<p>I can't seem to find a lot of this topic so here it goes:</p>
<p>I am currently a senior in high school and have committed to a very competitive nursing program (about 3000 applicants for 150 spots) and I know that I am very fortunate to have gotten in. At this point in my life, however, I'm not sure that I want to become a nurse and I am actually leaning towards going to med school and becoming a dermatologist. Although you can major in whatever you want and still go to med school, I have heard that majoring in nursing is frowned upon by med schools for several reasons: (1) There is currently a huge deficit of nurses and they don't want to take a nurse who has completed all the schooling away from the field (2) Nursing programs are extremely competitive and I took the spot of a student who really wanted to be there (3) The nursing curriculum is extremely strict and in order to complete my pre med prerequistites I will have to stay in school for an extra semester (4) Nursing is a GPA killer which will make it more difficult to get into med school. </p>
<p>I'm not sure if I should switch my major to something else, as I plan on becoming a doctor anyway. However, with more and more people getting rejected from med school each year, majoring in nursing is appealing to me as I will always have something to fall back on. However, if majoring in nursing is really going to make it difficult to get into med school, I'm not sure if I should change my major to something else. </p>
<p>If anyone has any knowledge/advide on this topic it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. </p>
<p>I understand your dilemma about having something to fall back on, because that’s the boat I’m in with engineering (as my safety), law, or medicine. However, for all the reasons you already stated, I think you should rethink nursing school. If you already know for sure that you don’t want to be a nurse, why go to nursing school?</p>
<p>Keep in mind that one of the most common questions medical school interviewers ask is, “Why do you want to be a physician and not a nurse?” </p>
<p>I’ve heard it said a few times here on these boards that nursing is not a good major for medical school, but for the life of me I can’t figure out why, and I have yet to see anyone provide any concrete evidence of that or even anecdotal experience. Sure, medical schools will ask you why you want to be a physician instead of a nurse. I would think that after a nursing major and perhaps some experience as a nurse, you would be able to provide a compelling answer to that question if you indeed want to be a physician. You could say something about wanting to do a direct patient role and/or learn more about other roles on the healthcare team to have an eye towards a more integrated care team. Or you can say that working as a nurse let you know that you wanted to have a more specialized involvement directing your patients’ care. Whatever - there’s got to be some compelling reason that you have a desire to be a dermatologist. Although as a health scientist, I will put a plug in for considering primary care. We don’t really need any more dermatologists, but we need a looooooot more primary care physicians ;-)</p>
<p>Not to mention that with the BSN as an initial credential, you also have nurse practitioner programs as an option if you don’t get into medical school and/or change your mind - and with some experience (2-4+ years) you can also get into physicians assistant programs as well.</p>
<p>I would say that if you are sure that you don’t want to be a nurse, then being in a nursing program may make you miserable and you should not go. I also want to say that nursing isn’t necessarily a good “fall-back” career for someone who wants to be a physician - they have very different tasks. It CAN be, of course, for the right person (who really wants to be a nurse and/or likes what nursing has to offer), and remember that all nurses work the floor on med/surg. But if you think you might want to be a nurse and you’re not really sure about med school - go ahead and retain your slot!</p>
<p>Also, it’s a fact of life that the best resources are awarded not necessarily to the people who want or need them the most, but who are the most competitive. Yes, there may be another student who really wants to be in your program…but you were the more competitive student. That’s totally okay, and you shouldn’t feel guilty about that IMO.</p>