<p>Hello! First of all, I want to start by saying that I am a senior in High School getting ready to go to college soon. So I've been extensively researching different careers and majors. I also plan on going to medical school in order to become a neurologist (hopefully). So lately, I've narrowed down my majors to nursing and Biology. However, upon further research, I learned that Nursing is frowned down upon Medical School. I was pretty surprised considering that it's part of the medical professions. So my question is: what major is good enough for Medical Schools to consider you? And that major should be a major that is good enough to give me a good paying job in the case that I don't get Med School. Although Biology seems good, I know from reading other posts that it's not a major to consider getting a good job in if you can't get in. Can you please give me some tips on which major I should do? I'm not too picky on the majors aspect, as long as it can get me into Med School, I'm fine with it. Thanks! :)</p>
<p>Sorry, I accidently double posted 
If any of the mods are here, can you delete my previous repeated thread?</p>
<p>Anyone know?!</p>
<p>You would think a nursing degree would be good preparation for med school and would give you a back-up career if you don’t get into med school. However, that is frowned upon by others, reportedly. There have been some previous discussions on this topic on this nursing discussion section.</p>
<p>One reason is that they don’t want nursing school seats wasted on people who don’t want to be a nurse. Another reason is that they involve a different type of training. Third, there are many med school prerequisites that are not included in the average nursing curriculum - particularly involving advanced chemistry classes. Most med school applicants also have taken calculus.</p>
<p>A high percentage of med school applicants don’t make it into any med school. They then typically apply to graduate physician’s assistant programs, which also are very competitive. One of the great things about nursing is that you can have a real career with only a bachelors degree.</p>
<p>For more info, I’d spend time on the pre-med part of this website.</p>
<p>The med schools will tell you that any major is acceptable. However a bio-chem major fits in best with the prerequisites.</p>
<p>Thank you! And yes, I will go to the Med School section (I didn’t see that, my bad).</p>
<p>Perhaps you might be interested in the following:</p>
<p>AAMC Reports Medical School Applicants, Enrollment Set Record
A new report from the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) shows that a record number of students applied to and enrolled in the nation’s medical schools in 2013.</p>
<p>According to AAMC, the total number of applicants to medical school grew by 6.1 percent, to 48,014, surpassing the previous record set in 1996. First-time applicants, another important indicator of interest in medicine, increased by 5.8 percent to 35,727. The total
number who actually enrolled exceeded 20,000 for the first time (20,055, a 2.8 percent increase over 2012). AAMC attributed the overall growth in enrollment, in part, to the creation of new medical schools as well as existing schools’ efforts to expand their class sizes (in 2006, AAMC called for a 30 percent increase in enrollment to avert future doctor shortages). In 2013, 14 medical schools increased their class sizes by more than 10 percent and four new medical schools welcomed their first classes.</p>
<p>AAMC data also showed that the diversity of students applying to and enrolling in medical school remained relatively steady, with two notable gains: (1) the number of first-time female applicants increased by 1,102, or 6.9 percent, after remaining flat in 2012, and
(2) the number of Hispanics/Latinos attending medical school continued to increase, rising by 5.5 percent to 1,826 enrollees.</p>
<p>As in past years, the total number of men and women applying to and enrolling in medical school is fairly evenly split, with men accounting for approximately 53 percent and women for 47 percent of enrollees in the 2013 class. In addition to an increase in first time female applicants, the total number of men applying to medical school increased 5.8 percent from 24,338 applicants in 2012 to 25,760 male applicants in 2013.</p>
<p>AAMC also reported that the overall quality of this year’s application pool remained strong, with nearly three-quarters of applicants reporting research experience and two-thirds reporting voluntary community service. This year’s applicants reported an average undergraduate GPA of 3.54 and a combined median MCAT® score of 29.
For detailed breakdowns of the data, visit the AAMC website at: <a href=“https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/358410/20131024.html[/url]”>https://www.aamc.org/newsroom/newsreleases/358410/20131024.html</a>.</p>
<p>I’ve known students who’ve done this, but
- Not many. Think single digits.
- They were likely to be students deep into their nursing programs when they made the decision (and felt like they had to finish what they started).
- They were willing to put in the extra time to finish the pre-med prereqs. As charlieschm mentioned, there’s not a lot of room in the nursing curriculum to fit in pre-med requirements. Once nursing starts, a student is in clinical for large chunks of time several days a week. These will invariably conflict with the labs required of the science courses. Factor in the new MCAT requirements (2015 test takers will need some cellular bio, possibly some bio-chem, more social sciences) and it becomes fairly obvious that getting done in 4, even with summer school, is going to be a challenge. At some schools, it simply won’t be possible.</p>
<p>If you want to be a doctor, go for med school. Major in whatever you want. Pre-med isn’t a major but a series of courses one takes in preparation for the MCAT. You want a major with big bucks as a back-up? Engineering of some sort?</p>
<p>I see. I talked to my A&P teacher (he has medical school experience) today and asked him for some suggestions. He told me that Biochemistry was a great choice not just for medical school, but because it can land you on many different paths. I believe getting above a bachelor’s degree for BioChem could be a very good idea? But I’m still considering nursing because I’ve head that nursing is a great way to get into home health care, which I presume is a great way to start a business. Plus, some members of my family are nurses, so it might be good.</p>
<p>If you wish to pursue a plan of entering a 4 year BSN Program with the intent of applying to Medical School I would recommend the following: Contact the Nursing Programs you are interested in and inquire if they have a specific curriculum design formulated for nursing students who wish to pursue this course of action. Some Nursing Programs do actually offer this, usually more “academically” oriented Nursing Programs at National Research Universities. While you probably could do this on your own at just about any 4 year BSN Program it probably would be better if you would enter such a program specifically designed for this. You would know right from the beginning the sequence of courses you would have to take. Just a suggestion. Good luck.</p>
<p>khan - my H is a doctor and his undergrad major was molecular biology. It is a common pre-med major. There are many schools that have “pre-health” as a department with a few majors you can choose from. That seems a good way to go. If you don’t get into med school, you can take your major and pursue a BS to BSN degree, or perhaps go for a PA or something else. The BS to BSN degree usually takes only a year or so if you have many of the science prerequisites covered. </p>
<p>I have a D who wants to major in zoology because she loves studying animals. Some schools have zoology departments that are filled with premed students! It seems a good way to ruin a major - to have hyper competitive premed students filling it, which is another reason why I like the pre-health option.</p>
<p>I am not sure if that is correct. Several years ago, I advised a high school student to go through the nursing route before medical school. She enrolled in a college nursing program, worked in the ICU during college, enrolled into medical school and is now a surgery resident. She sailed through without any problem. Remember, your major doesn’t matter for medical school. You have to complete the pre-med prerequisites, achieve a high GPA, and score well on the MCATs.</p>