Thinking of dropping Nursing school and doing Pre-Med

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Hey guys. I'm currently a 2nd year Nursing student and I just wanted to know what your opinions are.

I am currently in a very good nursing program. I did not have to do my pre reqs and then apply for the nursing program, I went straight into a 4 year BSN course. After learning about the Nursing model and actually taking Nursing classes, I just find myself more intrigued by the scientific aspect of patient care (medical model) such as diseases, pathology, physiology than the hollistic model that Nursing is associated with. Everytime I go to one of my Nursing classes, I find that I have no interest in the subject material and although I do decent in my classes I have to really dig to find the motivation. I've already contemplated completing the BSN course, working for a couple of years while completing pre reqs for med school on the side and applying for medical school. However just that statement alone, shows me that I'm just using nursing as a stepping stone to medical school and that alone is a pretty bad path to take if I just wanted to become a doctor. I just feel like, if I do end up becoming a nurse I will really appreciate the job security aspect of it and the decent pay but I'm almost certain that in the back of my mind I will always think what if I at least tried to go to med school instead of settling with this wonderful program that I am already in. I really am confused with everything right now and I was wondering if you guys can shed some light on my situation. Basically I'm thinking of dropping nursing and switching my major on to a pre med track or should I just finish and do what I mentioned before? Thanks guys.

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I think you should really do some heavy research. Becoming a doctor is no joke, and requires a lot of sacrifice. If you have the devoted passion for it, and if being broke and having very little life for the coming years doesn't fAzE you i say go for it. That is, if you truly do not care about your life for the sake of medicine.

Otherwise, do BSN, get stellar grades, and become an NP.

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Thanks for the reply. I always take into account the fact that I am pretty young and still have a whole life ahead of me. My biggest concern is what if in the future when I'm older and probably too old to go to medical school, I completely regret the years of becoming a nurse. By research what exactly do you mean? Based on my exposure with nursing in my classes and clinicals right now, I just don't feel like I have any motivation to want to become a nurse. I know the following years are going to suck but honestly they really shouldn't if you want to become a doctor med school, residency are all going to be parts of that process. Do NPs follow the medical model more than the hollistic model?

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Specializes in ICU + Infection Prevention.

It's your GPA stellar? Because you'll get the stink eye from admissions if you are not pulling extremely high GPA in nsg and want to go to med school. Consider the prereqs and time commitment for school, internship, residency, fellowship, and lifelong practice. If you want medicine to be your life and can hack it, don't bother with nursing.

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That's a very good point. No it is not. But ADCOM looks more at sGPA (the pre reqs which i would take after graduating) but you are right if my goal is medicine there is no point prolonging it with nursing. Any other suggestions?

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What's stopping you from taking the med school prereqs now, instead of waiting until you finish your nursing degree? That, by it itself, would give you a better idea of how realistic an option medicine is for you. If medicine is your true interest, there's no real point in wasting time on a nursing degree.

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Specializes in ICU Stepdown.
That's a very good point. No it is not. But ADCOM looks more at sGPA (the pre reqs which i would take after graduating) but you are right if my goal is medicine there is no point prolonging it with nursing. Any other suggestions?

If you don't have an interest in nursing and don't see yourself being a nurse, don't do it. You'll end up miserable. I say take a pause on nursing and try to get a biology undergrad and get your med school pre reqs out the way. Good luck no matter what your choice is!

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Specializes in Prior military RN/current ICU RN..

Do whatever you want.

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What's stopping you from taking the med school prereqs now, instead of waiting until you finish your nursing degree? That, by it itself, would give you a better idea of how realistic an option medicine is for you. If medicine is your true interest, there's no real point in wasting time on a nursing degree.

because nursing school in itself is way too busy and slightly difficult to fit in the amount of pre reqs required for medical school. I'm not sure if you're currently a practicing nurse but could you imagine doing organic chemistry, physics, calculus, upper level bio with all the other nursing classes? where as with say a biology degree a lot of the classes are overlapping with the pre reqs and there aren't as many distractions such as clinicals and potential classes that may bring your total GPA down. Also statistically if you look at MCAT statistics, nursing students tend to do worst on the MCAT compared to other majors due to the lack of exposure to the material tested on there and many adcoms will wonder why you decided to go to nursing school, studying to become a nurse, just to become a doctor, potentially taking someone's spot that actually wanted to become a nurse. This is of course different if you worked say 3-4 years and decided to go back to school to become a doctor. Also medical schools basically void all the classes you've taken after 4 years of not attending the college so you end up taking all of it again

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Yeah I am doing a double major in biology and nursing. I'm probably not going to finish the biology and settle for a minor, even though I feel so close. But nursing is going to get harder, plus I want to work as a student nurse. Being in the nursing program actually taking nursing classes, and I love it more and more so I know this is the right route for me. It would be possible though. If you took summer classes for the chemistry classes at least for me.

If you really don't want to do nursing I think you should stop though. It won't set you back?

To me it sounds like your mind is made up.

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Thanks for the reply. I always take into account the fact that I am pretty young and still have a whole life ahead of me. My biggest concern is what if in the future when I'm older and probably too old to go to medical school, I completely regret the years of becoming a nurse. By research what exactly do you mean? Based on my exposure with nursing in my classes and clinicals right now, I just don't feel like I have any motivation to want to become a nurse. I know the following years are going to suck but honestly they really shouldn't if you want to become a doctor med school, residency are all going to be parts of that process. Do NPs follow the medical model more than the hollistic model?

Not sure since I'm not an NP, nor a nurse (yet). What I mean by research is, go to hospitals, speak to doctors and residents, get some insight. Volunteer. Just remember that if you're going to become a doctor, nothing less than 100% of commitment. Even in the darkest hours, the loneliest nights, you have to remind yourself + motivate yourself on why you're doing this in the first place. Good luck, you'll do great where ever you decide to go.

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Specializes in Oncology.

I think the Medical University of South Carolina will accept a BSN with no other pre-reqs, meaning you can finish your BSN and apply for acceptance to that med school. You should check it out.

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