3 answers
Anna
Student
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
1
Question
Asked
1847 views
What should I start doing freshman year to prepare to major in nursing and go to med school?
Would it be too much to have a side gig of playing in a band if nursing is my job? I am a freshman and am starting to plan for college and want to know if I need to do anything specifically for nursing and med school.
Login to comment
3 answers
Karin P.
Lecturer, Academic Advisor, Career Coach, Mentor
1238
Answers
Göttingen, Lower Saxony, Germany
Updated
Karin’s Answer
Hi Anna,
It's great that you are interested in a medical career. There are many options for stable and fulfilling careers in healthcare. While you are still in high-school, you should take all the math and science classes (biology, chemistry, physics, math) and also any health related classes your school might offer such as anatomy or psychology. Take challenging classes if you can, e.g. AP or IB or dual enrollment at a community college.
Since you are still considering different medical professions (and also because you'll need it for med school admission), I would recommend that you start shadowing and volunteering in medical settings, e.g. in a hospital and/or in a doctor's office, to see what these jobs are like and accumulate hours for your med school application.
Nursing and medicine are two very different professions and educational paths. While you can certainly become a nurse before going to medical school, it's not the best way to prepare e.g. for the MCAT. The courses you take on the path to become a nurse probably won't cover the pre-requisites for med school either.
If you want to be a nurse, you need to go to nursing school. There are usually pre-requisite courses that you need to pass, possibly in a pre-nursing program, before you can apply to nursing school. Check with nursing schools you are interested in what their admission criteria are.
There are different pathways to become a registered nurse:
You need at minimum an associates degree in nursing (2 years) which you can do at a community college. This will allow you to take the NCLEX-RN to become a registered nurse. It is recommended though to get a bachelors (4 years) in nursing for better employability and career prospects. You can enroll in a bachelor program directly or you can do a bridging program from ADN to BSN, or, if you did a different bachelor degree (not nursing but sciency) you can do an accelerated BSN.
If you want to become a physician, you need to go to medical school. Before you can apply to medical school, you need to earn a bachelor (4 years) in any major you are interested in, pass a list of pre-requisite courses and take the MCAT. Medical school is very competitive, so you'll need a high GPA, a high score in the MCAT and also many hours of medical experience. If you get admitted to medical school, it takes 4 years to earn your MD/DO. After that you'll do a residency (3 to 7 years depending on your specialty) to specialize in a discipline, let's say pediatrics or surgery.
I hope this helps! All the best to you!
KP
It's great that you are interested in a medical career. There are many options for stable and fulfilling careers in healthcare. While you are still in high-school, you should take all the math and science classes (biology, chemistry, physics, math) and also any health related classes your school might offer such as anatomy or psychology. Take challenging classes if you can, e.g. AP or IB or dual enrollment at a community college.
Since you are still considering different medical professions (and also because you'll need it for med school admission), I would recommend that you start shadowing and volunteering in medical settings, e.g. in a hospital and/or in a doctor's office, to see what these jobs are like and accumulate hours for your med school application.
Nursing and medicine are two very different professions and educational paths. While you can certainly become a nurse before going to medical school, it's not the best way to prepare e.g. for the MCAT. The courses you take on the path to become a nurse probably won't cover the pre-requisites for med school either.
If you want to be a nurse, you need to go to nursing school. There are usually pre-requisite courses that you need to pass, possibly in a pre-nursing program, before you can apply to nursing school. Check with nursing schools you are interested in what their admission criteria are.
There are different pathways to become a registered nurse:
You need at minimum an associates degree in nursing (2 years) which you can do at a community college. This will allow you to take the NCLEX-RN to become a registered nurse. It is recommended though to get a bachelors (4 years) in nursing for better employability and career prospects. You can enroll in a bachelor program directly or you can do a bridging program from ADN to BSN, or, if you did a different bachelor degree (not nursing but sciency) you can do an accelerated BSN.
If you want to become a physician, you need to go to medical school. Before you can apply to medical school, you need to earn a bachelor (4 years) in any major you are interested in, pass a list of pre-requisite courses and take the MCAT. Medical school is very competitive, so you'll need a high GPA, a high score in the MCAT and also many hours of medical experience. If you get admitted to medical school, it takes 4 years to earn your MD/DO. After that you'll do a residency (3 to 7 years depending on your specialty) to specialize in a discipline, let's say pediatrics or surgery.
I hope this helps! All the best to you!
KP
So I do not have to go to med school to be a nurse? Only nursing school and getting my bachelors in it?
Anna
Hi Anna, yes, you go to nursing school to become a nurse.
https://www.registerednursing.org/state/louisiana/
https://www.lsbn.state.la.us/education-and-exam/
https://www.niche.com/colleges/search/best-colleges-for-nursing/s/louisiana/
https://lsuhealthfoundation.org/lsu-health-nursing-school-ranked-in-top-10-nationally/
https://nursing.lsuhsc.edu/bsn/admission.aspx
Karin P.
Thank you so much for your help!
Anna
Suzanne Sorkin
Retired family physician and medical educator
174
Answers
Traverse City, Michigan
Updated
Suzanne’s Answer
Anna, you are wise to be planning ahead! Something to consider: if you know that you want to go to medical school to become a doctor, majoring in Nursing is unlikely to prepare you to apply to medical school. The classes required to apply to medical school and the preparation to take and do well in the entrance exam, called the MCAT (Medical College Admissions Test) are unlikely to be achieved while preparing for a career in nursing. Yes, there are RNs who decide to leave the nursing profession and move into medicine....but it generally requires going back to take additional classes and do significant studying for the MCAT. If medicine, not nursing, is your ultimate goal, I urge you to make an appointment as soon as possible with your academic advisor in high school. Let them know your career plans and make sure you are scheduled to take as much science and math in high school as possible along with the other required classes for all college-bound students.
Feel free to write back with more questions as you think of them. Best of luck at this exciting time of your life.
Here is a helpful website on deciding if medicine is for you: https://students-residents.aamc.org/deciding-if-medicine-you/decide-if-medicine-you
Feel free to write back with more questions as you think of them. Best of luck at this exciting time of your life.
Suzanne recommends the following next steps:
So what should I major in instead to be a doctor or nurse? How do I study and when do I start studying for the MCAT. I don't really want to do medicine as my career, but instead of nursing or being a doctor.
Anna
Hannah (Berry) Volgraf, MSN, RN
Healthcare Consultant
3
Answers
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Updated
Hannah’s Answer
Great question! I earned my nursing degree, and even though it was tough, I still found time to babysit and play a club sport. Good time management is key to balancing everything, but having fun activities really helped me organize my study time. If you go to med school, your schedule might be tighter with rotations, but if you can fit it in, having a hobby like playing in a band can really help you focus on yourself.
Ok, great! Thank you!
Anna