Pondering nursing as an option, thoughts?

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Hey guys, new to the forum so I'll drop an introduction in that part of the forum when I get home from work since I'm half an hour away from that.

Basically, my situation is probably about the same as 95% of every other pre-medical student out there. Right now I'm just taking general ed courses before I transfer to a university, so obviously this is the perfect time to consider this. Anyways, I wasn't born rich and in fact I'm lucky to have a nice cushy job at Blue Shield of California, because if it wasn't for this I'd be totally screwed. Regardless though, I'm going to have to use financial aid to pay for school though when I start going to school full time, I want to take a full school load instead of just take 6 units and work a job because I don't feel like taking five million years to get through college.

I've heard a lot of the horror stories about people getting great grades in college, getting a bachelor degree in biology, letters of recommendations from doctors, good MCAT scores and all that and they still get rejected year after year for med school. You can't do that much with a bachelor in biology from what I see, and even if you can, I'm very aware that you can do nothing with it in health care which is where I want to be.

My question is, especially since most of the pre-reqs for an associate degree in nursing also are lower division courses for biology and/or are extremely relevant to pre-med anyways since nursing is also medicine, should I get an associate degree in nursing so I atleast have some way of surviving should I get a bachelor in biology and then the med schools say no?

Looking at the options, it seems to be an extremely wise way to do it in my opinion, because it looks like most RNs (especially entry level ones) work at night and since most college courses at the university level are offered during the day, that would allow me to work as a RN while going to school so I wouldn't even need financial aid. I also looked at it, and since you just need to meet certain science requirements to get into med school and have a bachelor degree in something, I also pondered getting a bachelor in nursing and then just doing the extra courses to meet the med school admissions requirements. I would assume that would look better to a med school anyways since someone who has a nursing degree knows a whole lot more about medicine and patient care then someone with a biology degree.

I'd like to get everyone's opinion on what they think of this, and since I'm sure it would be asked if I didn't say it, here's the relevant info about myself.

I'm 21, male (obviously, considering the thread it's in, lol), as far as study habits go I'd say I'm alright at studying but that's because I've never had to study. I just got done doing 13 units while working a full time job as a claims processor with a 4.0 GPA and I didn't study that much to get the 4.0 GPA, but that's only because it wasn't necessary, obviously since pre-med is what I'm looking at there's no lack of motivation here. Academics seems to come quite easy to me and while other people struggle and study long hours to get an A on the test I just spend an hour or two of light studying to get the A, so I'm not scholastically impaired. I write papers extremely easy, very attentive, I learn extremely fast and if the subject interests me (health care is one of the ones that does interest me) I have a good memory.

After taking general biology since I need it for general ed, I've developed a liking for biology, but I wouldn't want to do it as a career; it's just an interesting subject to me. My main reason for wanting to be a doctor is not so much the pay as the desire to be a professional, to save lives (or help do that), and to help people heal. From what I've read so far (plus what I already knew anyways from the general idea), nursing would offer all of that anyways, so maybe even after just getting an associate degree I may decide I like this better anyways, I dunno.

Sorry for the long essay but I figured questions would be asked about everything like motive, study habit, etc. anyways so I don't want to waste everyone's time! My main questions are in your opinion do you think it'd be wise for me to get an associate degree in nursing first so I'm not financially SOL if the med schools says no (if I just got a biology degree with no nursing, I'd have to use the full amount of loans probably so I'd be $30,000+ in debt), would it be wise to get a bachelor in nursing instead of biology if I do still want to be a doctor and just get the extra courses done, and finally, how much stereotyping and discrimination will I have to deal with in the classroom if I do enter the nursing program? I don't mind working with gay people (I'm straight myself) because generally, their more accepting and open minded anyways so I actually would probably like working with them, I'm very open minded myself, very respectful and integrity is a big thing to me...but I absolutely /hate/ being discriminated against or stereotyped, and I'm not very tolerant of that sort of thing, If I'm challenged I'd rather confront the issue or person then just idly take it or let the insult go unanswered.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

Do what you need to do for yourself. I like the way you look ahead in your planning. Looking at your possibilities. Shame we have to lose a guy like you to Med School. Would love to have you with us. At least, you are considering the field as a stepping stone. I wil be very honest with you. Some of the best male docs that I've had the pleasure in working with WERE nurses previously. They know what we do and respect us in return. They also get the respect returned for it. Rest assured, not all male nurses are gay. Most of the men I have worked with are either dating females up a storm, married with children, or divorced with children. I am of the latter group. But, like any profession, there are gay men and gay women. So, please do not judge the profession that way. Been a nurse for 20 years. I love it and I love what I do. Personally, you couldn't pay me enough to go to Med school. Being a doc is not all that glamorous either. Plus, I like the idea that when I clock out, I do not have hospital staff or patients calling/beeping me 24/7. My personal time off is too precious to give up. Again, do what you need to do for yourself.

I wish you the best!

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Cardiac, ICU.

I think you have the wrong attitude. What I mean is, if you want to be a doctor, you go for doctor. Being a nurse and being a doctor aren't the same thing and I would personally put all my energy into completing med school requirements.

If you go in with the attitude" they may say no", then they are going to say no. No one but you can decide your destiny and if you don't believe in you, then the medical schools won't either.

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Do what you need to do for yourself. I like the way you look ahead in your planning. Looking at your possibilities. Shame we have to lose a guy like you to Med School. Would love to have you with us. At least, you are considering the field as a stepping stone. I wil be very honest with you. Some of the best male docs that I've had the pleasure in working with WERE nurses previously. They know what we do and respect us in return. They also get the respect returned for it. Rest assured, not all male nurses are gay. Most of the men I have worked with are either dating females up a storm, married with children, or divorced with children. I am of the latter group. But, like any profession, there are gay men and gay women. So, please do not judge the profession that way. Been a nurse for 20 years. I love it and I love what I do. Personally, you couldn't pay me enough to go to Med school. Being a doc is not all that glamorous either. Plus, I like the idea that when I clock out, I do not have hospital staff or patients calling/beeping me 24/7. My personal time off is too precious to give up. Again, do what you need to do for yourself.

I wish you the best!

Well, I didn't mean to imply that all male nurses are gay, I'm just aware that's a stereotype of male nurses and whether it's true or not, it wouldn't matter since it's not going to make me uncomfortable. I've heard a lot of stuff about the bad side of being a doctor but never really anything in detail...I didn't see being a doctor as glamorous anyways, but I'm sure as a nurse you know all about the downsides of their job. Is it really that much of a political nightmare for doctors, such as patients calling at all hours of the night, hospitals controlling how much health care they can provide, etc.?

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.
well, i didn't mean to imply that all male nurses are gay, i'm just aware that's a stereotype of male nurses and whether it's true or not, it wouldn't matter since it's not going to make me uncomfortable. i've heard a lot of stuff about the bad side of being a doctor but never really anything in detail...i didn't see being a doctor as glamorous anyways, but i'm sure as a nurse you know all about the downsides of their job. is it really that much of a political nightmare for doctors, such as patients calling at all hours of the night, hospitals controlling how much health care they can provide, etc.?

like any profession, you take the good with the bad.

ask the docs that you know....what's the upside and downside of their job/profession. you indicated some already (see above in red)....and we are not even talking about insurance companies yet.

again, i like your thinking. is nursing/medicine right for you?

many folks go into nursing without a clue in what they are getting into.

the same applies to medicine.

have a discussion with some docs....get it from the horse's mouth.

best wishes.

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Like any profession, you take the good with the bad.

Ask the docs that you know....what's the upside and downside of their job/profession. You indicated some already (see above in red)....and we are not even talking about insurance companies yet.

Again, I like your thinking. Is Nursing/Medicine right for you?

Many folks go into Nursing without a clue in what they are getting into.

The same applies to Medicine.

Have a discussion with some docs....get it from the horse's mouth.

Best wishes.

Yeah I know, there's downsides to everything so I'm not going to let horror stories hold me back. A co-worker I work with used to be a CNA back east so he worked around nurses and doctors a lot so I was able to find out from him what the difference is. He said in a nutshell, nursing is more hands on and involved with the actual deliverance of health care and medicine is more research and the directing of health care. If that's any indication then medicine probably would be the best for me since I love research and gaining information/knowledge. I'll see if my stepdad knows any surgeons, I'm 95% sure he happens to know a cardiovascular surgeon as well as a orthopedic surgeon, both of which are the surgery professions that interest me so I'll shoot them an E-mail and ask.

It looks like I'll just get my degree in biology and if med school doesn't say yes right away I'll just start working towards a BSN, I might as well since all my general ed and stuff will already be done since I'll already have a degree there. One way or another I'll get into health care! :)

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

Wish you the best, my friend...where ever your path leads you.

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i don't mind working with gay people (i'm straight myself) because generally, their more accepting and open minded anyways so i actually would probably like working with them, i'm very open minded myself, very respectful and integrity is a big thing to me...but i absolutely /hate/ being discriminated against or stereotyped, and i'm not very tolerant of that sort of thing, if i'm challenged i'd rather confront the issue or person then just idly take it or let the insult go unanswered.

assumptions are a killer. you assume that male nurses are gay. most male nurses are not gay. i've met a lot who were medics in the military. i don't know why you felt a need to tell us this. i actually find this highly offensive. most nurses are highly professional people with normal, nuclear familes. i have a wife and two kids. i've been part of destruction earlier in my life. i picked a profession in which i was part of the healing process.

i would say that you should do some serious thinking about why you want to be a doctor. be a nurse if you want to "be a nurse."

peace

genhen

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Specializes in Trauma/Burn ICU.

Timster-

Not sure if you've seen my post in your other thread in the Male Nursing forum yet...

In a nutshell, if med school is REALLY what you want to do and you don't get in right away after your bachelor's, look into master's of biomedical science programs. There's plenty out there (I applied to Nova Southeastern, Barry, and U-Penn... ended up at Barry), and most of them have an agreement with one or more local med schools (sometimes their own, as in the case of Nova) to automatically grant interviews to the master's students based on academic performance.

Now, if you get part of the way through your schooling and decide that being a doc just isn't for you (like happened to me), then that's a different story altogether...

Mike in Michigan

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