Does anyone work during med school?

[ishaninatte]

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Is even 20 hours a week doable? I don't particularly want to be broke all 4 years, you know?

 

[Dogsnout]

Good luck in finding the time.

Is even 20 hours a week doable? I don't particularly want to be broke all 4 years, you know?

 

[lilmo]

that's what student loans are for. you'll get enough money to live comfortably on.

 

[Samoa]

I work, but not much, and my situation's pretty uncommon, so I'm not a good example.

 

[Anka]

I work. I'm getting a lot more out of it than money, though. If you're worried about being broke, take the loans. To make things concrete, it's probably not worth your while to waitress your way through med school. If you can get paid to do research resulting in publication, that's another story. It also depends on how well you can pull it off -- having a supportive partner who cooks, cleans, and does laundry helps.

Anka

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

How about bartending? Anyone do that? I wouldnt think that spending 6-8 hours a week working at a time you wouldnt be studying anyways would be so bad.

 

[sacrament]

I probably could have put in a couple hours a day of work during the first two years, but it certainly wouldn't have been worth it. Take the loans. (And, of course, working during the second half of medical school is pretty much a logical impossibility.)

 

[klgsatx]

had a friend that worked 4 hours twice a week at a bar.....and also did personal training at the gym...he did this all 4 yrs...he seemed to do okay

 

[sacrament]

had a friend that worked 4 hours twice a week at a bar.....and also did personal training at the gym...he did this all 4 yrs...he seemed to do okay

During a couple of my rotations, "4 hours twice a week" just about sums up the entirety of the free time that I had away from the hospital. This scenario may be technically possible but it's certainly not even remotely probable and I wouldn't count on it.

 

[japhy]

geez, you guys make it sound like you have no time in med school. that simply is not true at all. i worked 20 hours a week during my second semester and continued through the end of my second year. it certainly was not about the money, it was about a break from med school and med students.

the only thing i found was that work cut into my ski time. other than that, i actually found myself doing better in school once i started working again.

 

[Anka]

I second Japhy's point about school going better because of work -- for me, at least, it holds me to a regular schedule, keeps me from getting completely wrapped up in the occasional hysteria that ripples through my class from time to time, etc. It's also nice to work with a group of people toward some deliverable item.

Anka

 

[madtowngirl]

i love my job and its not about the money at all (I haven't even had time to go to the bank and deposit checks in a loooong time). I like having the break from school and knowing that my studying has to stop at a certain time. Plus keeping up with my gymnasts is a great workout!

Im going to be sad when I give it up, but I figure that I really won't be able to keep regular enough hours during third year to be any good as a coach, so i guess it has to go . . . sucks though.

 

[kappasigMD41]

Is even 20 hours a week doable? I don't particularly want to be broke all 4 years, you know?

I don't think it is worth the time to work. If I have spare time, I go play golf or hang out with old friends. I've worked since soph yr of high school, and it is very strange to not have a job. But believe me, MS is a full time job and then some. Working is possible, but I wouldn't recommend. There are a couple of nurses in my class who moonlighted some during first year, but that came to an abrupt halt during second year.

 

[cytoskelement]

i bartended my first year and will start again soon. i only worked the friday night shift so it wasn't that bad - plus, it was at a restaurant, so i was home by 1am. i DEF. second japh. its great to be around a place where people's work stress is centered on food getting to a table late. there is no talk of cytokines, muscle insertions, etc. its also nice to have a little buffer for things such as the 500 bucks it costs to sit for the boards or the 400 bucks for kaplan's Q-bank, or spring break for that matter (all of these were not factored into my estimated "need").

being poor sucks. i do see the light at the end of the tunnel, but i still know that the remaining walk is long.

 

[Dr. Rosenrose]

I think some of you are crazy. It sounds like you need to work in order to fill up all that free time. It may be a good thing if you are "at risk". That is, to keep off drugs or to keep from getting involved with a gang. My advice- enjoy all the free time you can. If you get through med school you should be able to pay off your loans no problem.

 

[erin682]

I sell my body to science. An exam here and injection there and then $700. Not to bad except for these blackout periods I keep having and then waking up with blood on my hands.........

 

[fielight]

20 hours a week is a lot. if you don't go to class and just study on your own, then i can see how it's possible to hold a job. but you have to consider that you'll be in class at least 20 hours a week, and that's not including extra time for lab/clinical courses and personal study. unless you're one of those crazy geniuses who can study an hour before the exam and get it all, plus survive with less than 4 hours sleep every night, it would not be a good idea to work that many hours.

 

[GoodMonkey]

i worked anywhere from 15-25 hrs/week all through ms1 w/no problem. lots of evening/weekend work. lectures at my school are all broadcast online, w/software to speed them up, if you so choose to not go to class and watch them on your own. and we have a transcript service (which i don't use, however.) i had no problem at all maintaining pretty good grades (we were pass/fail, but my raw percentages weren't bad at all,) having a social life, and staying sane.

i also worked for the first semester of 2nd year, but only about 15hrs/week. i could keep working right now, but it's time to move on so i'm not doing it anymore.

search for more of my posts on this subject; i've written quite a bit about it - especially last year.

 

[sacrament]

geez, you guys make it sound like you have no time in med school. that simply is not true at all.

Yes, during the first two years you should have some time to work. But at most schools you should not count on working during the third year. Maybe you could squeeze some hours in during your psych rotation, but that's about it.

 

[Paws]

I am looking into summer research work but that's about all I could handle right now. I feel so fried as it is and all I'm doing is coursework and minor life incidentals ... 😛

 

[Barry Otter]

Does anyone have any experience with pimping on the side?

 

[Skialta]

I have been working 15 to 20 hours/wk all of ms1 and all of this year. I still get to the gym a few days a week and skied about 20 days last year. You can do it but you have to have discipline.


MS2

 

[mshheaddoc]

What type of jobs are all of you doing?

 

[Neuronix]

It would be really difficult here, not only because of the time constraints but also because of the difficulty in scheduling. There's constantly afternoon and occasional evening and weekend things that are very difficult if not impossible to reschedule. Some things come up fairly suddenly and other things are different days of the week on different weeks so it's impossible to say you will always have some day off. It's very difficult to even do research or take another class on top of school here with all the things going on, so I can't imagine trying to maintain a work schedule unless it's really flexible.

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
I was a registered respiratory therapist with a specialty in pediatric/perinatal critical care. I worked weekends after exams and during holidays as a "hired gun" or contract therapist. Excellent spending money and a chance to practice my clinical skills without interfering with my grades. Holidays paid double pay so I could make well over $1,000 working Christmas Eve into Christmas Day.
njbmd 🙂

 

[tupac_don]

I work, but not much, and my situation's pretty uncommon, so I'm not a good example.

Ej Samoa, how often do you get a chance to work as a pharmacist. Is it doable to do 4 shifts per month or is that too much. THanks.

 

[GoodMonkey]

i worked as a research scientist at a small biotech firm - i had worked there for a few years prior to starting medschool and they were very VERY flexible w/my hours. paid well, too.

 

[Samoa]

Ej Samoa, how often do you get a chance to work as a pharmacist. Is it doable to do 4 shifts per month or is that too much. THanks.

It depends on how much you need the money, and how easy or difficult you find the material.

 

[NeuroChicMD]

Hi all, I'm still quite new to all of this but while I was browsing this thread caught my eye! I've been wanting to ask if it is more typical for a med student to live at home with the 'rents than it is to live on your own or with a roomie? Or, is the latter option even POSSIBLE while earning such a limited income?? Thanks everyone 🙂

 

[Frijolero]

Well, if that's a self portait under your name, I cordially invite you to come live with me (long commute though). Seriously though, I think most people are not living at home because most aren't lucky enough to go to school close enough. Personally, I live with 2 roommates which helps brings costs down and it's much better than being alone. As long as you're not going crazy buying things, loan money is enough to get you by without parental help (for me anyway).

-Frijolero

 

[AF_PedsBoy]

No one's mentioned the HPSP program for the military! You get a living stipend, they pay for your books (as long as you submit the reimbursement forms 🙁 ) and even pay for your lab equipment and the USMLE Step 1&2! Plus although you have to do away rotations during fourth year, it's a perfect time to check out the residencies, get some face time in, and have your interview while they put you up for a month - and it counts both as a military active duty tour AND as a school elective! Rah rah rah! Go military! Military match is early - which is a good or bad thing, but you'll know in December and can spend the rest of the year laughing at your friends (or crying in a corner).

Only catch is that residency is likely going to be with the military and does not count towards payback, but residency salaries tend to be higher. The kicker is you'll owe the same number of years that you signed on for (3 or 4) after residency, and you'll be making like 1/3 of normal salaries. On the other hand thats 4 years where you won't have loans piling up on you... Oh yes, and they may or may not send you to Iraq

I personally loved my time on rotation at Wright-Patterson AFB, but then again, pediatricians are the nicest doctors in the world, and I'm in the most laid back branch. The office staff calling me "Sir," while I was rotating through as a puke 4th year was a nice perk too... no, "Med student go clean up this vomit," or "Med student, get out of my way," - it was all "How was your weekend sir?"

 

[Neuronix]

Military medicine is a horrible choice. You give up your freedom in becoming a doctor to be a military officer. They decide they have too many in your specialty? Well, pick another one! They decide they don't need you to do your fellowship, so they're sending you to Iraq... Better luck next time!

The residency programs are notoriously poor in several areas, especially surgery. There's no patients. They're all in Iraq! You'll have no flexibility as to where you'll practice when you're done, and good luck actually getting to stay in one place for your whole payback time. The only way you can even think about having a family is if you have a spouse who is very flexible. Good luck with that one. Don't think to yourself "that's far off in the future", because most people are going to start having children in residency or one they get done residency. Don't think to yourself that the military cares you have a spouse and kids you want to be close to. "The military didn't issue you a family." If you're in the military, you may have to push that back even till your mid-30s until you're done. Think of yourself as a military officer first (not now though, in eight years), and a doctor second, and you'll be getting the idea.

For more information see:
http://forums.drslounge.com/showthread.php?t=154357
http://forums.drslounge.com/showthread.php?t=162499
http://forums.drslounge.com/showthread.php?t=157378
http://forums.drslounge.com/showthread.php?t=152931

and if anyone's still considering it, feel free to PM me so I can talk you out of it some more.

The truth is, the vast majority of med students graduate with alot of debt. Oh well, medicine is also the highest salaried, most stable profession one can pick. This is why doctors have the lowest rate of defaulting on their loans of any profession. Don't get debt hysteria and sign away the next 12 years of your life.

 

[AF_PedsBoy]

Just wondering, which branch are you in Eric?

I guess my experience was different because in peds our patients aren't going anywhere! Plus I saw an incredible variety of patients during my ambulatory clinic, including a patient with Cri-du-chat, some autism kids, and your bread and butter asthma/sick/etc. Also the program I particularly want to train at is a joint civilian/military program and is associated with a medical school too, so we get the benefits of the military and the hot women of the civilian program! Ok just kidding about the hot woemn, but there are an unusual percentage of attractive women in peds - too bad they're all married 🙁

But seriously, my experience is a little biased because I'm unattached and don't mind moving around, and I'm in peds. Now I HAVE heard of ONE doctor to had to go into surgery for a transitional year before they put him into peds (the doc told me HPSP don't have to worry about it as much), and Navy seems to be the branch famous for GMOs, but if you don't plan on going into a rare specialty, these seem to be the exception rather than the norm...

 

[AF_PedsBoy]

Say I just looked through those posts and they make some good points, but they all seem to be Navy (which is FAMOUS for its GMOs) and Army - are there any air force docs who want to weigh in? I'm already in and I loved it (even basic training was kind of fun), but for the benefit of the people still deciding.... I can't really give any good idea until I'm in residency m'self...

And as a side note, you really don't know if you're deferred or not until December, so you typically go on the civilian interview tour too... Military has you submit your application to all the programs but you only have to face-to-face at your number one, and I got a very nice phone interview from Keesler...

 

[Neuronix]

Just wondering, which branch are you in Eric?

My fiancee is in the Army. We'd like to get married, but of course, there's very little chance we can make our careers work together without spending 8 years apart. Obviously, I could leave my program and owe nothing for my MSTP years. Strangely, she can't get out, even if she pays back. Even discussing her leaving brings about "BOOO! HISS!" on all sides while her military superiors think it would be a great compromise to give up my career.

Her good friend in med school is Air Force. It's kind of funny that the only positive voices you hear about military med are from medical students and pre-meds... hmm... All the actual docs in the forum range from hating it (most) to being neutral about it.

 

[Barry Otter]

It's kind of funny that the only positive voices you hear about military med are from medical students and pre-meds... hmm... All the actual docs in the forum range from hating it (most) to being neutral about it.

This is true. After taking a very thorough and long look at the HPSP program, I decided that it wasn't for me. The military health care system seems badly managed and docs often seem unhappy under Uncle Sam's thumb. Not to mention my recruiters were shady, which I understand is common. There were certain pluses but they were, for me, heavily outweighed by the minuses in the end.

 

[45408]

I talked to two med students who did have jobs. One of them waitressed one night a week, and the other was some type of consultant for a biomedical engineering company, so she could just work at home on her computer whenever she wanted (dunno the hours).

That was just two out of many more. Most people don't work.