Hello all. I am a new grad nurse. I am in the process of getting my first nursing job; however I know medical school is my goal (only figured this out while in nursing school, but am grateful that I’ve had this experience to help solidify that I really want to go into medicine). My rough plan right now is to get experience working as a nurse for 1.5-2 years, attend a formal post-bac program, and then med school.
My question is this: will where I work as a nurse help or hinder my med school applications, especially if the hospital is affiliated with a medical school? I live near a large academic medical center with a medical school. I would definitely apply there when applying to medical schools, but when they see that I worked there as a nurse (for only 1.5-2 years) would that hurt my application? Or would it help that I may be viewed as ‘one of their own’? I’m sure there’s not a one size fits all answer for this but just curious about the overall consensus. Thanks.
I am a practicing OR nurse currently. Where you work will not in any way shape or form hinder your application. I am sure that if you worked in a level 1 ICU with very complex patients that it may slightly benefit your application, however all applicants are looked at through the same lens. You will not be drastically swayed in either direction regardless of what unit/hospital you decide to work at, and neither will your 1.5-2yrs.
Yeah just to piggy back off of what @Coffee said, it won’t hurt your chances at all. As long as you can talk about your story in a genuine way and how nursing eventually helped you realize that you wanted to become a physician, than you will be just fine. I worked as an ICU nurse and I work currently in the PACU (Post-Anesthesia). My experiences as a nurse and talking with lots of physicians, CRNAs and NPs helped to solidify that going on to medical school was the thing that I really wanted to do. Just work really hard as a nurse and learn as much as you can because you never know in what ways the information that you learn now will transition to helping you later in your career. Best of luck on your journey!
Thank you both so much! This definitely makes me feel better. I know in my heart medicine is what I want to do, but still definitely want to get some nursing experience under my belt. At the same time, I don’t want to wait too long to pursue my dream! Thank you!!