Nursing student -- post-bacc option for MD?

[coolbeans18]

Hi everyone! I'm new to SDN. I'm a junior year nursing student and I'm looking for some advice.

Okay, a quick lay-down on my life. I've always dreamed of going to med school but I'm going to nursing school because my dad who's actually an OB convinced me NOT to because of finances. I was disappointed at first but I went along with it because the reality of the situation for me is money is a priority. Over the course of the years, I grew to like nursing and I thought this could be it for me - maybe I'm meant for nursing more than medicine. But it wasn't until this semester that I started rethinking everything over. Sometimes I feel like clinicals can be a bit of a joke in comparison to what med students get to do- we give shots, give PO medications, read EKG strips, hang IV's, hygiene care and then the little (yet still important) things like getting blankets etc. I do understand that these are important but I feel let down a bit this semester. I'm doing fine with grades (3.7 GPA currently) so I'm okay there. Nursing practice doesn't really allow us to do anything involving diagnostic tests and learning exactly HOW to read them (I'm talking about ultrasounds, CT scans, biospy, etc.) I'm currently taking Med-Surg & Peds and I was anticipating that we'd get deep into the pathophysiology and pharmacology because I LOVE those topics but we grazed the surface and didn't go as much in depth as I anticipated. There are a lot of things I'm starting to learn that aren't under nursing's scope of practice that I thought would be. I'm starting to rethink things over but I also have a lot of great things going on in my path to a nurse. I'm extremely active in school involved in undergraduate research, school senate, student nurses association and state board. Faculty know me really well, even among higher-ups and Deans. I even recently got an offer as job to work @ NYP this summer and I'm still completely ecstatic about that!

The reason why I'm reaching out on this forum is because I know how med school is COMPLETELY different from nursing school. I didn't choose nursing as a stepping stone to med school but the reason why I'm contemplating going is because I want the knowledge that doctors get to have in being able to treat patients. It's the diagnosis aspect that I'm really interested in but I'm still hesitant - money is a big factor for my current situation. I want to know has anyone truly attempted at going for their post-bacc after nursing school? Or has any RN decided to go to med-school? Was it doable and were you able to financially keep up? I have so many questions.

Thank you all!

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[Forever Geebs]

Do you have an undergrad degree? Have you taken the pre-reqs for medical school? They are different from nursing school. I’m not sure if this is still the case, but nursing classes/grades do not satisfy pre-reqs nor are they used for GPA calculations for med schools. Again, this may have changed so may want to follow up on that.


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[popopopop]

What do you mean money is a priority? You won't be making doctor money for almost a decade, so if your current situation prioritizes money then this isn't the best route for quick money.

 

[coolbeans18]

What do you mean money is a priority? You won't be making doctor money for almost a decade, so if your current situation prioritizes money then this isn't the best route for quick money.

Well I have a lot of siblings and student loans ontop of my family situation where I actually have to help pay to support family members going to school also. I’m not really looking for the doctor money right away. More or less it’s the loans for schooling and education as well as looking at the transition from nursing school to med school. Is it doable? Is it worth it? Is it as looked down upon as I’ve heard about?

 

[Osminog]

There are a lot of nurse-to-MD/DO users lurking around SDN...

@RNthenDoc @Promethean @NickMT-RN

See this thread: RN to MD Progress/Support Thread

 

[ljkeeper]

From the sound of it your in a similar situation to what I was in as well. I realized the nursing wasn't where I wanted to be at the end of my junior year of college but at that point I figured that I was too far in to turn back. So I spent my senior year at focusing on my nursing classes (and spent a lot of time at the bars) and got a job as an RN after. I've been a nurse about a year now in a cardiac tele/cardiac ICU while taking my prerequisites like Ochem and Physics. Personally, I've learned a lot about medicine in my role as an RN and it's helped me know for sure that med school is where I want to be eventually. On top of that I think it's a lot better patient interaction that just being a CNA.

If you can afford to stay in school and knock all your prerequisites out your senior year than I would encourage you to do so, but you might find it more beneficial in the long run to spend your senior year, shadowing docs and maybe getting one or two of your prerequisites done. If you choose to finish nursing school at least you'll have a marketable degree you can live on in case you don't get into med school your first try. Feel free to message me with any questions you have!

 

[RNthenDoc]

My advice is, finish your BSN, start working at a hospital and let them pay for you to slowly knock out your prerequisites.

You’re disenchanted with nursing school (not nursing), but you’ll learn how much more you can do very quickly! Once you start practicing, the world opens up, and you’ll figure out if it is for you or not. Work at least 2 years before you make a decision. You aren’t considered an asset until you have about that much experience.

Then, once you have a couple years of experience, have stashed some $$$ aside, and gotten A’s on all of your medical prerequisites, take an MCAT and decide if you want to apply. If not, do NP school if you want to learn a little more and make a little more money.

That’s my advice. YMMV, but I’ve only been celebrated for changing careers. My coworkers know that if *I* can get accepted to a slew of schools that we must be a pretty smart group! It depends where you work, some cultures are toxic.

PM me if you have questions, this is just my opinion.

 

[coolbeans18]

There are a lot of nurse-to-MD/DO users lurking around SDN...

@RNthenDoc @Promethean @NickMT-RN

See this thread: RN to MD Progress/Support Thread

Oh wow I did not know that thank you so much!

 

[coolbeans18]

From the sound of it your in a similar situation to what I was in as well. I realized the nursing wasn't where I wanted to be at the end of my junior year of college but at that point I figured that I was too far in to turn back. So I spent my senior year at focusing on my nursing classes (and spent a lot of time at the bars) and got a job as an RN after. I've been a nurse about a year now in a cardiac tele/cardiac ICU while taking my prerequisites like Ochem and Physics. Personally, I've learned a lot about medicine in my role as an RN and it's helped me know for sure that med school is where I want to be eventually. On top of that I think it's a lot better patient interaction that just being a CNA.

If you can afford to stay in school and knock all your prerequisites out your senior year than I would encourage you to do so, but you might find it more beneficial in the long run to spend your senior year, shadowing docs and maybe getting one or two of your prerequisites done. If you choose to finish nursing school at least you'll have a marketable degree you can live on in case you don't get into med school your first try. Feel free to message me with any questions you have!

Thank you so much! And yeah i’m actually really interested in PICU. I would probably have to take prerequisites while I’m working after graduation or so. Most of the classes I took in nursing school don’t align with the premed science requirements. Only my calc & stats class counted so that’s why i was thinking about post-bacc or so. I’ve always been told that the RN-MD path is highly discouraged which is why I wanted to find out what other people here thought. If i have any questions, ill definitley message you!