<p>So I'm thinking about majoring in nursing for my undergrad and then working for a few years, then going back to medical school. I told this to my doctor and she said medical schools were not too excited about that... Is this a bad idea?</p>
<p>Yeah…it’s a pretty bad idea for a variety of reasons including but limited to:</p>
<ol>
<li>You won’t take many of the required courses for acceptance into med school.</li>
<li>Med schools like people from different (unique) majors.</li>
<li>Med schools know that there is a great need for nurses and don’t want to take away from the pool.</li>
</ol>
<p>I think you need to decide why you want to go to Medical school. If you want to have more control over patient care you can become a nurse practioner or a physicians assistant. If you want a separate type of role become a nurse anesthetists. If you want to do research be a nurse researcher or participate in clinical trials. </p>
<p>Doctors are not trained or oriented to think like nurses. It reminds me of when young interns would not be sure whether they should become surgeons or medical doctors. The personalities and thinking of each is so different that we used to laugh. We knew which interns would become surgeons long before they did.</p>
<p>If you think medicine is your path, then major in biology not nursing, they are very different roles.</p>
<p>I think your plan is a good one provided that you realize that you will need to take many additional courses AFTER you graduate with your BSN. As SingDanceRunLife said the Med School required courses are different than the ones needed for nursing and I think you may be looking at about 60 credits after your BSN.</p>
<p>That said, Med Schools admissions people have said many times that what you major in as an undergrad is not as important as how well your grades are (GPA). There are a ton of people that have majored in biology/chemistry in anticipation of going to Med School that now have BS degrees in those majors and very little hope of getting into Med School and difficulty finding employment in their majors. Getting your BSN / RN will at least give you good options if you either cannot get into Med School or decide not to apply. Also the actual nursing experience IMHO would be of more help while you are in Med School than undergrad biology/chemistry…which BTW you will end up taking more than enough of between your nursing classes and the pre-med requirements. </p>
<p>Good luck with whatever you decide.</p>
<p>Ahhh I’m getting replies at the opposite ends of the spectrum.
But thanks for the input guys. </p>
<p>I’m thinking about double majoring in nursing and something else… but oh well.</p>
<p>Dual degrees are very popular with the freshmen nurses at Penn but I’m not sure how many stick to it to complete both degrees. Once clinicals start it’s hard to keep a big load of classes. Even adding a minor can put a strain on your time.
Then there is the dual degree with Nursing and Wharton which is a very competitive program to get into but very good.<br>
[Home[/url</a>]</p>
<p>The problem with satisfying pre-med recs is that the classes are similar but not counted – the Organic Chem and Bio Chem you take for Nursing doesn’t meet the required class for Pre-Med:
[url=<a href=“http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/gradprof/healthprof/premdcourses.html]Career”>http://www.vpul.upenn.edu/careerservices/gradprof/healthprof/premdcourses.html]Career</a> Services, University of Pennsylvania](<a href=“http://www.nursing.upenn.edu/students/DualDegrees/Pages/default.aspx]Home[/url”>http://www.nursing.upenn.edu/students/DualDegrees/Pages/default.aspx)</p>
<p>It is always very interesting to me when you have people coming into our major thinking that somehow theyre going to wake up and wind up in med school. Nurses and physicians have very different roles, which you will soon learn if you survive long enough. Many people can’t handle the many challenges and aspects of nursing, and then they end up surprised why they couldn’t pull through school. Many don’t know what nurses do, they just think it’s easy it’s all good, you just sit there with your patients all day while letting the doctors do all the thinking and then bang, you get paid big bucks. Pretty sweet deal right? I would applaud you if can manage to “double major” in a nursing program, let alone complete all the additional science requirements needed just to be able to apply to med school. We need nurses to go into nursing programs who want to be nurses. So if your goal in life is to write med orders, perform surgery, or what have you, GO TO MED SCHOOL. but if your goals stretch moreso towards the patients, complex bedside skills, and being an educator and advocate for patients, then stick with nursing, if you can handle being a highly complex critical thinker while being able to stand on your feet for hours at a time. The end.</p>
<p>Nemrak: </p>
<p>My D (going to nursing school next year and committed to nursing) really liked your post. I’ll try to list her reactions. </p>
<p>She says that most of the other prenursing students that she’s met so far are </p>
<p>(1) planning on becoming nurse anesthetists so they can earn big bucks,
(2) want to work in “peds” with cute little kids or babies all day,
(3) want to become nursing professors in a classroom due to the shortage, as opposed to actually working with patients
(4) are planning on med school or
(5) got pushed into nursing by their families because they didn’t know what to do with their other degree or because they thought at least they’d be employable. </p>
<p>Most of them talk about how easy it will be to find jobs, not about the actual work that they’ll be doing when they’re employed.</p>
<p>She’s met only a few who want to be nurses with an understanding that </p>
<p>1) the job is going to be hard and yucky (my word) a lot of the time,
2) expecting back and foot pain. In some jobs, hours of boredom interspersed with adrenaline surges/emergencies, or responsiblity for other peoples’ lives (wonder what that does to your own health?)
3) long hours and erratic schedules (wonder what that does to your own health?),
4) demanding patients in pain, or nonresponsive, from all walks of life,
5) the career often doesn’t receive the respect or money that nursing deserves.
6) caregiving doesn’t quit - your family, neighbors and friends will probably expect you to be the source of free medical care and caregiving forever. </p>
<p>D has also found it interesting how few nursing students really want to be a nurse. However, since the drop-out rate in nursing school isn’t that high, she suspects that most of them come around and become interested in nursing as they go through the program. She hasn’t seen any statistics on how many quit nursing after they graduate, or on hospital turnover.</p>
<p>I have been a nurse for almost 30 years. I can honestly say, I didn’t know what all nursing was about when I began, but fortunately I definitely chose the right profession for me. One of the things about volunteering prior to going to school is that it is hard to see beyond the “scut” work of the job to see what truly being a nurse is. It is also a mixed bag to get some preview because you don’t really see all the behind scenes processing that goes on. </p>
<p>You are not seeing the high level brain work required to assess and evaluate the multitasking it takes to be an effective nurse. You must pull from all areas of Psych, Sociology, Physiology, Anatomy as well as chemistry and physics repeatedly every hour as well as be physically able to withstand the massive amount of energy needed to perform all the activities of the day.</p>
<p>I really love being a nurse and I have branched into many other areas using my nursing background. Currently, I am a healthcare writer for a woman’s health website. I have worked in straight hospital environments from Med surg to ER, home care and for new health related start up companies. It is a truly dynamic and varied career choice if you don’t lose focus about the parts of it you love–being a patient advocate and being their voice.</p>
<p>Good luck to your daughter Neonzeus, she sounds like she is made of the right stuff!</p>
<p>Lakemom,</p>
<p>Thank you for such a refreshing post from someone in the nursing profession!</p>
<p>Thanks 1sokkermom. I think it is important for students to know that all careers have their difficulties and feelings that you are overworked for the money you make. What keeps you going is that the field you have chosen continues to stimulate you and make you want to know more.</p>
<p>Hey Neonzeus! I really liked your post, except I thought that the part about nursing faculty was a bit harsh. Most nursing faculty members still work in a clinical setting. Plus, even the tenured professors are in constant contact with patients through their research!</p>
<p>Hospital nurse of 24 yrs here (cardiac) Ditto Nemnak,Neonzues,Lakemom. I do know an excellent physician who was an ICU nurse first, but this is very rare(as is those who think they will be nurse anesthesists.) There’s always been a nsg shortage -to see why read Lakemom’s post.</p>
<p>Think office jobs are stressful? If you screw up in most jobs, generally nobody dies. 25% on new grads leave the profession all together (same as teachers.) Whenever there is a slowdown in the economy everyone “discovers” nursing again.</p>
<p>I worked 9 years at a major teaching hospital and none of the med students, interns or residents had been nurses first. One really bright nurse I knew went on to be a chiropractor. I just met a young man whose parents were both Drs. He had a degree in biochem, started medical school and didn’t like it and became a nurse. He says he really prefers the interaction with patients instead of the focus on treating disease.</p>
<p>The fields are so different, it is hard for many to understand. Doctors decide the treatment plan but nurses make it happen. They are sort of like engineers, calculating all the variables, weighing different options to accomplish the goal, double and triple checking everybody and everything as well as keeping their communication clear and calm. </p>
<p>Different than other fields where the school classes don’t represent real life on the job, nursing does give you a pretty good view, provided you are around others who feel they also belong in nursing. In nursing school, I worked during vacations as a nursing assistant through the registry so went to a number of different hospitals. That gave me a sense of what parts of nursing are real and what was just the culture of that hospital.</p>
<p>To SingDanceRunLife:</p>
<p>So are you saying a person that majors in nursing can’t get accepted into medical school because they don’t want to take people away from the nursing field? Really?</p>