Need your honest opinion and advice

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Hi Everyone,

Well, here is my situation and I am embarrassed about it but se la vie.

I went to a decent Caribbean medical school and I failed to pass USMLE Step 1 the first time and now I am questioning whether going that route was the best one for me for various reasons. I still want to practice clinical medicine and help patients, but I think that being a nurse and then eventually a NP is better suited for me.

I completed all of the basic sciences including Pharm, anatomy, physio, path, etc and got a bachelor's of science out of it. It seems that I have more than the pre-reqs for good second degree nursing programs and I was wondering if you knew what generally nursing admissions people have done with applications like the one I will be making, meaning, do they generally accept applicants like me into their programs or has my last 2 years of studying been a waste?

Any advice or insight?

Thank you :)

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I think you're going to be on the same plane as anyone who has taken science classes at a foreign school.

Are you not going to retake the USMLE? I'd be busting my butt to pass that. You obvously want to be a doctor or you wouldn't have left the country to do it. Focus your efforts on become a doctor rather than settling for nurse. We need more primary care physicians than we do nurses.

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You have a bachelor's degree from a US school, correct? And two years of coursework from the caribbean med school, but no degree?

I would guess that courses from the US bachelor's would count towards nursing pre-req's here. I would not necessarily expect the same for the med school courses, partly because they were for med school and partly because they are foreign.

You are probably more than eligible to apply for second degree nursing programs here. You will need to write a compelling personal statement about why you are changing from medicine to nursing. I don't know if your background would be an asset or impediment for accelerated programs, or direct-entry MSN programs - I could see arguments for both sides. I hope you are a good spin doctor :smokin:

All of that being said, I hope you give this decision a great deal of thought before making it. I'm sure you have put a great deal of time and effort into med school. If you truly want to switch to nursing, do it. Just know that it is not a backup profession - your heart really needs to be in it.

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You have a bachelor's degree from a US school, correct? And two years of coursework from the caribbean med school, but no degree?

I would guess that courses from the US bachelor's would count towards nursing pre-req's here. I would not necessarily expect the same for the med school courses, partly because they were for med school and partly because they are foreign.

You are probably more than eligible to apply for second degree nursing programs here. You will need to write a compelling personal statement about why you are changing from medicine to nursing. I don't know if your background would be an asset or impediment for accelerated programs, or direct-entry MSN programs - I could see arguments for both sides. I hope you are a good spin doctor :smokin:

All of that being said, I hope you give this decision a great deal of thought before making it. I'm sure you have put a great deal of time and effort into med school. If you truly want to switch to nursing, do it. Just know that it is not a backup profession - your heart really needs to be in it.

Thank you for your replies.

I did receive a bachelors of science from that med school for the basic science course work and I do have another bachelors from my US university. I am waiting for my second USMLE scores to come out in the next week or so. I talked to a nursing program, and they would want to do a transcript audit to see if the classes are equivalent.

I certainly don't look to nursing as back up. I want to help patients clinically and so eventually I want to get NP so I can provide that care.

I will definely work on my statement and try to spin my experience in the best way. I didn't consider direct entry MSN, but now I will.

Thank you for giving me hope that I didn't waste my years abroad and that I can still pursue my dream:) Now I just have to wait one way or another.

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Thank you for your replies.

I did receive a bachelors of science from that med school for the basic science course work and I do have another bachelors from my US university. I am waiting for my second USMLE scores to come out in the next week or so. I talked to a nursing program, and they would want to do a transcript audit to see if the classes are equivalent.

I certainly don't look to nursing as back up. I want to help patients clinically and so eventually I want to get NP so I can provide that care.

I will definely work on my statement and try to spin my experience in the best way. I didn't consider direct entry MSN, but now I will.

Thank you for giving me hope that I didn't waste my years abroad and that I can still pursue my dream:) Now I just have to wait one way or another.

I don't get why you want to be an NP. Your want should be to pass that USMLE. If not, you have, in fact, just wasted a lot of time and money hanging out in the Carib.

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I don't get why you want to be an NP. Your want should be to pass that USMLE. If not, you have, in fact, just wasted a lot of time and money hanging out in the Carib.

Passed the USMLE with a higher score than I thought.

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