Failed Science classes...quit job?

[LVcc345]

Hi guys,

I really need help in making this decision. I am taking my first semester of physics, second semester of ochem, and a bio class.

Now last semester i took OCHEM I and i aced it. I was working once a week or twice, sometimes not at all before my exams. however, i decided to take a job as a scribe at an emergency department and i have been so stressed out with school. my school schedule does not allow for me to work anything but weekends which is when i really need the hours to study.

I spoke to the chief scribe about working 2 days only, she said i had to do 2-3 and the thing is, when i am working friday and Saturday (8 hours) and then sunday (4 hours) and exam is monday or Tuesday i find it hard to study around that schedule.

Anyways, i took my exams an i got a 74 for bio, 58 for ochem, and incredibly bad for physics i do not even want to say. I am out of the running for an A for physics and almost for a B. I really did not want to quit, i wanted to commit to this job but i just do not want to risk failing my exams again. does this job really make a difference in terms of getting into med school? If i quit will i regret this?

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[ctaim]

Can't get into medical school without passing. Quit the job if you must. Usually the scribe companies are willing to "rehire" in the summer, or whenever you're ready to come back

 

[JustAPhD]

Acing OChem 1 and now struggling in 2 (with the other classes) makes me think that you truly don’t have the time to work. Either quit or study more during the week to make up for not having the time during the weekend.

 

[Blanky]

You can work 20 hours a week and take 3 classes. Manage your time and don’t cram before exams.

 

[•Syzygy•]

dont work as a scribe during school years. i have a lot of scribe experience and would have never done that during school. i recommend quitting

 

[infectiousdisease101]

You can go to school part-time as long as you work at least 20+ hours a week. Going to school part-time and not working will raise eyebrows and make adcoms wonder if you can handle the curriculum of medical school.

I am basing this on some postbac programs that only allow students to take the part-time route if they work 20+ hours a week because it shows medical schools you can handle a heavy load.

 

[rufflev]

Recovering from lack of clinical/non-clinical experience takes a minuscule amount of time in comparison to what GPA repair requires.

My advice would be to either (1) quit as a scribe, or (2) scribe, but only when you have an easier/lighter course load.

 

[LVcc345]

You can go to school part-time as long as you work at least 20+ hours a week. Going to school part-time and not working will raise eyebrows and make adcoms wonder if you can handle the curriculum of medical school.

I am basing this on some postbac programs that only allow students to take the part-time route if they work 20+ hours a week because it shows medical schools you can handle a heavy load.

i cannot go to school "part time" , school is far more important than work. i do not NEED to work, i just am for the experience.

 

[infectiousdisease101]

There are other ways to get patient interactions such as volunteering and shadowing. I was told that I stood out from other shadowers and the doctors of the department, not just the one I shadowed, really liked me, so I asked that doctor to write me a letter.

 

[LVcc345]

There are other ways to get patient interactions such as volunteering and shadowing. I was told that I stood out from other shadowers and the doctors of the department, not just the one I shadowed, really liked me, so I asked that doctor to write me a letter.

i guess im just worried this job will make or break me....do you think that is so?

 

[infectiousdisease101]

Yes, you are. There is also a thing called timing. Maybe this is not the time where you have found the maturity, study techniques, motivation, etc to juggle all these things. I did not get really involved in ECs until my 4th year of UG. Even so, I have racked up a lot of experiences along the way.

Believe it or not, breaking is not entirely bad. You can get remade into something that is harder to break. I speak from personal experience.

If you take an MCAT prep course and do the necessary preparation to get a high score, you will get broken so many times, you will at times want to call it quits.

 

[CommyO]

You can work 20 hours a week and take 3 classes. Manage your time and don’t cram before exams.

Bad advice.

Depending on where you go, ochem is massively curved or required easily 20 hours a week to master. Throw in physics and a very intensive bio reading class which may eat up 5-10 hrs a chapter and 2 chapters a week.
Ochem-15 hrs
Physics-10 hrs
Bio-10 hrs
Lectures and Discussions- 20 hrs
Labs? add in another 20 hours

Yeah good luck working with that. People do not understand what 3 science classes entail.
OP, unless you have a really solid thought out plan, you should quit and focus on school.

 

[Save a life]

I had a similar experience for my junior and senior years of college, working 20+ hours as a medical scribe with science classes. I was able to get through but I did end up with some B's and my GPA went down some. I also worked and studied nonstop, it was pretty rough.

I'm in med school now so it can be done. But your probably better off quitting the job for now. Schools like grades over work experience.

 

[mistafab]

Whatever you do - don't shoot yourself in the foot. If you can't do exactly as well in your classes as you could balancing your classes vs. classes and a job, then don't take the job. The piddlings of cash you get aren't worth it. Volunteer 4 hours a week instead.

 

[MareNostrummm]

You can work 20 hours a week and take 3 classes. Manage your time and don’t cram before exams.

That's 20 hours of scribing, which depending on where he works (busy ED) can be very mentally demanding. Its not some campus secretary job where you can study during downtime.

 

[LVcc345]

I had a similar experience for my junior and senior years of college, working 20+ hours as a medical scribe with science classes. I was able to get through but I did end up with some B's and my GPA went down some. I also worked and studied nonstop, it was pretty rough.

I'm in med school now so it can be done. But your probably better off quitting the job for now. Schools like grades over work experience.

did you get asked about it on the interview?

 

[LVcc345]

Whatever you do - don't shoot yourself in the foot. If you can't do exactly as well in your classes as you could balancing your classes vs. classes and a job, then don't take the job. The piddlings of cash you get aren't worth it. Volunteer 4 hours a week instead.

yea i do not need the money, im just worried that if i quit i am damaging my application.

 

[ReapPremed]

yea i do not need the money, im just worried that if i quit i am damaging my application.

Who says you need to include menial jobs you quit on your application? You get to choose your 15 ECs.

But you do need to include all your grades.

 

[LVcc345]

Who says you need to include menial jobs you quit on your application? You get to choose your 15 ECs.

But you do need to include all your grades.

right
but what if this job made a difference in my application, that is my concern?

 

[infectiousdisease101]

Who says you need to include menial jobs you quit on your application? You get to choose your 15 ECs.

But you do need to include all your grades.

Why would you omit a scribe job from a medical school application?

 

[Blanky]

I work 25 hours a week in the ED. I agree it is very stressful. OP is taking what 11 credits? I will agree that if he/she is failing that doing whatever is required to correct the gpa is first priority. But with decent time management 11 credits and 20 hours should be manageable.

 

[LVcc345]

I work 25 hours a week in the ED. I agree it is very stressful. OP is taking what 11 credits? I will agree that if he/she is failing that doing whatever is required to correct the gpa is first priority. But with decent time management 11 credits and 20 hours should be manageable.

could you perhaps give me some tips on what has worked for you?

 

[Blanky]

Each semester is different, but right now im ED 7a-7:30pm Saturday/Monday so wake up at 5am get home and sleep by 9:30. Sundays I spend time with my wife and maybe look over a couple powerpoint slides for an hour at night while we netflix (House of Cards.) Tuesday/Thursday I have 3 classes and I aim to get as much done between each class as I can. First class is 8am so awake at 5am and out by 6pm, home by 7:30 and asleep by 9pm. Wed/Friday is biochem 11-4:20 and friday is only 2-3:30. I throw in plenty of Biochem/Physics 2 videos on these days and again home by 6 and asleep by 9. I almost never do any schoolwork at home unless its glazing PPs while watching Netflix with the wife.

 

[ReapPremed]

right
but what if this job made a difference in my application, that is my concern?

You can always get another job when you're done with classes is what everyone is saying. Not going to be blackballed out of entry-level clinical jobs for quitting.

Why would you omit a scribe job from a medical school application?

I'm not sure how many hours the OP has racked up, but gonnif mentioned in another thread that having very few hours AND quitting/losing the job after a short time make it risky to include on an app. If the OP leaves on bad terms, or has only been on the job a few weeks, and is worried about a bad reference they can omit it.

My very quick opinion is

1) your scribe job at 150 clinical is nearly worthless; why did you lose it after a month. Risks: it hurts more than help
2) Your shadow hours are fine but dont add to any volunteer service
3) Since students always ask me for a number, my standard advice is 150 clinical volunteer hours and 150 community service hours
4 hours a week volunteering for 50 weeks is 200 hours, which as a full-time worker is reasonable
4) being an MCAT tutor will add very little to your application

 

[infectiousdisease101]

You can always get another job when you're done with classes is what everyone is saying. Not going to be blackballed out of entry-level clinical jobs for quitting.



I'm not sure how many hours the OP has racked up, but gonnif mentioned in another thread that having very few hours AND quitting/losing the job after a short time make it risky to include on an app. If the OP leaves on bad terms, or has only been on the job a few weeks, and is worried about a bad reference they can omit it.

I'd am amazed they even contact references given you have rec letters. Especially given in some cases, your supervisor may have moved and there's no way of contacting them.

Honestly, I don't think they even bother to contact them. Think about it, it's a huge waste of time and letters are pretty telling. I have a link supporting my claim, except being new, I can't post it. It's on Savvypremed and the article is called "7 Common Mistakes on the Work and Experience Section". Pretty certain as long as your letter writer contact info is on the references, you'll be fine. I've read sample rec letters and they all put their contact info on it if the adcoms want more info.

Besides, it's a well-established fact not everyone in your life will like you. That includes supervisors, not for your lack of work ethic, but for social reasons. That's why people pick their references for resumes and letter writers.

If anything, I'd say the requirement of a supervisor contact is to keep people from inputting fake experiences.

 

[CommyO]

right
but what if this job made a difference in my application, that is my concern?

You have to make the choice for your grades or experience.
A scribe job is not something worthwhile on an app but does provide decent clinical exposure.

A scribe job will not get you into a school if you have a 3.0

 

[Save a life]

did you get asked about it on the interview

They didn't specifically ask about it but I brought it up.

AMCAS doesn't really give a great snap shot of what activities a person is doing simultaneously. Sure, Adcoms can look at your classes and then look at your work and then look at your EC's but it's not always obvious why someone's grades fluctuate. For better or worse, I think grades and MCAT end up being the most important and the rest is fluff. Scribing after you graduate is probably the best way to go if you do gap years.

 

[infectiousdisease101]

They didn't specifically ask about it but I brought it up.

AMCAS doesn't really give a great snap shot of what activities a person is doing simultaneously. Sure, Adcoms can look at your classes and then look at your work and then look at your EC's but it's not always obvious why someone's grades fluctuate. For better or worse, I think grades and MCAT end up being the most important and the rest is fluff. Scribing after you graduate is probably the best way to go if you do gap years.

They're equally important. Stats get you to the door. ECs get you through it.