Medical school......

Question

My family is really into me going to medical school to become a Registered Nurse, like my mom. I just feel like its not really the type of job I want. I really have a strong passion for children, and medicine, and my whole life I have felt that a Pediatrician is the job title that would fit me the best. Im only 16 years old, and a junior in high school, but I am trying to plan out college, and becoming an RN would only require 4 years of schooling, meanwhile a Pediatrician would require about 11-12. What should I plan for? I have above average grades, should I go for my RN title. and then add on schooling once I can start making some money? Or should I live with my parents for 11 extra years?

Answer 1

Ahh. Do what YOU want to do, not what your PARENTS want you to do. If you want to be a pediatrician, then go for it!

What you COULD do is get your BA in nursing, while taking the classes required for med school, THEN go to med school afterwords.  

Answer 2

If you have the grades and courses for college and especially if you get a scholarship or qualify for financial aid you should have no problems. If college proves to difficult you can always fall back on RN or Nurse practitioner but I always say we place the bar too low in the US and you should aim as high as you please. Check out financial aid options, research medical schools as well as where you want to do your undergraduate degree. If you approach your mom with a well thought out and prepared plan she may be a lot more open to it. Also NOW start volunteering at a hospital so you know what It is really like. PS it is time for you to get your applications out to college this spring Take you SAT ACT ASAP!!!! You should be able to live on campus or an apartment in college just do your homework!!!

Answer 3

The other option is to take out student loans for medical school if and when you get accepted.  That is what the majority of medical students do, unless you get financial support from your parents or are independently wealthy.

Follow your true passion.

Medical school is hard and being a physician is a huge time and life commitment. If you're doing it to make money, there are easier ways of doing it.

I tell this to anyone who is interested in becoming a doctor. If you can see yourself doing anything else with your life, then do it. However, if you truly love the practice of medicine, then go for it.

Here is what to expect if you go to decide to become a doctor:

You must first complete an undergraduate program (usually 4 years) during which you will apply for medical school, which is another 4 years. However, you will need to have a good undergraduate GPA (at least 3.5 to be safe), take your pre-med requirement courses (inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, physics, biology, english, and math), and good MCAT scores (standardized exam that tests your reading comprehenion, writing skills, and knowledge of physical and biological sciences) to even be considered for medical school.

During medical school, you will take courses in the core curriculum with numerous exams during the 1st two years covering different areas of basic science, pharmacology, physiology, and anatomy. You will also have to take two more big standardized exams during medical school. Then during your last year in medical school you will apply for residency training in whatever field you are interested (internal medicine, surgery, radiology, etc.), which can range from 3-5 years of additional training.  Since you are interested in pediatrics, that is 3 years.

Unless you have financial support from your parents or you're independently wealthy, you will need to take out student loans or get scholarships for both undergrad and medical school. However, you will get paid during your residency but it is a meager salary ($42,000 - $54,000 depending on geographic location and years of training) for the large amount of work and stress (60-80 hours per week).

After completing residency, then you can practice as a doctor. However, if you want to subspecialize further in pediatrics (or whatever field), you need to apply for fellowship and complete an additional ~1-3 years trainng.

So basically, becoming a doctor is hard and a huge committment. Most people will finish their residency training by 28-30 years old at the earliest (if you go straight to college after high school and then to medical school without any breaks in between) with about ~$100,000-200,000 debt in student loans. However, if you truly love the practice of medicine and helping people, then it may be your calling.

With regard to living with your parents during school and training, that is all dependent on if you get into a medical school and residency training program near your parents.  The residency training process is a match system where you rank the programs you liked after interviewing with them and they rank you.  Then on a particular date, you find out where you matched.  This means that you either have to go to the training program that you were assigned or not go at all that year.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Not trying to be harsh, but you need more than average grades to be an pediatrician. As an RN, you can specialize in pediatric medicine, so you do have a choice in what area  to go into with nursing. There is still hope if you are determined to be a pediatrician. Get your grades up and keep them up through you pre-med program. Know the material and study hard. You are going to have to work hard to accomplish the goal of a nurse or a pediatrician. In the end, you have to do what is best for you. You are the one who will have to live with your decision, not your mother.

Answer 5

Follow your heart.  You can always get a bachelor's degree in nursing and then go to med school.  Its perfectly normal and LOTS of people do it.  I know someone who did just that.  He got his RN and worked for a few years to save money, then went back to med school.

Good luck.

Answer 6

Nursing is a very different profession in medicine--so different that I have known it to turn some people off on medicine all together.  If you aren't enthusiastic about nursing, avoid it completely.  

After all of these years of sitting in class after class it's a bit much to contemplate another 8 years for college and medical school.  But college will be one of the best periods in your life.  You'll have far better instructors, less regimen in your daily life and more freedom (which gets quite a few people in trouble because they want to 'break loose' and don't have the self-discipline).  And medical school is not 4 years of sitting in classrooms.  While the first 2 years are spent in classrooms and labs, the second two years are spent in hospitals and clinics.   You'll be very surprised at how fast time flies once you enter your residency.  I can guarantee you that you won't be bored.  

Very few people who go to medical school are rich, so all of us have had to take out student loans and secondary loans to pay for school and living expenses.  Most of us have experienced being a poor medical student and know what it's like to opt for the pizza shared with friends versus the fast food burger.  Sharing the experiences with others lessens the dreariness of it all and honestly, it doesn't last for long.  So look forward to making memories and don't worry that you'll 'have' to live with family.  But above all else, do what you want to do.