okay here is the scenario- i am a 17 year old junior in high school who is aspiring to become a pediatrician or neonatologist. i have taken almost every science class in high school (including chemistry and anatomy and physiology) i am also a active member of our school's HOSA (health occupations students of america) program which is a 4 year course (1st 2 years is learning body systems and exploring jobs - 3rd year is clinical rotations everyday in hospital and community and 4th year is EMT certification, which i will be doing next school year) my concern is where to start off at when going to college. i ahve absolutly no guidance, i am the first person in my entire family to graduate from high school-let alone aspire to do such great things. so i have no help from my parents or family. being said that i am also quite poor and everything i will be able to pay will be out of my own pocket, which isn't much. i work all the time so i don't have time to do the things i love (baseball,basketball,orchestra) and i am worried about college. my counselors haven't helped me at all. what is a good college i can get into in texas that would offer a very good nursing program? see my "plan" is to go to college for 4 years and get my RN liscence and pre med degree, then from the take my MCAT and hopefullly get into med school. my questions are for one, is this a phesable plan? i mean can i go straight from high school to start working on a BS in nursing? also, i m wondering what is a good college in texas prepherably(b/c i don't have enough money to go out of state) that offers a good nursing program? i am sorry to bother you but no one has been able to give me a direct answer. i would really appreciate your advice. also if u could give me any suggestions, like if i shouldn't do the nursing thing ya know. thanks you so much!

Why are you even bothering with an RN program if you want to be an MD? I don't quite understand that. Surely, just graduate High School and go and get your premed BS, ensuring that it fulfills all the criteria for biology, physics and chemistry practicals, then take your MCATS and apply to med school. This would surely be simpler, unless you really want to practice as an RN? If you really want to be an MD, then just apply to med school straight away without wasting time. I not sure about med school in Texas, but I am sure there are some. There are good med schools in Boston though, including Harvard.

Good luck.

i really need something to fall back on, i figured if i didnot get into med school, i could go to college a little longer and be a NP. also i would need a job to help pay for my cost of living while in sschool so i figured that a RN would give me a lot of experience as well. but what is a BS and what could i do with that besides med school. i am just keeping my options open so i have something to fall back on.

RedHead,

Most four-year colleges and universities require a year of "pre-nursing:" chemistry, biology, math, etc. I suggest that you spend your first year trying to decide which path you'd like to follow.

It's pretty unusual for RN's to beocme MD's. The training is quite different and becoming a nurse is a pretty long, involved process.

In any case, I think you should plan to spend your first year of college EXPLORING. College will introduce you to so many new ideas, books, people, and so forth. You'll be able to figure out if medicine is right for you, nursing is right for you, or if something else is even better.

Take care and good luck!

Mats (nurse)

I am currently trying to get a BSN, i want to go to med school. However i do not know what would be the best pre-med degree to fall under. I need a degree that can help me support myself through med school. I have heard biology is the way to go, but i am not too sure what kind of opportunities that would offer me if i was unable to attent med school. If something was to happen, and i could not attend med-school, what kind of job and income could a biology major offer me? my counselors here at my university are not very helpful. Please e-mail me at [removed].com

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there are tons of scholarships and grants out there. ask you guidance counselor for help. is he/she isnt willing to help go to your principal.

To RedHead86,

I understand your delimma. Not everyone is accepted into med school the first time. Sometimes an advanced degree or some medical experience is necessary before you will be considred for admission. You also need something to fall back on in case your plans or opportunities change. (Believe me it happens to the best of us.) What I would suggest, since you are still in high school, is to do some research on "Electroneurodiagnostics." This term describes an allied health field dealing with diagnosis and treatment of all aspects of the nervous systm, from nerve conduction to Operating Room Surgery on the spinal cord and various nerves, to evoked potentials to sleep disorders and last but not least electroencephalography. The technologists who perform these procedures are highly trained, well respected, paid very well and are in very very high demand. Best of all, they perform procedures ALL OVER the hospital. A few hours in the neonatal intensive care unit testing for seizures, an hour in the pediatric intensive care unit testing a child with a closed head injury, back down to the lab for a visual evoked potential on someone who had a stroke and now has a hemianopsia and then score some sleep studies for the remainder of the day. You get to go all over the hospital, obtain a maximum amount of exposure with all kinds of medical disciplines, make friends with imporant MDs (comes in handy later!)while making an easy $35-50K two years out of high school! While working, go to college! Actually be one of the students in school who has cash to spend!

Electroneurodiagnostics is a one or two year course taught at allied health schools, community or junior colleges. Do a search on ENDT or polysomnography and you may just find something you can fit into your plan for medical school. You would not be the first ENDT tech to go on to be an MD.

hey thank you very much! is this course somehitng i can take with my BSN degree course? or do i have to do that, then do my BSN? that sounds liek lots of fun and money is gonna be a very big deal while i am in college http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

Here is what I would do:

1. Take Electroneurodiagnostics with a concentration in polysomnography at an allied health school or junior college.

2. Take the BRPT Registered Polysomnographic Technologist board exam 6 months after graduation and/or the Registered Electroencephalographic/Evoked Potential Technologist board exams 1 year after graduation.

3. Work in the field for 1 or 2 years making $35,000-$50,000 per year. Get a used car and decent apartment with a roommate. Every 6 months "buy" an additional $10,000 CD at a credit union.

4. Take core courses for the BSN part-time and summer school during the 1-2 years of working.

5. Gain formal admission to BSN school of nursing on the 3rd year and begin RN-specific classes. Cut back to PRN work in ENDT, perhaps scoring sleep studies at $30 to $40.00 per hour at home on your computer when you have time.

6. Graduate by the 5th year and take the RN licensing exam.

You are now 22 years old, RedHead RPSGT, R.EEG/EPT, RN BSN. You are now uniquely qualified to perform advanced nursing within neurology and command an easy $60,000 and greater per year.

Now apply to med school. Your chances of gaining admission are now much greater than before. You also have a minimum of $25,000 to $30,000 in cash which will come in handy for med school.

If you don't go to med school, make a down payment and buy a house by the age of 25 years old. Now you don't have to pay rent and get a tax break. Still making $60,000 a year, buy more $10,000 CDs. See how this works?

Another option is to attend a university that's affiliated with a hospital and work in a clinical lab while you're an undergraduate. The lab experience is an excellent thing to have if you're applying to med school, and it'd also allow you to work as a technician (or at a biotech firm, if you're in to that sort of thing) after you graduated.

Hey, if you want to be a great doctor like this, then rather than conventional MD training, I would strongly suggest that you go to Bastyr and train as an ND instead.

It is just that to me, your philosophy of trying to help people and not caring whether they have insurance or not and doing home visits and trying to help people in the best way that you can really does not fit in with MD training at all. If you want to go with this philosophy, why not heal naturally too, with herbal remedies, homeopathy and acupuncture? It makes a lot more sense to me.

I originally trained as an RN and then homeopathy and acupuncture and am now contemplating going to Bastry myself to get my ND. It was one of my practitioners that put this idea in my head, as he trained at Bastry himself and told me how great he thought their program was.

Anyway, ND's are trained fully in conventional medicine, but just get the extra training in naturopathy, homeopathy, herbal medicine and acupuncture. They are licenced in lots of States as primary care docs, but not all, so you could really make a difference in this way.

If you did not do this, then you could always train as an MD and then after this, go to Bastyr and get your ND too. If you did this, then a four year course would be cut significantly, as you could apply for advanced standing. MD's, DC's and DO's can apply for advanced standing status.

Anyway, good luck. I really admire your philosophy towards this, but from my standpoint, this does not seem to fit with being an MD at all. All the MD's I have ever seen have given me about 3 minutes of time and a prescription for meds that never seemed to work. It was going to see an ND that turned me around, when he gave me a full consultation of at least an hour and actually listened to everything I said. Wow.

Anyway, good luck.

what is a ND? where is Bastryp? that sounds REALLY awesome cuz i am VERY much into that kind of healing! if you could fill me in as much as you could about the two, i would greatly appreciate it! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

Bastyr is a University of alternative healthcare sciences and is in Seattle. They have a website that wil give you all the info you need.

An ND stands for Naturopathic Doctor, so when you graduate you will get a Doctorate in Naturopathic healing techniques, that include herbal medicine, naturopathic techniques, homeopathy and acupuncture if you wish. The training is 4 years long and you get conventional MD training in anatomy, physiology, pathology and diagnostic techniques, but the way you treat will be different and ND's can diagnose disease in the same way, but cannot treat with conventional drugs. They are licenced for small surgical procedures but nothing more. You get to do your internship on the wards there.

I suggest that you go to the website and have a look and you can also request a brochure with all the info and an application form.

If you are into the alternatives, then this would definitely be the way for you to go.

Good luck