LOR, job, 2 weeks notice?

[vanillabear55]

So I've been working about 30-35 hours a week as an RA (Research Assistant), which was supposed to continue until the Fall.

However, I'm applying this summer, taking the first MCAT in June, and it suddenly hit me how close that is and I'm not progressing with practice tests- largely due to being totally drained at the end of work days/cramming on the other 3 days of the week (I volunteer 9-5 as well one day a week).

I've been planning on asking for a LOR from my boss, but it just hit me if I don't change something soon, I'm either not going to get a good MCAT score and have a terrible cycle or I'm going to have to wait another year (on my second gap year as it is).

Advice? Do you think I should quit my job/how would you go about doing that? I don't want to end on bad terms with my boss, it really has been an amazing experience thus far, but I really want to move on with my life and not have to postpone it for another year. If I give my two weeks notice soon, I could have all of May full time to study...but at the same time, once the MCAT is done, I'm out of a job during the application cycle...

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[dieanotherday]

are there back up RA's in case you quit?
I remember at my ugrad, if you quit, you lost free campus housing, book/materials reimbursements
people who were kicked out of their residential adviser roles had to pay back the amount of campus housing they had already lived as well as give back $$ they received for books/materials

 

[vanillabear55]

are there back up RA's in case you quit?
I remember at my ugrad, if you quit, you lost free campus housing, book/materials reimbursements
people who were kicked out of their residential adviser roles had to pay back the amount of campus housing they had already lived as well as give back $$ they received for books/materials

hey sorry, I meant research assistant, not resident assistant! (fixed in the original post)

I also graduated, so it's not related to my education in any way (except I plan on applying to the med school at the university I do research at).

 

[areserine]

Would your PI be open to the idea of you taking (unpaid) leave for May to prep for the MCAT? That way you could have a job when you come back and you would have time to study. Or could you ask him to cut down your hours for a bit? If your PI is familiar with the med school app process and is sympathetic, this might be reasonable for him to agree to. Another option is taking leave from your volunteering which would free up a full day per week.

 

[vanillabear55]

Would your PI be open to the idea of you taking (unpaid) leave for May to prep for the MCAT? That way you could have a job when you come back and you would have time to study. Or could you ask him to cut down your hours for a bit? If your PI is familiar with the med school app process and is sympathetic, this might be reasonable for him to agree to. Another option is taking leave from your volunteering which would free up a full day per week.

I might propose that idea, to take unpaid leave for May. My PI isn't a medical doctor, so I'm not sure if he does understand the difference in prep between the MCAT and say the GRE...

I thought about reducing the volunteering, but I just started in January and wanted to accumulate as many hours as possible. If need be I could easily opt out, but I realllllly love the ER I volunteer at. It keeps me grounded and focused on the big picture (as opposed to dying over physics and orgo......haha)

 

[dieanotherday]

do you have any downtime when you're running experiments?
gels? PCR? in situ hybrid?

are you allowed to study during those waiting periods at your work? or are you constantly working/writing up stuff

 

[areserine]

It's good that you like working in the ER, but one full day a week is a major commitment, especially when you're asking to leave a real paying job that you made a specific commitment at. Even if you went down to just 4 hours a week you're only down 16 hours for your app (which is negligible) and you've given yourself back half a day of prep. One other thing to consider is how dedicated you really are to studying. Are you really going to dedicate 8 hours each and every day to studying? It is exhausting, and there will come a point during the day when you will burn out before all 8 hours are done. What about working half a day then studying the other half?
If full leave isn't an option, what about asking for something like one full day and three half days per week? That would be 20 hours per week (a reasonable reduction in hours), and would give you three full days, and three half days for studying with a one day "break" of paid employment.

 

[vanillabear55]

do you have any downtime when you're running experiments?
gels? PCR? in situ hybrid?

are you allowed to study during those waiting periods at your work? or are you constantly working/writing up stuff

Not really, I do try to read as much as I can during my lunch break though.

It's good that you like working in the ER, but one full day a week is a major commitment, especially when you're asking to leave a real paying job that you made a specific commitment at. Even if you went down to just 4 hours a week you're only down 16 hours for your app (which is negligible) and you've given yourself back half a day of prep. One other thing to consider is how dedicated you really are to studying. Are you really going to dedicate 8 hours each and every day to studying? It is exhausting, and there will come a point during the day when you will burn out before all 8 hours are done. What about working half a day then studying the other half?
If full leave isn't an option, what about asking for something like one full day and three half days per week? That would be 20 hours per week (a reasonable reduction in hours), and would give you three full days, and three half days for studying with a one day "break" of paid employment.

Hm, I'm not sure. I suppose I need to have a conversation with my PI before I can seriously weigh any options. The only problem with 3 half days/1 full day, is my commute is awful...minimum 70 minutes each way.

 

[fingerscrossed92]

I once tried to do what you are doing. Was working in a lab 45-50 hrs/week, taking an MCAT prep course over the weekends, and trying to study early in the morning/late at night. I'm sure some people could make it work, but after 2 - 3 months I realized I would not be prepared to take the test if I continued that way. I finished my stint at the lab and then studied full-time.

 

[penguinism]

Not really, I do try to read as much as I can during my lunch break though.

Hm, I'm not sure. I suppose I need to have a conversation with my PI before I can seriously weigh any options. The only problem with 3 half days/1 full day, is my commute is awful...minimum 70 minutes each way.

You commute 70 minutes each way to this job? There's your problem right there.

I was going to suggest working half days as well (as I did when I was studying for the MCAT and my PI at the time understood completely, even though he was a PhD). Living that far away won't help though. Perhaps you can cut down to 2 days/week in the lab if your experiments don't need to be run on consecutive days? I would also drop back on the volunteering because that's unpaid and probably not as important at this point. You can pick it back up when you're done the MCAT.

 

[vanillabear55]

You commute 70 minutes each way to this job? There's your problem right there.

I was going to suggest working half days as well (as I did when I was studying for the MCAT and my PI at the time understood completely, even though he was a PhD). Living that far away won't help though. Perhaps you can cut down to 2 days/week in the lab if your experiments don't need to be run on consecutive days? I would also drop back on the volunteering because that's unpaid and probably not as important at this point. You can pick it back up when you're done the MCAT.

BELIEVE ME, I know the commute is a problem lol

^^ the bolded in your response is exactly the conclusion I came to within the last hour. Trying to walk the middle ground between quitting and not being prepped. I can definitely put volunteering on hold till after the MCAT and I'm going to propose cutting back to 2 days for the next 1.5-2 months while I prep for the MCAT to my PI. Hope this works out.

Thanks everyone for your advice, I appreciate it!