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Although, keep in mind that those of us who didn't come from another career get interrogated on why we didn't instead choose nursing.
Why don't you people make up your minds already?
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Nursing degree to medical school
Started by ciwi
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Why don't you people make up your minds already?
hahaha, well that question about why didn't you choose nursing is actually a different question in disguise. The real underlying question is: So can you explain a bit more about your career goals than wanting to care for people in a healthcare setting because there are many important fields that let you do that, such as nursing?
Well, I know a couple of English majors that are currently in medical school right now...and, I assure you, their "science classes" were "not as high level as the pre-med ones".
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?? What is this? GM and Chrysler? You're obviously not thinking too deeply about the commerce that goes into running hospitals and such.
This is an incorrect statement. Many nurses have become doctors.
To the OP. To me, it really depend on when you want to go to med school. If you want to get in asap, nursing is not the way to go. If you plan on going five years after you graduate, then it might be alright. Keep in mind that many nursing programs cost more than other majors. You should consider the financial side of that, and if a major in nursing makes economic sense when going to med school.
While on the topic, can I ask for a little feedback on what ya'll think would be the best route?
I'll break it down to just the details.
I have my AS degree, working on my BS in Bio.
I also have the ability to take a few nursing classes and become an RN, but not as my major.
I am debating on whether or not I should get my RN lic., which would allow me to earn an income, gain clinical experience, and finish my undergrad? Giving a two for one deal with regard to clinical exp., and income. Being that I am a bit older than the normal med. student an income right now is a must.
Or, do I skip the RN deal, and find another job?
Note: My current job is not flexible with the current layoffs, and I could maybe take two classes a sem. At that rate Ill be collecting SS before Im done lol. J/k Im not that old.
I'll break it down to just the details.
I have my AS degree, working on my BS in Bio.
I also have the ability to take a few nursing classes and become an RN, but not as my major.
I am debating on whether or not I should get my RN lic., which would allow me to earn an income, gain clinical experience, and finish my undergrad? Giving a two for one deal with regard to clinical exp., and income. Being that I am a bit older than the normal med. student an income right now is a must.
Or, do I skip the RN deal, and find another job?
Note: My current job is not flexible with the current layoffs, and I could maybe take two classes a sem. At that rate Ill be collecting SS before Im done lol. J/k Im not that old.
What's your age?
I understand that you need a job because you need to make a living since you are independent. I wouldn't go with RN because that would mean you need to devote a lot of time to clinicals and extra classes that don't necessarily help you with med school curriculum (nursing class is different and easier). Plus, once you get the RN, you will find it hard to get a work schedule that would fit yours, mainly because you'd be new.
Instead, I would pick up some weekend tech jobs (like x-rays techs). Then, when you get a BS in bio, you can start making money assisting other scientists or teaching? There are tons of things you can do with a bio degree. That should support you well enough.
One more thing, since both professions are very different as far as obtaining a degree. I would devote your time to either or, not both. You don't want to be distracted or, even worse, waste your time. Yes, you would get great clinical experience, but you can do the same by volunteering/(working as a tech) at a teaching hospital or something. It's not to say that nurses do bad in med school because they actually do very well if they take the pre-reqs right before med school.
If you choose nursing school, then make sure you keep reviewing the basic sciences before you apply to med school.
GL 😀
I agree on all three points.
I was thinking about getting my ASN then maybe transferring to premed (seeing if i really like nursing).
Would my undergrad major for a medical school be considered pre-med or nursing? Would I actually have to go four years for an undergrad? it looks like the prereqs for med schools are only a year long (taking up the entire semester of each)
Would my undergrad major for a medical school be considered pre-med or nursing? Would I actually have to go four years for an undergrad? it looks like the prereqs for med schools are only a year long (taking up the entire semester of each)
1. My school doesn't actually have a "pre-med" major. Most people major in chemistry or biology, since it's the most efficient way to complete the pre-reqs.
2. I don't think there is any possible way to complete said pre-reqs in one year. You can't take ochem without taking gen chem, and gen chem takes a year by itself. So you're probably lookin at two years minimum, unless you take summer classes.
What do you mean by take a few classes to become an RN? To become an RN is a minimum of two years to complete an ADN. Even LPN programs take about a year. Not trying to be mean, but I don't want you to have unrealistic expectations.
You don't NEED clinical experience to apply to med school, not that it hurts. That being said, RN's make good money, but I would advise that you do more research on the subject.
Thank you 😀 I didn't know if i could take organic chem without having gen chem first. The only thing i'm worried about is physics tbh
I decided not to take it my senior year of hs...i think i made a big mistake
N
njbmd
The pre-med courses are: 1 year of General Chemistry with lab; 1 year of General Biology with lab, 1 year of Organic Chemistry with lab and 1 year of General Physics with lab. You don't need to take the General Physics that requires Calculus but be aware that some medical schools will require 1 semester of Calculus and one semester of Statistics. Many also require Genetics and Biochemistry.
Other than the above, you can major in anything that you love and anything that you can do very well in. Nursing is as good as anything else if it's what you want to major in. I certainly wouldn't major in nursing so that you can have a job during medical school. Any free time that you have in medical school, you are going to want to relax or do some research. Also, keep in mind that nursing takes you away from medicine and not closer to it but again, choice of major is your choice as long as you have the pre-med coursework and you have a competitive uGPA.
Other than the above, you can major in anything that you love and anything that you can do very well in. Nursing is as good as anything else if it's what you want to major in. I certainly wouldn't major in nursing so that you can have a job during medical school. Any free time that you have in medical school, you are going to want to relax or do some research. Also, keep in mind that nursing takes you away from medicine and not closer to it but again, choice of major is your choice as long as you have the pre-med coursework and you have a competitive uGPA.
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However misinformed you may have been about nursing and medical school, I would like to clarify that I am disproving you at the moment and there are physicians that started out as nurses.
After months of reading comments and posts on all different topics, I finally registered to respond to this thread.
Fortunately, I am a product of nursing. I graduated in 2007 with my BSN and have worked strictly in cardiac ICUs and cardiac cath labs. My intentions and goals to attend medical school came after I began my career as a nurse. Unlike your predictable pre-med students, my undergraduate courses were without the standard courses to prepare for the MCAT. (However, my nursing courses and clinicals were far more demanding than your gen. bio and chem courses.) I prepared on my own for the MCAT while working over 40 hours/week and on call over 7 nights/month. Although, my score may not be at 35R, my experience has given me an advantage, for my interviews and medical career.
Now, there are a few schools that do not have course requirements, but require a competitive MCAT score and GPA. My question to the pre-med students, what does it matter when you become doctor if you can say that you took 2 semester of bio, chem, o.chem, and physics? It doesn't. It won't. You will not put your transcripts in a frame in your office, you will put your diploma and license.
Look at the big picture. Nursing will give the advantage to medications, treatments, procedures, insurance, etc. With my degree, I am able to interpret EKGs, run code blues, give sedation, assist with surgical procedures, and coronary stent placement. (just a few things that a pre-med students would NEVER have the ability to do with their degree). So, I say, be a nursing major.
There are many physicians (not medical students or residents) I have as friends, who admire the advantage I will have as a medical student and a doctor. Be reasonable people, 5 years contract when you sign up for nursing school? Really? It's a free country.
That's my spill. I know it's long, but somebody had to say it.
I agree with the above.
I see it as a huge advantage. It would seem as though nursing majors get the "best of both worlds".
I have figured out that I can graduate in May 2010 with m BSN and go for 2 more years and get into med school by fall 2012 after taking all my pre-med classes (chem, o-chem, phys, cell bio, etc., etc.).
Can't wait :-D
I see it as a huge advantage. It would seem as though nursing majors get the "best of both worlds".
I have figured out that I can graduate in May 2010 with m BSN and go for 2 more years and get into med school by fall 2012 after taking all my pre-med classes (chem, o-chem, phys, cell bio, etc., etc.).
Can't wait :-D
That's what I'm having to do. I took calc I, but my chemistry and biology were "physiological" (which doesn't count). I'm going to graduate in May and then spend 2 1/2 yrs taking prereqs before I apply😎
I hear this all the time, and it isn't totally true. Most colleges that have nursing programs are filled with bio majors, those taking pre med, allied health, etc. General Bio I and II are the SAME. Inorganic CHEM I and II are the same etc. What is different is that you take an allied health or bio major anatomy and phys and NOT the gross anat and phy you take in med school. Pathophysiology may or may not be exactly the same--depends on the school. Mircrobio was what the other bio majors took. Same thing if you took biochem.
If a RN went through a hospital program or if a school gears a program a particular way that doesn't have a transfer of the sciences to other colleges for science major requirements, then it is an issue. If it transfers to another college or university or to most colleges or universities as a qualifying natural science course, than it is generally as rigorous.
Biochem, physical chem, they will all be tough pretty much regardless of where you take them.
People should not make general statements though; b/c they aren't often true. Most programs at colleges seek to be competitive and would like their courses to allow for transfer of credit. Mostly wherever this generalization might true is if you are looking at nursing programs that are either not college-based, not RN, or were > than 25-30 years old.
Now the depth of which you study pathology, histology, etc is greater and broader in medical school.
But we are talking pre-med, undergrad science courses that would transfer to a science major.
To me,there is no real advantage to being a nurse prior to becoming a doctor. Even though you can read EKG's and run codes and assist in surgery as a 1st and 2nd yr. med student you wont be using any of it.
Even as a 3rd and 4th yr student when you are in the hospital,regardless of your pass nursing experience, most residents or attendings wont trust you to do thing out of the realm that is normal for 3rd and 4th yrs med students for the sake of their patient( and for the sake of their jobs because it on them if you f**k up)
By the time you reach residency, your fellow residents will have equalivant knowledge to yours as a prior nurse and by the time you finish residency, you wont have a real advantage on anyone!
So all that extra time and money you spend become a nurse is worthless if you are doing it just to be ahead.
If you are doing nursing to work to pay for med school in the future I can understand that a little more but most doctor dont have a problem paying for medschool if they live with in their means.Plus you could have graduated from medschool by the time you save enough to pay for it all! So this is still hard for me to totally agree with
But if you need a way to pay down you debt before starting medschool, then a nursing degree would be good for you!
Any other reasons.......I'm just not sure if nursing is worth the extra trouble!
Even as a 3rd and 4th yr student when you are in the hospital,regardless of your pass nursing experience, most residents or attendings wont trust you to do thing out of the realm that is normal for 3rd and 4th yrs med students for the sake of their patient( and for the sake of their jobs because it on them if you f**k up)
By the time you reach residency, your fellow residents will have equalivant knowledge to yours as a prior nurse and by the time you finish residency, you wont have a real advantage on anyone!
So all that extra time and money you spend become a nurse is worthless if you are doing it just to be ahead.
If you are doing nursing to work to pay for med school in the future I can understand that a little more but most doctor dont have a problem paying for medschool if they live with in their means.Plus you could have graduated from medschool by the time you save enough to pay for it all! So this is still hard for me to totally agree with
But if you need a way to pay down you debt before starting medschool, then a nursing degree would be good for you!
Any other reasons.......I'm just not sure if nursing is worth the extra trouble!
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Couldn't agree more with SirGecko & LizzyM.
I was a chemical engineer and I was asked several times by every person I encountered in the admissions process, from pre-medical advisors to the interviewer, to the student interviewer, why I was switching from ChemE to Medicine. Especially because like nursing, ChemE is a rather lucrative field with holding just a bachelors degree.
Bottom line -- major in what you like, and what will give you the highest GPA. If you're a chemical engineer or nurse, or art history major or psychology major - it doesn't matter, as long as you DO WELL.
And remember this: every year you spend trying to get into medical school/working before medical school - is a year of a physician's salary you miss out on.
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njbmd
You are not going to do much "paying" for medical school by being a nurse. Getting a MSN is going to take you even further away from medicine than the bachelor's in nursing and won't do anything in terms of making you more competitive for entering medical school.
If you want to be a nurse, then by all means, pursue nursing but not as pre-med. A nursing major doesn't allow you much latitude in terms of being able to take things outside of nursing which can be problematic if you are trying to get into medical school.
Medicine and nursing are different professions. Nursing is not a stepping-stone into medicine though nurses work alongside physicians. Your nursing degree will prepare you to enter nursing but does nothing to prepare you for medicine.
You will also find that nursing is not easy to do and won't leave you much time or energy to tackle your pre-med courses which have their own demands.
I've been in a similar boat, so here are my two cents.
PROS:
1) Undergrad will be cheaper.
- True, and important to consider.
2) You can work during med school to help with the cost.
- You can also work once you're a physician with a six figure income to pay off your loans. I thought about this too when debating nursing, but really...if you make it to being an attending doctor, the debt pays off itself.
CONS:
1) Nursing is a rough, time consuming, major. Pair that with pre-med courses, and you're NEEDLESSLY putting yourself through academic hell.
- If you want to do it, do it. But you don't need to.
2) Reaching your goal of becoming a doctor is going to take a lot longer than it has to.
- Honestly, get it out of the way while you're young and have less distractions outside of getting through college. With nursing school, you're tacking on more time that isn't necessary.
I was going to go the route you are too...but it's just going to be harder, sweetie. You're just starting college and you haven't yet experienced what pre-med reqs are like. On top of nursing classes...it WILL BE ROUGH. Make it easier on yourself and at least consider both sides here.
Nearly everyone I've gone to for advice on the matter said to not try and do nursing first if I knew I wanted to be a doctor (i.e. doctors, academic advisors, etc.) You can, but it's making it harder on yourself, NOT easier.
Best of luck! 🙂
PROS:
1) Undergrad will be cheaper.
- True, and important to consider.
2) You can work during med school to help with the cost.
- You can also work once you're a physician with a six figure income to pay off your loans. I thought about this too when debating nursing, but really...if you make it to being an attending doctor, the debt pays off itself.
CONS:
1) Nursing is a rough, time consuming, major. Pair that with pre-med courses, and you're NEEDLESSLY putting yourself through academic hell.
- If you want to do it, do it. But you don't need to.
2) Reaching your goal of becoming a doctor is going to take a lot longer than it has to.
- Honestly, get it out of the way while you're young and have less distractions outside of getting through college. With nursing school, you're tacking on more time that isn't necessary.
I was going to go the route you are too...but it's just going to be harder, sweetie. You're just starting college and you haven't yet experienced what pre-med reqs are like. On top of nursing classes...it WILL BE ROUGH. Make it easier on yourself and at least consider both sides here.
Nearly everyone I've gone to for advice on the matter said to not try and do nursing first if I knew I wanted to be a doctor (i.e. doctors, academic advisors, etc.) You can, but it's making it harder on yourself, NOT easier.
Best of luck! 🙂
hey. I'm a nurse and have been for over 3yrs and am now a first year med student. being a nurse helped me in all my interviews and i got into every school that i interviewed at. my nursing education is also helping me immensely in my studies and i have been able to work a bit while in school. i think your plan is great! good luck!
