Nurse to Doctor? HELP!

lilgop · Apr 17, 2014

Hi!

I might be able to help you a little. :) I'm currently in a nursing program, and I will graduate next year. I also want to eventually go to med school. After I get through with nursing, I'm going to finish my biology degree, and then apply to med school.

The first thing you should do is look at pre-reqs for some med schools you would like to go to. While some nursing pre-reqs and med school pre-reqs do cross over ( like bio 1 and 2 ) others will not ( A & P is not usually required for med school). Med school also requires physics and calculus, and more chemistries than nursing.

You might want to speak to an adviser to figure out a plan. Also, are you sure you want to go through nursing? Trust me, it's not easy, and if you really want to be a doctor it might be good to change to a major that is better suited for pre-med.

The nursing really won't help you get into med school, and it could also put some unnecessary dings in your GPA.

Hope this helps! :)

sadiemae1123 · Apr 17, 2014

CRNA and sports medicine are two very different career goals. You might need to take a step back and decide what it is you really want to, otherwise you could wind up spending a lot of time, effort and money towards something you really aren't interested in.

CRNAs generally have a BSN plus a master's or doctorate of nursing, a total of 6-7 years of higher education. Most CRNA schools also require applicants to have a minimum of 1-2 years of ICU experience. Depending on the hiring practices in your area and your willingness to relocate that may add another 1-5 years onto the process. They generally work in surgical settings, labor & delivery, or pain clinics.

A sports medicine physician will need a bachelor's degree with specific prerequisites for med school. If you have a BSN you may still need one or two years of classes to met the requirements to apply for med school. Generally a sports medicine physician will have 4 years of undergraduate classes, 4 years of medical school and 3-5 years of residency/fellowships.

Of course other health professionals work in sports medicine as well, such as RNs, NPs, PTs, OTs, etc.

It really sounds like you need to visit the career counselor at your school to work out exactly what sort of career you want to have and what path you want to take to get there. Otherwise you could end up with massive amounts of debt and still not be where you want career wise.

SopranoKris, MSN, RN, NP · Apr 17, 2014

It's a lot quicker to get a science undergrad degree and then apply to med school than getting a BSN. Plus, the med school admissions committee will want to know why you aren't going to be a NP instead.

As stated above, think long & hard about what you really want to do.

NurseGirl525, ASN, RN · Apr 17, 2014

Nurses and doctors are two different things. Doctors make different decisions than nurses. They are both very important parts of a health care team but each has a different role. If I wanted to be a doctor in sports medicine I would not waste my time being a nurse. My question is do you want to be an orthopedic doctor or an athletic trainer? Again, two different things. I did sports medicine in my junior high school and high school careers. I loved it. I really wish I had gone to school to pursue it. It really is a lot of fun. But when I would go to my Student Athletic Trainer camp one summer we talked about the realistic goals of what someone would make and what kind of career you would have and back in the late 80's and early 90's the career options were not good. I was one of the only high schools in my area that had an athletic trainer and up-to-date equipment. Nowdays, at the high school level not only are there several athletic trainers, they have team doctors, high tech facilities. You are trained quite differently too due to expanding our knowledge in the medical field. I would speak with an advisor and figure out what you want and the most economical way to do it.