Do you ever think about going to medical school?

marilynmom, LPN, NP · Feb 8, 2006

Absolutly medical school is on my mind. I have wanted to be a physician since I was little. But now that I am 32 and have 2 kids I am not sure if I want to make that sacrifice or not at this time at least (I'm not sure I want to be away from my kids that much at their ages). I *love* medicine and science though.

But right now I am happy with a career in nursing because of the pros with working as an RN and my kids (way easier than an MD/DO schedual).

But I do worry that I will always have that "what if" in the back on my mind. For right now my plans are to get my BSN and after a couple years (or maybe sooner) apply to the PA program (NP's just are not used here so much). I think that might work best for me :)

And hell no the above poster is NOT too old to go to medical school! My children's ped was an RN (BSN) for a few years and went back to medical school at the age of 43 and she told me she wasn't at all the oldest person in her class--and she is a fantastic MD because of her experience with nursing--she applied to one school and got in because of her nursing background. My husband works down at the medical school and he tells me all the time there are "older" students in medical school, nursing school, PA school, etc

http://www.mommd.com is a good place, there is also another site called something like oldpremeds.com for nontraditional students going into medicine and they will tell you how it really is. studentdoctor is also a fairly good site (though has some snotty headed pre-meds on there...lol).

Good luck!

At my school the pre-req nursing classes were the same as the pre-med classes so that is good. You can always start with just taking the pre-reqs that both the nursing dept require and the medical school require (most are pretty similiar overall for med school)---things like Chem 1, Microbiology, Physiology, College Algebra, Biology, BioChem, etc (I always took the classes for majors, not the ones for non-majors). That is what I did and am happy with that.

SarasotaRN2b · Feb 8, 2006

Yeah, in the past I thought about pursuing medicine as a career. I even got as far as taking the prereqs for pharmacy, but I realized that as a RN I can be more involved with my patients. Doctors often give a number of prescriptions to patients without really explaining what they are for (some of the meds on the mars are bewildering due to the amount of meds given), and pharmacists, at least in retail outlets, are pressured to fill as many scripts as possible. As an RN, I can try to help the patients understand why they are taking some of their meds which they are confused about. I think patients also feel less intimidated by nurses than MDs.

Kris

smilin_gp · Feb 8, 2006

I planned to go to med school before ever thinking of nursing, finished premed program, applied, and was accepted into med school, but after my 'required' premed volunteering in a free clinic, I was just so much more impressed by and identified with roles of the nurses.

To respond to some posts about B.S. in sciences about being the only acceptable majors for med school admission, this might be specific to certain schools only. For many medical schools, degrees in varied areas are competitive because they show that students are well rounded and can study diverse subjects together. I do know that my music education degree was accepted.

Michelle123 · Feb 8, 2006

Over here, you have two options for med school. You can do an undergraduate degree program or a graduate entry program. If you have completed a degree you can apply for the graduate program which is 4 years long, but if you haven't you have to apply for the undergraduate program. But if you have a degree or partially completed a degree provided you get a certain grade average then you can apply for the undergrad, which takes 5-6years depending on the school. The uni that is closest to me only offers an undergrad program for 5 years.

Then after you finish that you have a 12 month internship then you start a residency program, but after that initial 12 months you get your licence and you are a Dr, but you still have to do a residency in a specialty program depending on what area you want to get into.

I have spoken to hubby, and he seems ok with me reassessing my goals somewhere down the track. Now that I am in the Nursing program I am going to stick with it and complete it and work as a nurse first, before I make any decisions. I really don't know what being a Dr is like. My mother was a nurse and I was fascinated by the stories that she would tell me, and the times that I have been in hospital, or when I had a close friend in hospital, I remember being in awe of the nurses and I would just watch them all the time :)

I also have a daughter at home and would like to have more children too.

NP2BE · Feb 16, 2006

think about it more and more everyday. Nurses are treated like disposable rags by hospitals. Many time i see nurses treating each other extremely poorly as well. I love the job of being a nurse, but dont like the way we are treated, especially by each other. I wish nurses were (at my hospital at least) would act outwardly as professional as the docs do. I may like my job a lot better then.

ICRN2008, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2006

I don't want to be a Doctor,but would like to get a PHD in Nursing.But I'll probably burn out from school long before then.

Ditto. All through high school and the first year of college, I thought that I would go to medical school. Then, I realized that being a physician would not allow me to live the kind of life I wanted for myself, for my husband (boyfriend at the time) and especially for my future children.

I was raised by my mom and she was never home (always working). I would not wish that on my children under any circumstance. I want to have a career that is flexible and allows me to be involved in their lives. I couldn't do that if I was working hard to pay off massive amounts of med school loans or had to be on call all the time.

People sometimes ask me why I didn't go to medical school. I am not offended, and I just tell them that it was not the right decision for me.

I give credit to my friends who are getting ready to graduate from med school. It's good that some people are willing to do it, because we need them too.