I'm a freshman in college with a major in nursing. I'm also taking pre med requirements so I can hopefully jump into Med school right after or perhaps with a gap year. There is this hugeeeeeee stigma against it and my nursing advisers know very little about it, and the pre health office knows pretty much nothing when it comes to nursing students.
I know it's super tough, but has anyone done nursing w/ pre med? Or went to med school after/is in med school or is a prv nurse now doctor? Any expierence you went through or if you've known someone or any insight really on it would be super helpful.
Specializes in Allergy/ENT, Occ Health, LTC/Skilled.
A doctor I used to work for did it that way and with kids at that. She was an RN in the hospital for a awhile then she did med school. Apparently she was a pretty popular doctor at the hospital because she treated the nurses with respect since she had been one for so long. I am not sure why she did it that ay though.
The pre-med aspect of some kind of BS degree is completely different from a straight up BSN. Your school's nursing department likely thinks, like mine does, is that nursing courses come first. No questions. No objections. No workarounds. Nursing courses are so different because the school is investing in you and entrusting you with the responsibility of going to a clinical site and be a professional, well-educated student. It won't have any sympathy for you if things get too tough because you still wanted to pursue something on the side. Basically, it's all or nothing with nursing school. Also, say your school is impacted and it's difficult to do the nursing schedule (which, due to hospital needs can be quite crazy and flexibility is as much a requirement as anything else) along with the other pre-med degree. If you happen to get really ambitious and go double-major and you aren't finished with the requirements of that second major, you don't get to graduate and take the NCLEX at the same time as everyone else -- that's a major clusterfugazie some people who want to get a minor or double major find themselves in as they get into the terrors of the last year.
What I'm saying is, keep it simple. Nursing school is competitive to get into and jobs are competitive to get after you graduate. You need to do tons of stuff besides just nursing coursework to ensure you're able to get your foot in the door and actually be employable upon graduation. It's a freakin hustle. I'm a post-bacc and if I had to do what I'm doing now plus other GE coursework, it would be an even bigger struggle. But, I am getting set up to hopefully securing a job upon graduation and that's the safety net.
Oh, and once you're good and done with nursing school, you will want much longer than a gap year you'll be so sick and tired of school.
I went to a major university the first time around and there were no 'watered down' versions of the prerequisite courses that I was required to take in order to transfer into my nursing program. I took the same chemistry, biology, microbiology, etc. sequence as those who were in the premed curriculum or, for instance, the chemistry majors. What made things so difficult for me is that my high school preparation, although I was in the college prep track, was very, very, lacking and I was not prepared to compete with the other students, therefore, I saw my A's from high school drop considerably. I barely made it. Life interrupted nursing school. Since then, I have taken the 'watered down' versions in this day and age at community colleges, and didn't find them challenging, other than to be competing with other prenursing students instead of premed and chem major students. I would have been happier after the challenging first go around had I gone on into medicine. There has been a level of regret throughout life because I had a taste of using my brain at a different level.
Based on my own experiences, I would have to concur that you should keep your premed activities to yourself around nursing faculty.
I can double major in bio and nursing if I choose and planned it out plus took classes twd both already. It's HARD. When will you find time for your volunteer hours and mcat plus nclex prep? For experience in the work force? Unless you plan to grad in more than 4 years.
Bottom line is if you want to be an md nursing is a waste of money and time, unless you want a break and work as a nurse first but then your mcat knowledge might be forgotten (chemistry, physics, even bio...). You might gain some too. I'd make a choice between one or the other.
You can still take extra classes when you can but like it was advised to me, if you want to pursue nursing you should get a job as a cna, pct, or other hospital positions to gain experience for your summers.
I asked what would help me land a nursing job more, a double major or experience and it was unanimously for the experience. But I'm going to take extra classes like calculus where/if I can.
The Premed and nursing crowd will mess with your head too. Premed will be discussing medical model and everything. I mean if you're a nursing student hearing that every day you may have trouble committing to nursing (or vice versa).
I can double major in bio and nursing if I choose and planned it out plus took classes twd both already. It's HARD. When will you find time for your volunteer hours and mcat plus nclex prep? For experience in the work force? Unless you plan to grad in more than 4 years.
Bottom line is if you want to be an md nursing is a waste of money and time, unless you want a break and work as a nurse first but then your mcat knowledge might be forgotten (chemistry, physics, even bio...). You might gain some too. I'd make a choice between one or the other.
You can still take extra classes when you can but like it was advised to me, if you want to pursue nursing you should get a job as a cna, pct, or other hospital positions to gain experience for your summers.
I asked what would help me land a nursing job more, a double major or experience and it was unanimously for the experience. But I'm going to take extra classes like calculus where/if I can.
The Premed and nursing crowd will mess with your head too. Premed will be discussing medical model and everything. I mean if you're a nursing student hearing that every day you may have trouble committing to nursing (or vice versa).
Why not look for a program that includes classes a pre-med student would take? Aside from the regular A&P 1&2, patho, pharm, etc. the program I'm in requires chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, stats is heavily encouraged. I would be eligible to apply to most med schools taking only 3-4 extra classes (2 physics, an organic chem and an advanced a&p) last time I checked. double majoring while in nursing school is robbing you of time you need for the nursing major (I type this as I am supposed to be writing a care plan no less than 40 pages). It can be done though, if necessary.
I do know one nurse who is going to school overseas for his med school. He was a flight nurse. I personally wouldn't do it that way and instead aim for a degree that would allow me to complete the requirements for med school earlier. However, I do know someone who went from medic to nurse to physician and the rumor was that he was just a physician to be a firefighter (he had health issues so he couldn't get hired onto a department but as a med director he had white turnout gear for fires).
I think lots of you don't understand that pre-med is not a double major, it comes under a concentration. So for nursing I need 124 credits to graduate (this includes gen eds). So it fits the course load of a minor not a double major. That being said the science courses (bios, chems, orgos, physics) I will be taking in the summer sessions (2 each time) and if I can handle it perhaps bio during my sophomore year since I have empty credit space to fill up b/c I'm around 12 credits ahead of the avg nursing student. So best case scenario I take my MCATS during my junior year and if not that only take summer pre med classes and take my MCATS as a senior (around 8 months before the NCLEX) and apply to one year later than the avg pre med student, giving me a gap year. So planning wise I'm taking a course overload my next semester but it's with Statistical Methods, but other than that I shouldn't have to go over 19 credits again.
I already volunteer in the ER every week for the past 2 years and I work part time (idk if this will help at a more professional job level though) and if next semester is anything like this one than I should definitely be able to do EMT shifts once a month and still have time to waste. And I volunteer randomly everywhere just because so I personally don't think I'll be missing out on volunteering hours (just in the ER I get close to 300 hrs a year, but i'm not sure what is considered "a competitive number").
I know it also sounds bad but the nursing school I'm in has a graduating class of 20ish students and it's in the top 10% of nursing schools and it was super tough to get into. So I don't want to lose my spot if junior year comes around and I realize it's getting too big to handle. Also a BS in bio or in chemistry or biochem, etc, any "pre-med majors" will definitely not lead to nay hospital jobs that deal with helping patients and nursing as an undergrad does, and the chances of getting accepted to med school is low, so I'd screw myself over that way as well.
I'm sort of made the decision already, and if I see my gpa taking a dive I'll definitely save them for after nursing school to finish, but thank you all for your comments especially the ones with experience w/ pre med!
I understood it didn't have to be a double major but at least in my school it would be like a waste imo not to take the few more classes in addition for what med schools require. Unless you talk about the Caribbean.
That's great you are able to handle so much at once. I spend hours studying, and volunteer, and want to work as a pct eventually right now I'm your run of the mill cashier, plus I have dogs to walk every day! I do not want to short change my learning so I really try to understand and go beyond what's just going to be on the exams though. Sometimes I feel like I waste my time but other times I get in a situation where it helped to over achieve!
I guess you want to be a dr with a backup as a nurse from your post but still I have to say if you really want the MD or DO you shouldn't go to nursing if med school doesn't accept you the first try imo.
I've had several nursing classmates decide to pursue med school. The difference is that they all focused solely on nursing, graduated the program and worked full time as nurses for at least 1.5 years before pursuing med school.
You will likely find yourself very overwhelmed trying to do even prerequisite courses for med school AND nursing AND clinicals. Also, as others mentioned, the medical model is very different from the social or behavioural model of health and illness that is common in nursing.
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LPNtoRNin2016OH, LPN
541 Posts
A doctor I used to work for did it that way and with kids at that. She was an RN in the hospital for a awhile then she did med school. Apparently she was a pretty popular doctor at the hospital because she treated the nurses with respect since she had been one for so long. I am not sure why she did it that ay though.