PreMed nursing

icyounurse, BSN, RN · Aug 26, 2008

Yeah getting a BSN does not prepare you for med school. You will have to take additional courses and then take the MCAT after you graduate.

If MD is your ultimate goal you wont really be able to work when you go to med school anyways, maybe you should look into getting loans for living expenses?You would have to work for years to save up that kind of dough. My friend is going to med school and she cant afford it either. She has alot of loans, but says you cant really work while you are doing it. Med school is a fulltime thing I think. But I havent been so I dont know for sure.

But if MD is your ultimate goal, I would just do a pre-med degree and go into med school.

Good luck to you:)

ilstu99 · Aug 26, 2008

does that mean after i graduate my BSN and take my licensure exams, i need to take additional subjects in order to obtain the requirements needed for med school? is it possible that i study while i work as a nurse? my academic adviser is also suggesting that i consider Nurse Anesthesia. If ever i pursued nurse anesthesia, can i still go into a medical school after? i know it will take me a lot of time in school, but it's ok with me because i have passion for learning and i will do everything just to achieve my dreams.

Yes, you would have to complete whatever requirements are needed for your medical school....in addition to whatever you had to take to finish nursing school. I believe that's why so many pre-med folks get a BS in biology.

Contrary to popular belief, nursing is not a "pre-doctor" profession. The theories behind care and hands-on practices are not the same. While nursing would give you a remarkable bedside manner, and a great deal of experience on the "front lines," it's not really a stepping stone to med school. Don't get me wrong....you can certainly take that road, as some people do.

A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) is a licensed RN with a bachelor's degree, who enters a graduate program for CRNA. From what I understand, a CRNA program is 2-3 years.

The bottom line is...sure....you have the ability to do whatever you want to do. You can get as many degrees as you'd like, provided that you meet the specific criteria for each program. Only you can decide what profession you'd like to pursue and access the requirements at your institution.

I might suggest taking a day or two and doing some job shadowing, so you can fully understand the differences in practices. We all are doing our jobs for the patient's overall better health. We just go about it in very different ways.

RN1982 · Aug 26, 2008

Do realize that nursing and medicine are two totally different professions. There are many advanced degrees in nursing such as CRNA, Nurse Practioner, Clinical nurse specialist. I feel that if you want to go to medical school, why make a pit stop at nursing? Just seems like a waste of time if you're going to have to take more classes after obtaining your BSN just to qualify for med school.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Aug 26, 2008

Threads merged for continuity. :)

nessajune21 · Aug 26, 2008

I totally agree with all that icyounurse posted.

The BSN lacks a lot of what you need for med school admittance. You could take summer classes to fill in these gaps. The degree itself may help in giving you a good idea about disease process, but it also requires that you take a lot of classes not pertinent to the medical field. Nursing and medicine have completely different diagnoses and plans of care.

In med school you really will have no time to have an outside job. There is just too much to remember for class and not enough time to fall behind. There is no tomorrow to catch up. Many interns work 60-70 hours+ a week.

If it is your dream to be a doctor, don't spend time taking nursing classes. Complete the pre-med requirements and talk to an advisor about additional suggested electives that you may want to take. Many med schools don't require that you have a degree- just that you have completed the premed curriculum and taken the MCAT before you apply. So it may be a waste of time to spend the extra semesters acquiring a nursing degree that you probably won't get to use.

Good luck.

DGood · Aug 26, 2008

keep in mind though that there are not many jobs for biology majors. If you do not make it into med school, or don't make it in your first try, your are probably need to work while you apply again.

You can do what you want to do but it is not always easy. There is always life events (like marriage and children) that can make things much more difficult if you need to be in school full time.

If you have the grades, I would try an accelerated nursing bsn and then complete the few classes that you need for medical school later (if medical school is still an option). Medical schools love people with experience and not just straight A's. Trust me, they get plenty of people with straight A's, they want more than that now.

You can also advance your nursing education later on if you decide to stick with nursing.

From personal experience, I'm getting better grades in the classes I take now that when I was in college full time. Guess I saw the real world and didn't like it so I'm trying harder the second time around.

oldiebutgoodie, RN · Aug 26, 2008

I would focus on premed, and not nursing. Then, if you don't get into medical school, you can take an accelerated BSN program and become a nurse.

The military provides scholarships for medical school, but of course, then you have to join the military after graduation.

I woulld become acquainted with http://www.studentdoctor.net, which has very active forums for medical students, residents, and folks trying to get into medical school. Pay attention to the time and life commitments these folks make to pursue medicine as a profession.

And think seriously about whether you want the physician lifestyle. Compensation is not what it was in the old days, and malpractice, on-call requirements, and Medicanre/insurance cuts may negatively impact this lifestyle.

Good luck,

Oldiebutgoodie

Roberta88 · Aug 26, 2008

My counselor told me that he attended a seminar by the head of a few medical schools that had banded together. The main point of the seminar was to get counselors to discourage people from getting their nursing degree for premed. They said they would be trying not to accept these people because nursing and doctoring are so completely different from each other. That was like 2 years ago when I thought that was what I wanted to do. Then I read some nursing books ang got addicted to this website and realized that I would much rather be a nurse than a doctor. I want to be there more for my patients on a personal level than a medical level and I also do not want people calling me while I'm sleeping. :no: So I guess my point is that I think you should do some research on the two different professions. Like a previous poster said, shadow both of them for a few days each. If you really enjoy nursing, than do that. But if your heart is really set on med school try a more direct route, like a biology degree. Either way it'll be pretty hard, if not impossible, to save all the required money up for med school. Good luck in your choices! :up:

MB37 · Aug 26, 2008

And FYI: CRNA programs tend to be expensive as well. Even at my state university, all graduate level courses cost >3x as much as undergrad. The other local option, a private school, is more than twice as expensive as the public. I now have my BSN, on top of a prior BS. I will soon take my boards, and I have a job lined up. If I wanted to go to med school, I'd still need about 4 semesters of additional courses BEFORE I was eligible to take the MCAT. For a CRNA program I'll need one or two courses that weren't included in my previous degree. You also need to work as an ICU nurse for a minimum of 1-2 years (depends on school) before you are eligible to apply to a CRNA program. It's highly inadvisable to work while earning your CRNA, so on top of borrowing a minimum of about $40 grand for tuition/books (unless you go the military route), I'll have to borrow additional $$ for living expenses - which at that point will most likely include a mortgage payment and supporting a kid or two. Please do some job shadowing. Nursing and medicine are two very different professions. So are CRNA and MDA. If you have your heart set on becoming an MD, suck it up and apply for loans. Do as well as you can while completing a premed curriculum without adding in extraneous nursing courses, and if you change your mind or can't get into med school, you can always do the ABSN route later. There's nothing to stop you, of course, from becoming a nurse, then getting a bachelor's degree, then becoming a CRNA, then taking premed undergrad courses, then going to med school - but if you're worried about total loans, you'll owe twice as much as you would have had you just done premed and med school. Plus you'll probably be about 40 before you even start to pay them back. When I was 18 I was sure I'd become a lawyer, so it's OK to change your mind. Just do as much research and talk to as many people in every profession as you can, and remember that medicine tends to be a harder track to start down the older you get, as the time commitment gets too much for many people with families/spouses to contemplate.

august07 · Aug 26, 2008

You'd have to work for about 20 years as a nurse to be able to pay for med school. Most people that go to med school cannot afford it, they just get loans and pay if off 10 years later when they're making the big bucks. I think you should decide if you want the nursing route or the med school route and then go for it. During med school, you live,eat,and breathe studying and classes. You barely have time for friends and family, let alone another job. Nursing is not an easy career choice either,by the way. Just try to think about which lifestyle and which sort of career you would prefer.

ICRN2008, BSN, RN · Aug 27, 2008

If you want to be pre-med and be serious about it, then you will have to spend some time during undergrad doing research in a lab, heavy duty volunteer work, honors classes, or some other activity that will make you stand out during the med school admission process. If you major in nursing, you will instead be spending your time at clinicals and in classes that in the long run may not help your chances of admission.

If you are very serious about med school, then go for it. However, make sure that is what you really want to do, because med schools don't typically accept applicants who don't have a good understanding of the profession (with its pitfalls as well as benefits) and a strong desire to succeed.

Working during undergrad might be forgiven during the admission process if the work is meaningful and you can articulate what you learned from it (some examples that come to mind include research labs, health unit secretary at a hospital, or caretaker at primate research facility). However, I can guarantee that working as a nurse will only HURT your chances of admission, because med schools generally like people who are "clean slates", not those who might have a hard time transitioning from one role to another.