Did you have a job through out undergrad or medical school?

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Turkishking

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Did you guys work during your undergrad years or during your medical school years? Is it bad that my parents want to pay for my expenses until I reach medical school? Will I be lost in the future because I don't have a job flipping burgers or pushing carts? Thank you.

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If you don't need a job, I don't think anyone around here would you to have one. Is it bad that your parents pay for your stuff? Not really, but you'll need to understand how to use money wisely and work for what you have, at some point. Most people going into med school probably fit into your category.

I suppose you don't understand that there are more jobs available other than just "flipping burgers" and "pushing carts".

My GF's uncle is a cardiologist in Sacramento, and he worked throughout UG and some in med school, so I guess it happens sometimes.
 
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I never had a job during the school year, but still liked having a full time job over summer to pad the spending money and have something to keep me busy.
 
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Luckily my parents can afford to support me through school. I wish I had the opportunity to look for a job that I might enjoy, but ~90% of the labs on my campus do not pay undergraduates. I dedicate a lot of my time outside of classes to research, so I doubt I could work part-time many hours a week without my grades or other ECs suffering.
 
Did you guys work during your undergrad years or during your medical school years?
I worked part time in multiple jobs since high school to the end of my masters. Nowadays I do mostly research related work.

Is it bad that my parents want to pay for my expenses until I reach medical school?

It's not a bad thing at all. They want you to start taking some responsibilities and learn the realistic cost of basic necessities... both money and time. It also depends on the financial situation... sometimes people need to. For me, working was a nice opportunity to see what it's like in all areas. I did the flipping burgers thing, teaching classes, stocking shelves, customer service etc... it was interesting to work with people from different demographics, regardless of whether the skills I learned were relevant to med school.

Will I be lost in the future because I don't have a job flipping burgers or pushing carts?

Absolutely not, but I do feel that not doing any form of work puts you behind as a person. You learn a lot about yourself and others just by taking on entry-level jobs.

Thank you.
Welcome =D
 
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I only worked part-time as a waiter for a few years during undergrad, so I can only really speak from that perspective: I think that having a part-time job can be very enriching. As FutureHopeful? said, it certainly is interesting to work with people from different demographics. I also think that working a part-time job in the service industry really enhanced my social skills and understanding of how to work with and interact with others. A big plus was learning time management. That being said, a part-time job can be a big time sink that adds lots of stress- they're not always as flexible as a volunteer/lab position so when you have a big exam(s), you may still have work till late at night. You definitely will not be lost as as a person without taking on a crappy, entry-level job lol, but if you think you would enjoy it, you can definitely give it a shot!
 
A couple full time summer jobs, always a part time job in the year, and lots of loans.

I got lucky and had a job in a lab where I built a great relationship with the PI and enjoyed my work. Some of my friends got absolute garbage jobs though, if money was no issue for them they'd have been much better off using that time for school and ECs. I think a lot of people end up treating their research-for-credits as a part time job throughout a couple years. Regardless, no you don't need to be working, many people are on scholarship or have parents cover cost.
 
I worked 3 years during undergrad, part time.

No. It's not bad that your parents want to pay for your expenses.
 
I only worked part-time as a waiter for a few years during undergrad, so I can only really speak from that perspective: I think that having a part-time job can be very enriching. As FutureHopeful? said, it certainly is interesting to work with people from different demographics. I also think that working a part-time job in the service industry really enhanced my social skills and understanding of how to work with and interact with others. A big plus was learning time management. That being said, a part-time job can be a big time sink that adds lots of stress- they're not always as flexible as a volunteer/lab position so when you have a big exam(s), you may still have work till late at night. You definitely will not be lost as as a person without taking on a crappy, entry-level job lol, but if you think you would enjoy it, you can definitely give it a shot!

I personally think this is a healthy thing to experience. Certain things have time constraints and deadlines. If you got to finish something my X day, you better manage your time well because few things are flexible in life just for you. It's also important to recognize that your concerns aren't always the primary concern of the collective, so it puts things into perspective. Managing stress and coming out the other end is also an important skill to develop to enrich your future life.

That said, it also teaches you a little bit about balance... how much do you want to work? how much can you take on? how much are you willing to do? what do you never want to do again? it's relatively hard to answer these questions without a time crunch.

It also teaches you to communicate well with people and build rapport... how would a manager know to reschedule you during exam season? if you have other obligations how can you communicate that to others?

My point is these are worthwhile exercises that are better facilitated working than not (I use the term working loosely, meaning things like volunteering and hobbies can potentially count as well)
 
Managing stress and coming out the other end is also an important skill to develop to enrich your future life.
I personally think this is a healthy thing to experience.

I agree with you 100%. I was just trying point out that having to work through school has a downside, and that was always my least favorite of the downsides- i.e. waiting tables when I wished I could be studying or volunteering or something else to help add to my resume.
 
Did you guys work during your undergrad years or during your medical school years?
Yup. Both paid research and part time work. They're both rewarding in their own ways. Ways that mere words cannot do justice do. There's plenty of time in undergrad, so might as well give them both a shot. For "enrichment" purposes if nothing else.

Is it bad that my parents want to pay for my expenses until I reach medical school?
Surely you jest. It's free money - can't go wrong with that. Unless you feel that you have some kind of obligation to pay it back, in which case it's still the most generous loan you're ever going to receive in your life.

Will I be lost in the future because I don't have a job flipping burgers or pushing carts? Thank you.
Surely you jest. I wouldn't even consider flipping burgers no matter how desperate I was for money because I'm a premed, not a high school dropout. All the burger flipping premeds I know only flip because their financial aid package requires them to do so. Or at least that's what they tell me when I order from them. Can't really see why else a premed would choose to do so given the wide variety of opportunities open to him.
 
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I wouldn't even consider flipping burgers no matter how desperate I was for money because I'm a premed, not a high school dropout.

And this right here is why I think that everyone needs to experience a minimum of a year doing grunt work because it's the only way they can afford to live.
 
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Surely you jest.

*tips fedora*

Did you guys work during your undergrad years or during your medical school years? Is it bad that my parents want to pay for my expenses until I reach medical school? Will I be lost in the future because I don't have a job flipping burgers or pushing carts? Thank you.

If you're financially stable and your parents are paying for UG, then I think working in college is more about getting experience rather than making some extra money. There's some cool jobs out there that are relevant to going to medical school and becoming a doctor, you don't have to work at McDonald's. In my opinion, if you have non-paid experiences that compensate for the skills you would've acquired and learned from a paid job, then you're okay.
 
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Every summer but never during the school year. I had some leadership positions that had stipends though ;)
I would work in a lab or get an internship if I were you.
Don't worry about your parents paying. There will be a time when they don't. Just put all your resources into getting A's and a high MCAT score. And EC's: volunteer, leadership, clinical Exp, etc. Maybe scribe later.

Now that i think of it, being pre-med is a full time job.
 
I delivered pizzas during undergrad. I worked one day a week to make some spending money? Service jobs are great because you can make a decent amount of money with very little commitment. I'm against entry-levelclinical jobs because they require a significant time commitment which can negatively affect your grades and MCAT, the money is pocket change compared to future earnings, and they do not set you apart!

Work in medical school? Umm... If I only had enough time to spend with friends and family, let alone be able to get through the material sufficiently.
 
Luckily my parents can afford to support me through school. I wish I had the opportunity to look for a job that I might enjoy, but ~90% of the labs on my campus do not pay undergraduates. I dedicate a lot of my time outside of classes to research, so I doubt I could work part-time many hours a week without my grades or other ECs suffering.

For those of us who have to work, I wish adcoms cared about this being true.
 
They've said working during school is taken into consideration!

Get a job that is an attractive EC! Medically related stuff like EMT or phlebotomist, work in labs as technicians, work as a tutor, and so on.
 
It's good, but most pre-meds with jobs usually don't have any social life....
See how your first year goes with your parents supporting you
 
It's good, but most pre-meds with jobs usually don't have any social life....
See how your first year goes with your parents supporting you

Not true at all. Even if you take 15 credit hours and hold a part time job.. you can manage a reasonable social life. Now if you have a full time job... different story.
 
FWIW, I've seen some articles that say working around 10-15 hours a week in undergrad correlates with boosted academic performance. As an n=1, my GPA for the 2 years I worked was much better than when I was unemployed during undergrad.
 
FWIW, I've seen some articles that say working around 10-15 hours a week in undergrad correlates with boosted academic performance. As an n=1, my GPA for the 2 years I worked was much better than when I was unemployed during undergrad.
I agree on the GPA aspect. The difficulty is being able to do ECs. Between your shift and classes, almost all "business hours" are occupied, and depending on your location, you may not have volunteering/shadowing opportunities at your fingertips when you actually have free time.

Your best bet is to have your work be in a healthcare setting. This helps you to get clinical experience and also network with physicians who could help you get opportunities outside of what is posted by the hospital.
 
Aside from my freshman year in undergrad, I have never NOT worked. All in all I averaged about ~30 hours a week, with more hours during the summer. If I didn't have to work that much, I would not have. However working 15 hours I think is great, gives you something to do outside of studying and it shows you're a responsible person who can make shifts on-time. It also helped my time management a TON, you really start to realize where your time sinks are when you don't have that much time anymore haha.

However the most important aspect is BEING REALISTIC about your capabilities - don't take a job when you have a 21 credit hour schedule with linear algebra, P-Chem and a history class that makes you write 15 pages a week.

Also as other people mentioned there are other jobs outside of flipping burgers, but I know several pre-meds who in fact did push carts/waitstaff/flip burgers. I even took a bartending job for a little bit. Anyway, paid research (if you can find it), a lab tech position, an internship with a company or start-up company, landscaping, uber driving, tutoring either college or highs schoolers are a few jobs that should be available.
 
Not true at all. Even if you take 15 credit hours and hold a part time job.. you can manage a reasonable social life. Now if you have a full time job... different story.
Haha I don't count most part time jobs as real jobs
 
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Yes I did. It wasn't ridiculous. They're PRE med courses, I don't get how you can't balance at least one and still do fine in school. I took 15 cred hours and always had at least one job since my freshman year, 2 during my junior. I mean it was only about 25 ish hours a week then but still. Maybe choose a flexible job, like tutoring.
Or work an inflexible job on the weekend: I was a pharm tech then.
 
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I agree on the GPA aspect. The difficulty is being able to do ECs. Between your shift and classes, almost all "business hours" are occupied, and depending on your location, you may not have volunteering/shadowing opportunities at your fingertips when you actually have free time.

Your best bet is to have your work be in a healthcare setting. This helps you to get clinical experience and also network with physicians who could help you get opportunities outside of what is posted by the hospital.

If you're okay with doing volunteering weekends and can find a research lab that has flexible hours, you won't have much problem getting meaningful ECs in too.
 
During undergrad I worked multiple part-time jobs (~20-30 hours a week) that ended up giving me leadership, tutoring, and clinical EC's that I could put on my AMCAS application. I still had time to volunteer, be involved in multiple clubs, have research positions, and get good grades (graduated with a ~3.96 with 18-20 credit semesters). And I was still able to have a social life.

Although I do not think it is necessary to work during college if you don't need to, I think its a great experience anyways. You show medical schools that you are able to manage time, prioritize, and can handle long-term commitments. Some of my LOR also came from people that I worked with/supervisors that can attest to these qualities. It is also nice to be making your own money and have independence from your parents in that sense.

If I do get into medical school however, I realize that working is most likely not going to be a possibility due to the rigorous demands.
 
It is a great experience to work, especially in a service position. My friends that didn't work have had a bit of a shock during MS3 at how to react as the lowest member of the totem pole.
 
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