Nursing school or Medical school

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I've been having a hard time deciding between nursing school and medical school, how can I determine which one is best for me? I need help!!!

Specializes in OB, lactation.

If I could go back & was young and unattached again I'd go for med school!

I agree with the suggestions to really research the two careers & to try really hard to shadow a good nurse and a good doctor.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiac Cath Lab.
I initially planned to become a CRNA but a little birdie told me that a CRNA was still a nurse and I had the intellect and ability to pursue the MD.

It's wonderful that you're going to medical school. You wouldn't want to waste that 'intellect' on a lowly profession like nursing. :rolleyes:

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Siri I never considered NP. My personality is more compatible with medicine. I was initially a Bio/Pre-med major but settled for psychology because the science courses were so demanding. I later obtained a BSN because I wanted to go into anesthesia but after working in the hospital (ICU) I knew that my heart was truly in medicine. Thanks for being honest Mitch'smom many nurses are reluctant to admit that they would rather be doing something else. I am still fairly young, no children and single. I do not think I would pursue medicine if I had children or was over 35. I am so excited about this but I am always careful about sharing this info. I would NEVER tell my coworkers for fear of retribution. Why are most nurses so threatened by a fellow colleague pursuing higher education? Emilyerin you said it I didn't! You sound like the majority of nurses I've encountered THREATENED! LOL

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Specializes in ICU, CVICU.
Why are most nurses so threatened by a fellow colleague pursuing higher education? Emilyerin you said it I didn't! You sound like the majority of nurses I've encountered THREATENED! LOL

I don't think it is "threatend" so much as a matter of validation. By saying you want to be a physician over a nurse you imply that nursing isn't good enough (that might not be how you actually feel but that's what you imply).

It's not that EmiyErin is threatened but even you have to admit that your comments were a little bit callous.

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Labcat my comment was directed toward emilyerin not you. Emilyerins post was quite straightforward and simplistic in nature not much room for misinterpretation! My comments were simply the truth as I see it, if viewed as callous not my problem. My choice is DIFFERENT from other nurses, not better or worse. Why are some people so sensitive?

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

Have you considered job shadowing to see what you prefer? :clown:

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Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiac Cath Lab.
Labcat my comment was directed toward emilyerin not you. Emilyerins post was quite straightforward and simplistic in nature not much room for misinterpretation! My comments were simply the truth as I see it, if viewed as callous not my problem. My choice is DIFFERENT from other nurses, not better or worse. Why are some people so sensitive?

I'm curious as to why you joined allNURSES.com when all you seem to want to do is talk about your dislike (or, perhaps, disdain?) for the profession and how you are entering medical school in the near future. But, since I'm 'simplistic in nature', I'm sure such things are over my head.

I cannot speak for all nurses, but many of us are in this profession out of choice, not because we couldn't go to medical school. To me, this makes as much sense as "I couldn't become a plumber so I went to nursing school instead." What does one have to do with the other? I was accepted to the University of Michigan Ann Arbor Medical School right out of high school (at the time--1997--they offered a combined undergraduate/medical school admission to a small number of students each year), but after shadowing a few MDs, I realized that I wanted to do what the RNs were doing, not what the doctors were doing, as they didn't spend any time with their patients like the nurses did. Since we need both doctors and RNs, it's wonderful that different people want to pursue different professions.

Good luck to you in your upcoming studies. Hopefully you'll find what you're searching for in your new career.

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RN2MD, you are one of the very few that make much sense here. And for my personal affair with this board, trying searching for "nursing is pathetic."

Yeah...I was kicked off. But I'm back with a new ID. And a Juris Degree.

Nursing was pathetic. WE, like you, were simply trying to inform the misinformed, and perhaps I've kept a number of individuals from making the same mistakes that we made.

I've counseled too many nurses that were crying in the parking lots. It takes money, time, and risk to buck this system, and sole income nurses trying to raise families on their own can't take the risks to fight the ever present and perpetuated management philosophies of nurses.

Taking on more patients with fewer nurses makes money. Nurses will cry and complain when they're understaffed, but they will keep on taking it, and taking it over and over. This is not a desirable or altruistic endeavor as too many of these posters will try to convey. Nursing is a "passion" for the uninformed, for the unenlightened, and yes, for those who have not enjoyed the company of true professionals.

I was a snob as a nurse, but I was respected for my knowledge. That was my weapon.

And I thank you for your attempts at changing the lives of those who are "wondering about nursing." It's a job. But it's certainly not a life. My personal mission is to attempt to dissuade people from a masters in nursing. And, when you get more men into nursing, you'll get more change, more respect, higher incomes, and a whole lot less bickering.

"Advertising or personal attacks are NOT allowed." Neither of which has occurred here. But you just wait...

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Specializes in Psych, Geriatrics.

I haven't ever applied or attended medical school, but I wish I had. I chose healthcare as my 2nd profession at age 26 and felt that I was "too old" to be going to medical school, residency, etc before I had a family. Biological clock ticking and all that. Didn't stop to think how I'd actually support the family in my situation. If I had been younger I would've gone to med school and now I wish that I had anyway and just waited 2 more years on the family, until I entered residency. It is difficult to support a family on just a nursing job (MOST of the nurses I know have at least 2 jobs no joke), and the doctors treat you like crap half the time. Your nurse managers are about as crazy as all get out the other half the time. I am doing the NP school thing now to move up out of that mess, although the doctors will probably still treat me like the work-dog. Keep in mind, at least once you get out of med school and into your residency, you will probably make more than most nurses, let alone when you're completely done.

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