I heard that nursing is not a good pre-med major. I do not have a personal experience with this though. Also, you need a bit more shadowing experience than just the one that you mentioned to fully asses your own desire to be in one career or another. And as a third point, while surgery is one experience that you have now, many medical students change their specialty goal during medical school, so no matter what you decide, do not be “set” for the surgeons career. In either case, the more straight forward and faster approach from what I know (I am just one person, so, do not blame me if disagree) is to shoot for the MD from the beginning and not nursing, which means using non-nursing major.
My UG is well known for its nursing program, so I have a lots of friends in nursing. Based on my observation, nursing major concentrate in professional/practical/clinical experiences while Medical school is looking for more academic, theoretical candidates. While no one can stop a nursing school student apply for Med School, there are few things make it hard. For one, a nursing student will be from the very onset to practice in a CNA capacity with a lot of hands on experiences that makes pre-med course difficult to complete. For another, there are a lot of courses that nursing major requires which pre-med does not need. For example, I notice those nursing majors took highly specialized Anatomy courses which may not needed for med school applicants.
All in all a professional UG degree makes it difficult to apply for med school, not only from academic point of view, but also from practical point of view. As an accounting major, I cannot see myself to put down CPA prep to concentrate on pre-med courses. Nevermind that two to three years practical experiences required after passing the CPA exam.
@MiamiDAP thanks for your response, I appreciate you taking the time to give your advice! I too have heard that nursing is not a good premed major, which is unfortunate, but it is what it is.
Regarding my shadowing experience, I definitely have more than just time in the OR. I have over 100 hours of shadowing amongst pretty much any area of the hospital you could imagine. The OR is just where I saw other jobs tat could sway me away from nursing, i.e. Surgeons.
@artloversplus what was your UG if you don’t mind me asking? Or you could pm if you’d prefer not to say on here.
Also, thank you for your response. Everything that you pointed out makes complete sense, and further emphasizes that I have to pick one or the other. Thanks!
I’ve been set on nursing for as long as I can remember. I loved everything about it, still do.
But recently, I have been given an amazing rare opportunity to shadow in different areas of the hospital, one of which was the OR.
Seeing these surgeries and watching the surgeons work and learning from them is incredible. Also, watching the anesthesiologists has been eye opening.
Now here’s my problem, I apply to college this fall.
Can a nursing major go pre med If that would be something I choose to do in the future?
I’m worried about making the wrong choice on my career path.
Any advice would be wonderful, and greatly appreciated!
I’ve been set on nursing for as long as I can remember. I loved everything about it, still do.
But recently, I have been given an amazing rare opportunity to shadow in different areas of the hospital, one of which was the OR.
Seeing these surgeries and watching the surgeons work and learning from them is incredible. Also, watching the anesthesiologists has been eye opening.
Now here’s my problem, I apply to college this fall.
Can a nursing major go pre med If that would be something I choose to do in the future?
I’m worried about making the wrong choice on my career path.
Any advice would be wonderful, and greatly appreciated!
Keep in mind that in order to be accepted to CRNA school (nurse anesthetist), one would need at least 1-2 years experience in ICU as a RN. OR would not qualify.