Nursing and Pre-Med Question

ordinarylives
Wed, 23 Apr 2014 20:00:05 +0000

If it works, it works. Changes to the 2015 MCAT include more chem (gen, O, AND bio), more upper division bio (so gen bio, often a full year, A&P, which you’d take for nursing, + some upper division), more social sciences (wouldn’t be an issue for nurses), and I think the math goes to calc and stat rather than just one or the other. You want to be sure you’re not making the mistake of looking at the minimum requirements to the med school. Dig around and find the profiles of the accepted class.

The thing you would need to be most concerned about with your plan, I think, is your grades. Not that a year of OChem is a walk in the park, but nursing classes often have a tougher grading scale than other classes (78% is minimum passing at my employer, but I’ve seen as high as 80%). There’s no curve, no rounding, and let’s be honest, super high GPAs are rare. Look at the graduation list from previous years. How many summas do you see? Lots? Then you’ve got a shot. Not so many? Many not be the major to stay in if you want the GPA of the accepted med students.

Have you considered, however, the ramifications of being a nurse when you really wanted to be the doctor? You wanted to treat disease and call the shots. As a nurse, you’re going to treat the patient and, with cuts to CNAs and LPNs at the hospital setting, you’re going to be cleaning up messes, often. They’re very, very different fields. Personally, I don’t want to be cared for by a nurse who wanted a career to fall back on, just like I don’t want my kids in the classroom with someone who couldn’t make it and fell back into teaching. Someone else can comment on the ethics of taking a spot in nursing school when you don’t really want it.

On the bright side. Your college looks to be a 2+2 program, which does give you some time to decide your path.