amount of free time throughout medical school

NewKidin2block · Jan 30, 2007

Some of my friend in Medical school say it's super easy.

just wondering how much free time you guy have in medical school. do you usually get out during saturday and sunday in M1 and M2?

what make M3 and M4 so different from first two years?

any help will be appreciated.

Tired · Jan 30, 2007

NewKidin2block said:
just wondering how much free time you guy have in medical school. do you usually get out during saturday and sunday in M1 and M2?

what make M3 and M4 so different from first two years?

It's not that bad. I went out most weekends (and a lot of weekdays) my first two years. Also held a weekend job.

MS3 year sucks because they schedule you to work most weekends, and the hours simply don't permit the usual party schedule.

MS4 is fine, the only time you have to work weekends is your sub-i's, which is only a couple months usually. And that's only if you pick a busy specialty like the surgical spots.

DoctorFunk · Jan 30, 2007

NewKidin2block said:
Some of my friend in Medical school say it's super easy.

Yeah, not so much.

SoCuteMD · Jan 30, 2007

I'm a 2nd year I generally try to take at least one evening a week off completely - giving myself time to shower, dry my hair, get dressed up and go out, plus sleep in the next day if need be. If I take any more than that I often find myself a little stressed. I don't usually study too late (8 pm is about my limit unless I'm really behind) and I get 8 hours of sleep a night. I work out every other day and spend at least some time every day except in the week or two before tests catching up with friends or family.

I could make more time to be social, but it would be taking away from my workout, phone, or relaxation time - all of which are pretty important to me.

Last year we had tests about twice as frequently, so I was a little less balanced as far as my time vs. school time. I'm a happier person now!

psipsina · Jan 30, 2007

Yeah I take off one night a weekend, except the weekend before an exam, to have a date with my husband. I don't really go out much on the weedays but I do take the time to cook dinners (instead of microwaving them or ordering out) and I watch a tv show or something relaxing every night. I also take a few days off entirely after an exam to recoup. And I take breaks and naps whenever I feel burnt and just play on the internet or read a novel or whatever. Also some weeks can get pretty hectic with labs and extracurriculars and required touchy feelly classes and can make it feel like you can't have as much free time to yourself. So its not like you have to spend every waking hour slamming out the studying, but you do have to work pretty steadily if you are a mere mortal, and I definitely wouldn't qualify it as easy.

lilnoelle · Jan 30, 2007

NewKidin2block said:
Some of my friend in Medical school say it's super easy.

just wondering how much free time you guy have in medical school. do you usually get out during saturday and sunday in M1 and M2?

I wouldn't plan on it being easy or having lots of time off to do things that you want. Most people find time to do something that is high on their priority list, but you might be limited to one or two things. If I were you, I'd plan on having to work really hard and not having much spare time, and then if you find that you do have some spare time, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

For me, I was pleasantly surprised about how much time I had for myself, but that was because I believed way too many horror stories and was almost intimidated by med school. I definitely think med school is manageable, so if you think it will be impossible, you'll be pleasantly surprised, but if you think that its gonna be like undergrad, you'll probably be stressed out and have trouble at first.

jae9970 · Jan 30, 2007

i was wondering about the same thing as the topic creator

thank you all for very encouraging responses 🙂

Sophie · Jan 30, 2007

I think it really depends on the person, and on how well they want to do. I'm awful at memorization, and I want to score in the top 10%. That means I work my ass off, and don't do much else.

If you're good at memorization, and just want to pass, I would imagine medical school could be fairly easy.

I actually entered med school fully expecting it to be not all that bad, because undergrad had been cake and I'd had so much free time I hadn't known what to do with myself. I totally agree with lilnoelle regarding entering med school expecting to work really hard and have little free time - if I'd done that I wouldn't have been so shocked.

Wizard of Oz · Jan 30, 2007

I don't know that it's as much "hard vs. easy." To me it's more about "puts in the work vs. doesn't put in the work." If you study efficiently and learn how to cover the material well, you'll have free time. If you goof off and procrastinate on SDN like me, well, best of luck to you.

sirus_virus · Jan 30, 2007

[QUOTE = NewKidin2block;4675344]Some of my friend in Medical school say it's super easy.
QUOTE]

All of my friends say the opposite.

Law2Doc · Jan 30, 2007

NewKidin2block said:
Some of my friend in Medical school say it's super easy.

While it's going to be different for everyone, as everyone has different abilities, memory, and goals, I would pretty much disregard anyone who describes med school as "super easy". The average person spends significantly more time studying than college. Expect to work harder than you have in your life, even just to do average; but you get used to it because all your peers are doing the same thing, and after you get into the swing of it, it's not so bad -- sort of like a full time, long houred job. If it turns out that you can get by on less, be pleasantly surprised, but really don't expect or plan on it.

deleted109597 · Jan 30, 2007

sirus_virus said:
NewKidin2block said:

Some of my friend in Medical school say it's super easy.

Click to expand...

All of my friends say the opposite.

None of my friends say super easy, but I'm not friends with any people that say it is hard either. We drink weekly. Lots of us have jobs. Third year is just a time issue, not a hardness issue. 4th year is a joke after you are done with Step II and interviews. Some weeks I show up. Others I don't.

amount of free time throughout medical school

NewKidin2block

Member

Tired

Fading away

DoctorFunk

Get down with the boogie

SoCuteMD

Full Member

psipsina

Senior Member

lilnoelle

Full Member

jae9970

Freshman Member

Sophie

Lead Foot

Wizard of Oz

sirus_virus

nonsense poster

Law2Doc

5K+ Member

deleted109597

Similar threads