If I take nursing in university, can I still get accepted into med school?

I'm 17 and I recently applied to university. I just wanted to know if I would have a good chance in getting accepted into med school if I took nursing instead of biochem or something. I just didn't want to take up something that will not provide me with a guaranteed job after graduating.

Although on the surface it may seem like nurses study the same as a premed in college, this really isn't the case. Nursing schools have very specific coursework that the student takes which do not satisfy the requirements for a premed application. For instance, premed requires a full year each of both inorganic and organic chemistry that is taught at the most difficult, or chem-major, level. This is while nurses take a customized inorganic and organic chem class totaling just one year; this course sequence would be unacceptable to a med school application. Hence, you would have to take chem and organic all over again at the appropriate level.

Nursing programs are very tight in leaving you any room to take elective coursework. The program is often what's labeled a 5th year degree program as many students end up taking an addiitional year to fulfill nursing coursework. Taking a premed sequence while being a nursing student is very dubious. I would focus on what you really want to do and go for that.

You could choose any major in college that you'd like, as long as you satisfy medical school admission prerequisites and have a competitive MCAT score.