on Biology section (haven't taken Organic Chemistry I and II), 6 in Physical Sciences (haven't taken Physics I and II), and a freakin' 4 in Verbal Reasoning??? So, I don't want to spend a bunch of time and bypass the option of CRNA school (if I can't get into MD school). I am 28 yrs old female and have a 6 month old baby. What do you all think?

Do you want to be a doctor or a nurse? Seems pretty simple to me.

 

[njbmd]

I am in the position right now of deciding if I want to apply to CRNA school or pursue MD. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a doctor, but when I entered college- I acted foolish and had too much fun and decided to become a RN (instead of professional student). I have learned so much and enjoyed my career choice, but I still have that fire inside to become a doctor. I obviously am not driven by money to pursue MD b/c my family income is very good...my husband too is a RN. I am considering applying to CRNA school for educational preparation, autonomy, and challenging experience. I have been a critical care nurse for over 5 yrs (trauma, CVICU, ICU). I have the specialty certification in critical care (CCRN) and a 3.89 gpa. I have taken General Chemistry I and II, Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Zoology I and II and done well in all of these. All I have to take to apply to MD school is Physics I and II and Organic Chemistry I and II and the MCAT. I realize these are hard classes. Well my dilemma is this...I am not sure if I would do well in the MCAT and be a good candidate for MD school. I took a practice MCAT and made a 6 on Biology section (haven't taken Organic Chemistry I and II), 6 in Physical Sciences (haven't taken Physics I and II), and a freakin' 4 in Verbal Reasoning??? So, I don't want to spend a bunch of time and bypass the option of CRNA school (if I can't get into MD school). I am 28 yrs old female and have a 6 month old baby. What do you all think?

Well I just retook the VR section practice test (after reading some pointer with testing in this section) and didn't complete the test I had 5 or so unanswered questions and made a 7. That is much better....so looks like I need to take Organic Chemistry I and II, Physics I and II and maybe my BS 6, and PS 6 will increase and maybe after practicing with the VR section and getting faster I can get higher than a 7. That is a total of 19...low I know, but I think I can pull this up (after the above completed).

If you have not taken the complete pre-med coursework, your "practice" scores on the MCAT are invalid from a diagnostic point of view. This means that you need to finish the pre-requ pre-med coursework before you look at diagnostic exams for the MCAT period. That verbal reasoning score is worrisome but verbal is the easiest section to troubleshoot and work on. I would strongly caution you about the "all I need is" because Organic Chemistry, General Physics and a very strong score on the Medical College Admissions Test is no chip shot.

The bigger issue is that you need to decide what you want to with your life. If you actually want to pursue medicine, then you don't want to go through CRNA school and then have to revisit the medical school pre-reqs and MCAT issue because you are just not happy being a CRNA. Do some soul-searching and figure out what you want. After that, plot a means to get what you want.

 

[TexPre-Med]

If you have not taken the complete pre-med coursework, your "practice" scores on the MCAT are invalid from a diagnostic point of view. This means that you need to finish the pre-requ pre-med coursework before you look at diagnostic exams for the MCAT period. That verbal reasoning score is worrisome but verbal is the easiest section to troubleshoot and work on. I would strongly caution you about the "all I need is" because Organic Chemistry, General Physics and a very strong score on the Medical College Admissions Test is no chip shot.

The bigger issue is that you need to decide what you want to with your life. If you actually want to pursue medicine, then you don't want to go through CRNA school and then have to revisit the medical school pre-reqs and MCAT issue because you are just not happy being a CRNA. Do some soul-searching and figure out what you want. After that, plot a means to get what you want.

Agreed. Why take the practice MCAT, especially physical sciences section, without taking physics? Do you plan on passing Step 1 in med school before attending a class?

If you want to go to med school, take all the required classes and preferably a few upper level biology courses before attempting the MCAT. Then see how you do.

With that said, CRNA's make good money too. It very much limits your scope of practice to anesthesia, but if that is what you like, no problem. Do the M.D. route and you can specialize in anything under the sun.

 

[dfk]

I am in the position right now of deciding if I want to apply to CRNA school or pursue MD. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a doctor, but when I entered college- I acted foolish and had too much fun and decided to become a RN (instead of professional student). I have learned so much and enjoyed my career choice, but I still have that fire inside to become a doctor. I obviously am not driven by money to pursue MD b/c my family income is very good...my husband too is a RN. I am considering applying to CRNA school for educational preparation, autonomy, and challenging experience. I have been a critical care nurse for over 5 yrs (trauma, CVICU, ICU). I have the specialty certification in critical care (CCRN) and a 3.89 gpa. I have taken General Chemistry I and II, Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Zoology I and II and done well in all of these. All I have to take to apply to MD school is Physics I and II and Organic Chemistry I and II and the MCAT. I realize these are hard classes. Well my dilemma is this...I am not sure if I would do well in the MCAT and be a good candidate for MD school. I took a practice MCAT and made a 6 on Biology section (haven't taken Organic Chemistry I and II), 6 in Physical Sciences (haven't taken Physics I and II), and a freakin' 4 in Verbal Reasoning??? So, I don't want to spend a bunch of time and bypass the option of CRNA school (if I can't get into MD school). I am 28 yrs old female and have a 6 month old baby. What do you all think?

i can assure you anesthesia school (CRNA) is no cake walk. dumbing down the CRNA education is just plain ignorant. with an attitude like yours, you can be sure you won't get into CRNA school either. maybe you should stick to bedside.

 

[Salamandrina]

i can assure you anesthesia school (CRNA) is no cake walk. dumbing down the CRNA education is just plain ignorant. with an attitude like yours, you can be sure you won't get into CRNA school either. maybe you should stick to bedside.

Was this the most helpful way to answer?

What she said didn't seem that disrespectful to me. She would prefer to be a MD over a CRNA. It happens. Lots of people take that route. Are they all "dumbing down the CRNA education"? Do they all have an attitude?

Couldn't we choose to show that what makes nurses great is the WAY in which we deliver care, by making it personalized and respectful? And shouldn't we encourage people to join our ranks?

I think nursing is awesome. I finally found what I want to do with my life and I am thrilled to be so lucky. But I also see that the more potential nurses we shoo away the greater our patient load will be down the line. And yes, right now the Universities are turning away almost 50,000 qualified applicants each year....so we are maxing out our nurse preparation to some degree. But I think the more people we can inspire the more quickly the disconnect will be resolved.

I know, this sounds a lot like rainbows and sunshine and bullcrap. I don't mean it to. I honestly believe we have to respect each other before we can gain the respect from others.


And FoeverLaur (or something like that): I owe you an apology. I jumped on you when you said that you wanted to be an NP and not "just a nurse". Though I do think there is a lesson for all of us in how and when we use the word "just a" anything, you didn't deserve it. My whole perspective has shifted since then to one of camaraderie.

 

[fab4fan]

I am in the position right now of deciding if I want to apply to CRNA school or pursue MD. I have ALWAYS wanted to be a doctor, but when I entered college- I acted foolish and had too much fun and decided to become a RN (instead of professional student). I have learned so much and enjoyed my career choice, but I still have that fire inside to become a doctor. I obviously am not driven by money to pursue MD b/c my family income is very good...my husband too is a RN. I am considering applying to CRNA school for educational preparation, autonomy, and challenging experience. I have been a critical care nurse for over 5 yrs (trauma, CVICU, ICU). I have the specialty certification in critical care (CCRN) and a 3.89 gpa. I have taken General Chemistry I and II, Microbiology, Anatomy and Physiology I and II, Zoology I and II and done well in all of these. All I have to take to apply to MD school is Physics I and II and Organic Chemistry I and II and the MCAT. I realize these are hard classes. Well my dilemma is this...I am not sure if I would do well in the MCAT and be a good candidate for MD school. I took a practice MCAT and made a 6 on Biology section (haven't taken Organic Chemistry I and II), 6 in Physical Sciences (haven't taken Physics I and II), and a freakin' 4 in Verbal Reasoning??? So, I don't want to spend a bunch of time and bypass the option of CRNA school (if I can't get into MD school). I am 28 yrs old female and have a 6 month old baby. What do you all think?

You have always wanted to be a doctor. Be a doctor.

 

[dfk]

Was this the most helpful way to answer?

yes it was

What she said didn't seem that disrespectful to me. She would prefer to be a MD over a CRNA. It happens. Lots of people take that route. Are they all "dumbing down the CRNA education"? Do they all have an attitude?

no, they're not. but here, yes, i think so.

the rest is "bullcrap" as you put it...

 

[Salamandrina]

yes it was

No. I'm sorry but your response was neither helpful nor useful in anyway. To call out lax as having an "attitude" while you tell lax how ignorant s/he is and tell lax that s/he won't get into CRNA school is you being pissed off, overly defensive and hypocritical with a dash of elitism thrown in for good measure.

You use one post (that didn't express "attitude" in any way from my reading) and use it as a case study to say what his/her future should or will include. You have poor reasoning and a nasty way of communicating.

You don't have to co-sign on trying to support other nurses. Be the personification of the "nurses eat their young" stereotype. Burn every bridge down behind you and erect obstacles in front. It is your little, unhappy life to live.

 

[lapelirroja]

It really should all come down to whether or not you would be happy just performing anesthetic procedures. Does that satisfy you? Would you rather be a diagnostician? Counsel patients on medications? Even be the one performing the surgical procedures? They're both good careers with good earning potential, but its a decision between passing gas for the rest of your life or specializing in something else. If you would want to go to medical school and do an anesthesia residency you might as well just do CRNA.

 

[dfk]

No. I'm sorry but your response was neither helpful nor useful in anyway. To call out lax as having an "attitude" while you tell lax how ignorant s/he is and tell lax that s/he won't get into CRNA school is you being pissed off, overly defensive and hypocritical with a dash of elitism thrown in for good measure.

You use one post (that didn't express "attitude" in any way from my reading) and use it as a case study to say what his/her future should or will include. You have poor reasoning and a nasty way of communicating.

You don't have to co-sign on trying to support other nurses. Be the personification of the "nurses eat their young" stereotype. Burn every bridge down behind you and erect obstacles in front. It is your little, unhappy life to live.

 

[njbmd]

All right folks, if you have a problem with a post in a particular forum, click on the red triangle under the users avatar and that post goes to the moderation queue for their attention.

If you have something constructive to contribute to the answer to the question of the Original Poster (OP), then by all means post it. If you have a problem with a particular poster, either Private Message (PM) that poster and state you case or again, send it to the moderation staff without hijacking the thread.

Thank you.