RN to MD

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Hi, i am an RN and i have a plan to go to medical school. BUt i don't have a BSN. My question is do you need to have an undergrad degree to apply to med school or is taking all the pre reqs and passing the MCAT without a degree acceptable. please let me know, coz if an under grad degree is not required i can just take the required classes otherwise i would have to have my BSN or any other degree first.

Thank you

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Specializes in ICU, CVICU.

You can get accepted to medical school if you have taken the pre-reqs and have a GREAT MCAT score. There are very few people who get in this way but it does happen.

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I have never heard of anyone getting into medical school without a baccalaureate degree. No, it doesn't have to be a degree in nursing. But you should be researching the schools you want, to determine their specific requirements.

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Specializes in Palliative, Geriatics.

I don't know the prereqs in the States, but here in Canada you need a B.A. in order to apply for med school these days. It wasn't always this way though, up until 10 years ago a person could apply w/o a degree.

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

From what I have heard, graduate schools leave open the remote possibility of admission without an undergraduate degree for extremely unusual circumstances. For example, I heard a dean of an MBA program say that these provisions exist for example, so if someone like Bill Gates (no undergrad degree) wished to take a class or even enter the degree program, that they could be admitted. Or for medical school, if an undergrad made a breath-taking discovery...med schools could admit the prodigy without the BS degree.

So unless you are like Bill Gates, or discover the cure for some disease...you need an undergrad degree. Think of all the massively bright pre-med students tripping all over each other with their 4.0's to get in.

Also, you don't "pass the MCAT." You are ranked according to your score and the highest scores combined with GPA of undergrad degree and interview gets you in.

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Specializes in critical care transport.

From what I notice, people have their bachelor's in either chemistry or biology- seems to be pretty common for med school applicants.

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Hi,

It is very great that you are planning to do that. i have my niece in pre med and she is doing BS in biology and taking MCAT to gether. She was saying that the chances are very less that you could get into med school after another medical field degree ( RN for eg.) , as they see that you are already trained for one thing in med field and you are wasting one seat for them. Good luck to you and I hope things work out for you. Check in with your med school advisor.

Karnavati

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Specializes in Acute Care Psych, DNP Student.

I have not heard that a BSN applicant would be perceived as wasting a seat in medical school. What I have heard is that the BSN degree doesn't demonstrate enough challenging biology classes for med school. Although, I recently heard a med school dean say in a social setting that they like to see different undergrad degrees...well rounded people...but that they must have taken certain highly challenging science courses. Those challenging science courses do not include anatomy and physiology LOL. Think courses like 400 level microbiology, 400 level immunology, etc.

I think this dean mentioned something about loving applicants like philosophy majors, art majors, etc who also took extemely challenging science courses. Well rounded. Then there's always the BS in biology. That's the general premed degree.

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Specializes in Trauma/ED.

Seems interesting that you want to go this route.

Going to medical school is a totally different pathway and to me it seems like you would have to "unlearn" some things.

Why not go into a nurse practitioner program? There are a lot of RN to MSN programs out there.

MD's treat the disease, Nurses and NP's treat the pt's response to the disease...very different thought processes.

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I have thought about this topic a lot... I always wanted to be a doctor but didn't think I had the brain to be one.. or the guts to try... I didn't think I was smart enough for nursing school either but passed with flying colors... recently I have thought about an NP program but I think I would really appreciate Med school if I could get in... who knows.. I'm 23 and i still don't know what I want to be when I grow up lol

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The bottom line is you have to get a Bachelor's degree in something, and have the prereq's that med schools require, then take the MCAT and have some sort of clinical experience such as shadowing or work experience. There is no way around this. There may be a few exceptions, but they are so far and few between. If you are serious about medical school, get a degree, volunteer and rock the MCAT.

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First to dispell a few myths on this thread. You do not need a BA/BS for all med schools. Although some schools you will, I know some DO schools that require at least 90 credits. Those who said that nursing students are wasting a seat, that is also false. There are quite a few nurses in med school. I know one who went for a DO/MBA program. With that said, I have thought of getting my RN and workign for a few years while I have kids then apply to medical school. Yes you need to have the prereqs which are basic sciences. I would suggest taking a few other university level classes to boost your science gpa as well as prove you can excel at basic science. Biochem, Genetics are required at some schools. In some schools having your RN might be looked upon as not as challenging as some other course load but its still alot of work and if the ADCOM's don't recognize that then I would probably not apply there. But I know RN's in MD and DO schools.

If you go to the studentdoctor.net - Student Doctor Network, there is a clinician forum where many RN's contemplate the MD/DO, PA, RN, NP route. Its hard to decide what you want to do with the rest of your life, especially with women and families. I'm in that dilemma right now. Do I continue being a non-traditional pre-med or go into nursing and go for my NP in neonatal nursing. I'd have shift work, its a field with heavy emphasis on the NP profession working hand-in-hand with MD/DO's plus its shift work and less responsibility. Also less money on education but less money in the long run. Its a long confusing road but just stay on track. I keep flip flopping between BSN and MD/DO. If I would have done the BSN 3 years ago as I intended to, I'd already be an RN. :confused:

Good luck.

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