need advice.

DayDreamin ER CRNP · Jul 14, 2010

I think you should look into medical schools and see what they require before I make any decisions about a bachelor's degree. One medical school may look at an applicant with a nursing degree and love that while another school may not be too impressed. You have to get a BS before you can apply to med school

Medical school is VERY competitive and my university has an advising committee and any pre-med student is 'required' to go through the advising program. While taking my upper science classes I got to know several of the students going through that. They would all comment about how the advisors won't even write your recommendation if you do not go through advising.

At this university, a lot of students are going for a degree in physics, biochemistry, biology, etc. because that is what a lot of the med schools around here are looking for.

Then there is the MCAT. Most schools require a pretty high score just to get an interview.

Talk to your school counselor and see what advice you can get from her about schools.

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anonymousstudent · Jul 14, 2010

My advise:

Get a job.

Go to community college for 2 years, and get all of your general pre-requisite material out of the way.

Then think about what you want to do. A few years of growing will do wonders before you commit to a 10 - 12 year educational process and more loan debt than the balance on my mortgage.

We'llSee · Jul 15, 2010

I think it's great that you know what you want to do at such a young age. I agree with the previous poster that you should get the general education classes out of the way (a good idea no matter what your ultimate goal is). I also think that you should pursue your area of interest simultaneously. I'm a big fan of starting out at a J.C. No sense paying more than you have to for classes that are transferrable. I think the place to start is with a nursing counselor at your local J.C.

Good for you for starting to get your "ducks in a row", it never hurts to inform yourself about the realities that lie ahead of you.

Best of luck to you!

bubbles10 · Jul 21, 2010

If you want to become a nurse for now but your ultimate goal is to become a pediatrician, I think itll be better if you go to a community college and do your RN. Working as an RN at a peds floor can broaden your experience, which would look great on your resume ( i would think). However, I would not recommend taking pre-requisites for both medical and nursing at the same time because it will be too much of a work load on you. Also, you have to understand that this is a long term goal for you because it takes about 3 yrs to get your RN and more years to get your MD. ALso think of it this way, if you decide that you dont want to become a pediatrician later, you would have a great job at hand. I also recommend that while you take your pre-requisites(general ed) classes, volunteer at a local hospital. Hope this helps!!

Asystole RN · Jul 21, 2010

Nursing is not medicine.

If you want to become a MD then go to school for your MD, if you want to be a Nurse then be a Nurse.

It is like saying, "I want to be a plumber so I am going to be a carpenter first."

Yes it is possible to use a BSN for a MD degree but you will have to complete a TON of classes that Nurses do not take and you will have taken a TON of classes that MDs do not take.

Large waste of time and tuition.

Besides, not many successful RNs who have attempted to go MD... Some interesting theories behind that but thats for another day.

Guest 360983 · Jul 21, 2010

Nursing degrees and med school requirements include very different classes. From what I understand, most med schools will want 1 year of Organic Chemistry as well as a year of calculus based physics. Most BSN programs stop at college algebra, statistics and 1 semester of chem for majors. You'll need at least 3 semesters of school beyond most BSN programs for the chemistry and calculus 1 will probably be a pre-req for your first semester of physics.

Becoming a doctor is a LONG process. You get a bachelor's degree, then you go to 4 years of med school, then you're an intern for a year, then you're a resident for 3-8 years (according to google). That's a minimum of 12 years before you're "really" a doctor. Adding nursing into there will add a few years to your degree--with pre-reqs and application periods, you can't get an ADN around here in less than 4 years (for a 2 year degree).

Also, nursing is nursing and medicine is medicine and they are very different fields. I would suggest shadowing a nurse and talking to some doctors (can you shadow them?) to see what you'll be getting into. Do NOT believe anything you see on TV.

Bob_N_VA · Jul 22, 2010

You sound ambitious, that is a good thing, especially for somebody still in HS. But as others have mentioned, they are two different animals and one will take quite a bit longer and more money and sweat to accomplish then the other.

Do some soul searching. How good a student are you now? Are you taking AP courses? How are your families finances? If you are still undecided, shoot for a community college and take some basic education courses, English, Math, Bio, Chemistry. You will need those whichever direction you take. Also consider going for PA, that is somewhat in-between in terms time and effort to accomplish. And keep in mind that Peds is probably one of the lowest paying medical specialties so racking up hugh student loans will take a while to pay back. Good Luck.

tokyoROSE, BSN, RN · Jul 22, 2010

Since it is still summer, take advantage of some shadowing experiences. Shadow both a nurse and a doctor; you'll see the immense difference between the fields. Start your general classes and hopefully by the time you complete them, you would have made up your mind. If you want to ultimately become a doctor, go into pre-med. When I was in high school, I wanted to do the nurse - doctor route too, but once I got into college I realized that they are two different things. Doctors treat the disease, nurses treat the patient. I got into nursing and found that going into advanced nursing practice will be just as rewarding as going to med school, so in the end everything will work out! It is not to say that you can't do nurse to doctor, I'm sure many have done this, but I have to agree with others above that this isn't the optimal way of doing it.