Shadowing RN vs NP - Which is most helpful?

[BUbbaBlo]

I'm not sure if this is the write place to ask this, but I'm thinking that full-fledged nurses might have more perspective on my question. Let me know if my question might be better off somewhere else.

I am a pre-nursing student that is already admitted to a BSN program starting in the Fall. After completing my BSN, I was planning on working for at least a few years and then becoming a nurse practitioner. Becoming a medical provider has always been the goal for me, but I was also happy and genuinely excited to be an RN too. For a lot of reasons, recently I have seriously thinking about no longer pursuing nursing and pursuing medical school, instead. I have until May 1st to decide whether to commit on my nursing acceptance. I wouldn't want to take up a nursing spot at my school when there are plenty of people who are vying for that position.

I have done a lot of research and soul-searching, and I'm currently being offered the opportunity to shadow a physician, which I am going to take, and I also have the choice to shadow EITHER an RN or an NP. Would it be more helpful for me (someone who is pursuing nursing mostly to become a nurse practitioner...which is possibly my first mistake...) to shadow a NP or RN? I'm asking because I'm realizing that being an NP is still being a nurse. Which experience would be more valuable to making my decision between being the two paths? Shadowing a floor nurse or a nurse practitioner? What would say to be the most illuminating experience that will lead me to think about the right things/differences between the nursing and medical perspectives?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Shadowing an RN will give you a better idea of the nursing perspective, interactions between RNs and providers and what the RN job entails. If you go the NP route, you're going to be an RN first. You might actually decide that you love being a nurse at the bedside.

[FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN]

I recommend you shadow both if you can help it.

There is nothing wrong with starting a nursing career with the idea of eventually becoming an NP.