BotsogoBontle
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- Joined
- Apr 26, 2020
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I'm 30, currently working as a research assistant in an office dealing with social determinants of health and chronic health conditions. I recently finished my peace corps service where I helped with youth leadership, HIV and youth sexual/reproductive health education. Before that I worked at planned parenthood as a healthcare assistant, which was my first job out of undergrad.
High school through maybe junior year of college I was set on Med school. After studying abroad my senior year of college, I started to consider a shorter timeline to practice healthcare globally as a nurse or nurse-midwife (I was always interested in MSF and thought nursing would be a shorter way to get there). I studied women’s studies in college and also felt that nursing and nurse midwifery aligned more with my developing feminist identity.
Earlier in 2020, I started to reconsider Med school, how the education could go deeper and my scope of practice could as well. I was especially considering the opportunity to be an abortion provider and how pursuing the nurse practitioner/nurse midwifery role would not bring me to that goal in most states (but who knows what could happen in the near future, some states are allowing mid-level providers to perform abortions).
Even though women’s and sexual, reproductive health is a passion, I still consider myself open to other fields. I’m learning quite a bit about the patient experience with type II DM right now.
Undergrad (high-ranking public university) B.S Women’s studies, French minor. I took most pre-Med classes, but did not have an upward trajectory, science GPA about 3.2. Overall GPA 3.5. I did not take the MCAT during undergrad because I wanted to think about my path further. I worked at a student sexual assault prevention and support office and volunteered at the university hospital during undergrad as well as completed a semester abroad program in central Africa.
After talking to a pre-Med advisor and some Med school admissions reps, the combined advice I received was to retake pre-Med courses to prepare myself for the MCAT.
I would like to do a DIY post-bac so I can continue to work full time and learn about research and take classes at the same time. So far I’ve only retaken statistics at a 2yr college because I would need this for nursing programs and one Med school admissions rep suggested this for their program(a public health heavy Med curriculum). It was a safe class to take first to reintegrate into school. I was thinking of taking Genetics at a 4yr university next because it seems interesting to me at this point in my life although it will likely be much more challenging for me. I actually withdrew from genetics my last semester of undergrad and it would feel like tying a loose end. The idea of taking intro bio, chem and physics again does not thrill me, not because I didn’t do well in those classes, but I’d rather take genetics, A&P, microbio to feel like I can pick up where I left off and learn new content. The nursing prerequisites actually seem more satisfying to me (A&P, microbio, developmental psych, nutrition) because I haven’t taken those before and I feel those classes are more applicable to healthcare. I would consider retaking bio chem, even though I took it twice during undergrad, just because I appreciated the value in it. (My first grade in the course was not where I wanted it to be).
I have been saying for several months now that a good next step would be to shadow doctors and NPs/CNMs. I haven’t pursued this recently given the pandemic, but am open to advice on how to ask for shadowing experiences even via telemedicine. I work at a medical institution so this should not be too much of a challenge!
I’m looking for feedback on where to go from here. I’ve thought about the timeline, how my 30’s will go towards my schooling and training. If medicine is the route I choose, I think I will be able to optimistically remind myself that I am a doctor in training at every level and that time is never wasted.
I think the nursing route would also be satisfying and a better option financially (less years of school, more years to practice). I wonder if I will wish I had a larger scope of practice however. For nursing programs, I’m really interested in direct entry masters programs, especially ones which partner with the peace corps Coverdell fellowship.
I would appreciate any advice or thoughts on anything I’ve mentioned.
More specifically, some questions I have are:
How to gain shadowing experience during this time to help with my decision?
How do you compare nursing vs medical curriculum/education?
What information have you found that might be helpful for making the decision between nursing and medicine?
What classes would you recommend I take next?
What are some questions I can ask myself for further reflection?
High school through maybe junior year of college I was set on Med school. After studying abroad my senior year of college, I started to consider a shorter timeline to practice healthcare globally as a nurse or nurse-midwife (I was always interested in MSF and thought nursing would be a shorter way to get there). I studied women’s studies in college and also felt that nursing and nurse midwifery aligned more with my developing feminist identity.
Earlier in 2020, I started to reconsider Med school, how the education could go deeper and my scope of practice could as well. I was especially considering the opportunity to be an abortion provider and how pursuing the nurse practitioner/nurse midwifery role would not bring me to that goal in most states (but who knows what could happen in the near future, some states are allowing mid-level providers to perform abortions).
Even though women’s and sexual, reproductive health is a passion, I still consider myself open to other fields. I’m learning quite a bit about the patient experience with type II DM right now.
Undergrad (high-ranking public university) B.S Women’s studies, French minor. I took most pre-Med classes, but did not have an upward trajectory, science GPA about 3.2. Overall GPA 3.5. I did not take the MCAT during undergrad because I wanted to think about my path further. I worked at a student sexual assault prevention and support office and volunteered at the university hospital during undergrad as well as completed a semester abroad program in central Africa.
After talking to a pre-Med advisor and some Med school admissions reps, the combined advice I received was to retake pre-Med courses to prepare myself for the MCAT.
I would like to do a DIY post-bac so I can continue to work full time and learn about research and take classes at the same time. So far I’ve only retaken statistics at a 2yr college because I would need this for nursing programs and one Med school admissions rep suggested this for their program(a public health heavy Med curriculum). It was a safe class to take first to reintegrate into school. I was thinking of taking Genetics at a 4yr university next because it seems interesting to me at this point in my life although it will likely be much more challenging for me. I actually withdrew from genetics my last semester of undergrad and it would feel like tying a loose end. The idea of taking intro bio, chem and physics again does not thrill me, not because I didn’t do well in those classes, but I’d rather take genetics, A&P, microbio to feel like I can pick up where I left off and learn new content. The nursing prerequisites actually seem more satisfying to me (A&P, microbio, developmental psych, nutrition) because I haven’t taken those before and I feel those classes are more applicable to healthcare. I would consider retaking bio chem, even though I took it twice during undergrad, just because I appreciated the value in it. (My first grade in the course was not where I wanted it to be).
I have been saying for several months now that a good next step would be to shadow doctors and NPs/CNMs. I haven’t pursued this recently given the pandemic, but am open to advice on how to ask for shadowing experiences even via telemedicine. I work at a medical institution so this should not be too much of a challenge!
I’m looking for feedback on where to go from here. I’ve thought about the timeline, how my 30’s will go towards my schooling and training. If medicine is the route I choose, I think I will be able to optimistically remind myself that I am a doctor in training at every level and that time is never wasted.
I think the nursing route would also be satisfying and a better option financially (less years of school, more years to practice). I wonder if I will wish I had a larger scope of practice however. For nursing programs, I’m really interested in direct entry masters programs, especially ones which partner with the peace corps Coverdell fellowship.
I would appreciate any advice or thoughts on anything I’ve mentioned.
More specifically, some questions I have are:
How to gain shadowing experience during this time to help with my decision?
How do you compare nursing vs medical curriculum/education?
What information have you found that might be helpful for making the decision between nursing and medicine?
What classes would you recommend I take next?
What are some questions I can ask myself for further reflection?
