I wish I was 40 again.
I’ll be 50 when I start Med School.
Never NEVER too old to start a new life.
Most people give advice that they wouldn’t listen too if someone told it to them.
Yes, I know medical school is hard. So what. Life is hard and it’s still worth doing.
It would be far better for you to do what you think is best and fail than to go to your grave saying “I wish I had Tried.”
Hey it’s not over till it’s over, We have an MD1 who is 60!
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A woman I dance with spent a fair amount of time trying to get me to go into nursing instead, and be an N.P. After a while I realized that it was because SHE was a nurse, and she wanted me to choose the path she had chosen, because it was a good path for her, and she thought it would be good for me.
Since I can’t start new threads, and it was brought up here. . .are there a lot of you (any of you?) who debated whether to pursue advanced practice nursing rather than medicine? I’m still straddling the fence, so to speak (and I’m still re-taking prerequisites, so I still have some time), but I fear that, deep down, I keep leaning toward nursing because of a lack of confidence/fear of failure (and, no, I’m not implying that becoming an NP is easy or failing in any way. . .I hope this doesn’t read that way).
I’m just wondering if anyone has any insight. . .what really convinced you that med school was the right path?
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Since I can’t start new threads, and it was brought up here. . .are there a lot of you (any of you?) who debated whether to pursue advanced practice nursing rather than medicine? I’m still straddling the fence, so to speak (and I’m still re-taking prerequisites, so I still have some time), but I fear that, deep down, I keep leaning toward nursing because of a lack of confidence/fear of failure (and, no, I’m not implying that becoming an NP is easy or failing in any way. . .I hope this doesn’t read that way).
I’m just wondering if anyone has any insight. . .what really convinced you that med school was the right path?
My first post here at OPM was about an RN to MD path. Not that I was an RN (or will be) - but I was planning on it, to have something to show after 2 years, and to hedge my bets. If the doctor thing didn’t work out, I figured I could end up being an RN or NP.
Who convinced me that that wouldn’t have been the right path for me? Hm… I don’t think anyone can convince me of anything except myself. Upon reflection, I just realized that - as respectable and important as nurses are - it wasn’t me.
I remember looking at an accelerated RN program and thinking that it was a good idea, not because I would have loved it - but because I would have liked it, and it would have only taken 1.5 years.
Practicing medicine I look at and I’m just… enthralled. While there is significant overlap between what an ARNP and an MD can do, the latter just excites me more. Maybe it’s the thorough education, the requisite understanding of the underlying processes (the mechanic vs. engineer analogy?). Maybe it’s the autonomy and position. Maybe it’s the simple respect of the title.
Really, it’s probably something else entirely. I just know that it fits, and it’s my goal, and I’m going to do it. And as certain as I am now – it took me a long time to get to this point. Obviously, I guess, otherwise I wouldn’t be an old pre med
But even outside of that, like you, I was looking at nursing vs practicing medicine. And as you said, they’re both very laudable goals. I don’t know how to explain it, really; it’s just that, once I determined my path, I knew it “felt right.” Something was settled in my head, and it’s been that way ever since.
First, how to start a new thread… 
when you open up a topic area so that all the threads are listed below, look at the toolbar on the right - it’ll include one (on my view it’s the left-most one) that says “post.” I have been here since the beginning and I had a hard time figuring out that that meant “start a new thread” too.
Anyway, another feature you’ll want to familiarize yourself with is the search feature because the RN to MD and NP/PA vs. MD discussions have been frequent here on OPM. There’s lots of good food for thought, play with it for awhile and check it out!
I had a couple of reasons for deciding to pursue the MD instead of the advanced-practice nursing (I’d been an RN). Some were practical - I’d been out of nursing for several years, I would’ve needed refresher courses and job experience before I’d qualify for a master’s program, and all in all it would’ve probably taken the two years I spent doing my prereqs anyway. Next was philosophical: when I looked at the master’s in nursing programs, there was too much theory and not enough practical experience for my taste. I liked nursing theory when I did it originally but I’d gotten over it. Finally, I realized at 41 what I’d been a little hesitant to acknowledge earlier in life - I WANTED to be in charge. I wanted to have the responsibility. I looked forward to it. And I don’t mean by that, that NPs and PAs aren’t responsible for their patients because they absolutely are. But I wanted my level of responsibility to be the highest possible, supported by the most advanced knowledge I could find. I felt I’d be limited in an NP role because I wouldn’t have as solid an understanding of pathophysiology, pharmacology, etc.
I made the right choice.
Oh, thanks. I’ve been checking out the old threads. . .it’s helping, if helping means pushing me toward med school and away from nursing, ha ha.
I agree with what you’ve said about nursing coursework; I really have very little interest in nursing theory. Actually, another red flag for me is that I have next to no interest in working as an RN AT ALL (maybe the ER would be OK. . .)–I’ve ONLY considered Advanced Practice. I’m realizing more in more that’s because, when it comes down to it, I want to practice medicine, but the process is a really overwhelming, terrifying commitment