I advise you guys NOT to....

TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP · Dec 15, 2009

Wow, why all the hate towards this girl? One mention of med school and suddenly half the forum is jumping down her throat.

Nursing as a profession has an inferiority complex when it comes to its relationship with medicine, hence the drive to dignify itself with 'theories' and the push for things like 'healing touch' that are practiced completely independent of the medical model (and reality...). People caught up in this inferiority stuff have their buttons pushed by people trying to go from nursing to medicine.

BellasMommyOBRN · Dec 15, 2009

nursing as a profession has an inferiority complex when it comes to its relationship with medicine, hence the drive to dignify itself with 'theories' and the push for things like 'healing touch' that are practiced completely independent of the medical model (and reality...). people caught up in this inferiority stuff have their buttons pushed by people trying to go from nursing to medicine.

good point. they are completely different.

careerchanger22 · Dec 15, 2009

you should look into getting your MSN after your graduate with your BSN and become a Nurse Practitioner. You have the same autonomy as a Doc and can write scripts, etc. Whats your reasoning for wanting to go to med school?

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Dec 15, 2009

Nursing as a profession has an inferiority complex when it comes to its relationship with medicine, hence the drive to dignify itself with 'theories' and the push for things like 'healing touch' that are practiced completely independent of the medical model (and reality...). People caught up in this inferiority stuff have their buttons pushed by people trying to go from nursing to medicine.

Yeah. This is definitely true. It doesn't help, of course, that doctors often have superiority complexes.

And I don't really feel the whole "taking someone's space" argument. So what? Nursing school isn't a right, and I'm sure people who take up first year spaces and then fail out of the program out-number the spaces filled by people like the OP AND it's really not the OP's responsibility to make plans based on what's best for those waiting to get in to nursing school. I transferred out of my first college (wasn't a nursing student at the time) and if I'd decided not to go in the first place, someone would have been pulled off the waiting list. Oh well.

I do think though, that there's a difference between going from nursing to medicine and majoring in nursing while planning to go to med school. One is a career change, and the other...is just not the best strategy. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the OP, but my impression is that the plan was to major in nursing and go straight to med school. If the OP doesn't get in to med school on the first shot, it might make sense to get some experience as a nurse before reapplying if it is true that med schools look favorable upon nurses.

demsdata · Dec 16, 2009

I advise you guys NOT to...select Nursing as an undergraduate major if you plan to go to medschool.
It doesn't make any sense for me to work so hard in this program while some other student is having much easier time with his art major. Can somebody please enlighten me? I understand that knowledge in nursing will help me tremendously in medschool but what good will it do if I can't even get in? All of my other friends are applying with a GPA of 3.7 or above. Mine is 3.4 right now and it's very difficult for me to keep it up. Plus, I haven't any time to study for the MCAT yet and I have to take it next summer. Is anybody else in the same situation?
I'm not complaining about the curriculum, just the ridiculous grading scale.
I'm already done with my medschool prereqs and just have to finish this BSN program. Any input will be appreciated.
CharlotteDarcy

Hey Charlotte...sounds like you've got a lot on your plate right now. Take it from someone who went the med school route...sometimes your good intentions start off well and end kind of on the low side. At this point you should probably consider moving on to a different major, especially if you have already taken the med-school pre-req's. Most med schools actually have three different "major" grading scales for admission: 1) your overall GPA, 2) your science/pre-req GPA and 3) your MCAT scores. I will tell you that mine was a 3.2 OA, 4.0 PRE...I didn't bother with the MCAT because 3 years later I'd already decided it wasn't what I really wanted to do. I do know that both the overall and the pre-req GPA's tend to battle each other in medical admissions offices, especially if one is extremely low while the other is extremely high. I can't tell you how many double-takes I actually did get when I went around exploring medical schools and their admissions departments.

I don't know how close you are to finishing your BSN, but it may be well worth your while to switch to another major (if you can afford the credits) because it will 1) give you an opportunity to increase your overall GPA, 2) eliminate the crazy grading schemes that may be messing with your future school plans, 3) make sure that you are not "stuck" with your GPA if you do graduate with that major because most med schools are not very forgiving, even if you take courses after your first bac. degree. On the flipside of that, there may be some post-bac programs attached to the medical schools you're interested in that will give you a chance to "redeem" yourself by allowing you to take more upper division science courses (and sometimes even the first semester of the income medical school classe's courses) and who will write you a letter of recommendation and/or admit you to their medical school on that basis. You usually must have at least a 3.2 or higher GPA to be accepted to these, they usually last 1 year or so, but it allows you to get to know the medical school professors (and admissions panels) that may very well be looking at your application for the following term.

AOx1 · Dec 16, 2009

OP, I would consider a few things.

First, if your school has a premedicine advisor, I would visit him/her. Often the prerequisites for med school admission are different than those for nursing school (for example, organic chem and physics, which many nursing schools don't require). I would hate to see your efforts delayed by not having the right prerequisites, although you already may have them depending on what courses you have already taken.

Second, I would visit the websites of the med schools you plan to apply for. Many have a link that will give you an overall picture of the applicant pool, including who was accepted, in past classes. For example, it might note that the average GPA was ____________. If your GPA is significantly lower than that average GPA, you might want to look elsewhere or plan to apply multiple times. You may also want to visit admissions offices.

From your post, I am also not quite certain if you mean you already in nursing school, or if you are a pre-nursing student. You mention that you are working hard in your program, but I don't know if you mean prereqs or actual nursing course work. Just clarifying here.

Also, art is not a typical major for a med school applicant, as the prereqs are so different. Art would not be the best choice to prepare you for medical school. I would also advise that you speak with some current medical students. I am concerned that you feel you should be in an easy major and not having to work so hard. Medical school is VERY difficult. Years and years of difficulty and struggle. I would first want to test my stamina in a challenging major to ensure I could withstand the rigors of medical school. Otherwise, you will likely experience major culture shock.

I would not agree with comments that say you are wasting space. I would venture to guess that some of us on this board have also changed from a previous major at one point or another. Nursing is not for everyone, and every year I have several students who quit nursing school after realizing it is not what they expected. They are not "space wasters," just simply mistaken in what their appraisal of what nursing would entail.