<p>I'm a rising high school junior in California. I'm researching colleges but at the same time I'm using my career choices as a factor. I'm quite interested in the medical field. I'm volunteering at a hospital now because I want it to help in the future. Here's my personality: shy, easygoing, ambitious, respectful, thoughtful and yeah.. I don't know if I'm fit to be a nurse or a doctor with my shy personality. That's not even my main problem. I told my family that I plan on becoming a doctor (ob/gyn) at one point and they all went against it. They believe that becoming a nurse is easier and it makes money faster. So I'm torn between these two career paths. Oh and I wanted to be a doctor because I love helping people. Also, I feel like to become a doctor I'd have to get into a good college, while being a nurse it doesn't really matter? I want to aim for a good college, but if I want to be a nurse I wouldn't have the ambition? I don't know if that made any sense. Please tell me the pros/cons of both career paths.Thanks for the replies if any.</p>
<p>Also are there any ways I can become a nurse and then a doctor? </p>
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<p>You can do four years, become a nurse. Then you can work as a nurse or if you choose, you can continue your education by applying to medical school</p>
<p>Be aware that if you do the nurse–>med school route, you may have to retake some courses, as biology offered in nursing programs is not always the same as the one required by med school, among others.</p>
<p>Thank you for the replies! So there’s a way for me to become a nurse then go med school. I was just wondering what I have to declare as my major if I go on the nursing route? I know some colleges don’t have a nursing program. I would like to find a university that has a nursing program. </p>
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<p>Yup, you need to follow a nursing program. I don’t think there’s any other major you can take to become a nurse.</p>
<p>See, that’s one of the cons of wanting to be a nurse for me right now. I was interested in UCSD, but I don’t think they have a nursing program. ): Oh well, I’ll keep researching! 
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<p>You could always take the prerequisites then transfer out. That seems to be a relatively common option here.</p>
<p>If I were you and I ultimately wanted to be a doctor, then I would just try to go straight to med school after undergrad. Take the prerequisites, and major in something I love or am interested in instead of following the misconception of having to major in a science to get to med school, unless you love science.</p>
<p>As of right now I’m torn between the two careers. Nursing seems like something I’m going for just because it takes less time than becoming a doctor, it also costs less. It also had what I’m looking for though, work at
a hospital with good pay. To me being a doctor was a dream since middle school, before that I didn’t think about my future. As I research more about becoming a doctor I find this route very challenging and long, also expensive. But I still can see myself becoming a doctor. Ah, I just don’t know! Just a little rant lol. Thank you for your replies, I really appreciate it!<br>
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<p>Don’t stress, your going to be a junior so you still have a full year to think about it!</p>
<p>For now, doctors have reported, depending on their specialty, are able to pay off their loans within a few years (3 to 5 years) on the student doctor network. This could become better or worse, probably worse, if many doctor’s predictions on Obamacare causing more people to get on Medicare and Medicaid occur. I wouldn’t want to be a nurse because I don’t like to be a subordinate to so many people (doctors, charge nurse, etc.), especially for most of my career and I probably would like to do surgeries mostly. I would say follow your dreams because in the U.S., if you live here, those beliefs of following your dreams are becoming slimmer.</p>
<p>@SirSamAlot I agree with what you said. I’ve been thinking these last few days about following my dreams or settling for something close to it. I think if I go for my dreams, I won’t have regrets later. Also your point about working as a subordinate also pushed me more towards becoming a doctor. I think as a nurse I’ll have to deal with patients a lot more, right? I care for the sick and stuff, but I’m really bad at cheering people up haha. Thanks for sharing your opinion! :)</p>
<p>No problem and I volunteer at a hospital and mainly work with nurses, so I see what they have to deal with, something I don’t want to do for most of my life.</p>
<p>I also volunteer at a hospital, but not as often as I would like. I should do more observing lol. I don’t see a lot of doctors around when I volunteer though, bad timing I guess. I mostly see nurses and janitorial people.</p>
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<p>My college roommate majored in nursing. She worked as an operating room nurse with some world-famous heart surgeons such as Denton Cooley. She quickly tired of the doctors’ attitudes toward nurses and their disregard of rules. At the age of 30, she went to med school and became an ob/gyn. She is very happy she changed from nursing to being a doctor! Something to keep in mind.</p>
<p>I know of several nurses who went to medical school. You can have any major as long as you have the prerequisites and the grades/scores/ recs… to get accepted to medical school. This could be a good plan as not all applicants get accepted- and if you re-apply you will be employed. I also don’t know if you are male or female- as it would not matter really-but nursing can be more flexible in terms of family life-more adaptable to a new baby and so on. This is way in the future for you-- medicine could possibly be flexible too at that time, but if one parent wishes to be more at home with children- nursing is more adaptable to a part time schedule. Many doctors are expected to be “on call” at some times.
Apply to a standard university that offers a BSN program among many majors. A BSN is a bachelor level degree. Pay very close attention to all the pre med prerqs and take them. They can vary slightly from the BSN ones and be sure that you are taking the prereqs at the level of rigor as the pre-meds. It is not that nursing is not rigorous- but that the pre reqs are different at different schools- some require organic and some don’t- so be sure to take the organic one that the pre-meds would take. I don’t know if physics is required for nursing- but it is for med school… and so on. Many schools have a “pre-health” club so join it and be on top of what is required for you to enter nursing/med school.
As for doctors looking down on nurses- that is their own ego problem. Nursing has become more specialized and professional since the old days when they were subordinate and there are more men in nursing school now. There are many jobs for nurses and you can go on to be a nurse practitioner or remain in academics and get a PhD. The pay is not as large, but with the new changes in health care- it’s anyone’s guess as to what the difference would be. Nurse anesthetists are paid well. If nursing is your dream- you can certainly do it, and if you do well academically and get the prereqs, a BSN will not close any doors to medical school later if you wish.</p>
<p>You have to decide whether you want to be the one who calls the shots in the future, or if you’re the one standing on the side taking orders wishing that you became a doctor.
I’ve been thinking about it also. I know I can’t commit to med school, and thats a huge reason I want to become a nurse. On the other hand, like i said, do I want to be the nurse wishing that I became a doctor? And wouldn’t you love to be called ‘doctor’? I know I would. Its a huge decision to make. I was also thinking about becoming a nurse and then deciding if I would want to go to med school after.
Good luck!</p>
<p>"You have to decide whether you want to be the one who calls the shots in the future, or if you’re the one standing on the side taking orders wishing that you became a doctor. "</p>
<p>Become a health insurance CEO or a hospital administrator. They call the shots. </p>
<p>Seriously- this is an important question. Don’t become a nurse if you will regret being a doctor or think it is something less. You need to be happy with your choices. I don’t know about nursing school as a pre med track either. However, if you want to be a nurse- and you get your BSN, it is a BSN-a 4 year college degree- and you can change careers if you change your mind later.</p>
<p>i’ve been having the same problem. it’s weird. like it’s keeping me up at night.
what did u guys decide to do? or what are u leaning towards? i’ve heard that med schools who see nursing applicants think that these nurses are “selfish” for filling up spots in nursing schools when they dont even want to be a nurse. Can anyone offer insight as to if this is actually true? If so, I don’t want to be punished by med schools when/if i apply just because i majored in nursing and then didnt actually become a nurse</p>