Do you work during Med school?

[rxforlife2004]

Hi everyone:

I am a last year pharm student thinking about going back to school for medicine. I know it'll be hard, but if i don't do it now...then would be never. So anyway, i am thinking about going back to med school and working at the same time. Is there anyone here going thru med school now and working at the same time? If u are, please share some of ur experiences coping with both the work and the academic demanding....

Thanks

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[StritchMD2011]

There was a fairly recent thread about working in medical school that you might want to look for, but I'll try to give a short answer.

During the first and second years (moreso during the first year) you could probably work a few hours a week, but nearly no one works during med school aside from the summer in between M1 and M2. This is mainly because after classes, you need to put in a few hours studying and whatnot. It'd be really tough to work around test time as well.

Working 3rd year is absolutely impossible, 4th year is easier, but still unfeasible.

 

[TMP-SMX]

Hi everyone:

I am a last year pharm student thinking about going back to school for medicine. I know it'll be hard, but if i don't do it now...then would be never. So anyway, i am thinking about going back to med school and working at the same time. Is there anyone here going thru med school now and working at the same time? If u are, please share some of ur experiences coping with both the work and the academic demanding....

Thanks

What took you so long? I think you should also ask yourself if you really want to go into medicine. Working is probably a bad idea during med school too. A PharmD lends itself to be pretty flexible and you can do various things with it. Considering you are done this year it seems to me that you just got a useless degree for not thinking it through the first time.

 

[Law2Doc]

Hi everyone:

I am a last year pharm student thinking about going back to school for medicine. I know it'll be hard, but if i don't do it now...then would be never. So anyway, i am thinking about going back to med school and working at the same time. Is there anyone here going thru med school now and working at the same time? If u are, please share some of ur experiences coping with both the work and the academic demanding....

Thanks

Most people do not find that there is enough time to work, other than over the summer. To do well in med school, you generally have to treat it as a full time job, and so you don't really want a job on top of a job. The small handful of people who do work, tend to have very low hour jobs with very flexible schedules that allow them to bail during exam weeks. But they sacrifice any semblance of downtime - something many find is important to retain their sanity in med school. The best suggestion is to not work initially in med school, and then after a few tests, if you find you have enough extra time to work (many don't), then line up that job. Assuming you can work from the onset without knowing what med school entails is recipe for disaster though. You may be in the third of the class that really struggles, and needs that extra time in the books.

 

[LifetimeDoc]

Why work during medical School anyways? I thought anyone could get a federal loan and private lenders were falling all over themselves to loan future doctors money to goto school?

 

[sirus_virus]

Why work during medical School anyways? I thought anyone could get a federal loan and private lenders were falling all over themselves to loan future doctors money to goto school?

To avoid borrowing too much money.

 

[psychbender]

I worked during first and second year as a medic, and didn't see much of a negative impact on my education. Definitely took a toll on the already scant social life, though, and added some stress as all I did over breaks between blocks was work (all work and no play makes psych a dull boy).

I know of a few other classmates that also work over breaks and some weekends (including one PharmD and a chiropracter).

 

[Critical Mass]

To avoid borrowing too much money.

Some people borrow it all anyway AND work. If you put your leftovers in a money market or online savings account, you can get a return close to the 6.8% fed rate that comes with your unsubs and still a little bit of peace of mind.

I work at a per diem rate at the affiliated hospital as an M1. It's not a problem for me--24 hrs is about the most I do in a given week, but I try to hold it to one shift a week near exams.

BTW if salaries continue to decline, the zealous lenders will soon stop drooling over us.

 

[45408]

Why work during medical School anyways? I thought anyone could get a federal loan and private lenders were falling all over themselves to loan future doctors money to goto school?

well, the OP is going to be a pharmacist and would actually make pretty significant money. I bet a pharmacist could work fairly part-time and pretty much be able to pay for med school as you go. Most of the rest of med students can't get a part-time job for much more than $10 an hour.

I don't work in med school, because I'd go crazy, I think. I'm quite busy as it is, and when I do have free time, I'd rather unwind than go work. Even if I were a fairly low-paid physician, I'll be making 5x as much in the future than I am now, so I'll wait until then. But my wife does work full-time as a nurse.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

The bolded highlights a key point about med school. From my friend's experiences, I've seen that most of them have very little free time due to the high demand nature of their schedules. I would think that working would only be more stress then needed. If I were you, I'd value those few precious hours you have of free time outside of studying to go do something fun or something stress relieving like working out.

Probably so, but a pharmacist probably doesn't have to put in as much memorization time with some stuff as the rest of us (pharmacology, biochemistry, and microbiology come to mind), so he/she may have a little more free time that might be better spent making $40/hr than playing raquetball. The guy on the other thread wanted to bartend for crying out loud. Anyway OP, give it 8-9 weeks of classes and see where you stand. If you aced your first two exams and didn't study all that hard go for it.

 

[Bitsy3221]

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=356553

Here is a thread that discusses this topic.

I posted there as well, but I will say here I worked from M2-M4 (yes, including third year) so it can be done. You will just have to have a flexible boss, since school absolutely has to come first, and you will have a lot less free time than your classmates.

 

[LO281OK]

With a PharmD your opportunity cost is going to be super high! I mean if you really want, I MEAN REALLY WANT, then do it. As a MS1, if I had a PharmD right now I'd skip the rest of med school.

 

[tiredmom]

I worked as a nurse in the PRN pool for a 12 hour shift each weekend during MS2 year. Didn't feel comfortable with it during first year, being overwhelmed and terrified. No way 3rd year, and finally put my lic on inactive status this summer, which gave me a good enough reason to enjoy MS4 year.

 

[sphincter tone]

I'm still working as a paramedic PRN while in med school. I've had to way cut down on the hours I used to work in undergrad but I can still squeeze out about 48-60 hours a month.

I really have no idea what's involved in transitioning from a pharm student to a working pharmacist, but if it has a steep learning curve, make sure you consider the added stress that's going to cause. It's not easy to be a working med student much less a working med student who's trying to figure out a new job.

 

[GuzzyRon]

Why work during medical School anyways? I thought anyone could get a federal loan and private lenders were falling all over themselves to loan future doctors money to goto school?

Looks to me like someone forgot those loans are not "free" and must be paid back.