Bachelor’s Degree
If you are a registered nurse with an associate degree or diploma, you will need to ensure you continue your education and acquire a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing (BSN) or another field. Though not a total game changer, strive for a >3.5 GPA.
Prerequisite courses
Medical schools have a general list of requirements for entry and then each school may have their own personalized list of requirements.
Typical medical school requirements; I have bolded the requirements that were already covered by my nursing program:
- Biology
- Chemistry (General and Organic)
- Physics
- Mathematics (Calculus or Statistics)
- English
- Social Sciences
As you can see, I still had to take many more prerequisites to even apply to medical school. I will go into more detail on how I approached my prerequisite courses in another post.
The American Academy of Medical Colleges (AAMC) has a published document listing medical schools in the United States and their requirements. What is great about this document is that it lists what schools will accept credits from community colleges and online courses. It is a useful tool but your best bet is to reach out to the colleges individually and ask them what credits they accept.
When I was applying for medical school in 2020, I did not find the previously mentioned document so I cold-emailed the admissions office of medical schools that interested me. I searched medical schools near me, visited their website and looked for the contact information for their admissions office.
Here is an example of one of the emails I sent to clarify admission requirements, notice that I specifically list my course and where I am taking it:
MCAT
Oh the dreaded standardized entrance exam. There are tons of resources out there that can help you prepare to take this. I personally do not excel at standardized exams and that was the case for the MCAT for me. I applied to holistic medical schools which took into account my life experience as a whole rather than just my academic record. I will go into more detail in another post as to how I prepared for this exam during my nursing job.
4 responses to “Educational requirements for medical school”
Hey, I have a question! For context, I’ve just finished my ADN program and planned to start prerequisite classes at a local university at the start of next year. There is only one RN-BSN program near and they don’t allow me to take prerequisites while in that program. The question I have is should I do an online program? I am questioning this because I do not know how admissions will look at my degree being only online, while my ADN degree is a 3.3 GPA. I am certain that the online program is going to give my GPA a boost, but I am not sure how meaningful my application will be. Ultimately, should I lean towards the online bridge program? Or get a degree at the local university in a degree that I can finish near the same time as the bridge program online.
Thank you for taking the time to read and reply, I am all over the place right now.
Thank you for your question!
To clarify, do you mean an online BSN program? As long as you do well, a BSN is a BSN whether or not it is online. Your first goal needs to be getting the BSN, applying to medical school requires a 4-yr degree in anything and as a nurse, it’s most obvious to get a BSN.
Secondly, what is important are the medical school prerequisite courses and those are the ones that are listed in this post and the ones you should strive to get high marks for. I will go into more detail on how I approached my prereqs but in general: I took my physics online and my gen chem and organic chem at a community college, I took prereqs over 3 years while working full time. I applied with a 3.6 GPA. Your 3.3 GPA is solid but you can try to get it higher with the rest of your degree courses. Hope this helps!
Hi Lily! I have a quick question reguarding research. Did you do any research while in nursing school or while completing pre-reqs? I’ve been a nurse for 4 years and we didn’t have to do research in nursing school at ASU. That is one thing I’m most nervous about because wouldn’t even know how to begin to look for opportunities as I’m planning on doing my Ochems and biochems at a community college and online, respectively. I love your videos and blogs btw, truly inspired me to get my butt back to school!
Thank you for the kind words! My research experience came from coordinating research studies. As a nurse, you can do Quality Improvement projects at your workplace and that would count towards research projects. Some schools may not require research experience but I believe more and more will want you to be well-rounded applicant with research experiences. It’s definitely a check box to strive for but if you have a strong application otherwise, you may be able to apply without it, especially if you apply to the University of Arizona – a very holistic medical school. Best of luck to you!