bad idea to attempt a job during med school?

[bubbleyum]

so, i know it sounds crazy. but has anybody attempted to hold any type of job (part time) while in med school?

now that med school is 2 months away, i keep getting offers for freelance jobs that might extend a little into the beginning of the school year. the work will be stuff i can just do on the computer at home in evenings... but i guess i should just shut all the requests down now, right? feel kinda bad about turning down work.

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[PreMedAdAG]

mmmm.. my personal opinion, probably the worst idea you could come up with.

Then again, there are some people who do it... mind you they complain about it alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the time

 

[bubbleyum]

mmmm.. my personal opinion, probably the worst idea you could come up with.

Then again, there are some people who do it... mind you they complain about it alllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the time

yeah u r right i guess. not exactly "my idea" though, i can't help it if people want me to do work for them!

as a designer, i was thinking maybe it would be ok to do a little bit of work to help pay for some extra bills while still keeping my creative juices flowing. i mean, i'm sure med students don't study 24/7 right?? bleah!

 

[synapse lapse]

I think you could work on this type of job just fine. You just have to manage your time well.

 

[Brian Griffin]

I think you could work on this type of job just fine. You just have to manage your time well.

There are people at my school who have done it (bartending, etc.). I also have classmates who are involved in pretty much every extracurricular activity known to man - what's the difference between spending time doing that and doing an activity you get paid for?

The only reason I've never attempted a job (or loaded up on extracurriculars) is because I like my free time to be my free time.

 

[Idiopathic]

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[Idiopathic]

I taught Chemistry at the local community college for the first semester of med school. It paid well (3600 dollars for the semester) and only required meeting 10 hours a week (plus prep time). I had NO college teaching experience, however, and so there was definitely a learning curve while trying to learn anatomy and learn how to teach chemistry.



In hindsight, if I hadnt been so desperate for $$$ I would not have done it.

I could have gone back to bartending and done that in my sleep, though. If you have experience in an area, and its worth your while, I dont think taking one or two nights a week to make a little extra money is a bad idea.

 

[angel80]

I do think it's possible to hold a job while in your first and second years of med school. The thing is, the amount of time you have to spend on things outside of med school is limited. If you work, it may not leave much time for friends, family, going out, hobbies, etc. It's up to you to decide if it is worth it to spend your free time working.

P.S. If you don't go to lecture, it gives you a lot more free time, so you may be able to work and have fun.

 

[swpm]

so, i know it sounds crazy. but has anybody attempted to hold any type of job (part time) while in med school?

For much of my MS1 and MS2 years, I ran a home-based business with my wife. We made an absolute ****-ton of money off it, but my grades suffered. My USMLE step 1 score was only average and my also-average gpa led to some stress when it came time to apply for a competitive residency. It all worked out in the end. I got the residency I wanted. But I sort of wish I hadn't spent my limited free time (and more, really) working ... then again, it was nice to finish med school without any debt.

Med school is hard enough already. The first block of exams was a wakeup call to me and lots of other confident students who easily smoked the hell out of their undergrad courses. I'd be wary of taking on extra responsibilities, especially at first, until you really know what you're up against.

 

[Wednesday]

Med school is hard enough already. The first block of exams was a wakeup call to me and lots of other confident students who easily smoked the hell out of their undergrad courses. I'd be wary of taking on extra responsibilities, especially at first, until you really know what you're up against.

I think this is good advice. Tell your customers that you need to take the first semester (or block or two) off and that you may be interested in work in the near future. See how YOU are in med school. Some people have tons of extra time and some people struggle to pass. It's definitely personal and you won't know until you actually start. You don't want to commit to work and then have to choose between getting it done well and doing well in school. Remember that this is your time to learn this stuff--you only get four years free of responsibility--so you want to make sure you can take advantage of it.

 

[tupac_don]

so, i know it sounds crazy. but has anybody attempted to hold any type of job (part time) while in med school?

now that med school is 2 months away, i keep getting offers for freelance jobs that might extend a little into the beginning of the school year. the work will be stuff i can just do on the computer at home in evenings... but i guess i should just shut all the requests down now, right? feel kinda bad about turning down work.

Sure you can do it. It's not that bad. But you don't wanna do it full time. Also depends how organized you are, you can easily spare couple of hours per day, particularly when you are not on exam weeks. You just want have time for other things, like going out, exersizing, watching TV.

 

[bjackrian]

It's definitely doable. I worked as a referee for our intramural sports leagues (about 10-15 hours per week first semester of MS I) and as an MCAT instructor for Kaplan (about 6-10 hours per week second semester of MS I). I didn't find it too terrible--but then, I think I study less than most of my classmates.

I didn't start working until after the first set of exams and I highly recommend waiting that long--it gives you a better feel for how YOU will be able to handle the workload.

 

[bubbleyum]

thanks for all the advice, guys!

i'm still debating. the jobs will be ones that would actually start before school, and extend into maybe september of the school year, then afterwards i'll be contacted more as an consultant rather than active work.

so it's not like i can put them off for a month or so in the middle of the project while i make sure i'm fine with my classes... creative work and extra money is nice, but i don't want to underestimate how much effort classes will take and be stressed out and behind in my courses later either.

 

[synapse lapse]

i don't want to underestimate how much effort classes will take and be stressed out and behind in my courses later either.

Don't worry you will feel stressed out and behind in your courses no matter what you do

 

[jennyboo]

You can hold a part time job and still probably do equally as well in school if (for me):

1) Job is 10 hours a week or less.
2) WHEN you do the actual work is flexible (i.e. no set schedule for it).

The first month of med school, everyone is scared and trying to study 24-7... by 2nd semester of M1 or during M2, you will have adjusted and a less-than-or-equal-to-10 hours/week commitment is pretty reasonable. We all do that anyway in the form of hobbies or volunteer commitments (student orgs, tutoring, etc).

 

[bubbleyum]

Don't worry you will feel stressed out and behind in your courses no matter what you do

i know, lol.

 

[lorelei]

Do you have pass/fail grading? If so I'd go for it.

I didn't start working until second semester, but in retrospect I probably should've done so earlier, because I do better with structured time (and fewer $$$ worries). I just teach for Kaplan (and theoretically freelance work, but not much of that) so it's very flexible.

At the very beginning of school it might be a little more stressful since you don't know how things will work for you yet, but if it's really just for a month I would think it would be OK.

 

[Wee Free Woman]

Depends on what your deadlines for the work are like. If there are deadlines, then stay away from it. If you're just working and then selling your work, like writing and selling your writing to publishers, etc, then not a big deal?

If its something like bartending, teaching yoga classes, etc, that are flexible in their timings, then not bad either.

I don't know - I personally would stay away from it and just focus on doing med school right.

 

[Law2Doc]

so, i know it sounds crazy. but has anybody attempted to hold any type of job (part time) while in med school?

now that med school is 2 months away, i keep getting offers for freelance jobs that might extend a little into the beginning of the school year. the work will be stuff i can just do on the computer at home in evenings... but i guess i should just shut all the requests down now, right? feel kinda bad about turning down work.

For some it would be no problem, for others it would be a really bad idea. There are people who struggle with med school, and others who don't. Problem is, you don't actually know which kind of person you are yet, and won't until your first set of exams are graded. I personally would recommend that you stay unemployed until you get used to the pace of med school. Then if you find you do have free time, add a job.

 

[DrMom]

For some it would be no problem, for others it would be a really bad idea. There are people who struggle with med school, and others who don't. Problem is, you don't actually know which kind of person you are yet, and won't until your first set of exams are graded. I personally would recommend that you stay unemployed until you get used to the pace of med school. Then if you find you do have free time, add a job.

excellent advice...I concur completely