Should I take MCAT

[Tleilaxu eye]

Hi, this is my first post. I created an account because I honestly have no idea if I should take the MCAT. I have no doubt in my mind that I could handle med school, but I have an interesting situation that I think might hold me back.

I never thought about being a doctor until a couple years ago, and so I never took school seriously. I was a nursing student prior to biology. The main reason I wanted to be a nursing student was that the job was easy, I could work weekends, and be provided with enough income that was satisfying at the time. I had a situation where my undergrad was free, so the income was from any job would be worth a little more than most people would consider, because of the value less subtracted for loans etc. My primary interest at the time was in becoming an independent trader. I did pretty well at this. I paid more in taxes when I was 21 than what my portfolio was worth at the start of the year, due to some pretty aggressive positions taken on margin. My parents aren't rich I figured out how to do this on my own. I have always considered most of the education to be pretty pointless and more or less disconnected with practical needs and economic demands of the job market, and so I never opened a book during nursing school.

One of my nursing profs told me she was going to fail me and then did. I pulled a pill out of a practice pyxis that was scheduled for 9AM instead of 9PM. We exchanged words and she gave me a zero in five credit course. I wasn't able to transfer to devry to finish this degree because I was totally honest with the details of this story, there is more to it, it is kind of baffling. So, I transferred to the biology department and decided to pay attention to school. I actually kind of fell in love with science here. I ended up getting an A in every single for the next two years. My final 63 semester hours GPA was 3.96. The only class I didn't get an A in was a seminar one semester because I did not acknowledge their god in my paper.
My classes included:
Cellular and Molecular Biology & Advanced Molecular Biology
Genetics & Developmental Biology
Vertebrate Physiology & Biochemistry
Neurobiology & Organic Chemistry (I-II)
Calculus based Physics (I-II) & Analytical Geometry and Calculus (I-III)

I also took on three research projects in biology and one in math. I presented my math and biology research at a campus-wide research exhibition. My biology research was accepted at a national conference for an oral presentation. My biology research took over a thousand hours to complete and is actually pretty exciting, it definitely wasn't trivial. It was stem cell/ genetic regulation related.

Anyway, now I have just recently graduated. I was planning on taking the GRE and pursuing a PhD in regenerative medicine, stem cell biology, genetics, or biomedical engineering. I still have this desire to want to get an MD though because then I could actually see my work at the implementation level working with humans. I am worried that nobody has ever gotten into medical school after failing out of nursing school though. Should I take the MCAT and pursue an MD, or just apply for PhD programs?

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[pms_testosterone]

I was totally honest with the details of this story, there is more to it, it is kind of baffling

So what happened? Was there any dishonesty involved on your part? Was it officially written up?
If there was no dishonesty and/or there is no record of it, then you still have a chance at med school - especially with that 3.96. You are going to have to come up with a story about nursing school that neither makes you look terrible nor blames others.

Also, I might consider pro-actively seeing a counselor about conflict resolution strategies, to reduce the chances of having a bad outcome like this again in the future. (I realize that sometimes there is no good way to deal with certain conflicts, but why not be as prepared as possible?)

 

[Optimist Prime]

The main reason I wanted to be a nursing student was that the job was easy, I could work weekends, and be provided with enough income that was satisfying at the time.

If this is all you look for in a job then do everyone a favor and leave your seat for someone who actually wants to be a doctor. You can do what you want to do as a researcher and even see it implemented in humans depending on the lab you work for.

 

[Tleilaxu eye]

So what happened? Was there any dishonesty involved on your part? Was it officially written up?
If there was no dishonesty and/or there is no record of it, then you still have a chance at med school - especially with that 3.96. You are going to have to come up with a story about nursing school that neither makes you look terrible nor blames others.

Also, I might consider pro-actively seeing a counselor about conflict resolution strategies, to reduce the chances of having a bad outcome like this again in the future. (I realize that sometimes there is no good way to deal with certain conflicts, but why not be as prepared as possible?)

I was asked questions for like 40 mins during a clinical while pulling meds, and meds were then late for administration. This is the prof who told me she was going to fail me. I tried to request to leave the clinical with her two times before it happened. I had to revalidated a medication administration in a practice lab following a protocol on a handwritten sheet, where the time was listed as 9PM (would look like 2100 in a hospital), and then I set down an unopened bag of IV meds on a counter after I realized the practice pump was broken. In all honesty, my prof. lied. I claimed this to be a source of anxiety contributing to my error, having someone who stated they were seeking to fail me, which she adamantly denied during the appeal session. I don't know if this is an appropriate lesson to have learned, but the only thing I took away from it is that people are ****ty, trust nobody to do anything unless you have done it yourself, and never make a mistake on anything, ever, because it will give someone a chance to attack you.
I made an official appeal which was reviewed by the teacher who told me she was going to fail me, as well as her friend, and it was denied. We exchanged words, and I have learned not to shoot my mouth off, especially if it's to someone who is actually stupider than you and they are your superior. This, however, is also one of the reasons why I am interested in medical school, specifically being a surgeon. It seems that being a surgeon would involve considerably less interactions with other team members in the healthcare field and that my performance can be evaluated on the basis of my performance, and that the opinion other people have about me would matter less, so long as I could guarantee that nobody could do my job better than me.

 

[pms_testosterone]

It seems that being a surgeon would involve considerably less interactions with other team members in the healthcare field

Not really; you will have to interact with tons of healthcare professionals, patients, and families. They will judge you on the basis of things other than your performance all the time. Once you're done your residency you'll be the big shot, so I guess there's that, but I've heard surgical residencies are very hierarchical. There's nothing to guarantee none of your superiors will be as unfair as your nursing prof.

Edit: Definitely talk to or shadow surgeons before following this path. Also, though what happened to you in nursing school was completely unfair (no one should be distracting you as you prepare medications) you'll have to explain the failure in terms of not being ready for the responsibility of nursing or some other half-truth, rather than blaming the bad profs.