Nursing VS Medical School

elkpark · Oct 11, 2015

My advice is that you really need to figure out what you want to do. If you really want to be a physician, you're not going to be happy in nursing. Best wishes for your journey!

Nonyvole, BSN, RN · Oct 11, 2015

Nursing and medicine are two different fields. What I would suggest is thinking about what you would want to focus on and see if you could shadow a nurse and a physician. Or at the very least, sit down and talk wroth them.

Whatever your choice, though, own it. Good luck.

BSNbeauty, BSN, RN · Oct 11, 2015

How should we know ?????? Be whatever you want to be.....

Luckyyou, BSN, RN · Oct 11, 2015

Have you taken the MCAT?

elkpark · Oct 12, 2015

Have you taken the MCAT?

Yes, that would be a good first step to help identify how competitive a med school candidate you're likely to be. You say that the classes "don't bother" you, but have you taken the prereqs for med school? That would be another helpful way to sort out what direction might work best for you.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Oct 12, 2015

OP, people frequently post "what should I do" questions to some very personal quandaries. As you can guess, WE don't know what you should do if YOU don't know what you should do.

Medical school and nursing school are two very different things, as the work of a MD is very different from the work of an RN.

If the medical model suits you best....if you WANT to be a physician.. you will not be happy as a nurse. Likewise, if you want to be a nurse, but follow the path to becoming an MD....you won't be happy with that, either. IF you even get that far, as competition into medical school nowadays is QUITE steep (as it is, typically, with nursing school...but even more so).

As has been suggested, taking the MCAT may give you an idea as to whether you are even a viable candidate. Match that up with your current GPA, volunteer work and other needs of a good resume, and see what pre-requs you might be lacking....and you'll at least know what you're up against.

Choice, in the end, is yours.

RegularNurse · Oct 16, 2015

If you don't ever want to work as a med surg staff nurse then go to med school. Jobs like NP/CRNA/Adminstrator/Educator are hypothetical futures for you. If you don't want to work as a staff nurse, do not puruse nursing.

Postpartum RN · Oct 16, 2015

I don't know why people always start commenting "we don't know what you should do why are you asking us".

I think in general when people ask these questions as to what they should so, they are seeking pros and cons on the options, opinions on what others would personally do themselves, or stories of people who have gone through the same situation. Lighten up people with the attitudes please.

OP, way before I started college I was also debating whether I should go for MD or RN. One of the reasons I chose RN for myself was because it is quicker and more easily accessible than med school. For me it was important to be able to start a family instead of waiting until I was older and done with medical school and all the training. Also, I preferred to have more patient care, and doctors are more managers or directors of the pt care and have little hands on contact...I wanted to be able to spend more time with my pts and as a nurse I can do that. So think about

what you want from your job as being a nurse and a doctor are very different. Good luck!

Guest219794 · Oct 16, 2015

I can't seem to make up my mind if I want to pursue nursing or M.D. I am currently 25 y/o, and have completed all pre-requisites for nursing with an Associate of Science. I have the option to finish my Bachelor degree and try to get into med school. The classes don't bother me, but I'm not sure if the length of getting my M.D. will pay off in the long run. I know I can go get my N.P. or CRNA too, but a family member has offered to pay for half of medical school if I can get an acceptance letter from one. I really want to get my M.D. and the nursing option doesn't look to bad either, so I am having a hard time deciding which would be best. I will be 31-32 when I start residency, provided I get accepted to a medical school, and 28 when I finish my BSN if I go that route. Any advice?

It seems like part of your question is whether it is financially worth spending another 4 years to start making money. Mathematically, that is an easy question.

I sometimes get asked "Why didn't you go to medical school?"

Because if I did, I wouldn't be qualified to be a nurse.

Most of the Docs I know have certain characteristics:

Academically excellent- At the top of their class in every stage of the gave, including in competitive universities.
Really smart.
Hard working and driven. The ER docs I work with work longer and worse hours than me.
Intellectually curious.

This does not describe me.

I nailed nursing school. Straight A's for my Associates, graduated with honors. Took A&P and Micro at the university level, aced both.

Personally, I don't have the academic ability or drive to thrive in medical school.

This is fortunate, as I don't have any interest in being a physician. I have created a lifestyle that allows me to live very comfortably on $30 an hour. I work 3 days a week, and play four.

And, I really like my job.

AuDDoc · Oct 16, 2015

Have you taken the pre med classes? This usually weeds out the people who can hack it in medical school. I went the pre-med route and then graduate school for my clinical doctorate, then I went to nursing school.

After doing the pre med courses and my graduate school for a clinical doctorate nursing school was a cakewalk. I hardly studied and aced the exams and clinicals. If I didn't have a family and a full time job to juggle, and a job offer making what I would have made after 3 years of schooling to become an NP with a wonderful schedule (I work 4 10's and have 3 day weekends every week) I would have easily finished nursing school and graduated at the top of my class. The university I was taking courses from wanted me to come back and teach when I was finished with my FNP.

Nursing school and medical school are two totally different beasts. Nursing school to me requires an extreme amount of flexibility and if your brain works with the medical model you will feel very constrained as a nurse and not like a lot of the aspects of it. Medical school you spend the first 2 years getting a huge amount of knowledge learning not only the effect but also the cause of everything (I feel nursing school really teaches you the effect and the cause is kind of glossed over). Then in your last 2 years you pick up clinical practice and put all that knowledge to use. Then your residency really tests your skills. Residency is awful. 60-70 hour work weeks making around 50k a year. You will work twice as hard and make less than the RN's you are writing orders for. It's grunt work and it's tedious. Depending on your specialty you can have a long residency. Plus you have to worry about matching for a residency (think trying to get into medical school against every other top of the class graduate for even fewer slots!). It takes a long road to be the top dog.