Any advice on balancing school/studying and making time with wife/kids? Have you found it difficult with the amount of studying to make time for quality time with family? I'll be matriculating in Macon come August. My wife and I don't have any kids at the moment, but I imagine we will start trying before I graduate. Just wanted to get an idea from someone who is currently going through it. Thanks!
Congrats on getting accepted! I'll give you the same advice I was given by two mercer graduates who had kids while they were in school and then add in my personal tips/ weekly schedule too cause I think that may help.
First: Treat it like your job. You show up at 8 and stay till 5 regardless of what is or isn't actually scheduled for that day and you work while you're there, whether that's going through your syllabus material or practicing for a patient exam you're on the clock as if you were employed full time. When you go home be home and be present with your spouse and kids (whenever they come).
Second: Spend time with your spouse, even if it's just eating a meal together with no distractions or just watching a TV show you both like and let that be your outlet for relaxation and realize that some "ships" have sailed for you as far as the party/nightlife you may have had during undergrad or even just before school.
Third: You can't study 24/7 - 365. You have to take time away to recharge and regear.
For me, I schedule out literally every hour of my week AND weekends and it will vary a little if its a test week or non test week (we have tests every Friday but only every other counts). M-F I do the job thing and leave at 5. My kids get home with my wife at 6 so I'll work out for about 30 min here at the house till they arrive and then it's family time till 9 pm. We'll go play at the park, play games inside or do whatever crazy thing my toddlers have thought up that day, then when they go to bed I spend an hour from 8-9 with just me and the wife doing the above (TV show, talking, etc) and then once it hits 9 pm I clock back into my office and hit the books again with a pot of coffee till about 11-12 depending again on the week. My hours are set up so that I have specific syllabus material I'm working on during those hours rather than just blankly staring at a book for 3 hours and only reading 2 sentences trying to completely understand something like the PDH complex etc. The key to our curriculum is to realize it's not about depth but the breadth and sometimes just seeing a content item or figure in the reading is enough to get it right on the test. The same schedule basically holds true for weekends. If we have a summative exam (one that counts) coming up that next Friday I may take more time during my weekends but typically I'm up at 5 on Sat/Sun and work till about 8 or whenever the kids get up. Then 8-1 is family time again till they take naps at 1 when I'll clock back in from 1-whenever they get up which is typically about 3 or 4. Then its all family time through the night and I don't look at material again till Sunday morning when I do the same thing waking up at 5 working till about 8. Then we do church together and ill work again during their naps. The difference is Sunday nights I'll work again from about 9-11 on syllabus material or reading up on our cases for the week and making sure I've got everything set and ready for my week. My wife is in grad school right now so she does her masters material (all online) on Wednesday and Sunday nights hence why I also work again on Sunday nights.
It seems like a lot, but it works for us because we realize that this is only temporary and is actually much easier than when I was working full time and taking night classes prior to starting at Mercer. Now school is my only job and the material is easier than undergrad, there's just a larger amount of it in a shorter period of time.
The other thing too is a Dave Ramsey quote/idea that work/life balance doesn't exist. You work hard to play hard and most of the time those two areas aren't balanced and that's ok. You need to have a clear set of expectations regarding what your goals are and keep those focused so you don't get overwhelmed or caught up thinking about what other people who aren't in school are doing (or even others in your class who don't have significant others or kids). You put in the time you need to so that you are the best while you're at work and the best while you're at home.
The last piece of advice I'll tell you too is that quality time is different than quantity of time. Some people may disagree and I don't mean giving your spouse 5 min a day, but the gist is to be present fully where you are. Fully engaged while at school, and fully engaged while at home. The worst thing you can do in med school if you're married (or even if you're not) is to waste time during your day goofing off on social media or not working because then you're not able to be fully present when you are home with your spouse, friends, etc because you're worried about what you have to do the next hour or whatever and you're not efficiently making the best use of your time.
My apologies for that being so long-winded but I hope that helps. Congrats again on getting in, its no easy feat and its all downhill from here. The hardest part of med school is getting in!
(Also good luck to everyone else waiting for good news from the committee soon. Remember that making it on a waitlist is an accomplishment in itself and don't lose hope. Mercer is notorious for accepting students right before classes start so until you get the final notice you're still in the game. Plus, if you don't get in this cycle, APPLY AGAIN. It took me 1 cycle to get in but that was after taking 6 years off and working. If you know being a physician is what you want to do don't quit. There's a large chunk of my classmates who applied more than once)
