Need some guidance, please

[RNwantDO]

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Hello, first post and it won't be my last. Anyway, I am less then a semester away from finishing my ADN (Hence my name). Nursing will be my second-career, but I have decided that I honestly do not like the "Nursing Theory", and find it watered down on the sciences(my passion). I have a solid 3.93 pre-nursing gpa and I project a 3.4 post nursing GPA with a total of 110ch. So without further ado onto my issues.

I plan on going to a DO school (first choice) or one of the many MD programs in my state. I need to complete all of my chemistry, and physics requirements. This will give me approximately 140ch with no Baccalaureate degree. Now I have noticed many schools do not require a Bachelor degree with my credit hour level, but some do. This is where I come into my dilemma. I live close to several Universities and Community colleges. Obviously my pocket book would much rather pay the reduced tuition of the Community colleges, close to a $300 difference. I am fairly confident I will be able to maintain close to a 4.0 throughout these courses, and would guess I should be able to get at least a a 28+ MCAT based off my past performance on various standardized metrics.

So, will the fact that I do not have any university courses hurt my application? Or should I suck it up and try to go to one of the local universities under a different program? Should I try to get a bachelor, or take the courses at the Community level? Opinions are what I seek.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

Hello, first post and it won't be my last. Anyway, I am less then a semester away from finishing my ADN (Hence my name). Nursing will be my second-career, but I have decided that I honestly do not like the "Nursing Theory", and find it watered down on the sciences(my passion). I have a solid 3.93 pre-nursing gpa and I project a 3.4 post nursing GPA with a total of 110ch. So without further ado onto my issues.

I plan on going to a DO school (first choice) or one of the many MD programs in my state. I need to complete all of my chemistry, and physics requirements. This will give me approximately 140ch with no Baccalaureate degree. Now I have noticed many schools do not require a Bachelor degree with my credit hour level, but some do. This is where I come into my dilemma. I live close to several Universities and Community colleges. Obviously my pocket book would much rather pay the reduced tuition of the Community colleges, close to a $300 difference. I am fairly confident I will be able to maintain close to a 4.0 throughout these courses, and would guess I should be able to get at least a a 28+ MCAT based off my past performance on various standardized metrics.

So, will the fact that I do not have any university courses hurt my application? Or should I suck it up and try to go to one of the local universities under a different program? Should I try to get a bachelor, or take the courses at the Community level? Opinions are what I seek.

yes and no. as you stated, you don't like the watered down sciences. nursing classes generally don't fulfill any of the prereqs (including bio, unless you needed non-nursing general bio 1 and 2 for nursing).

Community college credits are heavily debated. my personal stance is not to do them because they will be brought into question regarding the rigor regardless of their actual difficulty, and because this process is so selective, one can't afford to cause any doubts at all. it will also show you can handle the rigor of a university. they won't question whether your CC classes allowed you to retake a test until you get an A (i have taken CC classes like this).

on the flipside, if you have any upper level classes to show you can handle university rigor, its good. if you do well on the MCAT it can help make up for the CC bias. if you are working or have other requirements, or money is that much of a factor, it can be seen. so CC credits may not hurt you at all. some colleges will hold more bias than others. some schools will take your MCAT into more weight than others.

also, the schools SAY they don't require a bachelors degree but based on statistics, 99% of applicants have one and I am only guessing that the remaining 1% are in a 3+4 program where they give you your degree after the first year of med school. so you need a degree. i will have completed 220 credits by the time I finish my 4 year which is embarrassing but there is nothing I can do about it. it is what it is.

 

[slatermd]

Hello, first post and it won't be my last. Anyway, I am less then a semester away from finishing my ADN (Hence my name). Nursing will be my second-career, but I have decided that I honestly do not like the "Nursing Theory", and find it watered down on the sciences(my passion). I have a solid 3.93 pre-nursing gpa and I project a 3.4 post nursing GPA with a total of 110ch. So without further ado onto my issues.

I plan on going to a DO school (first choice) or one of the many MD programs in my state. I need to complete all of my chemistry, and physics requirements. This will give me approximately 140ch with no Baccalaureate degree. Now I have noticed many schools do not require a Bachelor degree with my credit hour level, but some do. This is where I come into my dilemma. I live close to several Universities and Community colleges. Obviously my pocket book would much rather pay the reduced tuition of the Community colleges, close to a $300 difference. I am fairly confident I will be able to maintain close to a 4.0 throughout these courses, and would guess I should be able to get at least a a 28+ MCAT based off my past performance on various standardized metrics.

So, will the fact that I do not have any university courses hurt my application? Or should I suck it up and try to go to one of the local universities under a different program? Should I try to get a bachelor, or take the courses at the Community level? Opinions are what I seek.

It sounds like you have done some research about applying without a bachelor's degree. I honestly have not heard of this except in pharmacy and some other field that is not medicine (can't think of it off the top of my head)

If there are specific schools where you can apply with no bachelor's, you should contact these schools directly and ask them about whether or not you should take your chemistry etc. at a community college.

However, if you want to make sure you have enough options, you should consider taking your remaining classes at a four-year college. With as many credits as you have, you could probably do one year at a university and get some sort of degree...general studies or something. This would at least allow you to apply anywhere that requires a bachelor's degree, provided you have completed all of the pre requisites.

 

[RNwantDO]

Thank you for the advice. I have decided to just be safe, and go the University route for my prereq's. However, I still am perplexed on getting the BS or, trying to get through my prereq's then take my MCAT. From my point of view it is 2 years to get my pre-reqs done, and possibly 4 years to get the BS (Biomed), as Nursing misses a decent amount of general-ed courses. Well, anyway, I got my application done, tentatively plan on completing my BS, and now need to finish my ADN then get licensed as an RN.

 

[MrPolarZero]

I think it would be better if you opt for university credits, as these will give you a lot more chances. In case you are worried about finances, these can be easily handled.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

Thank you for the advice. I have decided to just be safe, and go the University route for my prereq's. However, I still am perplexed on getting the BS or, trying to get through my prereq's then take my MCAT. From my point of view it is 2 years to get my pre-reqs done, and possibly 4 years to get the BS (Biomed), as Nursing misses a decent amount of general-ed courses. Well, anyway, I got my application done, tentatively plan on completing my BS, and now need to finish my ADN then get licensed as an RN.

you can definitely get your prereqs done and take the MCAT, but it doesn't really change the fact that you need a BA or BS.

 

[MJB]

The best thing you can do is start talking to all the schools you're most interested in. In my experience, they will usually be fairly up front with you on things like Bachelor's Degree requirements, etc..


Good luck to you. It wasn't quite 6 years ago that I had the first inkling I wanted to change careers and go into medicine, and I will be graduating with my D.O. degree in May. I already had my Bachelor's but had to take about 15-20 hours of pre-req's.