Switching from Nursing to Pre-Med

[SnarkyPedsWannaBe]

Hi everyone!

I'm new here (yay!) and I want to get some advice and info from those of you who are farther along in the process than I am. So for the last two and a half years I have been Pre-Nurse, finished all my pre-reqs (A&P I & II, Micro, Organic and Biochem, Stats, etc.) just after my 18th birthday (I graduated HS at 15) and am waiting to hear back from several nursing programs. And then, I decided to change my major to pre-med! I'm planning on transferring from my community college to a 4 year as a neurobiology major. My hope is to wrap that BS up in 2 years and then move on to med school. So, anyways I'd love any advice you guys have to offer. I bought a few books on the process of getting into med school and becoming a doctor, so I'll be hitting those as soon as they arrive.

Let me also give you my stats (so far) so ya'll have an idea of where I'm at.

GPA: 3.71
SAT: 1960
TEAS: 97th percentile
73 Total transferrable units
Fall 2013 Deans List
Spring 2013 Honor Role
1 year of work as a clinical intern/ medical assistant at a pediatric cardiology clinic
EKG tech certification

Thanks!!!

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[AlexMack12]

Nice work so far!

Basically, you'll have to complete all your pre-med requirements, which don't overlap too much (but might a bit!) with pre-nursing requirements. The prereqs are changing over the next year or so due to the new MCAT that will be debuting in 2015; I'm sure the official AAMC website will detail all. However, to my knowledge, you'll still need 8 credits of general chemistry with lab, 8 credits of organic chemistry with lab, 8 credits of biology with lab, 8 credits of physics with lab, and 6 credits of English. There will be some additional credits needed in the social and behavioral sciences as well.

A word to the wise- courses for nursing school prereqs do not always fulfill premed prereqs. For example, many pre-nursing students take survey courses in biochemistry/organic chemistry, and these will not suffice for teaching you the content you need to know for the MCAT, and will not be accepted by schools as required courses.
You definitely seem like a great test taker, which will help you immensely in applying to med school and of course throughout your career as a med student and practicing physician. You'll need to do well on the MCAT (a good rule of thumb is aiming for a score of 30+ For US allopathic schools and very high 20s for US osteopathic schools, attending either of which will allow you to become a physician).

For now, as you're early in your journey, focus on completing all of your coursework as successfully as possible, and ensure you've taken all necessary prereqs. A good GPA (both in your math and science classes calculated separately, and your overall GPA) is pretty much necessary to gain admittance to medical school. Continue to acquire clinical experience, shadow some physicians, and also work on obtaining some non-clinical volunteer experience as well. Leadership positions, which are good for your application, evolve naturally when you've found an activity you're passionate about and dedicated to.

Best of luck to you!

 

[frosted_flake]

^Great advice/information.
A lot of schools are requiring (specifically) Sociology, Psychology and Biochemistry.

 

[SnarkyPedsWannaBe]

Wow! Thanks for taking the time to write all that out!

Unfortunately, I speant the last 2.5 years doing the pre nursing courses (groan) so said survey course has been completed.

I am going a bit backwards changing my major, but I'm pretty confident in changing my career path so it'll be worth it.

 

[SnarkyPedsWannaBe]

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[SnarkyPedsWannaBe]

Most of my leadership positions were in high school, what would you guys recommend as far as college level positions? Keep in mind I have 2 years to get myself together since I'm a transfer student.

I was thinking about joining some sort of premed or science major club at my new university. Possibly getting involved with or starting a campus charity. And joining the honors society. Does that seem like enough?

I'm also looking at a future physicians leadership program that facilitates shadowing over the summer

 

[BamaNicole]

@SnarkyPedsWannaBe

Did you complete General Chemistry or did you only do the chemistry required for pre-nursing students? Those two chemistry classes greatly differ and the nursing pre-req class is generally a very general survey class. You'll need to take the other for your pre-med requirements. Same goes for O Chem.

I was a pre-nursing major our of high school at the first school I attended so if you have any questions about the transition I or any other person who has gone through the pre-nursing route could answer your questions.

 

[SnarkyPedsWannaBe]

Yes, I took the prenursing chem, but I'm starting the general and organic next year along with my neurobiology course work. I know this doesn't satisfy requirements for med school.

 

[prettyNURSEtoMD]

Just double check. The chem I took for nursing is the same for medical prerequisites as I took the for science majors one because that's what my nursing program wanted and it was still "pre-nursing". If you have been a nursing major for 2 years you should have has all of the social behavioral classes that will be more than sufficient for the 2015 MCAT. I have 3 psych classes and a sociology class as was required. Just check your degree plan. If you have any questions hit me up.

 

[WierdScience]

Great job so far. I did the exact same thing at about the same place you are now, without as many credits. However, it took me 4 yrs to complete my degrees because the nursing stuff didn't count as far as my science major or med school was concerned. Keep in mind that if you want to complete in two years that you should plan on working very hard to do well on the premed prerequisites while also working on your science major requirements. You need to be able to get A's in those core prereqs. Two years seems pretty ambitious to me but if you have found a way to do all of the labs and courses in that time then good luck. But I would consider taking a gap year to work on ECs or just spreading the time to graduate to at least three years. Don't forget that you have to study for the MCAT still and it would help to get some research experience. It seems to me that it will take two years to do all of the prereqs and study for the MCAT and then another year or however long to take the remaining classes for your major. Don't rush through unless you are positive that your GPA won't suffer. Good luck! I can answer any other questions.

 

[SnarkyPedsWannaBe]

I have an AA in Social and Behavioral Sciences so I should be covered with the classes needed for that portion of the MCAT. Total I have 75 units so I don't have any general ed left, just major requirements which are 14 math and science classes 2 of which are research. I'm going to take a pre calc class to brush up because I've only gone through high school algebra and college statistics. If it takes an extra semester to get through it I'm not gonna sweat the extra year, I'm so ahead of the game anyway I'll be done with my MD by 25 at the latest.

 

[WierdScience]

Just double check. The chem I took for nursing is the same for medical prerequisites as I took the for science majors one because that's what my nursing program wanted and it was still "pre-nursing". If you have been a nursing major for 2 years you should have has all of the social behavioral classes that will be more than sufficient for the 2015 MCAT. I have 3 psych classes and a sociology class as was required. Just check your degree plan. If you have any questions hit me up.

The chemistry series that you described is the nursing chem only. I'm positive that it won't be sufficient for the MCAT and many med schools won't count it. As for the social sciences, they very well may be sufficient but I don't think we can be sure until the AAMC posts the tested topics for that section. And even then, I think it's going to be a few years before premeds and prep companies nail down the best way to prepare for social and behavioral.

 

[WierdScience]

I have an AA in Social and Behavioral Sciences so I should be covered with the classes needed for that portion of the MCAT. Total I have 75 units so I don't have any general ed left, just major requirements which are 14 math and science classes 2 of which are research. I'm going to take a pre calc class to brush up because I've only gone through high school algebra and college statistics. If it takes an extra semester to get through it I'm not gonna sweat the extra year, I'm so ahead of the game anyway I'll be done with my MD by 25 at the latest.

Yeah your definitely ahead of the game. Also, most universities require you to take math 1010 a general math, then math 1050 college algebra, then trigonometry, then calc 1, 2, & 3. And many science majors go a class or two past that. For biology you'll need cell bio and genetics, a year of physics and labs, a year of gen chem and labs, a year of organic and labs, and I'd do a semester or two of biochem just to be safe because some schools have started to require it. It's actually sometimes harder to not have any gen ed to sprinkle in with all of the science courses so just make sure you factor that in to the difficulty level of your semester loads and you'll be golden. And remember that schools want to see solid ECs over all four years or more so start to work on those. If you do all that you will get into a great school!

 

[SnarkyPedsWannaBe]

Yeah all those classes are required for my degree. Going to meet with an advisor on the 21st to plan it out and then I'll have an idea of the timing and course load. I've always worked full time with school (usually 17+ units with 10 of lab science) so I'm really excited to just focus on school, something I haven't got to do yet. Definitely have to figure out something with research.

 

[WierdScience]

Yeah all those classes are required for my degree. Going to meet with an advisor on the 21st to plan it out and then I'll have an idea of the timing and course load. I've always worked full time with school (usually 17+ units with 10 of lab science) so I'm really excited to just focus on school, something I haven't got to do yet. Definitely have to figure out something with research.

Just start sending out some emails to various groups/PIs and see who will give you a shot. Then after six months of experience you can transfer to a better group where you can get some publications, if you didn't land the one you wanted at first.

 

[prettyNURSEtoMD]

The chemistry series that you described is the nursing chem only. I'm positive that it won't be sufficient for the MCAT and many med schools won't count it. As for the social sciences, they very well may be sufficient but I don't think we can be sure until the AAMC posts the tested topics for that section. And even then, I think it's going to be a few years before premeds and prep companies nail down the best way to prepare for social and behavioral.

No. I took the regular general chemistry that was designated for biology/chemistry majors, ones who had intentions of going to a professional school, i.e, PA, Dental, Medical School. I'm saying, I took that and it counted for my nursing courses, they took both, that's why I advised OP to double check to see exactly which one he/she took.

 

[SnarkyPedsWannaBe]

I took the traditional nursing chem so unfortunately I start from scratch as far as science goes.

 

[prettyNURSEtoMD]

Gotcha ya! Well, good luck to you on this journey. If you have any questions please feel free to ask!

 

[syncrhodes]

Just start sending out some emails to various groups/PIs and see who will give you a shot. Then after six months of experience you can transfer to a better group where you can get some publications, if you didn't land the one you wanted at first.

And it's totally not a big deal if you aren't able to get publications. Remember, most won't.

 

[SnarkyPedsWannaBe]

Is research through your school okay? Or is a private lab better?

 

[allojay]

And it's totally not a big deal if you aren't able to get publications. Remember, most won't.

Agree with synchernodes, most schools just want to know that you have a general idea of what research is and it's significance. No need for publications yet. In residency, it plays a bigger role.