What do you say to that?

there are many reasons for making different choices in life

time that you can give to studies

family obligations

financial considerations

not everyone who applies to mdical school is accepted

personal choice

they reasons go on and on, in the end it is really rude to ask someone a question like this

Do what you love. You will find out quickly if you are an expert in patient care or treating disease. Please don't do this. I am an RN supervisor in LTC on weekends and I have a CNA who is going into the RN program. She told a family member that the smell of her mothers stool made her ill and she left the room. Then came back after the work was done and said " This place pays good and I am going to be an RN so I won't have to do this nasty stuff" I was a CNA for 8 years, LVN for 6 and now an RN working on my Masters. And I still wipe behinds. Because I care. You can't teach compassion!!. Love it or Leave it! Not meant to offend, but I am offended. Thanks for your time.

I hear that! Personally, I say things like "well, I like taking care of people, so this was a natural job for me." I didn't want to spent the next 5-8 years in school, and be on call 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. I really didn't want the nurses to be commenting about me. I didn't want to visit every hospital in the area for hours at a time, spending only 5-10 mins with each one of my patients.....etc.

Tell them what's in your heart, and you can't go wrong.

A simple, disarming reply: "My life, so my choice."

That question frustrates me to no end. I agree with telling them that you are doing what you feel in your heart will make you happiest, and only you can make that decision. That's what I tell people who ask me the same question after I tell them I am going to nursing school.

I usually tell them I plan to marry a doctor and let her take care of me. It's a dumb answer, but then again, it's a pretty dumb question.

ETA: Well, I don't suppose, "Why do you want to be a nurse?" is a dumb question. But in the terms the OP cites, it would seem very nearly as logical to ask, "Why do you want to be a nurse instead of a lawyer?"

I have very specific reasons why I don't want to be a doctor. I already thought them through before I applied for nursing school....

1. I don't want to spend 11-17 years of my life in college/medical school/residency.

2. I don't want to have my life consumed by my job.

3. I don't want to work 60 hours a week.

4. I don't want to take call all the time.

I think people over glorify the medical profession. They think it is all romantic drama, like Grey's Anatomy. In real life physicians have really, really hard jobs. In fact, they work more than almost any other profession. Its not as glamorous as they depict it on TV.

For all of those reasons....I am so happy to call myself an RN, not an MD.

An easy answer to the question "Why a nurse, why not a doctor?"

"Because I don't want to be a doctor".

People assume that becoming a doctor is a vertical move up some sort of ladder when in fact its more of a lateral (perhaps slightly inclined) move throughout the medical profession. Its ignorance.

I just state "I love my family and enjoy spending time with them, as a doctor, I would not be able to". The question usually comes from someone that has no knowledge of the amount of things a doctor has to give up for a career. You would be surprised at the number of people who think that the four year degree bachelors is "med school".

I say something like "You seem to be under the impression that nurses are somehow less than doctors? I've seen doctors in action and I've seen nurses in action, and I want to be a nurse."

ETA: If I'm not feeling snarky, I'll add: "I like working with people. Doctors really don't get to spend much time on patient contact. Nursing is a separate and distinct profession from medicine, and I prefer nursing."

Here ya go, take your pick:

10. Pays better than McDonald's (though the hours aren't as good.)

9. Fashionable shoes and sexy uniforms.

8. Needles: 'tis better to give than to receive.

7. Confidence in reassuring patients that all bleeding stops ... eventually.

6. Opportunity to expose yourself to rare, exotic, and exciting new diseases.

5. Interesting aromas.

4. Courteous and infallible doctors who always leave clear orders in perfectly clear handwriting.

2. Celebration of holidays with all your friends ... at work.

1. Comfort in the knowledge that most of your patients survive no matter what you do to them.