30 year old in med school. How many hrs a week studying?

[6730b]

Hi I am thinking of trying to go back to medical school.

Will I feel uncomfortable as a 30 year old (it might be 4 years until I get in)?

How many hours a day do you spend studying in medical school? Am I correct that for years 1 and 2 you get 8 weeks off for summer?

I currently work 9-10 hr days constantly with 2 weeks of vacation a year and still make alittle time to relax, go to the gym, etc. Am I correct in thinking that medical school will be less time commitment than my current work schedule?

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[medhearter]

there are a number of 30+ yr olds in my class, and even 2 40+ year olds. i've always found them to be better at planning and organizing their time, cuz well, they've been responsible for commitments before coming to medical school, and medical school is but another commitment.

i think if you are already balancing 9-10hr work days and still taking care of your health, medical school may not be very different.

but all this depends on how interested you are in medical school material. are you intrigued by the thought of studying biochemistry and anatomy for 9-10 hours in a day? maybe working with other medical students, or faculty, and talking about the same topics for hours on end?

it would help to apply to a school that has other mature students as well. for example, if i was in your shoes, i would be somewhat annoyed to be in a school where everyone around me was fresh out of undergrad. so look at the average age in each school, and potentially the percentage that hold advanced degrees, so that you know the class you will be entering will have a variety of individuals and you won't feel so singular.

 

[Law2Doc]

Hi I am thinking of trying to go back to medical school.

Will I feel uncomfortable as a 30 year old (it might be 4 years until I get in)?

How many hours a day do you spend studying in medical school? Am I correct that for years 1 and 2 you get 8 weeks off for summer?

I currently work 9-10 hr days constantly with 2 weeks of vacation a year and still make alittle time to relax, go to the gym, etc. Am I correct in thinking that medical school will be less time commitment than my current work schedule?

Everyone is going to need a different amount of time studying. Realistically, you can take a little time each day during the first two years to work out and goof off, but you are probably going to want to spend most of the day in lecture and studying. Med school is not like undergrad where you can let yourself fall behind and just catch up over the weekend -- the material comes at you too fast. 9 hour days is nothing compared to med school. That's a 45 hour work week. Compare med school to a 60+ hour a week job and you should do fine. so no, you won't have more free time in med school compared to your current schedule, which is actually not that many hours. Compare it to the typical professionals' job, and you will get a better approximation. And in 3rd year all bets are off. You may be logging more than 80 hours per week including overnights regularly.

As to vacations, you get the summer after the first year off, although most people will spend that summer doing some kind of research or other CV enhancing job. You really don't have much of a summer after second year because you have to take Step I, a test many people spend a lot of very long houred weeks to study for. Plan to have a week or two off after you get past that test.

 

[GoodmanBrown]

Hi I am thinking of trying to go back to medical school.

Will I feel uncomfortable as a 30 year old (it might be 4 years until I get in)?

How many hours a day do you spend studying in medical school? Am I correct that for years 1 and 2 you get 8 weeks off for summer?

I currently work 9-10 hr days constantly with 2 weeks of vacation a year and still make alittle time to relax, go to the gym, etc. Am I correct in thinking that medical school will be less time commitment than my current work schedule?

Being 30 is pretty much a non-issue for med school. I definitely worked harder in med school than my job (where I worked 40-45 hrs./wk.). But it's doable, and it is more flexible with when you spend that time.

 

[jdwmont]

You really can not compare medical school to anything in the outside world. It is, as they say, like trying to drink from a fire hose. That being said, you should have time to work out, at lease during the first two years. As far as your age, it is a non-issue.

Despite all of this, you should take all advice here with a grain of salt. All schools are unique, and some have curriculum that is much more time consuming. My school, for example, dedicates considerable time to ethics, etc. which takes a lot of time out of your day. Anyway, feel free to pm me when the time comes as I would be happy to answer questions you might have.

 

[gman33]

If the hours you spend working is a major concern, don't go into medicine.

In school years 1-2, you'll probably spend 50-60 hours a week.
Maybe more, maybe less.

Years 3-4 you will spend 40-80 hours a week at the hospital, plus study time on the outside.

Residency. Varies, but most are between 60-80 hours a week.

When you are done with all that, you will still probably be working a ton.

It's all doable, and you will have some time for other stuff.
However, it will take up most of your waking hours for 7-10 years of training.

 

[sindadel]

I found putting in 60 hours a week in pre-clinical to be very sufficient. Certainly still time to exercise each day, or goof off, but probably not both.

 

[deleted192690]

Hi I am thinking of trying to go back to medical school.

Will I feel uncomfortable as a 30 year old (it might be 4 years until I get in)?

How many hours a day do you spend studying in medical school? Am I correct that for years 1 and 2 you get 8 weeks off for summer?

I currently work 9-10 hr days constantly with 2 weeks of vacation a year and still make alittle time to relax, go to the gym, etc. Am I correct in thinking that medical school will be less time commitment than my current work schedule?

Personally, as a 30 yr old myself, I don't feel that uncomfortable with my younger peers. Plus, I have some classmates in the mid 30s, so you won't be alone if you do go at 34(?). I find medical school, at least the first 2 years, a nice reprieve from work (worked 14 hrs/day in previous job). Loving learning new things, even though its challenging. And you don't have a set schedule in the first two years so it's kinda nice not to have to force yourself up for work. Managed to enjoy some life during first two years, with research work on top of it. However, I do believe it will be worse than 9 hour days after 2nd year of med school. But again, you are learning new things, and quite frankly, still am thankful with this experience and opportunity, even if it may be taxing at times. really it depends on what you are looking for in medicine, and your priorities. 🙂

 

[RT2MD]

Hi I am thinking of trying to go back to medical school.

Will I feel uncomfortable as a 30 year old (it might be 4 years until I get in)?

How many hours a day do you spend studying in medical school? Am I correct that for years 1 and 2 you get 8 weeks off for summer?

I currently work 9-10 hr days constantly with 2 weeks of vacation a year and still make alittle time to relax, go to the gym, etc. Am I correct in thinking that medical school will be less time commitment than my current work schedule?

I'm currently 31 years old, have a 4 year old daughter and 12 week old twin boys. My wife works full time, and the we have daycare for the kids. I just finished up my first year of medical school and I'll give you my opinion.

Everybody has a different learning speed. I will admit that I have been a big procrastinator during my first year. I was still able to keep my grades up, and I was able to have a LOT of free time. I usually would cram the 3-4 days before a test and do fine. Other than that, I never studied on weekends/evenings - that was my family time. With that being said, though, I plan on doing more studying second year... try and retain a lot more for step 1 and beyond. 😀

I think that I'm fortunate in my learning abilities, and I'm able to get more free time than a lot of my classmates. What I do doesn't work as well for everybody, but I don't think that I'm some freak of nature. I will tell you that there is a pretty good group of students in my class that are around my age, and everybody does their own separate thing, but still have time for their families.

I think that having work experience will help you, especially once you start clinicals. You know what it's like to bow to somebody else's schedule. I have exactly 80 days off this summer. Most people are doing research, or some sort of elective, but I'm staying home playing Mr. Mom. We get several weeks off next summer as well, but it will be taken up by studying for step 1.

I will tell you that I don't spend anywhere NEAR 45-50 hours/week studying. Once we get to 3rd year, I know that will change... but that's my experience with first year. If you really want to be a physician, just do it. If you don't do it, you will probably always regret it.

Sorry for the rambling, non-coherent post, I'm taking care of my boys while I post this!

 

[Funky]

I find the amount of studying depends on what you're studying for. For the step 1 I was studying like 10-14 hours a day everyday. Throughout 2nd year it depended on the week. Some people are more efficient at it than me and some are less. I think it's hard to actually say how much you're going to be studying until you're actually in med school.

 

[siliso]

It depends entirely on how long it takes you to learn thoroughly. It could be x or 4x depending on what kind of steel trap you have or don't have upstairs. I found I needed to study about 2-3 times as much for 1st year classes as compared to upper-level undergrad classes.

 

[ArcGurren]

For what it's worth, I know a 40 year old with a few kids and a wife he's been married to for 15 years, and he's doing absolutely fine. I admire people like him so much.

 

[bruinhd]

how many hours? all of them.

 

[werd]

age 30 won't stand out at all to start med school. my experience with studying... ms-1: 30hr/wk in class, 20hr/wk studying on average; ms-2: 15hr/wk in class (skipping), 50hr/wk studying; ms-3: 65hr/wk in hospital, 10hr/wk studying; ms-4: 30hr/wk in hospital, 10hr/wk either studying or apps for residency.