Children in Medical School

[llester]

I would love to hear from medical students (and beyond) about your experience handling medical school with children.

I'm single with a daughter who will be a couple of months shy of 2 years old by the time I head to school.

How do you manage your time (what's a typical daily schedule)?
Any particular advice for the added financial obligations?
What was your housing situation?
Does/did your school offer any kind of family support?

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[StarSpangled]

Hey! I’ve got two kiddos myself, who will be 1 & 3 when I start school next year. Not to be the blind leading the blind here but... I’ve asked all the med school parents I’ve encountered about this. Thus far I hear people say parents manage their time really well and treat med school like a full-time job: study/class 8 am- 5 pm. Evening until bedtime is for being with kids. After she goes to bed or before she wakes up will be for any additional studying. It seems manageable as long as we stay focused during the day and use our time efficiently.

The other questions may be school-specific. I know for one school I interviewed at, they will add the cost of daycare to your financial aid package. Some schools are more family-oriented than others, particularly those with an older average class age. DO schools also seem to have more parents in their classes.

Would also love to hear from people who have done it so I’ll be following for their responses!

 

[deleted1013752]

Ours were 1 & 3 when my wife started school. I traveled for work the first two years. We had a part-time nanny and the kids attended part-time school/daycare close to the house for a while. Our nanny had a baby she brought over and that worked out well. Gradually they got more time at school and less time with the nanny. The cost of childcare can be added into living expenses for school loans, but the Grad Plus loans have high interest rates and origination fees so we only did this the first year or so until I started making more money. My mother was able to come to town almost monthly to help out and that was awesome especially when I was away. It would have been nice to be closer to family or other close friends with young kids to help each other out.

Wife mostly studied at home regular work hours and then again after bedtime. Went to the minimum required stuff on campus and watched recorded lectures. Before boards she was studying easily 12 hours a day including most of the weekend, but that thankfully didn’t last long.

The school didn’t offer any sort of support. There was briefly an informal network of families but honestly there were just very few parents. We developed a network outside of the medical school, save for a few families/couples. Med students make awesome babysitters though. Keep in mind this is just one school - I went to a post-bacc where there was a great network of families. They were mainly LDS but of course the group wasn’t exclusive to that.

We bought a house we renovated. Honestly I can’t say this was the wisest decision but it ended up okay. Wife always thought she would have more time to do house stuff but just absolutely didn’t. Too busy. It would have been nice to be in a rental and avoid the projects/maintenance, but we have three kids and a dog plus a lot of tools. We felt like we needed a house.

Depending on your school, the first two years can be really flexible/manageable. The same cannot be said for the clinical years. You will have much less control over where you need to be and when.

 

[Goro]

I would love to hear from medical students (and beyond) about your experience handling medical school with children.

I'm single with a daughter who will be a couple of months shy of 2 years old by the time I head to school.

How do you manage your time (what's a typical daily schedule)?
Any particular advice for the added financial obligations?
What was your housing situation?
Does/did your school offer any kind of family support?

I've had students who were single parents as med students, so it's doable.

Your fellow students who are also parents are valuable resources. Pooled efforts and all that.