Nursing vs Med School- How did you decide?

[Anonymous]

If you found yourself interested in both, and picked one, what were the deciding factors? Are you happy with your decision and career?

[Anonymous]

Depends on how you do in your classes Op

[Anonymous]

Take Calculus, Bio and Chemistry as if you are trying for pre-med. See how you do. You may need to adjust your future college schedule if you widely struggle. Nursing covers many of the same topics but not the same class sections and with a different emphasis.

[Anonymous]

Two really, really different careers and professions. I would talk to more doctors and nurses, get a sense of what they do and then go down that path.

[Anonymous]

OP, you do know becoming an MD is a lot harder than becoming a nurse.. you do know that, don't you? Academics will determine if you actually have a choice.

[Anonymous]

Totally different professions. I'm an RN and I wouldn't want to be a doctor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you do know becoming an MD is a lot harder than becoming a nurse.. you do know that, don't you? Academics will determine if you actually have a choice.

Even if academically you have the choice, you still have to decide what profession you want. I could have done med school (academically) but I didn't want to be a doctor. I have a doctorate and now teach nursing. They are very different career choices. Nursing is also a very, very broad wide field. There are 100 different jobs that a nurse could be doing. People tend to think of nurses as the doctors assistants in the hospital but that really isn't how the vast majority of health care works anymore. It isn't two levels of the same job.

There are many doctors who couldn't / shouldn't be nurses and many nurses who couldn't / shouldn't be doctors.

[Anonymous]

yeah .. that's fine but until we know more re: Op it is far more likely that academics will rule out a choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:yeah .. that's fine but until we know more re: Op it is far more likely that academics will rule out a choice.

If she is considering med school, then I would assume like most people who consider med school that she is academically capable of getting accepted.

The fact that she is also considering nursing doesn't mean she isn't also a candidate for med school.

[Anonymous]

I made this decision. I picked medicine after visiting both a nursing school program and an MD program and realizing that becoming an MD fit my professional goals better. Surprisingly it was faster for me to go for med school, I had to just take 9 science classes and take mcat in just 11 months. I stated post bacc in May and took mcat in following June and accepted to first med school in October. For nursing school, I'd have to get my BSN. I also enjoyed orgo and chemistry so it worked out for me. But note that it is super difficult to get into med school, do not underestimate the process visit aamc website for admissions stats. Also you may have to move for med school, the process is very random and you cannot guarantee your next door school will accept you.

[Anonymous]

OP here. I'm in a completely different profession but pursued nursing school several years ago. I aced all the prereqs while working full time and taking care of a baby as a single mom, and got into a very good BSN program. I'm not concerned with the academics as that tends to be my strength.

I worked in two hospitals as a CNA, and also as a Clinic Substitute in a school district to get exposure to the nursing field and see how I'd like it. I enjoyed it very well, but due to life circumstances decided to ultimately go back into my previous career, as I didn't want to take on large student loans and give up my life for several years for nursing school while I had a young child.

Now that my child is older and more independent, I've considered entering the medical profession again. When working as a CNA, I found I most enjoyed learning about and understanding the diseases the patients had far more than I liked taking care of the patients. I happily tagged along with the wound care nurses to examine patient wounds, and watched in awe as a doctor did a biopsy on a patients back. I was fascinated watching a patient's actual tendon move up and down while she flexed her toe, and while morbid it was interesting seeing how diabetes ravaged a young 23 yr old girls body and caused her to lose every single limb. Each time she came to the hospital, I had to take care of gangrene toes and fingers and nubs where an arm or leg should be.

I am glad I did patient care, and I got a lot out of it, but it did not move me nearly as much as learning about the various illnesses did. Since then I've wondered that if I do decide to pursue a career in healthcare, whether I would better serve the patient community in some type of doctor capacity, or advanced nurse practitioner, rather than as a nurse.

I'm curious if others have felt this way and what path they decided, and how they felt about their decision and career.

[Anonymous]

I’m an MD. I think being a PA or an NP would have been cheaper and less stressful. Depending on the field, sometimes you can essentially do the same job as a physician, although the pay is less. It’s more stressful though. I work in the ER and the PAs and NPs see the easy patients, while I see the more complicated ones. The complicated patients can be really fun though! It’s stressful being responsible for a patient. If you don’t know what to do, there is no one else to ask. As a PA or NP, you always have an attending to help you.

I never considered being a regular nurse. I hate cleaning up patients (which can be pretty gross in the ER). I also don’t like being told what to do! I had a friend who chose nursing school over med school. She wanted to have a family and thought being a nurse would give her more time off to care for kids. It’s true that during mediocal school and residency, spending time with family is difficult. However, as an Attending, I have the ability to work one or two days a week and make more than many people working full time.

[Anonymous]

Frankly I went to nursing school out of undergrad 20 years ago because i couldn't get all A's in the pre-med classes. The best I could do in physics was a B---the pre-med science classes at most colleges are graded on a curve so you're in competition with all the other pre-meds for grades.
I ended up attending nursing school, becoming and NP and have had a long and varied career.
I know a lot of other people in my shoes--couldn't get the straight As needed for med school but ended up very successful in other careers.

I would take the pre-recs and the MCAT and then see where you fall. Less than 40% of people who even complete this entire process are accepted to any medical school (and that doesn't included people like me who voluntarily removed ourselves from the running).