advice on tutoring/time management

[nokia stuff]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey everyone, so I would like some advice with my current situation. My professor from gen chem emailed me and asked if I could be the tutor for the class. This requires me to go to each lecture, and then hold 60 - 90 min class sessions for students twice a week. This sounds like a great idea that could help me refresh on gen chem stuff, and also sounds fun as I get to teach. The dilemma here is that next semester I feel like I will have a heavy course load with classes and be doing my other EC which are medically related. Again I feel like this could be a great experience for me but at the same time I may feel like I am spreading my self to thin with everything and wont be able to keep up with my classes and I defiantly do not want a GPA drop. Anybody have any advice or experience on this?

 

[hoihaie]

teaching with your prof is an awesome way to get a great rec letter and also looks great on your app. I think this is a great opportunity that you should definitely capitalize on, despite you thinking you may not have enough time next quarter.

 

[dr.0ne]

agreed with the frantic penguin above, you should take an easier class load and capitalize on this opportunity to get a great letter of rec, solidify your knowledge for MCAT, and gain some great communication, teaching, and leadership skills, + another ECs

 

[cactus8910]

How have your previous semesters gone? Do you feel like you had more than enough time to study? This sounds like a great opportunity, so if you can manage to adjust how you use your time, I think you should go for it. Personally, I've found that when I have more things to do, I'm forced to use my time more productively. Hopefully the same is true for you.

 

[Entadus]

Medical school is going to be way more busy than an undergrad schedule, and it's coming up very soon (hopefully 😉 ). So I would say you want to work towards that level of business. The key is to build up your commitments gradually, i.e. don't throw yourself into too many new challenges all at once. If you handled last semester well, think about adding 1 new activity to the mix.

Should tutoring be that new activity? Depends on you, but personally I loved tutoring more than any other EC. It would be a great use of your time!

 

[Blueprint MCAT Tutor]

Absolutely do it! If you have to (and can), drop one of your own classes to make room in your schedule. Teaching is the best way to learn, and you're sort of getting free MCAT review out of it, getting a good EC, building up for a good letter, building communication skills, etc.

 

[CerebroDad]

How have your previous semesters gone? Do you feel like you had more than enough time to study?

I agree with this. If you feel confident that you'll still have enough time to keep your GPA high while tutoring, then go for it. But make sure that you do not spread yourself too thin and that tutoring doesn't come at the expense of your GPA. A low GPA is often the hardest obstacle to overcome when applying to medical school. That's a much tougher problem to deal with than having too few EC's.

 

[URHere]

If you don't want to drop classes entirely, you could also try to drop a course with a lab requirement in exchange for one without. Then you could treat your tutoring sessions like a lab from a scheduling standpoint.

Regardless, I agree with everyone else. Tutoring will help you form a good relationship with a science prof, which will help you when it's time to ask for a LOR. If you hate it, you don't have to spend the rest of college tutoring, but you should probably give it a try.