Should I pursue nursing?

[Axmann, RN, BSN, NREMT-B]

***(NOTE: Please try to be kind to me... I came here to seek serious help for a serious consideration. Please just try to understand where I'm coming from before judging me.)***

Hi everyone. I am very glad to be a part of this community, and expect to do my best to contribute to it to the best of my ability.

I'm starting to consider a career in nursing. Before I get into the details, let me just give you a basic rundown of my situation.

I can say with 1% honesty and no regrets that nothing in the world makes me happier than to make people feel better, or to make people happy.

I just turned 19 years old. I graduated in high school in the top half of my class (class of 2010) with a CORE 40 diploma (which is Indiana's version of "a step above a general high school diploma"; there is also a "CORE 40 with Academic Honors" diploma, so a CORE 40 is not the highest) and a GPA of 3.45. Right after high school, I applied to (and was accepted to) both IUPUI Indianapolis and IU Bloomington. Shortly thereafter, what I thought was an opportunity came up. There was a surgical technology program offered at a hospital not far from me. Given my interests (which I will cover right after this), I decided to forego admission to IU or IUPUI to stick out and see if I would be accepted to the surgical technology program. The program was competitive to get into (only 15 positions in the program out of 147 applicants, [a 10% chance]), and unfortunately, I was not accepted (most likely due to my lack of extensive healthcare experience). Of course, this meant that I was left without a plan of action to pursue.

Anyway, I am now considering taking Ivy Tech's Associate of Science in Nursing program. This decision came due to multiple factors, including time, patience, practice, and other considerations.

The problem I am having, is that I always wanted to be a trauma surgeon. Every aspect of trauma interests me, and surgery has also always fascinated me. I am worried that if I become a nurse, I will be bored by the lack of actual clinical care I will be able to provide to patients. I would like to be able to intubate, put in central lines, and perform other emergency procedures, and I'm afraid I'll be 28 and realizing that I wasted all my time pursuing something that I don't really like.

So, my question is, with everything I've given you, should I continue with nursing?

[coast2coast]

Okay, I understand what you are asking but tehre is one very big thing everyone is ignoring. You can get your Bachelor's in nursing and then apply to medical school if its not for you.

Agreed. 2 more points:

1. What you want right now and what you want 10 years from now are not going to be the same thing. No matter how sure you are right now.

So if you get an ASN and then decide you want to become a lawyer, well - that's a hard road.

If you get a BS or BSN, you can go to medical school. Or graduate school. Or any other kind of school you want to go to.

2. The default alternative of "I want to be a doctor" is not "But I will settle for being a nurse." It's a whole different want of thinking, a different set of values (both in professional practice and what you prioritize in life). Just wanting to help people does not equal loving nursing or the nursing profession. You know all the miserable students who post about clashing with instructors, failing courses, and struggling in clinicals? They want to help people but didn't think about the actual experience of being a nurse before they got involved.

Go get your bachelor's degree.

[chicagoing, ADN, RN]

Okay, I understand what you are asking but tehre is one very big thing everyone is ignoring. You can get your Bachelor's in nursing and then apply to medical school if its not for you. The pre-req's for nursing at my school include all the required courses that are needed to apply to med school, I knwo because my cousin is pre-med. I know all schools are different but so whats the big deal if you have to take one or two extra classes? There's no specific degree needed for medical school, just specific courses that they want you to take, have your bachelor's and mcat scores. I knwo theres other stuff like volunteer work and what not but I don't know that specific details...Anyhow that is what I would do if I was you but I do think that nursing school is going to be tough if your whole heart isn't in it...:redpinkhe

I don't think anyone's ignoring the fact that at some schools, pre-reqs are the same for both nursing and medicine. However, the OP stated that he is interested in medicine first and foremost. When you're young, it is much easier to switch tracks to follow your dream...not so easy ten or twenty years down the line.

OP: Definitely check the pre-reqs classes at the universit(ies) to which you are applying. The pre-reqs may or may not overlap. The community college science classes that I have either completed or am currently enrolled in would never transfer to the university from which I graduated. If you go the pre-med route, many of your courses will also prepare you for entrance to OT, PT, and PA schools.

Good luck with finding your way. :)

[2ndyearstudent, CNA]

I would like to be able to intubate, put in central lines, and perform other emergency procedures, and I'm afraid I'll be 28 and realizing that I wasted all my time pursuing something that I don't really like

Then go to medical school. If that doesn't work out, you can do something else.

[Axmann, RN, BSN, NREMT-B]

You can get your Bachelor's in nursing and then apply to medical school if its not for you.

To be honest... I think I forgot about this fact. I keep thinking to myself that the only way medical schools will take you in is if you get a bachelor's in Biology or some other typical "medical school major". I'm definitely not going to jump into BSN though. I'm going to go to ASN to start out, seeing as how I'm a bit unsure. If I do ASN instead of BSN, it will give me two more years of time to decide if nursing is right for me, and two less years I'll spend if it isn't right for me somehow... However, I suppose if I decide I really want to go to medical school, I could always go the ASN to BSN route, and then apply to medical school. My sister, a BSN, just got her license and is working on a med-surg unit and from what I hear she isn't enjoying it. This is another reason I'm not sure if it's right for me: because my sister says she isn't too happy with what she's doing.

I think I'm going to just go ahead and do my best on the ASN, do my best on the NCLEX-RN, and do my best to get licensed. I think I can try out nursing for a year or two and see how I like it, and if I'm still itching to go to med school, I'll just apply to medical school if my GPA and MCAT scores are good enough.

[iPink, BSN, RN]

NO!!! You are young, go for your dreams. Do not settle. God willing, you have all the time in the world.

I Agree 100%. Pursue YOUR DREAMS!!!! If I could turn back the clocks and pursue my dream of being a PA, I would have been one.