oncoman Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Hi there, I just want to ask if anyone has considered nursing as a second degree and if you so how did u find it and can you comment on the success of getting into medicine with this degree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nstockley Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 I completed 2 years of a nursing degree as a second undergrad while I was waiting to get into medical school (the program was 4 years long). I found it not challenging and very unrewarding. I constantly wanted to delve deeper into my patients conditions and find out why specific treatments had been recommended... and I was always told that it didn't matter... that's what the doctors were for. Grr. I didn't get into medicine while I was in the nursing program, and I ended up leaving after 2 years because I was feed up with it, and had discovered nursing is no substitute for medicine (if that's what you rally want to do). I ended up starting my Masters in Mathematics September past, and then I got into medical school with my next application! The clinical experience in nursing school was fantastic, and made me even more convinced that I wanted to be a doctor... but the program itself, I found awful. Hopefully, if that's what you decide to do, you'll have a better experience then I did!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 I completed 2 years of a nursing degree as a second undergrad while I was waiting to get into medical school (the program was 4 years long). I found it not challenging and very unrewarding. I constantly wanted to delve deeper into my patients conditions and find out why specific treatments had been recommended... and I was always told that it didn't matter... that's what the doctors were for. Grr. I didn't get into medicine while I was in the nursing program, and I ended up leaving after 2 years because I was feed up with it, and had discovered nursing is no substitute for medicine (if that's what you rally want to do). I ended up starting my Masters in Mathematics September past, and then I got into medical school with my next application! The clinical experience in nursing school was fantastic, and made me even more convinced that I wanted to be a doctor... but the program itself, I found awful. Hopefully, if that's what you decide to do, you'll have a better experience then I did!!! I don't know what kind of hick nursing school you attended, but I took my Bachelor in Nursing at U of Manitoba and it was HARD. At UofM, third year is where you take the intense medicine and surgery theory, as well as clinical placements simultaneously. Medicine is 6 credit hours squeezed into one semester, same with surgery. In these courses you learn the pathophysiology of the disease, and exactly what each treatment does and how. Of course it's not as in depth as medical school, but a deep understanding nonetheless. In my nursing program, you have to know the rationale for everything you are doing. There is no excuse, "im doing it because the doctor ordered it." In nursing, if you dont understand what your doing to the patient, its your license on the line. You share the responsibility with the physician to make sure safe and effective care is provided. In my opinion nursing is very rewarding, and is the best degree to get a good foundation of basic knowledge of medicine and the best way to get your feet wet working with patients. It also heavily develops your critical thinking and problem solving skills. This will show in the interview. There are drawbacks of course. The schedule doesn't allow much flexibility and it is more difficult to achieve a high GPA. The clinical courses never hand out A+, and you need 85% for an A, rather than 80% as it is for sciences. Oncoman, feel free to PM me if you have more questions. Backround: Im a newgrad emergency nurse finishing up some sciences for the MCAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cnb88 Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 I'm curious about this as well. I'm thinking of doing a 2/3 year after degree-type nursing program (as my backup in case I never make it into med) so I can maybe bring up my GPA a little, and I'm just wondering if there's anyone out there that have gone through these programs and what their marks were (ie a decent GPA is possible, or not so much), experiences in the program, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABMD Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 I did one of the accelerated after degree programs in nursing as a back up for med and in hind sight (now being in med school) it was a great option. I personally found the BN program much easier than my BSc. program and had a significantly higher GPA. I would say the material isn't hard, they just throw a lot of material at you that you need to wade through. The clinical experiences you get in nursing school are what I found really beneficial once in med; I think you develop a level of comfort with patients as a nurse that few other medical students have starting out. And if medical school doesn't happen you have a good job with the option of becoming a nurse practitioner, among other options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nstockley Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 I don't know what kind of hick nursing school you attended, but I took my Bachelor in Nursing at U of Manitoba and it was HARD. At UofM, third year is where you take the intense medicine and surgery theory, as well as clinical placements simultaneously. Medicine is 6 credit hours squeezed into one semester, same with surgery. In these courses you learn the pathophysiology of the disease, and exactly what each treatment does and how. Of course it's not as in depth as medical school, but a deep understanding nonetheless. In my nursing program, you have to know the rationale for everything you are doing. There is no excuse, "im doing it because the doctor ordered it." In nursing, if you dont understand what your doing to the patient, its your license on the line. You share the responsibility with the physician to make sure safe and effective care is provided. In my opinion nursing is very rewarding, and is the best degree to get a good foundation of basic knowledge of medicine and the best way to get your feet wet working with patients. It also heavily develops your critical thinking and problem solving skills. This will show in the interview. There are drawbacks of course. The schedule doesn't allow much flexibility and it is more difficult to achieve a high GPA. The clinical courses never hand out A+, and you need 85% for an A, rather than 80% as it is for sciences. Oncoman, feel free to PM me if you have more questions. Backround: Im a newgrad emergency nurse finishing up some sciences for the MCAT. I'm so happy to hear that there are excellent nursing programs out there! I was afraid that what I experienced was the norm... and that would be awful! I completely agree that if provided a *proper* background in a nursing program, it is an excellent foundation. Like I said, I got a lot out of the clinical experiences, but little out of the courses (for example, it was very easy to get A's, and my GPA was a 4.0 in that program when I left). Congrats on graduating! My faith in nursing programs has been restored! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frosty Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 Thanks stockley. For those curious, my cGPA is 3.82 for this program, 4.03 aGPA. Adjusted is what uofm looks at. I admit in first year my work ethic wasn't the greatest, my gpa could have been higher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladybug Posted July 13, 2010 Report Share Posted July 13, 2010 nstockley - where did you do your nursing degree? does anyone have any experience with nursing at mcmaster? i'm mildly concerned about their problem based learning approach, as i've heard it can be difficult to attain high marks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nstockley Posted July 13, 2010 Report Share Posted July 13, 2010 nstockley - where did you do your nursing degree? does anyone have any experience with nursing at mcmaster? i'm mildly concerned about their problem based learning approach, as i've heard it can be difficult to attain high marks. My experience was with MUN's School of Nursing - MUNSON - (which I will note is different from the Centre for Nursing Studies - CNS -, also in Newfoundland). While the programs are supposed to be identical, what I've heard is that the CNS is a wonderful school, and have a great program. My experience with MUNSON was the opposite. However, I know lots of people have gone through MUNSON and have said they had an awesome experience, unfortunately I wasn't one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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