Is it worth it anymore?

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I've wanted to be a nurse for the longest time. My family has always pressured me into becoming a doctor, citing that i'd make more money as a doctor, but I've always held my ground. There's something about nursing that has always drew me in, and I feel as though my personality is better suited as being a nurse than a doctor. After finishing my freshman year in college, I see how difficult it really is. The courses that I'm taking at my university are pretty much comparable to those of the Pre-Med course work. Why do nurses do so much and study so hard, just to get paid soooo much less than MDs? Nurse practitioners do a lot of similar things to doctors, yet get paid a fraction of their salary. I dont mind working hard at all, as long as I know in the long run that it'll be worth it. Yes, I know that salary isn't everything, but it sure is a hell of a lot. All of my life, I've watched family members struggle to get by, and I always promised myself that that would never be me, that I'd be the one to be successful and make my family happy. Money IS a lot, and I'd like to think that all of this hard work and energy I put forth will actually be worth it in the end. Am I crazy to think this? Am I wasting my time?

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In your position, I would sit down and make an honest list of what I want from my career. For this case, I would definitely include the items "Financial security/Earning potential," "Doctor" and "Nurse" (among others) and rank them from 'Most Important' to 'Least Important.' After sorting everything out, I think the list may prove revealing with regards to what you really want out of your working life. The idea may sound silly, but making lists like this have helped me to make good decisions in situations where I can't have everything the way I want it.

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Specializes in NICU.

You can't compare the difficulty of Medical school compared to nursing school based solely on the undergraduate pre-reqs for med school and nursing school. Doctors have a 4 yr bachelor's degree, 4 yrs of medical school, 3-7 yrs of residency, and possibly 1-3 yrs of fellowship in a sub-specialty. Potentially that is 18 yrs of school compared to 6 yrs for a NP. Some CRNAs make between 125-200K. I would find it hard to believe that you would struggle financially making over 100k per yr. You can struggle at any salary. It is a matter of living within (or below) your means. You can make $200k per yr and be living paycheck to paycheck if you have a huge mortgage, two large car payments, rack up your credit cards,...

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Something else to keep in mind, is that while doctors make much more money, they often times spend too much time working to enjoy it. It's true that you won't get rich being a nurse, but you can make a middle class living, for the most part. There's also the option of becoming a NP, and their salaries are nothing to sniff at. I live in Mississippi, where pay (and cost of living) is pretty low, but a guy I used to work with said that his dad, who is a NP, works 9-3, Monday through Thursday, and makes about 80k. I never actually saw a pay stub so I don't know this for a FACT, but if he's telling the truth, that sounds like a pretty good deal!

The bottom line though, is it's your life. If you think what you really want to do is be a nurse, then that's what you should do. If you graduate and change your mind, it's not like you can't go to med school later, that's not a completely uncommon occurrence. And also, think about it...RN vs. MD...neither one is a stupid choice. As long as you finish, you'll end up in a good spot either way!

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Specializes in Forensic Psych.

I'm putting in a lot of hard work at zero cost to me and for a max of 3 years.

If I went the med school route I'd be putting in a lot of hard(ER - I'm sorry, I've done both and pre-nursing isn't as difficult) work for somewhere around 11 years and come out $250,000 in debt, and then work my tail off non-stop afterward to pay off my debt and then just to keep my turnover high because physician's salaries are dropping and will continue to.

Maybe as an RN I'll top out at half the salary of of a physician, but I'll be enjoying my life. :-)

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Specializes in Legal, Ortho, Rehab.

OP, don't let something like "personality" turn you off from becoming a doctor if that's what you want. I've been a nurse for 10 years, and I couldn't tell you what a "nurse personality" is or what a "doctor personality" is. I've met doctors I've liked, and nurses I've liked...others not so much. Focus on what fits your life and needs better.

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Specializes in Cardiac, CVICU.

Med school is no walk in the park! Yes, nursing school is difficult, but med school is intense. Of course you might have the brains for medical school, but you also must have the endurance for medical school - very few people have both! It is constant pressure that gets harder and harder.

I was once told by a biology professor that nurses (excluding APRNs) are comparable to physicians intellectually and in their abilities, but nurses don't comprehend things to the complexity that physicians do. This is what dictates the level of autonomy that healthcare providers have.

That being said, nursing and medicine are two completely different fields. The exception to that being APRNs, which were an invention of necessity.

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