nursing to medicine, is that possible?

nurse2033, MSN, RN · Jul 16, 2014

Nursing and pre-med have very different curriculums. If your goal is to be a physician, nursing school is a waste of time and money. Go get the grades you need, in the courses you need, to move on in pre-med. Or, take a good look at what your real motivations are, perhaps nursing would be a good fit. Physical therapy is a great career that often works in sports medicine, just saying...

corbinRN · Jul 22, 2014

Truly and honestly, past acedemic performance is a good indicator of future acedemic performance. While this is not always true and people overcome acedemic struggles, it's important for you to know and to know that medical school is going to be the MOST difficult thing you've ever done. Nursing school would probably be the second most difficult thing you've ever done.

I'm honestly being sincere and not mean when I say this, but do you know if you'll get accepted into nursing school with your past acedemic performance of a 50% on a final exam? I would talk to the acedemic counselors at some schools that you're thinking about attending to see if they can do a transcript evaluation for you.

Nursing school and college in general is a WHOLE lot harder than high school, so you're going to have to start getting serious and work really hard on your general education prerequisite classes. Pay particular attention in math and science classes and definitely pay attention in your English classes as you'll probably be writing a lot of papers in college and probably in nursing school too.

With all that said, nursing school is most likely going to either be a waste of time and not prepare you for medical school (the method of training is completely different and you'll still be lacking many prerequisites required for application to medical school) or you'll absolutely love nursing and won't want to do medical school. Nursing and medicine are too drastically different to compare.

johndough · Sep 1, 2014

It is possible to do that. I've seen a nurse transitioned to md.

You will get a lot of negative or disapproving remarks by doing it, but it is possible.

I do hope that you know the prerequisites of med school. Nursing chemistry is usually different for premed chemistry. The sames goes for biology and other classes. Nursing pre-reqs are usually allied health in label and premed pre-reqs are usually major's sciences.

For example,

CHEM 101 Fundamentals Chemistry/Allied Health Chem

vs.

CHEM 151 Fund. Chem/Inorganic Chem.

I'd take the higher level courses if YOU do plan on going further. The typical courses premeds take are 1 year physics, 2 years chemistry, 1 year biology, biochemistry, english composition. Usually premeds declare a major in some sort of science, like biology, physiology, math, physics, etc. because this will satisfy all your premed pre-reqs as opposed to declaring a nursing major but your can still take the premed classes.

Also, you do have to take the MCAT which is a bunch of premed exams in 4-5 hours.

Good luck on your endeavors.

If you are going for sports medicine, you can always try physical therapy or even PA (physician assistant). PA is very similar to medicine but 2-3 years instead of 4.

DatMurse · Sep 4, 2014

Do any of these people really know what premed is? There is no degree called premed. Just pre-reqs.... you can get a nursing degree and take those classes and apply...

lost soul · Dec 27, 2014

People need to be realistic about their abilities. If you are not good academically, then med school is not for you.

chiromed0 · Jan 16, 2015

I have no idea what country those exam grades are from. I also do not understand being in HS and getting to "apply" for medicine. What does that mean? Bottom line is this...screw what you do in HS b/c you're a kid. What you do as an adult is soley determined by your committment to do it. I'm not an MD/DO. I am a doctor and an RN. I am 2/3 the way through a NP program. So I have some insight. Your first and foremost committment is do you want to help sick people get well. That's it. Because if you don't then this ain't a good career choice. There's blood, guts, nuts and plenty of butts and you have got to be okay with all of it. It's not t.v. doctor stuff. Things stink and hours are long. Money is good eventually but you will be too tired to notice.

As far as I know in the US and Caribbean schools high school means nothing. Your undergrad g.p.a. and MCAT are all that really matter and you WILL be able to secure a spot somewhere with decent scores there. If you're from another country where HS matters then I'd say move b/c that's just silly to expect a HS kid to make a decision to be a physician.

Lastly, nursing has NOTHING to do with medicine. The only thing they have in common is the patient and I can tell you that from experience. The worst thing I ran into in studying nursing (my second career) was the fact that I studied to be a doctor first. One field is from the interventionist's view and the other is from the patients view. Sure there is science, pharm, assessment and terminology but the perspective is DIFFERENT. Both are essential and not replaceable.

So if you want to be a doctor then I'd suggest you get started. Being a nurse first can help but it is time away from pursuing medicine. I do not think courses transfer in most places, certainly not in the US. Not one course will transfer over into medical school from nursing school unless somehow you test out. If you want to do it then just do it. Do NOT take advice seriously from anyone, including me, that has not ACTUALLY done it. Take it all in but get your information DIRECTLY from the programs, not second hand.

malamud69, BSN, RN · Jan 16, 2015

YES!!!! Of course...do you want it? Careful on these boards. ..you'll find a lot of nay sayers with little imagination...

allnurses Guide · Jan 17, 2015

There a lots of nurses that went on to become physicians. The current president of the American Society of Anesthesiologists was a nurse and a CRNA prior to becoming a physician.

Math like any subject is a learnable topic. It may take some people longer to learn more advanced mathematics, but anyone with average intelligence and perseverance can get through the math required for medical school. The U.S. is one of the few developed countries that still holds onto the myth that you are either good at math or you're not.

I would suggest that you shadow different physicians and nurses prior to making a decision though. Each career field has its pros and cons, and most traditional college students change their majors at least a couple of times before settling on what they want to major in.

elkpark · Jan 17, 2015

Of course -- I've known several RNs who went on to medical school (including my father, back in the 1940s). But it is a huge commitment of time, effort, and $$$ (a much larger commitment than nursing school). You have to really have the "fire in the belly" to be a physician.

Slumbeeringly · Jan 21, 2015

Hey,

I've worked six years on a surgical floor and then about two years in emergency in Canada. If you really have that desire and drive to become an MD then what harm is there in applying and trying? I have multiple colleagues in the emerg department who ended up writing their MCAT's doing extra courses and have successfully gotten into medical school. I would advice you to work a bit in the emergency department, you work closely with the doctors and learn a lot. Just don't let time pass you by, time is money and you should figure it out sooner than later.