Majoring in nursing, and minoring in biology with the intent of eventually going to medical school is not impossible, but will be very difficult for several reasons.
- The prerequisites for nursing and medical school are different and rarely overlap. The nursing curriculum will also rarely have classes (if any at all) that will complete medical school prerequisites.
Are you applying to nursing schools directly from high school?
If not, and you plan on transferring into nursing, you will need to take anatomy, physiology, and microbiology (at least). Some programs will require a few more classes, such as nutrition or statistics.
A minor in biology will most likely complete the medical school prerequisite of a year (or more) of biology. It may also complete the prerequisite of a year of general chemistry. However, most medical school prerequisites also require a year of organic chemistry, and a year of physics. Other prerequisites may include biochemistry, calculus, and statistics.
- Most nursing programs are full time, and between classes, studying for classes, and clinicals you may not have much time for completing medical school prerequisites and other activities to improve your medical school application.
Also, in order to become a nurse, you will need to pass the NCLEX, or the nursing licensing exam, and you may need to study for that too.
This is taken from the UCI Medical School’s website:
"…There is no formula used. Each applicant is unique. Our applicants are evaluated by their individual accomplishments and the activities in which they have been involved.
Our goal is to select a well-balanced, diverse class to which each student will contribute their talents and experiences to classmates, professors and eventually their patients.
Examples of factors we use in evaluating an applicant are:
Academics
Clinical exposure
Involvement in research
Community service
Extracurricular activities
Life experiences
Personal qualities
Communication skills
Leadership
Teamwork..."
Examples of these “factors” are:
- Volunteering at hospitals
- Shadowing doctors
- Research experience
- Involvement (as well as leadership roles) through organizations at their college
- Healthcare experience (perhaps as an ER technician)
Etc.
You will also need to take MCAT, or the Medical College Admission Test.
GPA and the MCAT score are considered to be the most important factors for applying to medical schools.
Nursing curriculum is typically not known to be easy, and may harm your GPA.
- The nursing model and medical model are also two separate models, therefore, while working as a nurse is considered healthcare experience, it may not give you an advantage.
Depending on when you apply to medical school if you do go through with majoring in nursing and minoring in biology, you may be at a disadvantage when applying as you will be competing against applicants who have tailored their application towards getting into medical school.
To summarize:
While I can understand being hesitant towards applying and subsequently attending medical school due to the high costs, getting into medical school is the first step. To do so, you need time to do well in the class, study for the MCAT, and do research, volunteer, etc to make yourself a competitive candidate. Nursing school may conflict with that as it demands a lot of time. I suggest you do some more research, and plan out your classes to see if your plan is feasible. Also, as you are taking classes for your general Education A.A. degree, I suggest keeping an open mind as you’re not in college yet, and may find other fields more suited to you and your interests.