should i change my major to nursing?

[pinkjuicebox]

hi just need some advice on what i should do, i am a sophomore pre-med bio major and i realized biology is not a fitting major for me. I've wanted to be a doctor since I was maybe 5 but nursing is a major that is really interesting to me and I know it's best to major in something YOU will enjoy. I was thinking about switching to nursing since i am halfway done with my pre-reqs and just finish them and apply to medical school or take a gap year and work as a nurse, shadow more etc.Is this a good plan or should i stick to a different major like biology or psychology?

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[VaultArmitage]

Well I think the decision lies in whether you want to be a nurse or you want to be a doctor. Both are medical careers with people who love their job and people who hate their job, but obviously differ in many ways. Choosing a nursing major to look good for medical school is not a great idea because most med schools will assume you want to be a nurse and not a doctor.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Is there a nursing program at your school? You should probably talk with the academic advisors first. It's not as simple as you think.

 

[eigen]

Well I think the decision lies in whether you want to be a nurse or you want to be a doctor. Both are medical careers with people who love their job and people who hate their job, but obviously differ in many ways. Choosing a nursing major to look good for medical school is not a great idea because most med schools will assume you want to be a nurse and not a doctor.

I wouldn't agree with this. I think applying to medical school is, itself, a sign that you want to be a doctor after training as a nurse.

It's a major that will give some strong additional clinical experience, that could be useful if the OP is interested, and would have a direct path for well paid clinical experience after graduation if they don't want to directly apply to medical school.

 

[gyngyn]

It's a major that will give some strong additional clinical experience, that could be useful if the OP is interested, and would have a direct path for well paid clinical experience after graduation if they don't want to directly apply to medical school.

Sadly, applicants with vocational majors are the least likely to be successful in a medical school application.
We don't know if it's a cause of the outcome but it's a strong correlation.
Although my general advice is that we don't care about your major, the exception is a vocational major. They are not viewed as "university level."

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Personally, I always think it’s best to have a major (nursing, CS, engineering etc.) that you could fall back on in case things don’t work out. After all only about 38% of applicants get in.

Maybe not engineering because it lowers gpa but you get my point

 

[StressfulMD]

Sadly, applicants with vocational majors are the least likely to be successful in a medical school application.
We don't know if it's a cause of the outcome but it's a strong correlation.

That seems counterintuitive to me, honestly. I'm not an admissions person, but I personally would be very interested in a nurse with prior experience who intended on going to medical school. Entering nurses would certainly have an advantage over their peers with regards to a clinical understanding and clinical management. I think they would carry a unique perspective of medicine that many medical students and doctors simply won't have. And with the emphasis on clinical experience these days, nursing is literally as good as it gets.

 

[gyngyn]

That seems counterintuitive to me, honestly. I'm not an admissions person, but I personally would be very interested in a nurse with prior experience who intended on going to medical school. Entering nurses would certainly have an advantage over their peers with regards to a clinical understanding and clinical management. I think they would carry a unique perspective of medicine that many medical students and doctors simply won't have. And with the emphasis on clinical experience these days, nursing is literally as good as it gets.

The recommendations of the AAMC:

Will a nursing degree be an advantage when applying to medical school?​

It’s best not to choose nursing (or another health profession) if you don’t intend to practice that profession. Nursing requires rigorous coursework, but it differs from that of premed perquisites and will not necessarily help you best prepare for medical school. While there is overlap between the two fields of study, the courses and skills taught are not the same. However, if you start out genuinely wanting to be a nurse and change your mind after having some experiences, you can certainly explain that and be accepted to medical school. You can read about Rose or Courtney’s path from nursing to medical school in Anatomy of an Applicant.

How to choose the best premed major

As someone interested in pursuing a career in medicine, you may be wondering what you should major in to prepare for medical school.

students-residents.aamc.org

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

That seems counterintuitive to me, honestly. I'm not an admissions person, but I personally would be very interested in a nurse with prior experience who intended on going to medical school. Entering nurses would certainly have an advantage over their peers with regards to a clinical understanding and clinical management. I think they would carry a unique perspective of medicine that many medical students and doctors simply won't have. And with the emphasis on clinical experience these days, nursing is literally as good as it gets.

This is not the reason. It’s most likely due to the fact that people wanting to pursue these fields with less stringent GPA requirements tend to have lower GPAs. Then when they make the switch, it’s too late to substantially improve

 

[ciestar]

I wouldn't agree with this. I think applying to medical school is, itself, a sign that you want to be a doctor after training as a nurse.

It's a major that will give some strong additional clinical experience, that could be useful if the OP is interested, and would have a direct path for well paid clinical experience after graduation if they don't want to directly apply to medical school.

I QUIT nursing school and still had to explain why not nursing in multiple interviews. Adcoms were skeptical.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

There is a belief that nursing classes are less rigorous than other science classes. From people I’ve talked to in the nursing program at my UG, they seem arbitrarily difficult, like there’s not a lot of reasoning. I’m not sure whether it has to do with the quality of instruction (my mother was once a nursing prof - she refused to let people take notes in her class and said “just listen to me”), the students themselves or it’s inherent to the subject matter. At any rate, I would be cautious about risking your GPA for a major in a career that you don’t want to do!

Also apologies if I missed this in your original post but do the nursing courses line up with pre med requirements? At my school there was bio and a different class that was bio for nursing majors. If that’s the case I would personally have concerns that it was either not rigorous enough or that it relied on bad test questions to arbitrarily distribute the grades on a curve.

 

[Proudfather94]

There is a belief that nursing classes are less rigorous than other science classes. From people I’ve talked to in the nursing program at my UG, they seem arbitrarily difficult, like there’s not a lot of reasoning. I’m not sure whether it has to do with the quality of instruction (my mother was once a nursing prof - she refused to let people take notes in her class and said “just listen to me”), the students themselves or it’s inherent to the subject matter. At any rate, I would be cautious about risking your GPA for a major in a career that you don’t want to do!

Also apologies if I missed this in your original post but do the nursing courses line up with pre med requirements? At my school there was bio and a different class that was bio for nursing majors. If that’s the case I would personally have concerns that it was either not rigorous enough or that it relied on bad test questions to arbitrarily distribute the grades on a curve.

Most of their science is severely watered down versions of what a premed would take except for micro.

 

[pinkjuicebox]

There is a belief that nursing classes are less rigorous than other science classes. From people I’ve talked to in the nursing program at my UG, they seem arbitrarily difficult, like there’s not a lot of reasoning. I’m not sure whether it has to do with the quality of instruction (my mother was once a nursing prof - she refused to let people take notes in her class and said “just listen to me”), the students themselves or it’s inherent to the subject matter. At any rate, I would be cautious about risking your GPA for a major in a career that you don’t want to do!

Also apologies if I missed this in your original post but do the nursing courses line up with pre med requirements? At my school there was bio and a different class that was bio for nursing majors. If that’s the case I would personally have concerns that it was either not rigorous enough or that it relied on bad test questions to arbitrarily distribute the grades on a curve.

my school allows me to take pre-reqs along with nursing classes so finishing those aren’t a huge concern for me. my main concern is just what medical schools will think

 

[eigen]

Sadly, applicants with vocational majors are the least likely to be successful in a medical school application.
We don't know if it's a cause of the outcome but it's a strong correlation.
Although my general advice is that we don't care about your major, the exception is a vocational major. They are not viewed as "university level."

Interesting. I've never seen a nursing major described as "vocational", any more than an engineering major is.

I could see this if we were considering a non-bachelors level nursing program, but haven't seen the same thing for a BSN.

FWIW, I've not seen a difference in my students applying with "vocational" majors like engineering or nursing when they have the same profile otherwise with respect to courses taken and clinical experience.

The recommendations of the AAMC:

Will a nursing degree be an advantage when applying to medical school?​

It’s best not to choose nursing (or another health profession) if you don’t intend to practice that profession. Nursing requires rigorous coursework, but it differs from that of premed perquisites and will not necessarily help you best prepare for medical school. While there is overlap between the two fields of study, the courses and skills taught are not the same. However, if you start out genuinely wanting to be a nurse and change your mind after having some experiences, you can certainly explain that and be accepted to medical school. You can read about Rose or Courtney’s path from nursing to medical school in Anatomy of an Applicant.

How to choose the best premed major

As someone interested in pursuing a career in medicine, you may be wondering what you should major in to prepare for medical school.

students-residents.aamc.org

I think one difference here is the bolded part. I wouldn't recommend a student get a nursing degree if they do not intend to practice, but if a student plans to take gap year(s) and work as a nurse, I don't think the same situation applies. And since the OP is talking about taking gap year(s) and working as a nurse, I would say that they "intend to practice that profession".

I QUIT nursing school and still had to explain why not nursing in multiple interviews. Adcoms were skeptical.

Interesting, thanks for that. It's quite diametrically opposed to the students I've worked with who made the switch.

 

[gyngyn]

FWIW, I've not seen a difference in my students applying with "vocational" majors like engineering or nursing when they have the same profile otherwise with respect to courses taken and clinical experience.

Neither engineering nor CS (mentioned above) is viewed as vocational.
All of the allied health majors are.

 

[eigen]

Neither engineering nor CS (as mentioned above) is viewed as vocational.
All of the allied health majors are.

Like I said, I've never seen a bachelors level degree described as "vocational" before, so the perspective is interesting.

 

[Bwesternn]

I question whether or not it's even worth having to answer the question of "why do you want to be a doctor as opposed to a nurse -> NP?"

If OP knows they want to go to medical school, why would you bother going through nursing school, taking nursing boards, working as a nurse for a year, to THEN apply to medical school? Oh and in the process of all that, studying and taking the MCAT and going through an already difficult application process?

I highly doubt the "advantages" are worthwhile.

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

my school allows me to take pre-reqs along with nursing classes so finishing those aren’t a huge concern for me. my main concern is just what medical schools will think

If you major in nursing and work a year as a nurse, were I an adcom I would need to see evidence that you weren't just jumping ship from nursing, and that you wouldn't jump ship from medicine. The other clinical jobs that people get, EMT, scribe, MA, etc aren't entire majors and career paths. Whereas if you major in nursing it will appear you made a serious decision to become a nurse, then did something else after just a year.

I can see this working as a career change, ie you work as a nurse for 5 years and can meaningfully discuss how and why you want to exercise more clinical reasoning. That could also paint a picture of you getting into a better financial situation before applying to medical school, which is reasonable. Unfortunately a 1 year career in the field that you spent 4 years majoring in could read as wishy-washy.

I don't necessarily agree with this line of reasoning but adcoms will be able to ask very tough questions about why you would major in nursing, work for only a short period of time and then decide to do something else.

What don't you like about your biology major? What interests you about a nursing major? Not intending to grill you but maybe there's an alternate solution.

 

[eigen]

I think whether you're changing career or not you should prepare to be able to answer fully why you want to be a physician rather than some other field.

If you have a CS degree, you should be able to answer why, specifically, you want to be a physician and not a computer scientist. Ditto an engineer, or a chemist, or a biologist.

And you should, as an applicant, be prepared to answer why you specifically want to be a physician and not a mid-level practitioner.

 

[pinkjuicebox]

If you major in nursing and work a year as a nurse, were I an adcom I would need to see evidence that you weren't just jumping ship from nursing, and that you wouldn't jump ship from medicine. The other clinical jobs that people get, EMT, scribe, MA, etc aren't entire majors and career paths. Whereas if you major in nursing it will appear you made a serious decision to become a nurse, then did something else after just a year.

I can see this working as a career change, ie you work as a nurse for 5 years and can meaningfully discuss how and why you want to exercise more clinical reasoning. That could also paint a picture of you getting into a better financial situation before applying to medical school, which is reasonable. Unfortunately a 1 year career in the field that you spent 4 years majoring in could read as wishy-washy.

I don't necessarily agree with this line of reasoning but adcoms will be able to ask very tough questions about why you would major in nursing, work for only a short period of time and then decide to do something else.

What don't you like about your biology major? What interests you about a nursing major? Not intending to grill you but maybe there's an alternate solution.

i think what interests me most about nursing majors are their curriculum and how they study different medications and have clinical simulation labs. i also think medical school is really fascinating and exciting but people make it sound like hell and nursing sound like fun also the financial aspect of working for a year before medical school made me think about switching majors

 

[candbgirl]

i think what interests me most about nursing majors are their curriculum and how they study different medications and have clinical simulation labs. i also think medical school is really fascinating and exciting but people make it sound like hell and nursing sound like fun also the financial aspect of working for a year before medical school made me think about switching majors

So you plan to graduate, apply and get a job all around the same time? 🤔

 

[TragicalDrFaust]

i think what interests me most about nursing majors are their curriculum and how they study different medications and have clinical simulation labs. i also think medical school is really fascinating and exciting but people make it sound like hell and nursing sound like fun also the financial aspect of working for a year before medical school made me think about switching majors

What parts of medical school are you the most concerned about - do you trust the people who have made it “sound like hell”? If you’re interested in learning about medicines and doing clinical simulations, what would you think about getting a pharmacy tech job or MA or CNA now while keeping a more medical school-friendly UG major?

I see the appeal of making a nurse salary for a year while you decide on whether you want to go to medical school but realistically I think 1 year of nursing could hurt your app more than help, for reasons detailed above.

 

[RangerBob]

i think what interests me most about nursing majors are their curriculum and how they study different medications and have clinical simulation labs. i also think medical school is really fascinating and exciting but people make it sound like hell and nursing sound like fun also the financial aspect of working for a year before medical school made me think about switching majors

I thought med school was a blast. If you're hanging out with people who think it's hell you're just hanging out with the wrong people.

Med school can be quite busy. But that doesn't make it hell.

Nursing is very different than medicine. The philosophy is very different. It's hard to teach a nurse to be a doctor (hence a large part of the problem with NPs) and it's hard to teach a doctor to be a nurse. I think this is part of what worries programs--it's easier to train a "blank slate" so to speak than retrain someone who's been led down a different path. Nursing is much more hands-on and protocol-driven. Medicine is more science-based and impersonal. Remember--we're applied scientists. There's certainly an art to medicine that can make it personal, but medicine is just inherently more impersonal because it's addressing physiology/pathophysiology. Nursing really deals with the patient in front of you. Patient-care is what nursing is about. There's a reason (among many others) that people trust nurses more than doctors (though we're still among the most trusted professions--and we're actually respected more than RNs).

Both are great professions. I wish I had more interest in nursing--3 12hr shifts is full-time, with great union benefits (at least here in CA), regular pay increases, and everyone loves you. Like firefighters (another profession that more people should give thought to). But for the life of me I will run the opposite direction during a code brown and would not last a day as a nurse. I also like to hide in my office, and rather enjoy the more relaxed workday of a physician (at least of an inpatient rehab physician!). And I like science.

 

[Bwesternn]

i think what interests me most about nursing majors are their curriculum and how they study different medications and have clinical simulation labs. i also think medical school is really fascinating and exciting but people make it sound like hell and nursing sound like fun also the financial aspect of working for a year before medical school made me think about switching majors

I'm sorry, but this screams naivety. At some point you're going to have to ask yourself if you're really ready to commit to the journey of becoming a physician. Nursing's pharmacology is a surface level understanding of what you will learn in medical school, and the clinical simulation labs, while they sound "fun" (whatever that means) is NOT the same scope of medicine.

It sounds like you need to have a meeting with your academic advisor to better hash out what your long-term goals are and what you are hoping to get out of your undergraduate education.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

We get a lot of career switching (and maybe should anticipate a bump post-pandemic as we did post-9/11). It is common to ask, just as it would be common to ask in any general job interview. What makes the candidate really interested in medicine and motivated to go in that direction after a few years of being (examples) a pharmacist, a computer engineer, a lawyer... we want to know this change is thoroughly considered. We have a few people posting in the forums that worked as nurses prior to going to medical school, so if the OP is serious, it's possible but know why the switch. It's not just about getting clinical hours for a medical school application.

 

[pinkjuicebox]

thanks for responding everyone!! i really needed to hear different opinions , i know becoming a doctor is what i want to do and prolonging that is not going to be in my best interest. i am going to stick with my psychology major and i’m starting a cna job next week.

 

[medschoolme]

hi just need some advice on what i should do, i am a sophomore pre-med bio major and i realized biology is not a fitting major for me. I've wanted to be a doctor since I was maybe 5 but nursing is a major that is really interesting to me and I know it's best to major in something YOU will enjoy. I was thinking about switching to nursing since i am halfway done with my pre-reqs and just finish them and apply to medical school or take a gap year and work as a nurse, shadow more etc.Is this a good plan or should i stick to a different major like biology or psychology?

I don’t think this is a terrible idea. Gives you real life experience. Just make sure you take the time to take the upper level courses that are required to apply to med school. I’m not sure that nursing requires them. (For example organic chem, biochem, genetics ect)

 

[Beniacker08]

hi just need some advice on what i should do, i am a sophomore pre-med bio major and i realized biology is not a fitting major for me. I've wanted to be a doctor since I was maybe 5 but nursing is a major that is really interesting to me and I know it's best to major in something YOU will enjoy. I was thinking about switching to nursing since i am halfway done with my pre-reqs and just finish them and apply to medical school or take a gap year and work as a nurse, shadow more etc.Is this a good plan or should i stick to a different major like biology or psychology?

Double majored- BS in Economics & Sociology (hated biology, couldn’t understand why I needed to learn about plants and dinosaurs) switched into something I enjoyed. Got lots of good feedback/approvals/questions on my undergraduate and graduate degrees during interviews (medical and recently residency).

 

[FrederickFlores]

hi just need some advice on what i should do, i am a sophomore pre-med bio major and i realized biology is not a fitting major for me. I've wanted to be a doctor since I was maybe 5 but nursing is a major that is really interesting to me and I know it's best to major in something YOU will enjoy. I was thinking about switching to nursing since i am halfway done with my pre-reqs and just finish them and apply to medical school or take a gap year and work as a nurse, shadow more etc.Is this a good plan or should i stick to a different major like biology or psychology?

OK. Here we go...I will give you the best advice I can. I am currently an OMS-1 at ATSU-SOMA, but I have a very convoluted path to medicine. I began my career as a substance use disorder counselor (after completing a BA in organic chemistry and a Post BAcc in counseling) and then got my MSW (Master of Social Work). I knew I wanted to become a physician since high school, but issues in my 20's put that on the back burner. Once I was a licensed social worker, I began working on a mobile medical team and was encouraged to follow through on my dream of becoming a physician. But, I was scared I would not be successful in medical school admissions, so I applied to nursing school. I completed an accelerated BSN program and worked as an RN for 5 years. I am now 47 as a first year medical student.

AS far as nursing goes you have to be very careful. Very few of your nursing pre-requisite or science course will meet medical school admission requirements. You will still need a year of physics, chem with lab including organic, biochem, and a year of general bio with lab. I would advise against this option and maybe look at a major in medical lab science or strict with biology for the purpose of getting into medical school.

If you have any questions please reach out to me here and GOOD LUCK!

 

[LizzyM]

Beyond the items listed above, keep in mind that nursing clinicals are a time sink (like labs, you put in far more hours than you earn in credits) and the grading can be very rough so that your GPA takes a hit. Nurses can't make medical diagnoses which can be frustrating when you are looking at someone with heart failure and only allowed to address how many pillows the patient needs and where to place them so as not to overstep your place.

The other issue I see here is the morality of taking a space in a program meant to produce nurses and then leaving the profession after just a year. Programs may get a whiff of your intentions and not admit you to begin with.