Hi everyone,
I’m new here. I’m 31 and a mom of three young kids. I’ve been working towards med school for a while and my husband and I made the decision about a year ago that it was time for me to go. However, thanks to the fabulous economy, I need to be able to make money soon. So, I am considering getting an accelerated pace RN degree, working for a few years as a nurse, and applying to medical school later. Would my experience as a nurse help my application or hurt it? Would getting at least 5 years older hurt my application? Also, I started and dropped out of another grad program (veterinary school), so I’m concerned that I’m starting to look pretty wishy washy. Any help would be truly appreciated! Thanks!
You might run across on this board or elsewhere in the premedical world the notion that medical schools dislike accepting RNs because accepting RNs (especially newly trained RNs)would exacerbate the supposed “nurse shortage.” (As an aside, I like, many others, believe this “nursing shortage” is in reality a result of an excessively high nursing burn-out rate caused by the high stress and the high pressure working conditions nurses typically face on a daily basis. Combined these conditions with the low pay (yes, the “low pay for what nurses do” is a common mantra among nurses) and the common practice of overloading nurses with more and more patients than they can resonably handle keep driving nurses out the door to other professions.) Often, statistics showing lower average MCAT scores and lower acceptance rates of applicants with health care-related majors (RN, RT, etc) will be used to support this notion. In reality, medical schools do accept RNs (even newly trained RNs). You’ll find plenty of anecdotal evidence of this on this board. Posters Richard B and DRFP are two off the top of my head who were practicing RNs before they entered medical school in their 40s. The following post puts into proper perspective what a RN can do for you in getting into medical school: http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…
Like the above post said, an RN won’t compensate or give you a pass on concerns with your application. In your case, it is a huge red flag that you dropped out of vet school. The following is a poster who had to leave dental school but now wanted to attend medical school: http://www.oldpremeds.org/fusionbb/showtopic.php?t…
Thanks for the reply. Does it matter that I didn’t fail out of vet school? I was always planning on med, and compromised to do vet because it didn’t require a residency and I thought it would be an easier family life. But once I got there I realized that I preferred to do my original goal which was human medicine. So, I was able to do the program fine, I just preferred to stick with my lifeling passion than compromise.
- sarsar333 Said:
Hi everyone,
I'm new here. I'm 31 and a mom of three young kids. I've been working towards med school for a while and my husband and I made the decision about a year ago that it was time for me to go. However, thanks to the fabulous economy, I need to be able to make money soon. So, I am considering getting an accelerated pace RN degree, working for a few years as a nurse, and applying to medical school later. Would my experience as a nurse help my application or hurt it? Would getting at least 5 years older hurt my application? Also, I started and dropped out of another grad program (veterinary school), so I'm concerned that I'm starting to look pretty wishy washy. Any help would be truly appreciated! Thanks!
I'm new here. I'm 31 and a mom of three young kids. I've been working towards med school for a while and my husband and I made the decision about a year ago that it was time for me to go. However, thanks to the fabulous economy, I need to be able to make money soon. So, I am considering getting an accelerated pace RN degree, working for a few years as a nurse, and applying to medical school later. Would my experience as a nurse help my application or hurt it? Would getting at least 5 years older hurt my application? Also, I started and dropped out of another grad program (veterinary school), so I'm concerned that I'm starting to look pretty wishy washy. Any help would be truly appreciated! Thanks!
It's not going to be easy to get into medical school, but that goes for everyone, no matter what their previous career. You need to do what you have to for your family, and that is what matters now. It also might be better for you to go through the nursing program versus med school now due to the young ages of your kids. At least with nursing you've a little bit more control of your work schedule. Medical school isn't going anywhere...it'll still be here when you are ready.
There are definitely a few members of this board that are former nurses, including Dr. Mary R. who is now a Family Medicine Practitioner.
Good luck!
Kris