<p>D has wanted to major in Biology (pre-med) and has just been admitted to Ga.Tech. She is also waiting for Allegheny College to consider her application for Biology (pre-med). As a practical & safer path towards a medical career, D applied to and was admitted to U.Pittsburgh Nursing School. Question: Is there any way for a BSN student to take the necessary electives or summer courses to have any chance of scoring high enough on the MCAT leading to med school admission?</p>
<p>Pitt Nursing includes 1400 hours of clinicals and a great program for matching upper division students with mentors for research opps that could lead to graduate work at the school of nursing. So there is a great chance that you could become involved in research. And though there are overlaps in nursing prereqs and med school prereqs, you would need to work in several courses that med schools require which the BSN program does not (e.g., O-Chem 1,2). I’m not the authority, but others will chime in (Aglages? )</p>
<p>BTW - Congrats YellowJacket76 on your daughter’s acceptance to Pitt and Georgia Tech. She has some great options and I’m sure she’ll do fine wherever she decides.</p>
<p>thanks cecilturtle & aglages - as I am the “adjunct” CC in the household, just trying to prepare for the inevitable questions that will come when it’s decision time. I know that even though Biology curriculae at GT and Allegheny differ slightly, they are substantially different than nursing. Still, what is required for a Biology degree, for med school entry requirements and what’s needed to score highly on the MCAT are different things. I will pose this question to Pitt Nursing when we visit.</p>
<p>Not to burst anything but Nursing schools don’t really want to be asked how their graduates will be able to go to medical school. Honestly, if your daughters wants pre-med do premed. If she wants an advanced role as an RN as a Nurse practitioner where she then would deliver care to patients in her area of special interest, then she would go on to get an MSN in that area of focus. If she does the bio route and changes her mind and wants to go to nursing later, she can get a nursing degree after in way shorter time than medical school, internship, residency and possible fellowship will take even if she got her MSN then to boot.
Nursing and medicine are really different careers even if they both are providing healthcare to others.</p>
<p>After freshman year, it is probably much easier to switch from a great direct entry nursing program to pre-med - than from pre-med to nursing. I’d suggest doing a year of nursing, taking some med school prereqs during that time, and see how they go. Many people realize they won’t make it into med school after the first year’s classes. Or, they may decide at that time that med school is the better route for them. If in serious doubt, delay the decision a year and keep the options open.</p>
<p>Just a warning, Pitt nursing majors have all their own classes. So while both nursing majors and pre-meds take chem, nursing majors take “Chemistry for Nursing” or something like that. Not saying it is or isn’t possible, just something to think about.</p>
<p>I work as a RN in a teaching hospital and know of 2 great MDs who were RNs. They both practiced nursing for a period of time and then went to med school. Having said that, if your D truly knows that she wants to be a doctor and everyone believes she has what it takes, it seems silly to do the RN first. Nursing school is tough enough, and the model of education and care is very different from med school. Just getting through nursing school while trying to do well in the pre med requirements would be a challenge for anyone. Congratulations to your D for having the choices she has!</p>
<p>Thanks to all for the advice. Since the original posting, DD was accepted to Pitt/Nursing (no scholarship so far) and also to Allegheny College w/full Trustee Scholarship. Although NOT the primary selection criteria (or constraint), the cost for pre-med (Biology) @ Allegheny is LESS than Pitt/Nursing (in-state). DD has her heart set on becoming a doctor … so as long as she understands all the work, time & cost involved and has the ambition, then that may be her selection. The parental discussion outlining these details has not occurred so far, perhaps early in 2012. Once again, I appreciate the thoughtful advice & wish everyone Happy Holidays.</p>
<p>It may have been mentioned, but just as a warning medical schools tend to look down on BSN students that jump ship immediately to medical school. If your daughter intends to practice for a few year then apply to medical school there will be no problem. However, remember there is a shortage of high quality nursing care in this country as well as physician care, and so your D will have to explain why she took a spot from someone who genuinely planned to have a career from a nurse. I also believe part of the concern is the education of a BSN is so focused that the benefit perceived of doctors having a liberal arts education is not obtained. Is it insurmountable to go direct from nursing school to medical school, no, but it is something to keep in mind. Students that major in specialized health care majors such as nursing have a somewhat lower success rate than average (34% acceptance rate vs 44%. I do not know if there is any statistical difference, however, nor does it mean that there is a causative relationship between doing health science majors and not getting in to medical school.). They also tend to have lower scores on the MCAT than average.</p>
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