having a life while in med school

[lotus]

I was talking to a student at TUCOM the
other day, and she said they have class
from 8 to 5 every weekday, plus of course
a lot of studying beyond that. Is this
typical of many osteopathic schools, or
are there some whose schedules are a bit
more conducive to having a life outside
of med school?

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[nathan]

I've often heard that once you enter medical school you are no longer just a regular person- you're a medical student. As such, your entire life is devoted to medicine (you live, breathe, and bleed medicine). Thus, there is much, much studying that is involved. Yes, you can have somewhat of a life outside medicine (in fact, it is good if you do have things that you can call your own away from medicine), but, you need to learn to balance your time wisely. And yes, most osteopathic (and allopathic for that matter) medical schools are about the same in time spent in class and studying. Hope this helps!

-Nathan (UHS-COM '05)

 

[electra]

Part of your question deals with what you consider "having a life." Medical school is part of the "real" world, and all the time in the day cannot be yours. Students have some of the same needs as the regular population (chores, laundry, snack shopping, dog walking.)

Many students find they are successful concentrating on school M-TH, then going out on Friday night for a little fun, studying Saturday, then taking Sunday off for chores/errands/fun. (which, as someone who has been working full time for the last 10 years, I can tell you is not much different from the general population.)

Others try to combine some of their study time with chores, such as getting together with friends to do the laundry and have a round table. Or, find a running partner in class, tone down the intensity, and spar academically while you run. Walk with a classmate to school...you get some exercise along with your studying.

Part of being successful in life is learning how to juggle many things at one time, being good to yourself as well as your responsibilities.

hope this helps. enjoy your school, whereever you're going.

electra

 

[melancholy]

Hey electra,
Great suggestions regarding time management and ways to wind down outside of the classroom. I just went apartment shopping near COMP the other day.. saw these apartments practically next door to the school. If things go well, I won't be getting much exercise walking to school!

(I could sprint to school if I'm late for class.. but it's so close I wouldn't be out of breath!)

 

[ana]

I pretty much had an 8am-5pm daily schedule in med school. I studied mon-thur, took the weekend off (unless I had a final, then I studied all weekend). I still did well in exams (ok, not at the top, but in the top 1/3) and good board scores. I matched in a very competitive residency in So. Calif. Don't worry about it so much. The hardest thing about the first two years is that it's kind of boring -- it's basic sciences, so it's like being an undergraduate again only with greater volume coming at a faster rate. The clinical years are academically harder, but also more fun and exciting because you will be actually participating in patient care.

Trust me folks, its do-able!

Best wishes to all.

 

[muonwhiz]

Has anyone out there in med school land done a formal calendar type of schedule (weekly, monthly, semester) setting up times for study classes, special events, exercise, general maintenance, etc. ? If so how did you do it and how did it work for you?

 

[Hskermdic]

I try to do a formal schedule for my classes, meetings, exercise and studying. I have found that if I don't schedule the exercise I seem to run out of time in the day to work out. Scheduling my study time works good as far as scheduleing the times I study and the times I take breaks but it has not worked well for me to say I would study one subject for 2 hours another for the next two etc.

I do my scheduling on Outlook and then just hotsync it over to my Visor (palm)

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Carrie
MSII KCOM

 

[robertgifford]

Okay, all I gotta say is I would rather do 18 hours of medicine , than 8 hours of all this core crap