How valuable is ICU nursing experience to med school apps?

[F34Rit53lf]

Hey everyone,
I am getting ready to submit to schools and have a meh GPA, 3.57, and a decent MCAT, 516. I have 3-4 years of research experience in projects ranging from neural plasticity, ecology and institutional research. All of these thing are see on many apps though. I have worked in an ICU and an RN for four years and through the pandemic which has me at around 7000 hours of clinical experience managing patient care. This will help me stand out correct? I can’t imagine many nurses go to medical school. I’m feeling nervous with my GPA, I had three really bad quarters, but with those three quarters gone my cumulative GPA is around a 3.75 with the other seven years of college.

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[Princeton Medical Student]

It’ll make you stand out without a doubt. You certainly aren’t the only nurse applying, but you are far from an avg premed. Where your app really should shine is in your PS, secondaries etc as your experiences should be far more rich then that of a trad premed.

 

[LunaOri]

Your background in ICU nursing shows your commitment to medicine. Be prepared to answer questions about why you want to get an MD rather than an advanced nursing degree.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

Yes it has value. Your experience shows you have a clear understanding of how a hospital works, long shifts, and how a professional responds during hard times, Covid, etc.. You are likely to remain within the profession full time rather than seeking a limited working arrangement.

 

[gramnegative]

As long as you have the GPA/MCAT to answer any questions about your academic preparedness, it will certainly get interest, especially work during the pandemic. It came up on every one of my interviews and the way that the physician interviewers referred to the experience was uniformly positive and honestly effusive at times. Make sure you have a coherent narrative that is threaded through your essays and your stories and responses during interviews and you will do well.

 

[F34Rit53lf]

Your background in ICU nursing shows your commitment to medicine. Be prepared to answer questions about why you want to get an MD rather than an advanced nursing degree.

Are these acceptable reasons for why I choose MD over the others?

RN: was in a serious car accident and have chronic injuries as a result. Disc issues, detached scapular muscles, the torn labrum has been fixed. I need something less physical. I also want something heavier in the science. E.g.: While it sounds cool that I know that precedex is an alpha androgenic antagonist, in practice I simply need to know, precedex slows heart.

ARNP: the amount of schooling is more. I need to take a statistics class, despite having graduate level statistics, get my bachelors in nursing, I already have a bachelors in cell bio, and most schools have transitioned to a DNP, 4 years. The options are limited on what you can do and there are several specialties I’m interested in that I could not do as an ARNP.

PA: I would have to take a lot of classes over due to the time requirements and it would be around three to four years, depending on the number of prerequisites I would need to retake. Also, I wouldn’t be able to perform a large portion of the interventions. Last, it sounds like residency for a career.

Overall, I took a lot of heavy science classes during my bachelors in cell bio, 3.5 years of science research, ~700 hours of volunteer and all I used was two years of prerequisites for nursing school. Medical school works for me on many levels, it’s physically less demanding, it’s heavy in science, it allows me to stay at the bedside, I maintain my options and it allows me to operate with a sense of independence.

Opinion?

 

[F34Rit53lf]

As long as you have the GPA/MCAT to answer any questions about your academic preparedness, it will certainly get interest, especially work during the pandemic. It came up on every one of my interviews and the way that the physician interviewers referred to the experience was uniformly positive and honestly effusive at times. Make sure you have a coherent narrative that is threaded through your essays and your stories and responses during interviews and you will do well.

By narrative do you mean a theme? I have resilience as a theme. Had a lot of set backs. I also have a process of self discovery as another. I didn’t know I liked helping others until I happened into out reach. I originally went to college for a football scholarship and gave it up when I had to choose sports or science, practice conflicted with labs. I didn’t even know I was good at school until I tried in college. 2.6GPA in high school. 3.57GPA in college. I wasn’t sure if I would like ICU until I had a patient with ruptured esophageal varices and we were running mass transfusion protocol in the back of an ambulance to another hospital with 4 pressers running and a Blakemore tube. Patient lived btw

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Are these acceptable reasons for why I choose MD over the others?

RN: was in a serious car accident and have chronic injuries as a result. Disc issues, detached scapular muscles, the torn labrum has been fixed. I need something less physical. I also want something heavier in the science. E.g.: While it sounds cool that I know that precedex is an alpha androgenic antagonist, in practice I simply need to know, precedex slows heart.

ARNP: the amount of schooling is more. I need to take a statistics class, despite having graduate level statistics, get my bachelors in nursing, I already have a bachelors in cell bio, and most schools have transitioned to a DNP, 4 years. The options are limited on what you can do and there are several specialties I’m interested in that I could not do as an ARNP.

PA: I would have to take a lot of classes over due to the time requirements and it would be around three to four years, depending on the number of prerequisites I would need to retake. Also, I wouldn’t be able to perform a large portion of the interventions. Last, it sounds like residency for a career.

Overall, I took a lot of heavy science classes during my bachelors in cell bio, 3.5 years of science research, ~700 hours of volunteer and all I used was two years of prerequisites for nursing school. Medical school works for me on many levels, it’s physically less demanding, it’s heavy in science, it allows me to stay at the bedside, I maintain my options and it allows me to operate with a sense of independence.

Opinion?

An ADCOM would be better qualified to answer but I’d be slightly cautious with talking about the injury + physical aspects of the job. Doctoring is far less physically intensive then nursing (for the most part) but you still do rounds, stand for hours during surgery etc.

 

[F34Rit53lf]

An ADCOM would be better qualified to answer but I’d be slightly cautious with talking about the injury + physical aspects of the job. Doctoring is far less physically intensive then nursing (for the most part) but you still do rounds, stand for hours during surgery etc.

Your probably correct. I ommited it from my written materials due to the two people I have had proof read say the same thing. I’m more or less getting a feel for how things come across to others and your the third so I will steer around this, despite it being a factor. Patients are frequently 300-400 lbs and difficult to turn and move when they’re unconscious.

 

[LunaOri]

We’d want to hear what draws you to medicine, not what drives you away from other professions. Medicine shouldn’t be your fallback position.

 

[Select All That Apply]

Are these acceptable reasons for why I choose MD over the others?

RN: was in a serious car accident and have chronic injuries as a result. Disc issues, detached scapular muscles, the torn labrum has been fixed. I need something less physical. I also want something heavier in the science. E.g.: While it sounds cool that I know that precedex is an alpha androgenic antagonist, in practice I simply need to know, precedex slows heart.

ARNP: the amount of schooling is more. I need to take a statistics class, despite having graduate level statistics, get my bachelors in nursing, I already have a bachelors in cell bio, and most schools have transitioned to a DNP, 4 years. The options are limited on what you can do and there are several specialties I’m interested in that I could not do as an ARNP.

PA: I would have to take a lot of classes over due to the time requirements and it would be around three to four years, depending on the number of prerequisites I would need to retake. Also, I wouldn’t be able to perform a large portion of the interventions. Last, it sounds like residency for a career.

Overall, I took a lot of heavy science classes during my bachelors in cell bio, 3.5 years of science research, ~700 hours of volunteer and all I used was two years of prerequisites for nursing school. Medical school works for me on many levels, it’s physically less demanding, it’s heavy in science, it allows me to stay at the bedside, I maintain my options and it allows me to operate with a sense of independence.

Opinion?

Too elaborate man. People make career changes all the time without needing strong exit factors. If your reason for leaving one profession e.g. nursing d/t spinal and MSK issues can be a mixed bag when presented to a critical counterpoint e.g. (what about surgery, cardiothoractic/ortho procedures which may require physical strain, or just in general medicine involving a lot of physicality with processing through a lot of patients) then you should reconsider mentioning it. If anything, millennials/zoomers opting to explore their options more and not being tied down to a singular job enables you to put more emphasis on why you see becoming a physician as a pro and less about why you see nursing as a con.

 

[gramnegative]

By narrative do you mean a theme? I have resilience as a theme. Had a lot of set backs. I also have a process of self discovery as another. I didn’t know I liked helping others until I happened into out reach. I originally went to college for a football scholarship and gave it up when I had to choose sports or science, practice conflicted with labs. I didn’t even know I was good at school until I tried in college. 2.6GPA in high school. 3.57GPA in college. I wasn’t sure if I would like ICU until I had a patient with ruptured esophageal varices and we were running mass transfusion protocol in the back of an ambulance to another hospital with 4 pressers running and a Blakemore tube. Patient lived btw

I think that it makes sense to try to tie in your responses to answering the question why, you, as someone who already works in healthcare is considering medical school now.. I would not mention the negatives of nursing but frame it as talking about why and how that brought you to wanting to become a physician through positive experiences, such as wanting to take a leadership role to learning that you love the intricacies of pathophysiology.

 

[Dral]

We’d want to hear what draws you to medicine, not what drives you away from other professions. Medicine shouldn’t be your fallback position.

Agree.

OP, your reasons for switching aren't quite convincing. While I believe it's acceptable to have those reasons for a career switch, I think they may not fly for adcoms. You have to play the game, and those responses don't play the game exactly, though parts do.

Maybe try to flesh out the part about wanting to know more about the science behind meds and medical things. So you love helping people as a nurse, but you have gotten to the point where you want to level up how you take care of people and want to be front line caregiver who understands all the ins and outs, hows and whys....not because of a car accident and wanting less demanding work (I would tell you to get a nursing PhD instead and do nurse administration or find a nursing position that is less labor intensive if I was on an adcom).

 

[F34Rit53lf]

Agree.

OP, your reasons for switching aren't quite convincing. While I believe it's acceptable to have those reasons for a career switch, I think they may not fly for adcoms. You have to play the game, and those responses don't play the game exactly, though parts do.

Maybe try to flesh out the part about wanting to know more about the science behind meds and medical things. So you love helping people as a nurse, but you have gotten to the point where you want to level up how you take care of people and want to be front line caregiver who understands all the ins and outs, hows and whys....not because of a car accident and wanting less demanding work (I would tell you to get a nursing PhD instead and do nurse administration or find a nursing position that is less labor intensive if I was on an adcom).

I think focusing on wanting to go further in understanding of medicine is my direction. When COVID was just starting I was reading every piece of literature I had access to before COVID arrived. I even had a suggestion put in to practice on the unit as a result. My coworkers suggested infectious disease when I said I was going to apply to med school.
When confronted with unfamiliar diagnoses I am reading publications on them to familiarize myself with them conceptually. When I have an unfamiliar intervention I will make sure I understand it thoroughly through literature. When imaging is done, I want to know how to interpret it myself (I’ve actually become somewhat decent at it). There’s a depth of understanding I want in medicine that I can’t get in my current role that I would as a physician.

More of the direction I should focus on?

The car accident was five years ago and I’ve worked the entire time since because I find purpose in medicine and enjoy it. It wasn’t the sole reason for this decision.

 

[LunaOri]

Yes, that is more the direction in which you should focus.

 

[F34Rit53lf]

Hey everyone,
I am getting ready to submit to schools and have a meh GPA, 3.57, and a decent MCAT, 516. I have 3-4 years of research experience in projects ranging from neural plasticity, ecology and institutional research. All of these thing are see on many apps though. I have worked in an ICU and an RN for four years and through the pandemic which has me at around 7000 hours of clinical experience managing patient care. This will help me stand out correct? I can’t imagine many nurses go to medical school. I’m feeling nervous with my GPA, I had three really bad quarters, but with those three quarters gone my cumulative GPA is around a 3.75 with the other seven years of college.

I just wanted to thank everyone for the input. I’m realizing there’s a bit of a hole in my personal statement as to why I am transitioning from RN to MD. It’s very clear in my personal statement I am committed to medicine but I only have a line about why I am transitioning to MD(I don’t list the car accident in that line). I will take the input and explain more clearly what drew me to MD. Anyways that’s again for the input.

 

[YCAGA]

What is your science GPA? 3.57 cumulative is already quite low for MD schools these days, and I worry that your science GPA might be worse if you had "really bad quarters"...which usually means struggling with science classes.

 

[armenianevey]

I am an accepted MD student who is also an ICU nurse. You are welcome to DM me, I’ll give of my time freely. I love helping nurses go farther.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

What is your science GPA? 3.57 cumulative is already quite low for MD schools these days, and I worry that your science GPA might be worse if you had "really bad quarters"...which usually means struggling with science classes.

3.57 with a 516 is by no means low. They are fine numbers wise.

 

[YCAGA]

3.57 with a 516 is by no means low. They are fine numbers wise.

Times have changed bro. Things are not the same as they were when we were accepted 3-4 years ago. One school out of 171 in MSAR has a median GPA below 3.6. 3.57 for cGPA is low depending on your state of residence. 516 is like 65th percentile of accepted students at my middle-of-the-road state school, even though it is 92nd percentile for all test takers.

 

[F34Rit53lf]

What is your science GPA? 3.57 cumulative is already quite low for MD schools these days, and I worry that your science GPA might be worse if you had "really bad quarters"...which usually means struggling with science classes.

Science is actually higher then overall, bad quarters were early on in English 102 and precalc and then the retakes. I actually liked science so I did well in my those classes when I was younger.

 

[F34Rit53lf]

Times have changed bro. Things are not the same as they were when we were accepted 3-4 years ago. One school out of 171 in MSAR has a median GPA below 3.6. 3.57 for cGPA is low depending on your state of residence. 516 is like 65th percentile of accepted students at my middle-of-the-road state school, even though it is 92nd percentile for all test takers.

I am fine having a middle of the road MCAT for accepted students… that’s kind of the point

 

[F34Rit53lf]

Science is actually higher then overall, bad quarters were early on in English 102 and precalc and then the retakes. I actually liked science so I did well in my those classes when I was younger.

Science gpa is 3.64

 

[Bwesternn]

Your stats are fine and certainly will not be the reason you are unable to gain an acceptance to medical school.

 

[eigen]

What is your science GPA? 3.57 cumulative is already quite low for MD schools these days, and I worry that your science GPA might be worse if you had "really bad quarters"...which usually means struggling with science classes.

That is by no means an overly low GPA for medical school. I frequently have students get MD acceptances with lower.

GPA is a small part of your overall application package.

 

[gramnegative]

Anecdotal but I had a cGPA of 3.4-3.5 and it did not hold me back in any noticeable way from getting acceptances; I was formerly an ICU RN as well. I'm not saying you will necessarily have the same outcome as me but if your application is complete in every other area it should not necessarily get in your way.

 

[F34Rit53lf]

Hey, just wanted to follow up. I had five interviews and five acceptances! Including my top school! Thanks everyone for the input, it certainly helped. My story is the definition of you never know unless you try!

 

[Aksea23]

Would you mind sharing (or DMing) which schools you applied to? I am also a nurse and plan to apply in the coming cycle!

 

[LindaAccepted]

Are these acceptable reasons for why I choose MD over the others?

RN: was in a serious car accident and have chronic injuries as a result. Disc issues, detached scapular muscles, the torn labrum has been fixed. I need something less physical. I also want something heavier in the science. E.g.: While it sounds cool that I know that precedex is an alpha androgenic antagonist, in practice I simply need to know, precedex slows heart.

ARNP: the amount of schooling is more. I need to take a statistics class, despite having graduate level statistics, get my bachelors in nursing, I already have a bachelors in cell bio, and most schools have transitioned to a DNP, 4 years. The options are limited on what you can do and there are several specialties I’m interested in that I could not do as an ARNP.

PA: I would have to take a lot of classes over due to the time requirements and it would be around three to four years, depending on the number of prerequisites I would need to retake. Also, I wouldn’t be able to perform a large portion of the interventions. Last, it sounds like residency for a career.

Overall, I took a lot of heavy science classes during my bachelors in cell bio, 3.5 years of science research, ~700 hours of volunteer and all I used was two years of prerequisites for nursing school. Medical school works for me on many levels, it’s physically less demanding, it’s heavy in science, it allows me to stay at the bedside, I maintain my options and it allows me to operate with a sense of independence.

Opinion?

Most of this makes medicine seem attractive by default and only in comparison to other options. Frankly, it's rather negative. Can you think of positive reasons you want to be a physician? What in a positive way attracts you to this aspect of healthcare?