Nursing or Premed?

[communitycollegestudent]

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Greetings! (-:

I'm currently interested in nursing, but I want to be eligible to apply to med schools. I've looked up a couple of top notch medical schools and the requisites consists of organic and inorganic chemistry, bio course(s), foreign language (particularly at UCLA and USC), statistics (biostats preferred). I'm planning on transferring to a UC, Cal State, or even NYU if I miraculously earn a full ride scholarship. Based on your insights and opinions, would it be possible to complete my requisites while pursuing a nursing degree? Or must I major in something else? I've posted this on the allnurses website and I was advised to come here. Med school is a dream of mine, but so is nursing. I want to do it all and have options when my undergrad yrs are over. Also, do schools matter when you're applying to med school? Must it be prestigious? Or should I pursue a masters in nursing or another major? I am aware that nursing and pursuing med school are two different paths. I have a counseling appointment Monday and I want to have my mind made up before going. Thanks all!

 

[communitycollegestudent]

Greetings! (-:

I'm currently interested in nursing, but I want to be eligible to apply to med schools. I've looked up a couple of top notch medical schools and the requisites consists of organic and inorganic chemistry, bio course(s), foreign language (particularly at UCLA and USC), statistics (biostats preferred). I'm planning on transferring to a UC, Cal State, or even NYU if I miraculously earn a full ride scholarship. Based on your insights and opinions, would it be possible to complete my requisites while pursuing a nursing degree? Or must I major in something else? I've posted this on the allnurses website and I was advised to come here. Med school is a dream of mine, but so is nursing. I want to do it all and have options when my undergrad yrs are over. Also, do schools matter when you're applying to med school? Must it be prestigious? Or should I pursue a masters in nursing or another major? I am aware that nursing and pursuing med school are two different paths. I have a counseling appointment Monday and I want to have my mind made up before going. Thanks all!

Excuse me! I meant, must I pursue a masters in whichever major I decide on in order to increase my chances of getting accepted?

 

[863168]

The most academic response you will receive is that pursuing a career as a physician is centered around studying the pathology or the disease. On the other hand, nursing tends to have a more humanistic focus that is centered around treating the patient. The nuances between this can be observed in certain classes. For instance, physicians have a course in histology and conduct courses on cell lines and cell type in order for students to identify diseases. While nurses do take classes like microbiology, these classes are not as detailed in terms of covering how a clinical pathologist would apply reagents in order to determine whether a piece of sample tissue is indicative of one disease state from the other. Further schooling also embodies this sort of philosophy.

Physician pathways for further learning can involve subspecialties after they complete residency in their designated field. Certain physicians can choose to complete joint programs such as MD-PhD or MD-JD. Currently, nursing programs do not offer such dual professional programs, however they do offer masters programs in fields such as education/management which can be applied to their role in a hospital as a nurse educator or a nurse manager for a floor unit. Albeit, I have seen that it is possible to pursue positions in which you have the work experience e.g. a history of working as a nurse manager without having the nursing degree.

Why do you want to become a physician? This is a staple question that gets asked by adcoms and a question that you will ask yourself if you have an RN in your pocket. To be quite honest, there are many answers people could provide. However, none of them will be the reason you choose when you realize that it's come. I believe that pursuing medicine is a long process in which you don't really realize how naive you were until you come out of the process years down the road.

It is for this reason that I have not given you advice on what you should do, rather given you explanations on matters you are curious about. I firmly believe that instructing someone to pursue premedical or nursing is outside mine or anyone's realm of expertise. From the words you typed, I can tell you that I have a rough guess on how I would characterize where you are along your academic journey. However, what I or no one else can attest to you is your potential and growth as an individual. If there is something that I can encourage, then I suggest that you develop a set of goals, a plan of what you need to do in case things go wrong, and a working knowledge of the underlying economics that entail pursuing both carer pathways. I hope your meeting with your advisor is fruitful. If you want to keep in contact, you can private message me. I also have an allnurses account for no reason whatsoever.

 

[communitycollegestudent]

Woah! Thank you very much! I appreciate it. Thanks for taking your time to inform me with a very well detailed answer. It's a lot to take in. I'm currently an undergrad. I've been going nonstop since graduating high school last year (summer, fall, winter, spring, summer 2017, and now fall 2017), but I'll be graduating late because of my indecisiveness. Maybe 2 or 3 years late. However, I don't mind anymore. As long if I'm happy when my undergrad yrs are over. As for why I want to be a physician, well I have witnessed family members go through such illnesses such as cancer and psychological hallucinations, mental institutions, and from personal experience as well... I feel the need to help and change lives. The salary is great, but I can assure that isn't the reason why I'm pursuing med school. Well thank you kind person (-: I'll keep this thread to date once I see a counselor Monday afternoon! And I'll definitely ask you questions whenever it comes to mind. Thanks again!