RN to MD-Looking for advice from nurses who successfully made the transition
Hi everyone! I’m an RN currently working toward applying to MD programs in 2028, and I’d really appreciate advice from anyone who has gone from RN/BSN → MD or DO, especially people who were working as nurses while completing their prerequisites.
I’m trying to be very intentional about building my application over the next ~2 years rather than waiting until application season to figure everything out.
My background:
● BSN/RN graduate(graduated with a 3.76)
● Currently working as an RN at a pediatric long-term care facility
● Because I work in long-term care, there are relatively few physicians around compared with an acute-care hospital. Most of the providers I work around are NPs, which has made physician shadowing more difficult.
● I currently have 8 hours of physician shadowing in peds and am actively trying to get more.
● 36 hours of volunteering so far, with plans to continue building this substantially before applying.
● 600+ hours of research, including research experience/poster work.I also have a publication but it’s nursing based.The poster isn’t nursing based.
● 2,000+ hours of clinical experience from nursing/clinical work and training.
● Nursing leadership/extracurricular experience as well as the secretary of my schools Student nursing association as well as just being charge nurse.
● I’m currently completing a post-baccalaureate program to complete my pre-med prerequisites but its undergrad classes so idk if it will be its own gpa or no.
● My post-bacc will provide a committee letter/evaluation if I finish with a 3.5+ GPA, which I’m aiming to do.
● I’m planning to take the MCAT in March 2028.
● Planning to apply during the 2028–2029 application cycle.
Current post-bacc timeline:
Fall 2026:
● General Chemistry II
● Physics I
● Pre-professional seminar
Spring 2027:
● Biology II
● Organic Chemistry I
Summer 2027:
● Slight MCAT preparation
● Continue volunteering/shadowing
● Physics II
Fall 2027:
● Organic Chemistry II
● Biochemistry
Spring 2028:
Studying for the MCAT
Then MCAT in March 2028 → apply May/June 2028.
My goal is primarily MD, although I’m not completely closed off to DO.
I know my nursing background gives me a lot of clinical experience, but I also know that I can’t just rely on that. My biggest concerns right now are whether I’m building enough of the non-nursing portions of my application, particularly physician shadowing and volunteering.
For people who have actually made the RN → MD/DO transition:
- How did you handle shadowing while working as an RN? Did schools care that you had fewer shadowing hours because you already had extensive clinical experience?
- How many physician shadowing hours did you ultimately have when you applied? Did you shadow multiple specialties or primarily one?
- If you worked somewhere like long-term care where there aren’t many physicians, how did you find physicians to shadow?
- How did you present your RN experience on your application? Did you list it primarily as clinical experience, employment, or both?
- Did admissions committees actually view your nursing background as an advantage, or did you feel like you had to explain why you were going from nursing to medicine?
- How much volunteering did you have when you applied? Did you focus on clinical volunteering, non-clinical service, or both?
- For those who had nursing research/QI/research experience, how did medical schools view it? Did you feel like you needed traditional wet-lab/basic science research in addition to your nursing research?
- How much research did you have when you applied, and did you have publications/posters?
- For people who completed a post-bacc, how did medical schools view the post-bacc GPA compared with your undergraduate GPA? Did the upward or downward trend make a significant difference?
- Has anyone had a committee letter from their post-bacc program? Did it help your application?what does it entail?Do I still need from physicians if I have that?
- How did you balance working as an RN with a full prerequisite course load? Did you eventually reduce your nursing hours or stop working during MCAT preparation?
- For the MCAT, how much time did you realistically need while working as an RN? Would you recommend taking significant time off work?
- For those who applied as RN → MD/DO, what do you wish you had started doing earlier?
- Were there any parts of your application that you initially thought were strong but later realized were weak?
- Did anyone successfully get into MD schools without having hundreds of physician shadowing hours? If so, what did the rest of your application look like?
- Finally, if you were in my position right now, what would you prioritize between now and applying in 2028?
I’d especially love to hear from people who were working nurses while completing a post-bacc, rather than applicants who went directly from BSN into medical school.
I’m still early enough in the process that I can fix weaknesses now, so I’d genuinely appreciate honest feedback—even if there are parts of my current plan that you think I need to change.
Thanks!
PS I unfortunately have bills so I can’t take time off work for the MCAT so if you studied while working I would love that input as well as what you did