Question for RN's :)?

Question

First off, let me express my thanks and admiration for the hard work that you guys do.

Secondly, I'm going to graduate from HS this year, and have dreams of being a doctor. Unfortunately, I don't have a penny to my name :( No one has saved anything for education either, so I will have to work it off myself. I think becoming an RN is a good way to do it, especially because I will be able to get valuable hospital experience.

The thing is, I also want to major in biology while I'm majoring in nursing at a community college, so I can save money when I transfer to a university. However, nursing is a demanding major. Could I pull it off and double major?

Thanks :)

Answer 1

That is a difficult question to answer. If this is a question about finances alone, I would say take out student loans and go to med school. Nursing school will take all your time, there are requirements for number of hours spent in class and clinicals that are nonnegotiable. After getting your nursing degree it appears you plan to attend med-school and work as a nurse, this also is most likely not possible. Med school will also take all your time and not allow for a full time or part time nursing job. I love nursing and wouldn't want to do anything else, pick the career you feel the same about. You need top grades to get into either program, don't risk a low GPA and not get into either school.

Answer 2

You could, of course you could, but it will be demanding and require quite a bit of time.  As long as you make the commitment to succeed, then you will succeed.

But the question I have is, if you dream of being a doctor, why not become a doctor?  You're at a very pivotal stage in your life, and unfortunately you are limited by your experiences.  You look at having no money as the reason why you can't become a doctor.  You can ALWAYS get student loans, work, etc, to scrape by.  You have to do your homework and really investigate the best way to pay for it all.  And yes, you will have a massive debt when you graduate.  But that debt will be trivial compared to the income you will be making over the course of your life.  So what if you come out with a $400k debt?  You'll pay that off in 5-10 years, then have the rest of your life to enjoy your salary and your dream job.  If you can transport yourself to the age of 40 and look back, you would see how important it is to follow your dream now, and worry about the money after you're working, because you will not be able to go back and change things later.

You can do whatever you want.  If you want to double major, of course you could.  But if your real job is to become a doctor, then you should ignore the costs and follow your dream, because in the very grand scheme of the rest of your life and who you will be as an adult, the cost of a medical education is trivial.