The wife is crazy :-)

[Jasil]

Great forum very glad I found it!! My wife is 35 a RN working as Occupational Health Nurse 600 employees, previously she did neuro rehab 6yrs. She is 1 year away from a BSN and has now registered to finish her BSN by Summer 2010. Always wanted to go the NP route, but has since been hanging out with two Dr's and she has decided could we make it if she went for IT?

Of course Dr. E and Dr. P are fanning the flames saying "You would be a phenomenal Dr." and "You have us for support" They both are 20yr+ ER guys who opened a walk in clinic very funny goofy guys.

My question does she have to shadow/volunteer if she has been in hospitals, works with Dr's, etc for the past 8 years? My other worry is GPA she'll have to ace her grades these last two semesters to pull her GPA up (3.21gpa) she'll be lucky to hit 3.45gpa, but we'll see. It would be a major life change with only 1 income, but she has a dream. Do you guys think her experience helps or hurts here chances?

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[Priapism321]

all nurses think they could/would be good doctors

 

[Jasil]

She does.......she really just likes helping people. Many times she feels her hands are tied or the Physician will be in such a crappy mood or have a poor attitude with the patient it erks her to no end.

If she had it her way she would become a Dr. then move to a 3rd world country and help villagers all day long. She went to Mexico in 08, Africa in 09, probably back to Africa in 10, loves to help doesn't care about money and material stuff.

Of course "I" care about all that stuff

 

[NTF]

1)Do well in her remaining classes (get all A's to create a strong finish)
2)Do some volunteer work (doesn't have to be medical related - she's got that covered. no need for shadowing if she works closely with the docs and can get recommendations from them. but for her own edification I'd recommend shadowing.
3)Do well on the MCAT (30+ good, 34+ even better)
4)Apply broadly (MD & DO) and early (early to mid june - primaries, early to late August - secondaries)
5)Icing on the cake - biomedical research, publications, leadership roles, living in a state with lots of public schools (ex. FL, TX, OH), unique ECs like international work etc, a post-bacc to bolster her GPA

Do all that and she'll get in somewhere.

 

[2008orbust]

There are lots of us (former) nurses in medschool. My question is this...

Is yours career that can easily relocate? Can you follow her to any school that lets her in and still find a job in this economy? Or can you handle a LONG long distance? If not, is there a medschool near your home? If so, she should be talking to an adcom now about what they would like to see on herfuture application. If they are supportive, consider talking to them about EDP.

Good luck.

 

[NTF]

all nurses think they could/would be good doctors

I think there are a lot of nurses who would make excellent doctors.

I think there are very few doctors who would make excellent nurses.

 

[275079]

I think there are a lot of nurses who would make excellent doctors.

I think there are very few doctors who would make excellent nurses.

 

[anon3]

I don't think her experience helps beyond being enough clinical experience that the schools are assured she has a reasonable view of what a doctor does.

Otherwise, as nontradfogie points out, not many doctors make good nurses, confirming her own views. This seems to suggest how good of a nurse you could be (or are) isn't something med schools select for or consider relevant.

Otherwise, if she's been trying in all her classes to earn that 3.2, extra effort is more likely to raise it to a 3.5 than a 4.0. From there is where she needs to keep her spirits up to improve on that mark rather than get discouraged. Good study habits build on one another.

 

[gman33]

If she is serious about it, she should make sure to get all A's in the remaining classes. Take fewer classes at a time if needed. Right now the GPA is subpar. It is much easier to get it right the first time than to have to fix it later.

Also, has she completed the prereqs. Most nursing students don't take the courses needed as part of their degree. If not, this would add another 1-2 years. So she'll be looking at around 10 years to get all this done. She could get the NP degree in the same amount of time as just taking the med school prereqs.

My feeling is that most reasonable smart people can get into and complete med school if they are willing to put in the time/effort. She just has to decide if that is what she wants.

As said above, there is a pretty good chance you will have to move 1-2 times during this process. Either for school, residency or both. Make sure you think about this as well before you start down this path. She will have to apply broadly due to her GPA.