Need help with choosing a realistic path to DO or NP

[ER312]

2012 graduate
B.S. (CC transfer to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Major: Psychology
Minor: Molecular Cell Biology
Overall GPA 3.2

Manager '12-'13

Next, working as a rehab tech, volunteering, and also tutoring psychology
'13
anatomy, physiology (both at CC, As)
'14
physics 1 & 2 (both at CC, As), upper level cell biology at Northwestern SPS (A)
GRE 151v, 151q, 3.0aw
'15 applied to PT school and got wait-listed, decided to go to RN school
microbiology (at CC, A)

'15-'17 Associate Degree in Nursing (3.0 GPA) then took NCLEX-RN
(worked as ER Tech throughout nursing school)

fall '17 to present
ER Nurse and love it. I can easily see myself working as a nurse for another 3-5 years, but eventually I will want to progress clinically.

If I complete a premed post-bacc and get mostly As, then take the MCAT and score decent, do I have any chance in hell at getting into a U.S. med school? I really would like to become an EM physician, but the easier route in front of me is NP school. However, NPs typically don't get to manage the cardiac arrests, cardiac alerts, strokes, or high acuity patients. Based on my background, what are your thoughts?

Thanks

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[oludir]

If I complete a premed post-bacc and get mostly As, then take the MCAT and score decent, do I have any chance in hell at getting into a U.S. med school? I really would like to become an EM physician, but the easier route in front of me is NP school. However, NPs typically don't get to manage the cardiac arrests, cardiac alerts, strokes, or high acuity patients. Based on my background, what are your thoughts?

YES. If it is what you want. You will be asked why not stay a nurse all the time but I think you are mature enough to have a good answer. Believe it or not, maturity counts for something in creating a well rounded medical school class.

 

[RNthenDoc]

Do you have Biochem/Ochem etc?

Weigh your decision out carefully, because you’re in a similar spot that I was.

I walked away from $1,000,000 to choose the MD route over NP (not an exaggeration, I did the math), so that isn’t a decision to make lightly. That said, it’s possible for you!

 

[Shigaliketoxin]

Do you want to work with me or for me?

All jokes aside, NPs are great but you need to be comfortable with working under a physician for the rest of your life. I decided against a career as a mid-level because I wanted to be the last link in the food chain. Soul search on that. NPs and PAs practice pseudo-independently, but there always needs to be a doc to "supervise" (directly or otherwise). Shadow both sides and see what you're comfortable with.

 

[Goro]

2012 graduate
B.S. (CC transfer to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
Major: Psychology
Minor: Molecular Cell Biology
Overall GPA 3.2

Manager '12-'13

Next, working as a rehab tech, volunteering, and also tutoring psychology
'13
anatomy, physiology (both at CC, As)
'14
physics 1 & 2 (both at CC, As), upper level cell biology at Northwestern SPS (A)
GRE 151v, 151q, 3.0aw
'15 applied to PT school and got wait-listed, decided to go to RN school
microbiology (at CC, A)

'15-'17 Associate Degree in Nursing (3.0 GPA) then took NCLEX-RN
(worked as ER Tech throughout nursing school)

fall '17 to present
ER Nurse and love it. I can easily see myself working as a nurse for another 3-5 years, but eventually I will want to progress clinically.

If I complete a premed post-bacc and get mostly As, then take the MCAT and score decent, do I have any chance in hell at getting into a U.S. med school?

Yes, absolutely.

 

[psych_pa]

A couple of things I would consider:
First, you have an Associates in Nursing. You will need a bachelors degree in it anyway in order to start NP school, correct? Unless your psych classes all transfer toward your overall Bachelors degree.. Anyway, I am not sure but I think you still may need a few more classes regardless.
Obtaining an NP degree is a lot of do-it-at-your-own-pace type of schooling which allows flexibility as well as the opportunity to have a job and work while obtaining your degree. In addition, if you work at a hospital while getting your degree a lot of the time they will fund it, so no crushing debt once you graduate.
From the looks of it, you do not have your chemistry completed. It's typical for most MD and DO programs to have a full year of organic chem completed, and also in order to take organic there is a full year of gen chem as a prerequisite requirement. I have spoken to some folks who literally told me they could not get into some doc programs because of the organic chemistry class. It's difficult in my opinion.. but I also came from a psych background, not a hard science undergrad.
Consider your debt: Medical school is four extra years, plus your residency. Some residencies are longer than others and you typically barely make enough to survive off of when you're a resident. Just enough to pay minimum payments on loans and eat. Then once you're done with residency you will call all the shots. It does sound lovely, doesn't it? This also means you are responsible for almost all patient that walk into the ER, because even if you did not treat them directly, you're responsible for signing off on a percentage of notes from all the mid-level practitioners. You did not hire those folks, the hospital did. You did not put your trust into them, someone else did it for you. Well.. there is malpractice insurance for that, but still something to consider.

I would just consider what you really want. Consider years of your life and where you see yourself in the future, money, debt.. What is really worth your time and extreme amounts of effort.

 

[ER312]

YES. If it is what you want. You will be asked why not stay a nurse all the time but I think you are mature enough to have a good answer. Believe it or not, maturity counts for something in creating a well rounded medical school class.

Thank you. I definitely think I've matured in my understanding of the healthcare professions. I'll be doing some soul searching for sure.

 

[ER312]

Do you have Biochem/Ochem etc?

Weigh your decision out carefully, because you’re in a similar spot that I was.

I walked away from $1,000,000 to choose the MD route over NP (not an exaggeration, I did the math), so that isn’t a decision to make lightly. That said, it’s possible for you!

I have a full year of gen. chem. but no bio/orgo. The money doesn't mean much for me, I could easily live comfortably on my RN salary at the moment. Which specialty did you choose? Did you pick MD for the autonomy?

 

[ER312]

Do you want to work with me or for me?

All jokes aside, NPs are great but you need to be comfortable with working under a physician for the rest of your life. I decided against a career as a mid-level because I wanted to be the last link in the food chain. Soul search on that. NPs and PAs practice pseudo-independently, but there always needs to be a doc to "supervise" (directly or otherwise). Shadow both sides and see what you're comfortable with.

That is definitely something that keeps me up at night. I definitely would like to be the last link, but having ALL the responsibility might give me too much anxiety. I'm not against the idea of having supervision as I am well aware of the superior education of MD/DO to that of mid-levels. I think at some point I have to be honest with myself and understand the limits of my abilities. I definitely know I am smart enough to become a physician, but I'm not so sure I am mentally strong enough to hold the weight of that level of decision making. I have mild anxiety with a touch of OCD and I can't be 100% certain i'd be comfortable sitting in that chair. However, being an RN is just not enough for me, I need more.

 

[ER312]

Yes, absolutely.

Thanks for the optimism

 

[ER312]

A couple of things I would consider:
First, you have an Associates in Nursing. You will need a bachelors degree in it anyway in order to start NP school, correct? Unless your psych classes all transfer toward your overall Bachelors degree.. Anyway, I am not sure but I think you still may need a few more classes regardless.
Obtaining an NP degree is a lot of do-it-at-your-own-pace type of schooling which allows flexibility as well as the opportunity to have a job and work while obtaining your degree. In addition, if you work at a hospital while getting your degree a lot of the time they will fund it, so no crushing debt once you graduate.
From the looks of it, you do not have your chemistry completed. It's typical for most MD and DO programs to have a full year of organic chem completed, and also in order to take organic there is a full year of gen chem as a prerequisite requirement. I have spoken to some folks who literally told me they could not get into some doc programs because of the organic chemistry class. It's difficult in my opinion.. but I also came from a psych background, not a hard science undergrad.
Consider your debt: Medical school is four extra years, plus your residency. Some residencies are longer than others and you typically barely make enough to survive off of when you're a resident. Just enough to pay minimum payments on loans and eat. Then once you're done with residency you will call all the shots. It does sound lovely, doesn't it? This also means you are responsible for almost all patient that walk into the ER, because even if you did not treat them directly, you're responsible for signing off on a percentage of notes from all the mid-level practitioners. You did not hire those folks, the hospital did. You did not put your trust into them, someone else did it for you. Well.. there is malpractice insurance for that, but still something to consider.

I would just consider what you really want. Consider years of your life and where you see yourself in the future, money, debt.. What is really worth your time and extreme amounts of effort.

Yes, I'd have to do like a 14-month BSN completion and then I'd have to do a post-bacc and knock out orgo as well as take some other courses just to get a strong GPA. That'd be challenging enough, though I already took a full year of gen. chem and then there's the MCAT.

Indeed, it is nice to have the flexibility to work and do NP school "at my own pace" and there is some potential for tuition reimbursement. Yes, i'd definitely be much better off financially as an NP in terms of debt and interest rates, but that isn't the most concerning. As I write these replies to all the messages I converge on the utmost important question you've mentioned "Do you want to call all the shots? Can you accept total responsibility for patients' lives?" I am definitely leaning towards the NP route because I don't think I can handle calling all the shots for the sickest patients. I think i'd be prone to thinking and rethinking if I made the correct diagnosis and wrote the right script for a patient with x number of current meds and comorbidities. Yes the allure of running a code or intubating a patient appeals to me, but being the captain of the ship isn't something I can now 100% say I'd be comfortable with. I'm not sure if i'd feel differently after coming out of 7+ years of medical training, but that's a huge gamble to take. There's also the other side of the coin where when I'm done with NP school I could end up wanting more responsibility.

 

[RNthenDoc]

I have a full year of gen. chem. but no bio/orgo. The money doesn't mean much for me, I could easily live comfortably on my RN salary at the moment. Which specialty did you choose? Did you pick MD for the autonomy?

I’m still just a preclinical student, so I don’t have a specialty yet.

I picked MD for the education, honestly.

 

[calivianya]

DO schools will love you. They loved me! MD schools... not so much.

You still have to play the game as a non traditional student to get a good shot at MD schools. Do research and lots of volunteering. I found that with good grades, a solid RN background, a good MCAT score, and some minimal clinical volunteering hours that I was able to get into every DO school I interviewed for. On the flip side, I got post-interview rejections from every MD interview I attended.

If you don’t want to be limited to DO, when you go back to school, don’t get your BSN. Or don’t “just” get your BSN. Double major, and get a degree with a bunch of upper level hard sciences. Make friends with your professors and do bench research in their labs.

I don’t think being afraid of the responsibility is a bad thing. It means you know what you’re getting into... which is more than I can say for my classmates, many of whom are very young and immature. And guess what? The super young, immature people get to be responsible for people’s lives, too. I’d rather see more people like you in med school who have adequate respect for what they’re getting into than these egotistical kids who think that making As in orgo in undergrad makes them invincible and perfect.

 

[hamiltonnyc]

I walked away from $1,000,000 to choose the MD route over NP (not an exaggeration, I did the math), so that isn’t a decision to make lightly.

Can you show the math actually? Sorry but this seems pretty high. Also, are you just thinking about short term (during med school) or lifetime. If you're thinking short term, I can see a scenario where that's possible (if you don't qualify for financial aid, and you have to do a formal postbac and don't want to work simultaneously), but after I'd guess 5-10 years out that figure will go negative and continue so pretty quickly.

 

[calivianya]

Can you show the math actually? Sorry but this seems pretty high. Also, are you just thinking about short term (during med school) or lifetime. If you're thinking short term, I can see a scenario where that's possible (if you don't qualify for financial aid, and you have to do a formal postbac and don't want to work simultaneously), but after I'd guess 5-10 years out that figure will go negative and continue so pretty quickly.

I’m sure it’s an end of residency/fellowship figure. I did the same math and came pretty close.

I would have gone to NP school at roughly the I started my med school prereqs, so...

NP school:
Start fall 2016, end May 2019 (DNP), cost from their website (my undergrad, which I would have returned to) at $11.3k/year x 3 years: $33.9k
Work offered tuition reimbursement at $5k/year -> $15k, so school cost total drops to $18.9k, which I could have easily paid out of pocket
Work income from July 2018, when I quit for med school, to May 2019 - $50k (usually averaged around $70k-$80k/year)
We’ll estimate $120k/year and lowball b/c assumes no raises (this is what a new grad that got hired when I left came onto my unit for) after school x 9 years for the same time to finish med school, residency, fellowship (targeting a finish date of spring 2028): ~$1.08 mil
Net: ~$1.1 mil

Instead:
Med school prereqs spring 2016 - summer 2017: $16k
App cycle (all secondaries, interview travel, etc): $11k
**Note: this is where the difference starts, as I paid more for the prereqs/app cycle than I would have for an entire NP degree**
Four years’ tuition: $224k
Cost of living loans: $100k (this is a hopeful figure; I can take out >$160k)
Residency/fellowship salary around $60k x 6 years: $360,000
Net when finishing residency/fellowship, not even including student loan interest: $9k

Not even taking into account the area I’m going to med school in is more than twice as expensive as where I was living, and I could have continued to live in the lower cost of living area. So actually, from the start of med school after residency and fellowship, I’ll 100% be net negative.

It will take at least five years of being an attending, probably much longer, to catch up with going the NP route.

 

[FCMike11]

Personal decision. You definitely have a chance. Raise GPA to 3.3+, score 75th percentile + on the MCAT and you will do well with interviews.

Have to decide what you want. All of the new DO schools are definitely a consideration as well. Make sure you are absolutely content with primary care fields.

PM me if you have other questions. Similar career path.

I considered NP but there was just absolutely no way for me. Was considering flight nursing (not really a long-term career path) or PA school.

 

[hamiltonnyc]

I’m sure it’s an end of residency/fellowship figure. I did the same math and came pretty close.

I would have gone to NP school at roughly the I started my med school prereqs, so...

NP school:
Start fall 2016, end May 2019 (DNP), cost from their website (my undergrad, which I would have returned to) at $11.3k/year x 3 years: $33.9k
Work offered tuition reimbursement at $5k/year -> $15k, so school cost total drops to $18.9k, which I could have easily paid out of pocket
Work income from July 2018, when I quit for med school, to May 2019 - $50k (usually averaged around $70k-$80k/year)
We’ll estimate $120k/year and lowball b/c assumes no raises (this is what a new grad that got hired when I left came onto my unit for) after school x 9 years for the same time to finish med school, residency, fellowship (targeting a finish date of spring 2028): ~$1.08 mil
Net: ~$1.1 mil

Instead:
Med school prereqs spring 2016 - summer 2017: $16k
App cycle (all secondaries, interview travel, etc): $11k
**Note: this is where the difference starts, as I paid more for the prereqs/app cycle than I would have for an entire NP degree**
Four years’ tuition: $224k
Cost of living loans: $100k (this is a hopeful figure; I can take out >$160k)
Residency/fellowship salary around $60k x 6 years: $360,000
Net when finishing residency/fellowship, not even including student loan interest: $9k

Not even taking into account the area I’m going to med school in is more than twice as expensive as where I was living, and I could have continued to live in the lower cost of living area. So actually, from the start of med school after residency and fellowship, I’ll 100% be net negative.

It will take at least five years of being an attending, probably much longer, to catch up with going the NP route.

Interesting, a few things on that:
- The tuition and cost of living figure for med school seems like that doesn't include financial aid? Isn't the national average debt out of med school like 120k? I have a lot of friends with scholarships and financial aid and they left closer to that number, not 324k.
- Yeah the fellowship thing is interesting because it's not a guaranteed yet, right? But on the plus side, it would mean you can catch up a lot quicker.
- Didn't know NPs made that much!

Even if it would cost you 1.5 million in the 10 years, I still don't know if it's fair to characterize it as 'walking away' from that much like the original commentor said. The lifetime earnings even over a 10 year MD career (20 year total horizon) is drastically different, much less a 20 or 30. Now, if we were to normalize for hours spent, it might be a different story, but purely financial no one is saying the MD route is less lucrative long term than NP. I feel like professions like lawyers can say that because they are leaving with the same salary as a lower paying physician and their ceiling is around the same.

 

[calivianya]

Interesting, a few things on that:
- The tuition and cost of living figure for med school seems like that doesn't include financial aid? Isn't the national average debt out of med school like 120k? I have a lot of friends with scholarships and financial aid and they left closer to that number, not 324k.
- Yeah the fellowship thing is interesting because it's not a guaranteed yet, right? But on the plus side, it would mean you can catch up a lot quicker.
- Didn't know NPs made that much!

Even if it would cost you 1.5 million in the 10 years, I still don't know if it's fair to characterize it as 'walking away' from that much like the original commentor said. The lifetime earnings even over a 10 year MD career (20 year total horizon) is drastically different, much less a 20 or 30. Now, if we were to normalize for hours spent, it might be a different story, but purely financial no one is saying the MD route is less lucrative long term than NP. I feel like professions like lawyers can say that because they are leaving with the same salary as a lower paying physician and their ceiling is around the same.

I don’t actually know anyone at my school who received financial aid as in scholarships or grants, other than the people who went the military route. My school will let me take out a total of $104k per year, so I could in theory come out with $416k - so that’s why $324k is my hopeful number. I don’t have any rich family helping me out - it’s just me and my husband - so I’m anticipating having to take out most of the loans offered to me. We do three semesters a year, and I’m already up to $36k just from my first semester of my first year. Ugh. The average graduating debt at my school (DO) is in the $260k range, by the way. Not everybody’s lucky enough to get into a low debt school. All three of the schools I was accepted to have average debts >$240k.

Well, as far as the walking away goes... you’re assuming you’re going to have the perfect life if you don’t think about it as a real loss. You’re not going to get disabled in a car accident, you’re not going to fail out, you’re not going to get some kind of incurable disease that means you have to withdraw and/or quit practicing medicine. You’re going to match for residency, and you’re not going to lose your license. I watched something similar happen to my father (not medical), who was a very high earner and who ended up in a bad financial situation before he died. Guaranteed money in two years with no debt, vs. astronomical debt and a 10+ year break even period, should give most rational people pause.

 

[hamiltonnyc]

I don’t actually know anyone at my school who received financial aid as in scholarships or grants, other than the people who went the military route. My school will let me take out a total of $104k per year, so I could in theory come out with $416k - so that’s why $324k is my hopeful number. I don’t have any rich family helping me out - it’s just me and my husband - so I’m anticipating having to take out most of the loans offered to me. We do three semesters a year, and I’m already up to $36k just from my first semester of my first year. Ugh. The average graduating debt at my school (DO) is in the $260k range, by the way. Not everybody’s lucky enough to get into a low debt school. All three of the schools I was accepted to have average debts >$240k.

Well, as far as the walking away goes... you’re assuming you’re going to have the perfect life if you don’t think about it as a real loss. You’re not going to get disabled in a car accident, you’re not going to fail out, you’re not going to get some kind of incurable disease that means you have to withdraw and/or quit practicing medicine. You’re going to match for residency, and you’re not going to lose your license. I watched something similar happen to my father (not medical), who was a very high earner and who ended up in a bad financial situation before he died. Guaranteed money in two years with no debt, vs. astronomical debt and a 10+ year break even period, should give most rational people pause.

Regarding your point on incidents, firstly there is almost no such thing as guaranteed money in 2 years either. Secondly, when planning you cant adsume the 'perfect life' but you fo have to go off of expected value in decision making. If there is a higher likelihood of incidents happening if you're a doctor 10 years out, then it should be factored in. You could just as easily choose at the 20 year mark, in which case the doctor would have more of a cushion to handle financial circumstances, but you shouldn't unless there is a statistically significant posterior probability. But I bet you if you had a fork in this decision point and you are just as capable of doing both, the expected value of the MD (which is aggregated over a large n) is a lot higher than RN (again, not normalizing for hours spent).

 

[calivianya]

Regarding your point on incidents, firstly there is almost no such thing as guaranteed money in 2 years either. Secondly, when planning you cant adsume the 'perfect life' but you fo have to go off of expected value in decision making. If there is a higher likelihood of incidents happening if you're a doctor 10 years out, then it should be factored in. You could just as easily choose at the 20 year mark, in which case the doctor would have more of a cushion to handle financial circumstances, but you shouldn't unless there is a statistically significant posterior probability. But I bet you if you had a fork in this decision point and you are just as capable of doing both, the expected value of the MD (which is aggregated over a large n) is a lot higher than RN (again, not normalizing for hours spent).

I do agree with you. The overall salary difference is one of the less significant (personally) reasons I picked med school over NP school in the end, because I’d like to have that nice cushion at retirement that will be better than if I had gone NP in the long run.

But my decision was more about the autonomy than anything else. If I had been primarily focused on money and quality of life right now, I probably would have gone NP. There is definitely risk at all levels, and the fact that there is no guaranteed money in two years is true, but if something happened to me in two years on the NP path, I’d have been nearly debt free. I’d paid off my car already and was on track to pay off my house in less than ten years if I’d stayed where I was instead of moving for med school, and if you own your house and transportation outright (and they’re both in good shape), you can really work at McDonald’s for minimum wage and live just fine.

IMO, you can’t really put a price on financial independence, but that’s just me. I’ve committed myself to being a slave to the system for the next 15 or so years at least, though, so I don’t really have room to talk.

 

[hamiltonnyc]

I do agree with you. The overall salary difference is one of the less significant (personally) reasons I picked med school over NP school in the end, because I’d like to have that nice cushion at retirement that will be better than if I had gone NP in the long run.

But my decision was more about the autonomy than anything else. If I had been primarily focused on money and quality of life right now, I probably would have gone NP. There is definitely risk at all levels, and the fact that there is no guaranteed money in two years is true, but if something happened to me in two years on the NP path, I’d have been nearly debt free. I’d paid off my car already and was on track to pay off my house in less than ten years if I’d stayed where I was instead of moving for med school, and if you own your house and transportation outright (and they’re both in good shape), you can really work at McDonald’s for minimum wage and live just fine.

IMO, you can’t really put a price on financial independence, but that’s just me. I’ve committed myself to being a slave to the system for the next 15 or so years at least, though, so I don’t really have room to talk.

Yeah I understand where you're coming from, I was mainly commenting on the finances alone. I don't think finances is a reason to get into medicine, but at the same time, regarding the decision between MD and np, I don't think it's a reason to not choose MD, if that makes sense. I was just trying to make the point that choosing an arbitrary time horizon and saying the np noute is more lucrative is short sighted and a lifetime earnings is a fairer comparison.

Often times I think people like to overplay the financial sacrifice they are making, which is great because it could provide you with a sense of courage. But at the same time, when people do this and they truly believe it, it can cause misery and can be discouraging. I think unless you're making 200k right now and project that for the rest of your career, the medicine route is not necessarily better or worst financially.

 

[ER312]

I really appreciate all of your responses, but I've decided that I am not going to pursue Medicine. I figure maybe one day I'll go to NP school, but right now I'll continue working as an RN and use my four days off per week to start a business.I truly wish to leave a legacy for my life. I've always wanted to open a school, not-for-profit, or community based center. Money really doesn't mean much to me as I grew up relatively poor and currently my RN salary is plenty to satisfy my financial needs. I'm an ENTJ and I've always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I can easily see myself becoming a DO or NP and still not being satisfied with my life, because the void in my life deals with my lack of contribution to society. Becoming a physician might feel rewarding to me with the gained autonomy, but the anxiety of being the "shot caller" wouldn't be fun. Also, the allure of a physician's salary doesn't even interest me. All in all, I think medicine should be something that completes a person and for all the right reasons. My impact on the world will be will arise from a different pathway.

Thank you

 

[TRPMinus]

Do you have Biochem/Ochem etc?

Weigh your decision out carefully, because you’re in a similar spot that I was.

I walked away from $1,000,000 to choose the MD route over NP (not an exaggeration, I did the math), so that isn’t a decision to make lightly. That said, it’s possible for you!

Maybe for the short term this is "true" but there is no world in which you don't come out wildly ahead financially by being an MD. I get it though, it does make you sound like a badass to say you walked away from 1M.

 

[RNthenDoc]

Maybe for the short term this is "true" but there is no world in which you don't come out wildly ahead financially by being an MD. I get it though, it does make you sound like a badass to say you walked away from 1M.

1. Not every applicant gets accepted to medical school; the majority don't, in fact. Thus it would be foolhardy to not take financial concerns into consideration.

2. Search SDN, there are instances of job postings where NP salaries eclipse MD. This is obviously very rare, and the exception to the rule, but you don't always end up *wildly* ahead as an MD. There are a lot of variables. Ask a HealthCorp doc or an army doc vs. an NP who had an extra decade at their highest salary. Again, obviously by and large physicians make *much* more, but when we're talking about an individual you have to weigh a lot more variables.

3. OP already ended the thread so obviously you didn't post to be constructive at all, you just wanted to take a swipe.

4. It isn't "cool" to walk away from money. I don't really know anybody on Instagram who is famous for turning down money. Having money... That's generally accepted as cool, as the "King of Instagram" Dan Bilzerian doesn't seem to really have a ton going for him except his massive wealth.......
Toodaloo!

 

[TRPMinus]

1. Not every applicant gets accepted to medical school; the majority don't, in fact. Thus it would be foolhardy to not take financial concerns into consideration.

2. Search SDN, there are instances of job postings where NP salaries eclipse MD. This is obviously very rare, and the exception to the rule, but you don't always end up *wildly* ahead as an MD. There are a lot of variables. Ask a HealthCorp doc or an army doc vs. an NP who had an extra decade at their highest salary. Again, obviously by and large physicians make *much* more, but when we're talking about an individual you have to weigh a lot more variables.

3. OP already ended the thread so obviously you didn't post to be constructive at all, you just wanted to take a swipe.

4. It isn't "cool" to walk away from money. I don't really know anybody on Instagram who is famous for turning down money. Having money... That's generally accepted as cool, as the "King of Instagram" Dan Bilzerian doesn't seem to really have a ton going for him except his massive wealth.......
Toodaloo!

My point is that you are an annoying and dramatic poster. You most certainly did not walk away from 1M so quit with the hyperbole. Nobody "walks away" from that kind of money without it being a long-term play, which describes medical education. In a few instances (like starting med school as a 50yo) it could be detrimental financially. As for NP salaries eclipsing MDs....this is akin to saying you shouldn't swim in the ocean since people get attacked by sharks every year. It's a stupid basis for a career decision.

 

[W19]

I was a RN (AS degree) and I thought about NP for a moment, but I realized there was no way I would be happy being a mid-level. I did my BSN while taking med school prereqs, then took the MCAT. Was accepted into DO and US MD... Happy that I made the decision to go to med school. I just did not want to do NP and regret it later. I also think being a physician opens more doors.
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One of my co-residents was (is) also an RN... still working as a RN when he is on vacation or on easy rotation.