asn-bsn-medical school

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i am currently going through my first year of college at Edison state and was thinking about nursing because i enjoy the field and would like to be a nurse, but the pay is not very satisfying to me and i was thinking about getting my BSN at USF then trying to go to med school from there. is this a good idea

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First of all, I am not a dude so sorry for crashing the nursing mancave, guys.

I have an ADN, working on my BSN and getting into medical school as well.

I have been told over and over and over again by so many doctors that the pay is not nearly as glamorously high considering the hours worked, the years of schooling necessary and the debt that medical school usually entails. Of course, these are the opinions and experiences of individual doctors and not meant to be a universal truth. Still, I hear it often enough. It is a point to consider very, very well.

Keep in mind that there are many lucrative specialties within nursing, especially if you are very flexible and are willing to travel. If you do not mind the hours the path to become a doctor entails, I assume you also will not mind working overtime. It is not unheard of for an experienced nurse to make six figures if he or she chooses the right specialty, agency and/or facility and puts in a lot of overtime. Will this happen right after school? Probably not. But it does not happen immediately with medical school graduates either.

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If you want to go to medical school, go to medical school. Additional nursing degrees are not going to help you get there. It's not like you can "work your way up." They are entirely separate disciplines.

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If you want to go to medical school, go to medical school. Additional nursing degrees are not going to help you get there. It's not like you can "work your way up." They are entirely separate disciplines.

They are entirely separate disciplines but all medical schools require some sort of bachelor's degree. If the OP is on the fence and already has many of the requirements to earn a BSN, it make sense to get one. If he goes for medical school, he will meet the bachelor's degree requirement. If he does not, he has a BSN under his belt and can build upon that. But if we are talking about masters' degrees in nursing, yes, I agree that they probably will not help in the process of getting into medical school.

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They are entirely separate disciplines but all medical schools require some sort of bachelor's degree. If the OP is on the fence and already has many of the requirements to earn a BSN, it make sense to get one. If he goes for medical school, he will meet the bachelor's degree requirement. If he does not, he has a BSN under his belt and can build upon that. But if we are talking about masters' degrees in nursing, yes, I agree that they probably will not help in the process of getting into medical school.

Medical school will require a baccalaureate degree, but a BSN will not include all the prerequisites for medical school. There will still be additional courses necessary.

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Medical school will require a baccalaureate degree, but a BSN will not include all the prerequisites for medical school. There will still be additional courses necessary.

Yup. Most bachelor's degrees do not include all of the science classes required to take the MCAT and apply to medical school. I have chosen to keep on plugging away at a BSN anyway. In case I do not pursue medicine, I know I can fall back on a BSN. I know I love nursing and do not care to major in something that inherently has all medical school-required science courses.

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Specializes in Outpatient Psychiatry.

If you want to incorporate the premed prereqs into the BSN and apply then have at it. Seriously, best of luck to you. I've found that when I try to do something like that I become disillusioned. What I mean by that is that I hope two things don't happen. One, I hope you don't go into nursing school and clinical training with the thought of "why bother, I'm going to be a doctor." Two, I hope that you don't get a taste of what kind of burdensome scut work a lot of healthcare is and become cynical toward the idea of becoming a doctor. Other than that, I wish you the best of luck. When I got my first degree, I did some fast talking and managed to get out of school with a degree lacking in three prereqs for med school. I said I'd go back. Ten years later I did, lol, but it was for nursing. I wish I'd stuck with it and hacked out a path, but I'm also glad I didn't. I had a lot of fun along the way. For those interested in the monetary aspects, my chosen field (PMHNP) results in a pretty sizable check for my region of the country so economically, I'm better off. No debt, and I was working the whole time I was in nursing school(s) so no lost income. There are a lot easier ways to make a good living beyond what the OP is looking for, lol.

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If you want to incorporate the premed prereqs into the BSN and apply then have at it. Seriously, best of luck to you. I've found that when I try to do something like that I become disillusioned. What I mean by that is that I hope two things don't happen. One, I hope you don't go into nursing school and clinical training with the thought of "why bother, I'm going to be a doctor." Two, I hope that you don't get a taste of what kind of burdensome scut work a lot of healthcare is and become cynical toward the idea of becoming a doctor. Other than that, I wish you the best of luck. When I got my first degree, I did some fast talking and managed to get out of school with a degree lacking in three prereqs for med school. I said I'd go back. Ten years later I did, lol, but it was for nursing. I wish I'd stuck with it and hacked out a path, but I'm also glad I didn't. I had a lot of fun along the way. For those interested in the monetary aspects, my chosen field (PMHNP) results in a pretty sizable check for my region of the country so economically, I'm better off. No debt, and I was working the whole time I was in nursing school(s) so no lost income. There are a lot easier ways to make a good living beyond what the OP is looking for, lol.

Perhaps I did myself a disservice by saying I am "plugging away" at a BSN.

I can assure you that every step I take in my work and school life is a reward in of itself. Nothing will go to waste even if I do not go to medical school. It has been eight years of seeing the scut work of healthcare from a nursing perspective, and I am even happier than I was when I began. As for the scut work from a medical perspective? I will have to see it for myself to make a judgment.

As for there being better ways to make good living, I agree. If I were to pick a career that paid well and allowed me enough balance in life to enjoy my earnings, medicine would be far, far down the list.

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thank you for all your responses they are really appriceated, I plan on taking as many preReq courses as i can during the process of getting my ASN-BSN but after my bSn i will be only 24 and i feel like i should stay in school as long as i can, i also look at getting my bsn and completing all the med school pre reqs as a way of showing med school that I'm serious about becoming a doctor one because i will have a lot of clinical hours by then because i plan on working when i get my ASN, and also that i had a full work load for four years 17 credits spring and fall and 10-12 summer. but where not talking strait A,s maybe a 3.4

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

Nursing is not a path to medical school. They are very different models of providing care. There are ways to make good money as a nurse (but not brain surgeon good). I think you should pursue what interests you. If money is a priority, choose finance or business, not the medical field.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Gentle hint - in this (virtual) neighborhood, please use the term "physician" if you are referring to Medical Doctors. There are a lot of us rattling around here on AN who are a testament to the fact that "doctor" is not a title limited to medicine.

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Gentle hint - in this (virtual) neighborhood, please use the term "physician" if you are referring to Medical Doctors. There are a lot of us rattling around here on AN who are a testament to the fact that "doctor" is not a title limited to medicine.

Point taken! Thank you!

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