RN to MD?

BlueJune · Jan 14, 2007

From what I understand, you can get into Medical School with a bachelor's degree in anything. There is no "pre-med" degree per se, just a pre-med curriculum. All you have to do is fulfill the prerequisites, which usually involves 2 semesters of Chemistry, 2 semesters of Organic Chemistry, 2 semesters of Biology (usually includes Biochemistry), 2 semesters of math (calculus), and 2 semesters of english/composition. You will need to take the MCATs as well. If you did not fulfill all your prerequisite classes during your bachelor's curriculum, there are several post-bacc programs in the U.S. that offer the pre-med curriculum in an accelerated format. Hope this helps!

lyela · Jan 14, 2007

Hi everyone,
I am currently in nursing school, and interested in becoming an MD in the future. Does anyone know how to go about this? Can I get into medical school with a bachelors in nursing, as long as I meet all the requirements? Or do I need a Pre-Med degree? Thanks everyone!

You can, but you have a strike against you. You will be competing with applicants who have decided on pre-med courses and had their eyes on an MD for a long time. They also take more than the minimum required courses and have done a lot of volunteer work. Not impossible, just difficult.

An alternative is many med. schools offer a MSBS, where you take some of the same classes with MSs. If you do well, some schools will give you a certain interview. Just a thought- good luck whatever you decide!:)

BerkeleyMom · Jan 16, 2007

I would have to disagree with "Iyela." But this is just my opinion. I think you can also have certain advantages applying to med school as a nurse. It really depends on many factors. First of all, 1. what college you graduated from 2. overall GPA & GPA in premed coursework 3. MCAT scores. These are the things that will allow you to make the first round of cuts and actually get an interview at all.

Next they will look at what makes you stand apart. As far as volunteer work--well if you work in a clinical setting, that will most likely hold the same weight, or a lot more I think, than someone who works as a volunteer. In addition, you have direct experience in the field, where as a volunteer really does not. You actually know why you want to be a doctor and not everyone does.They may have some patient contact, but not clinical experience.

Good Med schools require 3-5 letters. If you have doctors that you have worked with directly write some of these for you, and attest to your potential, that is going to be invaluable. Most undergrad science majors that are "hospital volunteers" will not have that. Their strength often times comes from academia and research experiences.

Where you feel that you may be weak on your application, you can make up for in other parts. If you did not go to a pregistious university, then you should take the extra time to ace your premed coursework and MCATs, even if is means waiting another year to apply. Each applicant is different, and diversity is critical in making yourself stand apart. There are more 22-year-old bio majors and less nurses, that is a fact that makes you more "diverse."

There really is no such thing as a "pre-med" degree. I graduated from a UC with a Biology major. It just so happens that the first 50 units of my course work overlapped with med school prequisites. It also happens that I sat next to 100s of people each day that were all "aspiring doctors." 1000s of them. 22-year-old Biology majors that have good grades, lab experience, and volunteer a couple of hours a week so that they can put it in their application. They are not more competitive just because they have done these things!

Sorry to write so much. This is something I have been thinking about too much lately. To Med school or not to Med school ...

lyela · Jan 16, 2007

I would have to disagree with "Iyela." But this is just my opinion. I think you can also have certain advantages applying to med school as a nurse. It really depends on many factors. First of all, 1. what college you graduated from 2. overall GPA & GPA in premed coursework 3. MCAT scores. These are the things that will allow you to make the first round of cuts and actually get an interview at all.
Next they will look at what makes you stand apart. As far as volunteer work--well if you work in a clinical setting, that will most likely hold the same weight, or a lot more I think, than someone who works as a volunteer. In addition, you have direct experience in the field, where as a volunteer really does not. You actually know why you want to be a doctor and not everyone does.They may have some patient contact, but not clinical experience.
Good Med schools require 3-5 letters. If you have doctors that you have worked with directly write some of these for you, and attest to your potential, that is going to be invaluable. Most undergrad science majors that are "hospital volunteers" will not have that. Their strength often times comes from academia and research experiences.
Where you feel that you may be weak on your application, you can make up for in other parts. If you did not go to a pregistious university, then you should take the extra time to ace your premed coursework and MCATs, even if is means waiting another year to apply. Each applicant is different, and diversity is critical in making yourself stand apart. There are more 22-year-old bio majors and less nurses, that is a fact that makes you more "diverse."
There really is no such thing as a "pre-med" degree. I just graduated from UC Berkeley with an Integrative Biology major. It just so happens that the first 50 units of my course work overlapped with med school prequisites. It also happens that I sat next to 100s of people each day that were all "aspiring doctors." 1000s of them. 22-year-old Biology majors that have good grades, lab experience, and volunteer a couple of hours a week so that they can put it in their application. They are not more competitive just because they have done these things!
Sorry to write so much. This is something I have been thinking about too much lately. To Med school or not to Med school ...

I'm not sure we have a disagreement here. The scenario the OP described was one of a student graduating with a degree in nursing applying to medical school because of a preference for that profession. BerkeleyMom's answer assumed a scenario where by one is working as a nurse and is able to use one's clinical contracts and experiences to apply for med. school. These are two entirely different scenarios, requiring different answers, in which probable outcomes would be different.

While colleges and universities don't confer degrees in pre-med, they certain offer majors in pre-med., which is what I and I think the OP was referring to. Perhaps the OP will post again to be more specific about which scenario their post was about. As professional, our first duty is to assess what the problem is, before we proceed with a plan.

BerkeleyMom · Jan 17, 2007

Sorry about that! I guess I assumed that someone doing a BSN would work as an RN, as that is the main purpose of the degree. You are right Iyela, these are different scenarios.