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hi my name is luis calderon

i am an 18 year old Hispanic who recently graduated from high school. i graduated with my assosiets degree from my local college. i also graduated with a medical Spanish minor from the university of texas pan-american. i was intended to go to san antonio tx for my bsn however not all my courses where transferable then i got back to my local university to do the same processes then a friend of mine told me the waiting list for the nursing program was 2 years. can you imagine two years of waiting?! well then i thought some options and then thats when i decided to take the lvn route. i entered a technical college and did CNA , however im taking my state exam this coming November first and i a m already accepted for the lvn program. my question and debate is : is this a good idea? at the beginning i was really sure of my decision then all my friends started telling negative feedback. the thing is i cant wait 2 years of prereqs and then 2 years of waiting plus the 2 years of the program. i live on my own because my parents live in mexico. i work part time at a local pizza hut and i am paying for my school. the lvn program is just one year and the starting pay rate is pretty good for a 18 year old guy. i need thoughts of my decision and ideas of what to do next after the lvn. i was thinking of doing a bridge program but i want to finish my bachelors then take my mcat and see if im good enough for med school. if i don't get into any med school my second option is PA. however i need more ideas or perspectives of my situation!

thank you guys .

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You should talk to a counselor at your school. I fear you are not going about your goals in the most efficient (cheapest and least amount of time).

What program did you study for your Associates? Can you translate that into a job?

If you want to become a physician or a physician assistant, it doesn't really make sense to become a nurse. To do either of those, you need to get a bachelors degree (in anything, but take a lot of science courses) with good grades. Check the websites for some programs you are interested in to see what courses you need to take: anatomy, physiology, microbiology, statistics, and psychology are likely to be on the list.

If you are thinking of doing the LVN program so you can work while going to school, you should consider that you probably won't be able to work in medical school or physician assistant school.

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The AS is just about the basics. Yeah , I agree with you about : why becoming a nurse if going to medical school? But the thing is i am 18 and I already did my basics , if I finish LVN I can easily work part time and finish my bachelors for PA or pre-med, not counting the transferable courses that I will take on the LVN program. I haved talked to some medical students of mine and they told me when they entered medical school they are separated into traditional and nontraditional students. Traditional are college students with no previous experience in the medical field and non-traditional are nurses and so on. Basically I want to get hands on experience. I don't want to be 4 years of pre-reqs and at the end be on a waiting list while I can be getting experience. At least on my economic status I can't afford just studying and certainly being afraid of not getting in on the program of my desire due to the extremely competitive field in south Texas. To give you a point of reference and give you an idea of why i opted this path is because my brother has a 4.0 gpa at UTPA Persuing a BSN and he still didn't got not even the interview.

Thanks for the response , I appreciated the constructive criticism and I think my goals are pretty set. For sure I'll be helping people on the future.

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Have you considered getting your MSN & becoming a Nurse Practitioner? It's very similar to a PA but it would be a faster route (2-3yrs) after your BSN. I can understand you wanting to become an LVN while pursuing med school but I think a BSN would not be the best option. A pre-med Bachelor's would require more science & math than a BSN. Why spend those years on a BSN & still have to take additional math & science for med school? I'm not understanding that part

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