Co-op Screw Up! Help a Canadian

[jamonay]

Hello! I'm a 3rd year business student in Canada, and I only recently decided to do medical school. Problem is, before I realized I loved medicine, I had already signed a contract for a marketing co-op. Even worse, while the company is a healthcare/bio company, on my first week at work, we've been assigned the most mind-numbingly menial tasks to do on excel. This is really stressing me out since I feel like this is neither getting me closer to a job in business or in medicine and I have no idea what to do. I haven't written the MCAT and im starting to listen to audiobooks at work to try and ease my stress but I'm so confused.

Does anyone have experience with co-op and med school? Any bad research/intern experiences and how did you cope with it? Do non-med extracurriculars put you at a disadvantage? And did anyone study for the MCAT while at full time work? Anything and everything from non-traditional majors applying Canadian Med PLEASE!

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[star.buck]

How long is your contract?

 

[jamonay]

How long is your contract?

4 months this summer but its the last summer i get before graduating

 

[star.buck]

I’d suggest keeping your contract, because it’s something you dedicated to and signed a contract for. I know it sucks (I did 7 years as a receptionist doing data entry)... it’s not that long and you never know what opportunities you might get. Teaching yourself that you can quit something if you don’t like it is a dangerous road, but sticking through something you don’t like will teach dedication.

The mind numbing work is good for studying, tbh. Do your excel work during the day, study for the MCAT at night - you’ll have the brain capacity left to do this effectively.

Pay now... so you can play later.

 

[pms_testosterone]

@jamonay sorry about the boring co-op job! The good news is, it won't hurt your chances for med school at all. Even if you get a terrible evaluation. So keep the job.

Yes, it's very possible to study for the MCAT while working full-time. Is that what you plan to do this term?

Non-med extracurriculars HELP your application, but you should also have at least one healthcare-related EC, preferably with patient contact. However, if you're currently lacking that, I would not recommend starting a new volunteer job in the same term you are studying for the MCAT and working - you may overwork yourself. Line something up to start after your test date.