I was doing some research, and I came across the idea of getting a nursing degree as your undergrad before med school. That way, you would have a steady income to help put you through med school and it would be good preparation for the MCATs. Does anyone have any opinions on this? Is there anyone out there who is either doing this or did it? What did you find?

I have also heard from some people that some universities will not accept nursing students into their medical programs because they have already been labelled as "settling for second best because they aren't good enough to handle a real premed program". Is this true?

Thanks very much to anyone who can tell me a bit about this or share their opinions

That's what I was afraid of :P It doesn't make sense though. To already have something you could do while going through medical school makes perfect sense. :

It's one thing applying to medicine as a practicing nurse, who's done nursing and wants to change careers. It's different applying to med school straight out of a nursing program. Now, some med schools have specific course prerequisites, others don't, but the they all need at least a bachelors degree. From what I know of the med schools in Ontario, they don't have a preference for your major, so you could apply with a BSc in Nursing. The problems of this route would arise during interviews, if you are fortunate enough to get one, as they will question your intentions of medicine when you pursued nursing in your undergrad.

However, there are larger problems with pursuing nursing as your "pre-med" route. You have to keep in mind that nursing programs don't have a flexible curriculum. Most of the courses you will take are nursing specific courses, which may cover the subjects needed for MCATs, such as Bio, Organic Chem, General Chem, but with much less detail. These science courses may be under the faculty of nursing, taught nursing professors, or under a faculty of science, taught by science professors, but either way they won't cover nearly as much. Nurses need to know the basics, but not so much the theories and the mechanisms behind the sciences, which is something pre-med students would learn in their science courses. I mean look at the undergraduate calendars of the schools you're looking to apply to. I know the nursing curriculum at U of Windsor (where I'm from) only has 3 electives throughout the whole program, the rest of the 36 courses you'll have to take are all mandatory, go in a pretty specific order.

For you to be prepared for MCATs and med-school in general, there would be many courses you would have to take in addition to the nursing courses required for that major. And in nursing school, you don't have time to be loaded down with extra courses. The first 2 years are mostly theory, but 3rd and 4th year have LOTS of clinical placements, and trust me, they are not willing to change things around for your schedule. You may have a 12 hour shift one day at the hospital, and classes the next. There isn't really time to fit in the additional courses that the other pre-med students are taking, you won't really have time unless you're extremely good with time management.

Nursing programs keep you busy, and you won't be sufficiently prepared to take the MCATs by the time you're done your 4 years. I've looked a lot into this, because it's always been either nursing or medicine for me. I wish there was a way to successfully do pre-med while pursing a BScN, but realistically it's not the best idea. What I suggest you do is really really consider whether you want nursing or medicine. Research the job, try to shadow a nurse, explore the career as much as you can because it's a great option and plenty of opportunities to study to the graduate and event doctoral level. But if your main objective is to get into medicine, nursing won't properly prepare you. Sure, it is technically possible to do nursing and try to get into med school, but you will be crammed with additional courses to take, and it will be extremely hard to get the GPAs needed to be competitive and get an interview.

Also, there is NO way you would hold a part-time nursing job while attending med-school, especially right after finishing a nursing degree. For one, your first year of actually doing nursing is quite challenging, there is a lot to be learned even after you finish nursing school. Also, your just starting out on the job, you will get the worst shifts. Shift work for nurses can be 12 hours, or perhaps evening shifts. I don't think anybody could do that while also trying to get through the extremely theory intensive first 2 years of med school.

If you really think you might want nursing, that is nursing over medicine, then perhaps it'd be best to start your first year of university in a nursing program. TRUST ME, it's difficult trying to transfer from another university program to nursing, it's very competitive, and it's much easier getting in from high school. Generally even large nursing programs, say 140 students, only 20-30 of those spots will be available for transfer students, I found this out the hard way. But if you know you really want medicine, you really need to be in a general science program, or another university program like English or something that has lots of electives, so you could take all those science courses you'll need for MCATs. Overall, DON'T go into nursing with the sole purpose of applying to med-school, it's really one of the other. Besides, if you did your BSc in Bio, and med school didn't work out, you can always apply to an accelerated nursing program. They're for people who already have a university degree, and they can pick up their nursing degree in about 2 years.

Anyways, be very cautious when considering nursing and medicine. When looking at your undergraduate, it's really one path or the other. However it'd be a good idea to apply to both nursing programs and Bio programs (if that's what you're looking for) and you'll still have ample amount of time to decide which would be the best decision for your first year. Good luck to you, and don't be afraid of changing your mind down the road either, it happens to the best of us.

I'd appreciate you taking a look at this topic and help me there, too!

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