need some advice - go for med school or finish nursing school first

[psycho-matic]

So I completed my junior year of a BS in Nursing program. During my first year was when I realized I have a desire to practice medicine. I took a break from school this semester, for both personal and financial reasons, and am set to go back to nursing school this coming January with a graduation date of December 2011. I passed my LPN boards and have been working in a nursing home making good money.

However, my desire to learn medicine and go to med school has only been increasing. I'm certain I want to be a physician. So I'm left with a choice -go to nursing school in January or begin taking my prerequisites for med school (which I can have completed by Spring 2012). I'm making good money (LPNs in nursing home make what RNs make in hospital) so supporting myself while taking my prereqs is not an issue. Just don't know if I should finish nursing first. Now that I have my LPN it would always be very easy to go back in the future and do an LPN to RN program. It's not something I have to do right away. I'm 28, and the earliest I would be looking at entering med school is at age 30. I almost feel like I don't have the motivation to finish nursing school. Need some advice please. By the way the nursing and med school program are housed at the same university/med center.

Edit: forgot to add I hold a BS in Biology so the bachelor degree requirement is not an issue.

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[badb100d]

Hi srleslie! Let me preface by saying I have a similar background, I have a BSN and am currently applying to med school.

A number of posts I have seen indicate that med school adcoms don't like to see unfinished degrees. So I would err on the side of caution and complete the BSN. Especially if your undergrad GPA is on the low-side, doing well in your BSN courses will help get your GPA up quickly. Although I understand completely your eagerness to get started on the med school path.

It's great that you have LPN experience already b/c normally I would also say to spend time working after you have your BSN to solidify your reasons for wanting to change over to medicine and get some great clinical exposure. I'm not sure if this is necessary in your case, perhaps someone else can weigh in. I personally worked for a year before taking my pre-med classes. Should you spend more time working it might be a good idea to diversify into some other clinical areas (ie emergency, critical care) for some more insight into medicine.

You have a BS in bio, does that mean you have completed all the required pre-med classes (2 semesters each of bio, gen chem, ochem, phys + labs, english)? If not perhaps you can tackle some of your missing coursework while you finish up your BSN. Just be sure you ace those classes!

 

[MSmentor018]

I was in your shoes RN-->EM resident. finish RN school then work while you're applying for med school. don't worry about the age, just put your efforts on getting in. once you start the journey it doesn't really matter much until you start deciding on residencies/fellowships/career options....etc.
good luck!

 

[jl lin]

You have a BS in bio, does that mean you have completed all the required pre-med classes (2 semesters each of bio, gen chem, ochem, phys + labs, english)? If not perhaps you can tackle some of your missing coursework while you finish up your BSN. Just be sure you ace those classes!

See now most I know that hold Bachelors of Science in Biology pretty much have the prereq's done. ???Scratching head???

You sure you didn't mean to say you have a BA in Biology?