Nontraditional RN to MD/DO

[Emthedoc]

Hi, first to introduce myself: I did my 1st year in college in Biology with a hope of going to medical school, however, I was an international student at that time, which makes tremendously difficult to get into meds school. So, I had to give up on becoming a doctor and switched my major to Nursing, currently finishing my 3rd year in nursing. Last year, I have received a green card and now currently working as a scribe for a part time. Working with those doctors, I realized once again that I do still want to become a doctor and as a student who loved science, knowing that nursing only touches superficial knowledge of biology, chem and no orgo at all, taking nursing classes never satisfied me in the depth they teach us.

As a returning pre-med student, I have taken some as a 1st year bio student and managed and planned to take some of the pre-req for med school in summer and would be able to graduate next year with leaving only 3-4 classes for pre-requisites to take. My grades in science range (B to A), overall GPA is 3.73 but nursing classes are slowly dropping my GPA..

Here are my questions:
Would I benefit more by taking the the rest pre-requisites as a part time student at my university? (They provide classes for "non-degree" seeking students, allowing us to take anything we want w/o special admission process)---this may take like a semester to finish, more time to work on MCAT, get work and volunteer hours.

Or Would I benefit more by entering Postbacc program? -- to do this, i have to take GRE and whole legit application process. More expensive and time, but may do better on MCAT? Takes about a year to finish? Does this program provide master's degree?
I do not know much about postbacc or SMPs

Thank you for your time reading this long post!

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[Magus5454]

Hi, first to introduce myself: I did my 1st year in college in Biology with a hope of going to medical school, however, I was an international student at that time, which makes tremendously difficult to get into meds school. So, I had to give up on becoming a doctor and switched my major to Nursing, currently finishing my 3rd year in nursing. Last year, I have received a green card and now currently working as a scribe for a part time. Working with those doctors, I realized once again that I do still want to become a doctor and as a student who loved science, knowing that nursing only touches superficial knowledge of biology, chem and no orgo at all, taking nursing classes never satisfied me in the depth they teach us.

As a returning pre-med student, I have taken some as a 1st year bio student and managed and planned to take some of the pre-req for med school in summer and would be able to graduate next year with leaving only 3-4 classes for pre-requisites to take. My grades in science range (B to A), overall GPA is 3.73 but nursing classes are slowly dropping my GPA..

Here are my questions:
Would I benefit more by taking the the rest pre-requisites as a part time student at my university? (They provide classes for "non-degree" seeking students, allowing us to take anything we want w/o special admission process)---this may take like a semester to finish, more time to work on MCAT, get work and volunteer hours.

Or Would I benefit more by entering Postbacc program? -- to do this, i have to take GRE and whole legit application process. More expensive and time, but may do better on MCAT? Takes about a year to finish? Does this program provide master's degree?
I do not know much about postbacc or SMPs

Thank you for your time reading this long post!

Option 1 in my opinion . Your GPA is high enough you don't need a post bacc or SMP. Get the remaining prereqs squared away and do well on the MCAT

 

[RNthenDoc]

If nursing classes are slipping your GPA, tread carefully! I would do a DIY postbacc after nursing is complete and see how it goes!

 

[RNtoMD87]

Hi, first to introduce myself: I did my 1st year in college in Biology with a hope of going to medical school, however, I was an international student at that time, which makes tremendously difficult to get into meds school. So, I had to give up on becoming a doctor and switched my major to Nursing, currently finishing my 3rd year in nursing. Last year, I have received a green card and now currently working as a scribe for a part time. Working with those doctors, I realized once again that I do still want to become a doctor and as a student who loved science, knowing that nursing only touches superficial knowledge of biology, chem and no orgo at all, taking nursing classes never satisfied me in the depth they teach us.

As a returning pre-med student, I have taken some as a 1st year bio student and managed and planned to take some of the pre-req for med school in summer and would be able to graduate next year with leaving only 3-4 classes for pre-requisites to take. My grades in science range (B to A), overall GPA is 3.73 but nursing classes are slowly dropping my GPA..

Here are my questions:
Would I benefit more by taking the the rest pre-requisites as a part time student at my university? (They provide classes for "non-degree" seeking students, allowing us to take anything we want w/o special admission process)---this may take like a semester to finish, more time to work on MCAT, get work and volunteer hours.

Or Would I benefit more by entering Postbacc program? -- to do this, i have to take GRE and whole legit application process. More expensive and time, but may do better on MCAT? Takes about a year to finish? Does this program provide master's degree?
I do not know much about postbacc or SMPs

Thank you for your time reading this long post!

I feel you. My sGPA is like 3.77 but nursing dropped mine down to like 3.55 I believe. 7 point grading scales are STUPID

 

[RNtoMD87]

If nursing classes are slipping your GPA, tread carefully! I would do a DIY postbacc after nursing is complete and see how it goes!

How low of a GPA should you have before you consider a post Bac?

 

[Magus5454]

How low of a GPA should you have before you consider a post Bac?

If you keep it over a 3.5-3.6 You should be fine.

 

[Magus5454]

I feel you. My sGPA is like 3.77 but nursing dropped mine down to like 3.55 I believe. 7 point grading scales are STUPID

93 for an A etc? Yeah I had a few classes like that and my undergrad was +/- nothing like an A- to annoy you(was one point from the A)

 

[RNtoMD87]

Both that, and the fact nursing is subjective. We had some instructors just hand out As for marginal work and some never gave better than a C. And it wasn't on paper, it was clinical stuff, so you couldn't challenge it.

 

[Emthedoc]

If nursing classes are slipping your GPA, tread carefully! I would do a DIY postbacc after nursing is complete and see how it goes!

Thank you for all the replies. How did you manage to go to medical school? Did you work as a nurse for some time after graduation?

 

[RNtoMD87]

Thank you for all the replies. How did you manage to go to medical school? Did you work as a nurse for some time after graduation?

I have been a nurse for 2 years. I plan on having 3 years completed by the time I start finishing up my prereqs.

 

[RNthenDoc]

Thank you for all the replies. How did you manage to go to medical school? Did you work as a nurse for some time after graduation?

I did ADN -> worked many years as an RN. Finished BSN while working full-time, finished post-bac while working full-time.

It’s doable.

 

[RNtoMD87]

I did ADN -> worked many years as an RN. Finished BSN while working full-time, finished post-bac while working full-time.

It’s doable.

How did you find time to go to classes and work full time? I get online rn to bsn, that's what I'm doing, but post bacc

 

[RNthenDoc]

How did you find time to go to classes and work full time? I get online rn to bsn, that's what I'm doing, but post bacc

7-day weeks.

MWF lectures. All labs on Tuesdays. Worked Thursday, Saturday, Sunday.

Similar each semester, every week. Never called in, either, and I’ll be cashing out hundreds of unused PTO hours.

Which is why when I see whiny premeds or entitled Med students I get irked.

 

[Emthedoc]

7-day weeks.

MWF lectures. All labs on Tuesdays. Worked Thursday, Saturday, Sunday.

Similar each semester, every week. Never called in, either, and I’ll be cashing out hundreds of unused PTO hours.

Which is why when I see whiny premeds or entitled Med students I get irked.

Wow, what a hard work you put in...How long did it take you to complete all classes on top of working full time?
Did you manage to take MCAT during the first year you started the post bac?
Also since you've been a nurse, did you still have to do some shadowing??? I am currently trying to find shadowing opportunities, but I do not know where to start. I have contacted my local hospital but for shadowing physician's office, do you just google some office and call them directly as if a patient would call them??? (sorry for this dumb questions lol..)

 

[RNthenDoc]

Wow, what a hard work you put in...How long did it take you to complete all classes on top of working full time?
Did you manage to take MCAT during the first year you started the post bac?
Also since you've been a nurse, did you still have to do some shadowing??? I am currently trying to find shadowing opportunities, but I do not know where to start. I have contacted my local hospital but for shadowing physician's office, do you just google some office and call them directly as if a patient would call them??? (sorry for this dumb questions lol..)

I finished my post-bacc in 2 years. The rate-limiting step was that I had to take big-boy Chem, then big-boy Ochem, both of which take a year, so I sprinkled the bio/Biochem, Physics etc.

I didn’t do any shadowing. My nursing career has been varied and long, and it would have been both redundant and embarrassing to have to formally shadow. It would literally be asking a buddy that I get beers with if I can come to work with him the next day. Like... odd.

Nobody from 5 schools asked me why I didn’t shadow. I do know that if you don’t have outpatient experience you may need to do a bit of that in primary care of some sort!

 

[RNtoMD87]

So just to clarify if I've only worked in stepdown/ICU I need to shadow a primary care doc?

 

[RNthenDoc]

So just to clarify if I've only worked in stepdown/ICU I need to shadow a primary care doc?

I think this is going to come down to a matter of opinion and who you ask. For me, my experience was enough, but I had quite a few years.

@Goro , thoughts?

 

[RNtoMD87]

I think this is going to come down to a matter of opinion and who you ask. For me, my experience was enough, but I had quite a few years.

@Goro , thoughts?

Okay. Well I will have 3 years. I was planning on shadowing a GI doc, cardiologist, and pulmonologist. I work along side pulmonogists but I don't know about their job outside of what's in front of me.

I've had ZERO outpatient experience though.

 

[Goro]

So just to clarify if I've only worked in stepdown/ICU I need to shadow a primary care doc?

I don't think so, but doing so will be a plus.

 

[Emthedoc]

I finished my post-bacc in 2 years. The rate-limiting step was that I had to take big-boy Chem, then big-boy Ochem, both of which take a year, so I sprinkled the bio/Biochem, Physics etc.

I didn’t do any shadowing. My nursing career has been varied and long, and it would have been both redundant and embarrassing to have to formally shadow. It would literally be asking a buddy that I get beers with if I can come to work with him the next day. Like... odd.

Nobody from 5 schools asked me why I didn’t shadow. I do know that if you don’t have outpatient experience you may need to do a bit of that in primary care of some sort!

Yeah that makes sense, you already have enough clinical hours just from working as a nurse.
What did your peers including nurses and doctors say about you choosing to go to med school as a RN??
Most doctors give me positive reaction to my decision of becoming a doctor, they actually encouraged me. But I don't think my nursing classmates or nursing advisor would like to hear that. I have not told anybody from nursing school that I want to go to med school but I've been taking premed classes on top of nursing courses.

 

[Emthedoc]

93 for an A etc? Yeah I had a few classes like that and my undergrad was +/- nothing like an A- to annoy you(was one point from the A)

My nursing school has no +/- and I've been getting 88-89.8 but I get 3.0 instead of 3.3 or 3.5. It is so stupid.

 

[RNthenDoc]

Yeah that makes sense, you already have enough clinical hours just from working as a nurse.
What did your peers including nurses and doctors say about you choosing to go to med school as a RN??
Most doctors give me positive reaction to my decision of becoming a doctor, they actually encouraged me. But I don't think my nursing classmates or nursing advisor would like to hear that. I have not told anybody from nursing school that I want to go to med school but I've been taking premed classes on top of nursing courses.

My nurse friends and managers have all been super supportive.

If I was talking about becoming a physician while I was still in nursing school.... BIG mistake. You have to learn to walk before you run, and they would see it negatively for good reason. If you knew all along you wanted to be a physician, nursing school doesn’t make sense.

However, if you decided to switch gears later it is normal and even understandable.

 

[RNtoMD87]

My nurse friends and managers have all been super supportive.

If I was talking about becoming a physician while I was still in nursing school.... BIG mistake. You have to learn to walk before you run, and they would see it negatively for good reason. If you knew all along you wanted to be a physician, nursing school doesn’t make sense.

However, if you decided to switch gears later it is normal and even understandable.

Doctors have been extremely supportive of me. Most nurses are confused and ask the whole "why not NP" spiel, but they haven't been negative. At least not to my face.

I agree, don't mention it until you've been a nurse for a little while. I'm wondering myself why you'd go through nursing school if you want to be a doctor. I didn't realize I wanted to be a doctor until I was a nurse for a year. Its a harder major to get higher grades in due to the 7 point grading scale and largely subjective grading of clinical performance etc. If I was doing it all over again with what I know now, I would've majored in chemistry.