RN to MD/DO, instead of NP, input appreciated

[Katie4594]

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Hello all, I know I possibly should have posted this in the pre-med section but felt I may have a better response in the medical posts....A little background on me: I'm a 23 year old female, currently an RN in NYC, I have been working as an RN for a year and 2 months. I currently have my BSN, my current gpa is a 3.37, my gpa should be much higher, when I was in nursing school I seriously never studied & went to class 50% of the time(was not focused). Since I was young I juggled with the thought of RN vs MD(I'm open to md & do schools). Since about the age of 6 I have collected gifts with my family for the pediatric unit at a nearby hospital & around christmas distributed them to the children with the nurses, working alongside nurses I saw how they impacted the children's lives so i thought i wanted to be a RN. During nursing school rotations I realized I wanted to be a practitioner, I thought I could go on to be a NP. Now being a nurse I further realized I'm not satisfied as an RN & want to be on the diagnostic side. I've worked with many doctors/NP's, and as an RN i feel i should advocate for NP's but in all honesty i see a disconnect between the knowledge between NP vs MD's. I'm young at the age of 23 (wish my gpa was higher than 3.37), but with determination & studying this time around I feel i can raise my GPA. Since i majored in nursing I do not have many required pre reqs for med school, i have looked into many post bacc programs & am highly motivated to participate in one. I really would appreciate your input as to if you feel a RN is able to apply to MD/DO schools after post bacc. I'm very interested in unstable patients/cardiology, i feel as if NP's do not get this opportunity as they usually take care of stable patients in med surg/primary care. I wouldn't include this in medical school interviews etc, but at age 22 I underwent a partial sinus node ablation/cardioversion for a heart condition so I have a very personal strong drive to cardiology/being able to help diagnosis patients in this field. As i stated earlier in my professional experience I have dealt with many NP's vs MD's, and as i just stated with my own health, when I saw NP's they were never able to speak to me in the way my doctors were able to. This turns me away very much from NP, i want the best for my patients. Sorry for the long post! Appreciate your input

 

[njtrimed]

Hello all, I know I possibly should have posted this in the pre-med section but felt I may have a better response in the medical posts....A little background on me: I'm a 23 year old female, currently an RN in NYC, I have been working as an RN for a year and 2 months. I currently have my BSN, my current gpa is a 3.37, my gpa should be much higher, when I was in nursing school I seriously never studied & went to class 50% of the time(was not focused). Since I was young I juggled with the thought of RN vs MD(I'm open to md & do schools). Since about the age of 6 I have collected gifts with my family for the pediatric unit at a nearby hospital & around christmas distributed them to the children with the nurses, working alongside nurses I saw how they impacted the children's lives so i thought i wanted to be a RN. During nursing school rotations I realized I wanted to be a practitioner, I thought I could go on to be a NP. Now being a nurse I further realized I'm not satisfied as an RN & want to be on the diagnostic side. I've worked with many doctors/NP's, and as an RN i feel i should advocate for NP's but in all honesty i see a disconnect between the knowledge between NP vs MD's. I'm young at the age of 23 (wish my gpa was higher than 3.37), but with determination & studying this time around I feel i can raise my GPA. Since i majored in nursing I do not have many required pre reqs for med school, i have looked into many post bacc programs & am highly motivated to participate in one. I really would appreciate your input as to if you feel a RN is able to apply to MD/DO schools after post bacc. I'm very interested in unstable patients/cardiology, i feel as if NP's do not get this opportunity as they usually take care of stable patients in med surg/primary care. I wouldn't include this in medical school interviews etc, but at age 22 I underwent a partial sinus node ablation/cardioversion for a heart condition so I have a very personal strong drive to cardiology/being able to help diagnosis patients in this field. As i stated earlier in my professional experience I have dealt with many NP's vs MD's, and as i just stated with my own health, when I saw NP's they were never able to speak to me in the way my doctors were able to. This turns me away very much from NP, i want the best for my patients. Sorry for the long post! Appreciate your input

Hey Katie- M1 here and I think you're on the right track if you're not satisfied with the nursing route. This may be moved to pre-med since that's the track you're going to need to take, but PM me with any questions. Your GPA is on the low side, but that won't be an issue if you rock your pre-med classes and the MCAT. Your personal story is a great narrative for your drive, but you also need to make it clear that you're doing this because you can help patients in *only* your situation. That seems obvious, but it's important that you're not driven by one specific path, because realistically, you may end up using your experience to be a fantastic physician in any number of fields. Again, feel free to reach out for help as a non-traditional applicant!

 

[deleted497653]

Go for it, I think given your age, it is a good thing you realized you want to be a doctor as opposed to NP. But there is nothing wrong with the NP route either, just more likely you will work with less sick patients. With that said, I have seen PA s and NPs int he right hospitals working critical care patients alongside the Crit care docs so it is still possible with that route. I say shoot for the stars, go to a good post bac (because you can get all your prerequisites and premed preparations in a neat package as opposed to trying to do it yourself- which might even cost more than the post bac depending on which school you choose) and work hard while there because you will definitely need a strong post bac GPA. Good luck, you can do it. I don't know about DO schools, but it seems like it's the same preparation process for both DOs and MD schools.

 

[cbrons]

Go to Medical school. You just need to raise your GPA a little bit and do good on the MCAT. Your nursing experience will help your application.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Moving to pre-allo

 

[Stagg737]

I wouldn't include this in medical school interviews etc, but at age 22 I underwent a partial sinus node ablation/cardioversion for a heart condition so I have a very personal strong drive to cardiology/being able to help diagnosis patients in this field. As i stated earlier in my professional experience I have dealt with many NP's vs MD's, and as i just stated with my own health, when I saw NP's they were never able to speak to me in the way my doctors were able to. This turns me away very much from NP, i want the best for my patients. Sorry for the long post! Appreciate your input

If that experience is what opened your eyes to the difference in education and helped you realize that you weren't satisfied with the level of knowledge you would have as a NP, I don't think you should necessarily leave it out of your app. As you and others have suggested, just make sure that the one experience doesn't become the focus of your application. It sounds like you've got decent exposure and have a good reason for wanting to change from nursing to being a physician. As long as you've got the drive and are willing to put in the work, I don't see why you shouldn't try to make it happen.

 

[mixinitup1124]

If you decide on medicine I highly recommend the post bac program at hunter college. It's affordable and they have strong chemistry, biology and math departments. I did all my science there and was able to score well on the MCAT. A fellow m1 also went there, so the little known name shouldn't hurt u too much

 

[dwgrubbs1s]

I am a nurse currently applying to osteopathic medical schools. My opinion is to try for medical school. When you start taking the pre requisites for medical schools (hard sciences) you realize the huge knowledge gap in science. This to me is very important to have when you are in charge of dictating someone's care. I was a bachelors of science in nursing graduate, so my next step would have been straight into an NP program. No way would I have felt comfortable diagnosing and prescribing with only 24 more months of education. (And half of it is BS classes such as ethics, etc).

 

[W19]

NP school for the most part is a scam... If you are on the fence, go to med school. I was in the same exact situation as a RN and now I am very happy as a MS3. I am MUCH older than you and I don't regret making that move after being a RN for 7+ years. I should have trusted my gut and did that sooner...