Preparing for Nursing School?

Should I go to nursing school or massage school?

• Hello, I'm currently in my last semester of my Master's Degree in Biology at a very good school in New York State. I decided late that I will be applying to medical school so I have to wait a year in order to take the mcats and apply to all of the schools that I want. I decided that during the year I will have off I will go to school either to become a nurse or a massage therapist. I know that it is advised to not work while in medical school but I will have no option since I am receiving no help from my parents. I would like to either become a nurse or a massage therapist so that I may work part time during medical school to help pay for my costs of living. The reason I am considering massage school is because I am already a yoga instructor and I plan to go into osteopathic medicine with a specialty in ob-gyn. I feel that having all three of these attributes will help me better serve my patients. Also, I feel that while massage therapy can be taxing on the body, it will be a more relaxing experience than nursing would. I assume that medical students would need a relaxing environment once in a while. I think it would also be particularly useful to practice massage on pre-natal patients as I hope to become an obstetrician. I like the idea of nursing because it may give me a boost on my medical school curriculum. I will be working closely with doctors in the medical field and will be gaining important experience as an RN and making more than I would as a massage therapist (I think?). I am currently a phlebotomist and I know that the nurses at my hospital work incredibly hard and the job is very taxing on the body, but the experience I will gain may be worth it. The massage school in my area has a 9 month program which costs $16,000 to attend. I looked at the curriculum and was immediately drawn to it due to my tendencies toward natural healing and homeopathy. I only worry that the amount of money I would make as a massage therapist would not make up for the tuition cost. I have had a difficult time determining how much massage therapists typically make as it seems to vary highly. The nursing school I planned to attend is at a local community college and will probably cost half of what I would be paying at massage school but because the nursing courses must be taken in chronological order, I will likely be there for at least a year and a half. I know that ADNs are less desirable than BSNs or MSNs but I will already have my Master's in Biology to help boost my credentials. The hospital that I currently work for is willing to hire ADNs who have a bachelor's and master's in subjects other than nursing so I hope that other hospitals would do the same. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Also, any suggestions for another affordable alternative that will take approximately 1-1.5 years to complete would be great! Thank you!

• Answer:

  "Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!" Your ideas about yoga and "osteopathic medicine" are troubling. They indicate you do not think scientifically even though you have a Master's in Biology. Osteopathy pulled itself out of the swamp of superstitious thinking about fifty years ago, but is now sliding backwards (despite being the legal equivalent of regular MD medicine). Irrational, quacky ideas are taught in osteopathy schools, and osteopaths are very susceptible to altmed baloney. See the article below.