Hi Mana, thanks for your advice.
Regarding #2, that was actually what I was doing during my psych undergrad. I was "working towards" psych as it was my Plan B and told myself that I would try for med after I finished. I always knew the GAMSAT would be a process, however, as I didn't have a strong science background (only did gen maths, no chem/physics/bio in school). Hence why I think doing med sci was beneficial as it allowed me to pick up fundamental courses as well as get a taster for studying med courses (e.g. anatomy). Now that I've covered the basic sciences, I feel more comfortable going through prep materials on my own but still don't expect a good score on this upcoming sitting as it'll be my first attempt/practice run.
Gonna chime in here and state that in my experience GAMSAT was more an aptitude test and less a test of your knowledge of basic sciences and humanities. Doing medical science or part thereof in my opinion is overkill in the wrong area (you want to develop aptitude over knowledge). The GAMSAT is not read-and-regurgitate; those studying content for it should aim for conceptual understanding of the subject matter so that they can reason in the exam.
Now think I'm swaying more towards starting a masters over continuing with MedSci next year but I'm just a bit worried I'll fall into the trap of getting distracted again and losing sight of the GAMSAT because I'm trying to juggle/focus on my course load. That's what happened during my psych degree and why I didn't attempt the GAMSAT in previous years despite having the opportunity to do so.
Nonetheless, I'm curious to hear your thoughts on whether you think a masters in nursing vs psych is a better option? The nursing program has clinical placements that I'm very excited about and the application process is more straightforward. However, career-wise, I don't think I'd be content in nursing as it's not med and in some respects, you'll constantly be the underdog. I think it'd be good experience prior to med. So not sure if psych would be better (I'm less enthusiastic about starting the psych program though)?
I think something that constantly needs reaffirmation in the healthcare setting is that nurses are not underdogs; nurses are as front-line patient care as you can get, and they do all the hard work taking care of patients. I don't think I could be a nurse; they work much harder than I do (at least where I work).
Before you get into nursing I think you will need to think about your motivations for this. While nurses may work under the medical direction of a doctor, I as a doctor am not their boss - I only direct the medical side of their tasks; the rest of the patient care is largely on their shoulders.
As for psychology, I am sure reading some of LMG! 's advice will give you a reasonable perspective on the career pathway given her experience as a clinical psychologist.
Psychology is not medicine much like nursing is not medicine, but if you are deciding to do nursing for the clinical placements to increase your chances of getting into medicine then I think you are not only doing nursing for the wrong reasons but also I don't think it would help much compared to getting good scores in the GAMSAT and interview. It would be a talking point or portfolio point and might give you a couple of points on an MMI station but outside of this utility it doesn't increase your chances of medical school admission, so if you are doing nursing, it should be because you want to be a nurse.
It is possible as a nurse to work internationally much the same as doctors do for MSF (which I am sure relies heavily on their nursing staff as well). But I used the example of having a family as another life goal that you might decide to work towards with the implication that there is always an opportunity cost of trying to gain medical school admission (and the cost increases the more times you attempt it because of the time and effort that could otherwise be spent elsewhere like family or a different career). At some point the opportunity cost becomes too great to continue attempting entry and you get on with the other things you want so that you don't sacrifice it all for this one goal which is just another job.