What does an RN do to become MD ready?

[benyjets23]

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Hey,

Just a quick, and perhaps an all too common question.

I was curious, what must an RN with a BSN degree under their belt, who for whatever reason decided to attempt entry into Med. school? Most likely the BSN will not be enough, so what are some of the avenues for upgrades.

I have noticed the MED. schools seem to be great bull ****er's. Read many Medical school admission policies. You get the impression that your science class's are not as important as your humanity or liberal art's class's. A Philosophy major seems as well off as a Biology major. Strange. So the obvious question of course is if MED. schools put out the vibe that "humanities and liberal arts are wanted", maybe failure as a BSN to live up to Med school standards is no big deal.

Ben

 

[star22]

Hey,

Just a quick, and perhaps an all too common question.

I was curious, what must an RN with a BSN degree under their belt, who for whatever reason decided to attempt entry into Med. school? Most likely the BSN will not be enough, so what are some of the avenues for upgrades.

I have noticed the MED. schools seem to be great bull ****er's. Read many Medical school admission policies. You get the impression that your science class's are not as important as your humanity or liberal art's class's. A Philosophy major seems as well off as a Biology major. Strange. So the obvious question of course is if MED. schools put out the vibe that "humanities and liberal arts are wanted", maybe failure as a BSN to live up to Med school standards is no big deal. Ben

Do you mean in terms of GPA/MCAT?

Generally if you have the pre-req courses, you are set.... but you also need solid grades and MCAT scores. Having a BSN can only help you (undoubtably you know what you are getting yourself into and why you want to pursue medicine.)

 

[benyjets23]

Star22,

Thanks for the response.

Guess my question is more at the level of pre-reqs. I doubt I will have a full load through the BSN program. I will most certainly not have any liberal arts/humanities. (However I have done exstentive reading in areas of theology, religion, philosophy, and history).

Ben
P.S.: Pardon my ignorance, I am merely discussing a "what if" scenario as opposed to a thought through plan. (I am just beginning my BSN). Consider this as "day dreaming about my options".

 

[njbmd]

Hey,

Just a quick, and perhaps an all too common question.

I was curious, what must an RN with a BSN degree under their belt, who for whatever reason decided to attempt entry into Med. school? Most likely the BSN will not be enough, so what are some of the avenues for upgrades.

I have noticed the MED. schools seem to be great bull ****er's. Read many Medical school admission policies. You get the impression that your science class's are not as important as your humanity or liberal art's class's. A Philosophy major seems as well off as a Biology major. Strange. So the obvious question of course is if MED. schools put out the vibe that "humanities and liberal arts are wanted", maybe failure as a BSN to live up to Med school standards is no big deal.

Ben

Hi there,
Pre-reqs for medical school: 1 year of General Biology with laboratory, 1 year of General Chemistry with laboratory, 1 year of Organic Chemistry with laboratory and 1 year of General Physics with laboratory. Some schools require calulus, biochemistry, genetics, cell-biology etc. After that, any major is fine as long as you do well. You also have to take and do well on the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test).

Again, any major is fine as long as you 1. Do well and 2. meet the pre-requisites for the MCAT and the medical schools that you apply to.

njbmd 🙂

 

[oldpro]

Hey,

Just a quick, and perhaps an all too common question.

I was curious, what must an RN with a BSN degree under their belt, who for whatever reason decided to attempt entry into Med. school? Most likely the BSN will not be enough, so what are some of the avenues for upgrades.

I have noticed the MED. schools seem to be great bull ****er's. Read many Medical school admission policies. You get the impression that your science class's are not as important as your humanity or liberal art's class's. A Philosophy major seems as well off as a Biology major. Strange. So the obvious question of course is if MED. schools put out the vibe that "humanities and liberal arts are wanted", maybe failure as a BSN to live up to Med school standards is no big deal.

Ben

Uh you have to have the Premed Reqs, Good GPA, Volunteering, Good MCAT,

Really no different than an English major or a Biology Major all the same. Nurses do not get any special consideration, in fact many of the courses taken for Nursing school do not fulfill the premed.

Sorry ( I was ). 🙁

 

[benyjets23]

Oldpro,

The basis of my question is that I will NOT have the pre-req's. I am trying to determine the avenues of up grade. Do I try to get a second BS degree? Is there a one year pre MD prgram for those with BA's and BSN that do not fullfill the pre-req's. So the basis of my question is that I will NOT have what is required. I am merely looking for avenues to compensate for unfullfilled pre-reqs.

Ben

 

[Zerosixjt]

Ben,

It all depends on how strict your BSN program is. Most programs have some amount of elective courses built in that would allow you to take liberal arts/humanities classes while still fulfilling your degree requirements, no upgrade necessary.

As for med school acceptance, yes they do say that any major is accepted, but the vast majority are from science/medical backgrounds. There is not as much of an emphasis on liberal arts education as you have been led to believe. Liberal arts/humanities usually is only recommended and not required, but if it is required, it is easily covered by your undergraduate degree with no additional work.

The most important thing to remember at this stage in the game is to keep your options open. If you are thinking of transitioning to medical school later on in your career remember to keep your grades up and work at being a "well-rounded" person in all of your classroom and extra-curricular activities. That is really what most medical schools are looking for.

Good Luck 😀

 

[oldpro]

Oldpro,

The basis of my question is that I will NOT have the pre-req's. I am trying to determine the avenues of up grade. Do I try to get a second BS degree? Is there a one year pre MD prgram for those with BA's and BSN that do not fullfill the pre-req's. So the basis of my question is that I will NOT have what is required. I am merely looking for avenues to compensate for unfullfilled pre-reqs.

Ben

I wasn't trying to be "smart A", Just that I went to the Caribbean beacuase of the length of time getting everything together and I wanted FP so for me this was the best. As far as your case, if you have a BSN with a good GPA ( above 3.0) take the preqs needed Like Physics, Orgo Chem if you didn't already and do very well. You need to have a total GPA above 3.3 to be competitive and volunteering.

With that you should be fine. I do not think you need a second BS degree, if your GPA is good just take the needed courses.

Good Luck

 

[flighterdoc]

Oldpro,

The basis of my question is that I will NOT have the pre-req's. I am trying to determine the avenues of up grade. Do I try to get a second BS degree? Is there a one year pre MD prgram for those with BA's and BSN that do not fullfill the pre-req's. So the basis of my question is that I will NOT have what is required. I am merely looking for avenues to compensate for unfullfilled pre-reqs.

Ben

As others have said, you generally have to have the 4 science pre-reqs.

Since you're in Canada, there are some schools (most notably, the Northern Ontario? school?) that don't require all the pre-reqs, and several schools in Ontario don't require the MCAT's at all.

All US schools and many caribbean/other schools require the MCAT.

So, if I were in your position I think I'd ask myself what school(s) I want to try to apply to, find out their pre-reqs and then determine if I have them.

As far as filling in any gaps, I'd just go take the classes - don't worry about another degree, just get the classes out of the way. Thats whats important, having a couple of degrees isn't.

Good luck!

 

[viostorm]

Oldpro,

The basis of my question is that I will NOT have the pre-req's. I am trying to determine the avenues of up grade. Do I try to get a second BS degree? Is there a one year pre MD prgram for those with BA's and BSN that do not fullfill the pre-req's. So the basis of my question is that I will NOT have what is required. I am merely looking for avenues to compensate for unfullfilled pre-reqs.

Ben

Check out this link:

http://hpap.syr.edu/LISTPB.HTM

http://www.cse.emory.edu/sciencenet/undergrad/post-bac.html

I think you want to check out "post-bac" premed programs. There are some programs that assume you have already taken the pre-med courses and want a boost and some that do not assume you have taken them and provide them for you (sounds like you).

I was sort of looking into them and the Drexel program sounded cool.

A bachelors degree is not required for admission to medical school but often the # of credits you need is close to a degree and pretty much no one gets admitted without a degree.

I would not pursue another degree, I would get the pre-reqs and apply.

It will probably take you 2 years to get the requirements if you have none.

Like I said, check out that link and there are probably some good sites off of it.

If you are a competitive student, I think there are lots of advantages to going to school in the US.

 

[obrn]

Because I did well enough in my undergrad courses (and they weren't too long ago) I am able to do the prereqs that I have left at the community college. Their schedule is a little more flexible, so I am able to continue to work (at least for now) while I finish up the classes that I need and prepare for the mcat.

I'm not sure how the BSN program is structured at your school, but there was no way that I would have been able to finish all of the prereqs that I needed for med school without attending at least an extra year or so. The clinical schedule made it almost impossible to take non-nursing classes for the last year or so.

 

[burntcrispy]

I had a BSN. Took me over 2 years to complete the proper prerecs. Well, that was including retaking Gen Chem and Pre Calc. It had been 5 years or so since I had them and thought it best to retake them to get As and to brush up for the MCAT.

But, as long as you have the basic prerecs, you're good to go. In my class there were english majors, a photography major, pharmacist, economics, etc. Some people just have the bare minimum science requirements and that's just fine.

Best thing to do is talk to someone from an adcom and find out what you should do.

Good luck.

 

[OBRN2MD]

Oldpro,

The basis of my question is that I will NOT have the pre-req's. I am trying to determine the avenues of up grade. Do I try to get a second BS degree? Is there a one year pre MD prgram for those with BA's and BSN that do not fullfill the pre-req's. So the basis of my question is that I will NOT have what is required. I am merely looking for avenues to compensate for unfullfilled pre-reqs.

Ben

I am an associate RN, but I took all the same nursing prereqs as the BSN's. The Chemistry I took was very basic so I have had to retake a year of Gen Chem. Also, the school I REALLY want to go to requires a semester of Calculus, which I also repeated. Then a year each of Organic Chem and Physics and Biology (my school has an accelerated Bio program that's only a semester). They also strongly recommend a semester of Bio Chem, Statistics, and Genetics (which, luckily are encompassed in my BS program). I have spoken with several MD's who had been RN's previously (because I wanted to get a feel for their experiences) and they all said that all they needed to do (post BSN) were the prereqs and take the MCAT....but it will take a minimum of 2 years.

While I realize that nursing school is nothing like medical school, I can honestly say that it's not as easy as some would have you believe. And although you won't be taking a "full load" you do have several clincal days doing patient care every week (at least I did). Also, the school I went to required 2 9 page care plans and a 20 page major paper every 9 weeks (then, again, my school had a 96% pass rate on the NCLEX and I did not need to take any type of review class before taking it).

One last consideration is that from what I have heard, being a nurse does not get your foot in the door at most medical schools and can be detrimental at some. Nursing and medicine have very different focuses (although I wish every doctor were required to be a nurse first). I just pray that in some small way my past experiences will count for something.

Good luck in your endeavors. You have some fun choices to make.

 

[oldpro]

I am an associate RN, but I took all the same nursing prereqs as the BSN's. The Chemistry I took was very basic so I have had to retake a year of Gen Chem. Also, the school I REALLY want to go to requires a semester of Calculus, which I also repeated. Then a year each of Organic Chem and Physics and Biology (my school has an accelerated Bio program that's only a semester). They also strongly recommend a semester of Bio Chem, Statistics, and Genetics (which, luckily are encompassed in my BS program). I have spoken with several MD's who had been RN's previously (because I wanted to get a feel for their experiences) and they all said that all they needed to do (post BSN) were the prereqs and take the MCAT....but it will take a minimum of 2 years.

While I realize that nursing school is nothing like medical school, I can honestly say that it's not as easy as some would have you believe. And although you won't be taking a "full load" you do have several clincal days doing patient care every week (at least I did). Also, the school I went to required 2 9 page care plans and a 20 page major paper every 9 weeks (then, again, my school had a 96% pass rate on the NCLEX and I did not need to take any type of review class before taking it).

One last consideration is that from what I have heard, being a nurse does not get your foot in the door at most medical schools and can be detrimental at some. Nursing and medicine have very different focuses (although I wish every doctor were required to be a nurse first). I just pray that in some small way my past experiences will count for something.

Good luck in your endeavors. You have some fun choices to make.

I will agree with you, that Nursing school was not easy, I did pass the NCLEX first time with a good score, ( back then they told you the score) But Medical school is different than Nursing school not due to being totally different but as the level of practice and difference of Philosophy of care. Doctors Diagnose disease and Nurses care for the disease, in other words the patient. Doctors direct the medical care and Nurses the personal care. In this way the whole patient is cared for. Doctors need Nurses and Nurses need doctors. Problem is they but heads way too much. One doesn't want to listen to the other and Docs make the mistake many times that Nurses may not have insight to problems, I hope not to make that mistake, nor I hope a Nurse tells me I do not understand what it is like to be a nurse. LOL.

 

[OBRN2MD]

[ Doctors need Nurses and Nurses need doctors. Problem is they but heads way too much. One doesn't want to listen to the other and Docs make the mistake many times that Nurses may not have insight to problems, I hope not to make that mistake, nor I hope a Nurse tells me I do not understand what it is like to be a nurse. LOL.[/QUOTE]

Old Pro,
I totally hear you and agree! At this point I cannot imagine "forgetting" what it is like to be a nurse nor can I imagine what it will be like to be a practicing physician. I pray that the two worlds mesh in a fabulous way.

 

[plouffes]

I will have my BSN in May and if your program is anything like mine, I would still need.. gen chem 2 w/lab, a second bio w/ lab, orgo 2 w/ lab, physics 1 & 2 w/ labs.. I will have everything else including upper level micro, 2 upper level physiologies, 1 upper level anatomy, pathophysiology, calc, and stat. I would just suggest getting the rest of your pre-preqs done, take a MCAT class (kaplan or something), take the MCAT, and get some LORs.. Are you currently a RN? If you are I would check into the tuition reimbursement your employer has to offer.