PreMed nursing

[frustratedbummer]

i am an incoming nursing freshman. i wanted to make nursing as my premed course. however when i visited the websites of medical schools, i've seen that they have specific requirements like biology w/ lab, inorganic and organic chemistry w/ lab, physics w/ lab, biochemistry, etc.

i reviewed my degree plan and all i is a biology w/ lab class and introduction to chemistry. almost all of the majors that will be included in my 4 year BSN are nursing courses like health promotion and education, nursing concepts and processes, etc. I am worried that my BSN program will be insufficient to provide me the requirements i need to get into a med school.

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.

i really want to be a doctor but i dont think i can pay for the medical school expenses that's why i wanted to work as nurse first and save up for my medical school.

please help me, im really confused right now.

[Tharem]

When you say "I wanted to make nursing as my premed course", I don't understand that. You can't define that kind of thing for yourself. Nursing courses are not premed courses.

You have to follow the curriculum for a particular degree as laid out by the institution granting the degree.

A nursing degree and medical doctorate degree are two different things. They're two different professions. One is not a path to the other.

You can become a doctor after you become a nurse, but you won't be saving time by becoming a nurse first, you'll be wasting it if what you wanted was to be a doctor from the first.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

When you say "I wanted to make nursing as my premed course", I don't understand that. You can't define that kind of thing for yourself. Nursing courses are not premed courses.

You have to follow the curriculum for a particular degree as laid out by the institution granting the degree.

A nursing degree and medical doctorate degree are two different things. They're two different professions. One is not a path to the other.

I agree with this. Nursing and medicine are two separate fields with different requirements. While, some people do the transition, they often find themselves having to take extra courses, depending on the school.

Another to consider these days, many nursing programs are very difficult to get into and often have lotteries or waiting lists. Even with great grades, you may find yourself "waiting" for a place.

[pinkiepie_RN]

I think you mean that you would like to declare your major as pre-nursing and take pre-med requirements while working on the nursing pre-requisites. I will say that this is probably not smart, mainly because I know my nursing pre-reqs would have never counted as pre-med pre-reqs. I've taken classes like "Chemistry for Health Professionals I & II" and "Basic Math for Health Professionals" (college level algebra/pre-calc). I know for medical school you need things like chemistry major level chem classes and calculus. There would be alot of overlap and you'd be taking similar classes. Your best bet would be to do nursing if you want to do nursing, or pre-med if you want to do medicine. Like someone else said, they're not the same thing and one is not a route to the other. I know some colleges offer programs where you can take all of the pre-med classes across 2 semesters and otherwise prepare yourself for the MCAT after you graduate with a bachelors degree. And again, you may not instantly get into a nursing program after application. You said you're a nursing major---are you in one of those programs that starts actual nursing classes during freshmen year? I think it sounds like you don't know what you want to do. I would recommend shadowing a nurse and an MD, taking basic general ed classes that you can apply to either major and giving nursing a chance if you think that's what you want to do. People can and do do RN-MD but it's not commonplace and it's a round-about way to do it. I'm sure are there some threads on this topic here that came before yours and if you search maybe some of these answers will come up again.

[TheSquire, DNP, APRN, NP]

Yup - if you want to get your MD/DO, the easiest way to knock off those course pre-reqs for med school is to be a biology major, with your backup plan to either enter an ABSN or DE-MSN program or to go into research in biology. That said, a number of your nursing pre-reqs and med school pre-reqs should overlap if the nursing courses aren't watered down (e.g. "inorganic and organic, one year" usually means gen chem I and II). Many people have non-bio majors and go into medical school - that just means that they had to take all the medical school pre-reqs on top of their major's course load and kept their GPA up in both programs.

Since school is just starting, I suggest you go hunt down your academic advisor and have them set you straight. Before you go, I'd also spend some quality time looking over whatever publication your school uses to list the course requirements for its various majors, minors, certificates, and other programs. That should also give you an idea of what's available to you.

[CuriousMe]

I recommend that you speak with both a nursing adviser and a pre-med adviser. It's possible to major in anything and have a pre-med concentration, but it means you're going to have to take extra classes. Between the two advisers, I bet you could figure out an academic plan!