What should I do? Finish my BSN or pursue a Biology Degree?

[lnpormd]

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Hi all,
I need a little advice on my next steps. I'm currently earning an Associates in Nursing (RN), but I'm pretty sure I want to go to medical school.
Since I'll have my RN in a matter of months, I'm going to go ahead and finish that out. However, I don't know where to go from there. I could do a bridge program to a BSN, but I'll still have at least a years worth of courses left before I could apply to medical school after I graduate. If I do it this way it will take about 2 and a half years after I finish the ASN.
I could also finish my ASN and then start a biology degree. This would probably take about 3 years after I finish the ASN.
My courses as of now are:
1 1/2 years of bio (Anatomy and Physiology 1 and 2, Microbiology)
1 1/2 years english
1 semester college level math
1 year chemistry (general)
Plus nursing clinicals, ect.
My GPA is 3.89
Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks so much!

 

[silleme]

I would suggest finishing up your RN coursework, but ONLY if you plan on using it to work while in undergrad. (This is my opinion only) Money always comes in useful on the application trail. Your GPA is fantastic, so no problems there.

As for your degree switch, you don't have to major in Biology unless you want to. You can choose a major with more electives available and use those for your Med School pre-reqs and to stash your nursing credits. Depending on what schools you think you want to go to, those will determine whether you need to take Statistics or Calculus, Microbiology or Genetics, etc. I'd suggest doing an education plan mapped out for different degree fields, but making sure you include the mandatory pre-reqs in there as well, and see which field interests you enough to major in it, or feels like the best fit to see you on your way.

 

[Darth Doc]

Hi all,
I'm currently earning an Associates in Nursing (RN), but I'm pretty sure I want to go to medical school.
!

Are you taking these courses at a 4-year college or a community college? In my state, only the community colleges have the RN programs. If that's the case, you will also have to switch colleges for your BSN or BS degree.

The only things medical schools will worry about are medical exposure (which you'll have as an RN), your GPA, MCAT score, that you have a bacchelors degree, and that you have the prerequisites they want. You have a good start on the prereqs and have a good GPA.

Do what you want for your degree just keeping the above in mind. In addition, make sure you have fun. From what I hear from MS1 students, if they have a regret it's not having enough fun before jumping into med school. 🤣

 

[lnpormd]

Are you taking these courses at a 4-year college or a community college? In my state, only the community colleges have the RN programs. If that's the case, you will also have to switch colleges for your BSN or BS degree.

The only things medical schools will worry about are medical exposure (which you'll have as an RN), your GPA, MCAT score, that you have a bacchelors degree, and that you have the prerequisites they want. You have a good start on the prereqs and have a good GPA.

Do what you want for your degree just keeping the above in mind. In addition, make sure you have fun. From what I hear from MS1 students, if they have a regret it's not having enough fun before jumping into med school. 🤣

I'm currently at a 4 year school. I just did my ASN first so I would get my RN sooner.

 

[GC1000]

Go with the BSN

 

[takeonme]

In all honesty, I would pursue the biology degree since you can work as a registered nurse with your associates. I'm in the same position of wanting to go to med school but I was too far along my BSN program to change routes. I suggest biology because your nursing pre-reqs will most likely NOT fulfill med school pre-reqs, and even if they did, you would have to adequately prepare yourself for your MCAT (1 year of gen chem and 1 year of organic chem needed for med school as compared to the survey of general, organic, and biochemistry needed for most nursing programs amongst these things)