Help!!! What is medical school like??

[2bme]

Hi,

I've worked in the medical field for years as a medical assistant and I love everything about medicine! I'm 27 years old with a husband and a child and I just graduated with a bachelors degree in English and History from with a 4.0. I haven't taken any of the requirements and before I do a post bacc I would like more info on the schooling. I know a lot about what the actual medical field is like, I know what doctors do and what their days consist of but I want to know what medical school is like.I know that med school is book work for the first two years then rotations.. I know its like having two full time jobs but here are some of my questions.

- Do medical school students have summer off like regular schools do? If so do you get every summer off for all four years? If not the entire summer then how long is the vacation for the summer?

- Also while in medical school do you get every single weekend off like normal undergraduate education?

- How many hours on average per day are needed at minimum to devote to medical school classes/studying ?

- Also do you get to pick the times to take your classes at? If not what is the typical Medical student schedule look like?

- How about 3rd and 4th year what are the school hour requirements, I have heard that 3rd and 4th year are like residency and you have to be "on call" is that true?

Thank you all in advance for your time and for your input. I would love to hear from parents/spouses who went through the process or are going through it for some insight. I really want to know what the required time devotion is like so I can know if it will be something Im willing to put not just myself but my family as well.

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[gman33]

If the basic question is how much time/effort is required, the short answer would be all of it.

Years 1/2 are classroom and the actual hours of class varies at each school. You'll be putting in somewhere between 60-80 hours each week.

Years 3/4 the total hours will be a little higher than 1/2 and you will have virtually no control over your schedule.

Summer vacation. After year 1 you will have 8-10 weeks off. Most students do something medicine related during that time. No summers off after that.

If you are not prepared to commit most of your waking hours to medicine for the next 7-10 years, don't even start down this road.

I was pretty realistic in my expectations going in, but I underestimated the mental/emotional toll in would be on me and my family.
I still think I'll be glad I did it in the long run, but if I really understood the way I would feel in the short run, I don't think I would have done it.

 

[calimed214]

- Do medical school students have summer off like regular schools do? If so do you get every summer off for all four years? If not the entire summer then how long is the vacation for the summer?

You get 1 summer off after your first year. Like the person above me already stated, many students use this time to conduct research or do something else that is medically-related.

- Also while in medical school do you get every single weekend off like normal undergraduate education?

Typically, classes won't be conducted on weekends, but don't think that having the weekend "off" in medical school is like having a weekend off during undergrad.

- How many hours on average per day are needed at minimum to devote to medical school classes/studying ?

This varies widely depending on the person. I know several people in medical school who study anywhere from 2-6 hours a night on the weekdays and then all day Saturday/Sunday.

- Also do you get to pick the times to take your classes at? If not what is the typical Medical student schedule look like?

No you don't pick and choose your classes like you do in undergrad. The curriculum for years 1 & 2 are pretty set. The type of schedule depends on the school. Some institutions have 8 hours of class a day. Some have significantly less.

- How about 3rd and 4th year what are the school hour requirements, I have heard that 3rd and 4th year are like residency and you have to be "on call" is that true?

Pretty much full time and then some. Yes you will have to be on call for some rotations, like Inpatient Medicine, but not all.


There are many people on SDN who manage to balance medical school with family life. From what I've gathered, it takes a LOT of compromise & hard work. Your spouse has to be VERY understanding about your commitments and willing to take up a lot of the slack. Also keep in mind that your spouse will have to deal with your crazy residency schedule as well, which can last for 3-6 years after medical school ends. It definitely puts a lot of strain on a relationship. I'm a non-trad, but am not married and have no children. I think if I did have a family, I wouldn't pursue medicine. I just don't think I'd have the mental and physical fortitude. But many have done it, so it is possible.

 

[Law2Doc]

The short answer to all your questions is that the time committment involved in this path is a lot more significant than you are contemplating. No you don't get 4 summers off. As mentioned you will have the summer after first year off, but most people use it for CV building activities like research. Second summer you spend studying for the boards, and third summer tends to be about a week long. As for weekends, most people find they need to spend most of their time during the first two years weekends studying. So you may find you need to hole up in the library a lot, rather than spend those days with family. Then in third year and parts of fourth, you may end up getting 4 weekend days off a month, much like many residents do. As for how much studying you require per day, that's anyone's guess-- it depends on your abilities, but I wouldn't underestimate the hours that may be involved. Your initial questions concern me because you are comparing it with other schooling, and it's really a different league of intensity.
You have to ask yourself-- is your family able to handle not seeing you for days during third year when you may be logging 80 hours a week in the hospital, including overnights, and have reading/presentations to do on top of that to boot? Are you okay with not coming home every third night if your program has q3 call?

 

[Aerin Sol]

I just read a book called Body of Knowledge: One Semester of Gross Anatomy and one part of it is a non-trad student trying to deal with balancing school/her family. She gets five hours of sleep a night, studies at sporting events, and has a lot of tension with her family members. You could read it if you want more details.

 

[libo1369]

Hi,

I've worked in the medical field for years as a medical assistant and I love everything about medicine! I'm 27 years old with a husband and a child and I just graduated with a bachelors degree in English and History from with a 4.0. I haven't taken any of the requirements and before I do a post bacc I would like more info on the schooling. I know a lot about what the actual medical field is like, I know what doctors do and what their days consist of but I want to know what medical school is like.I know that med school is book work for the first two years then rotations.. I know its like having two full time jobs but here are some of my questions.

- Do medical school students have summer off like regular schools do? If so do you get every summer off for all four years? If not the entire summer then how long is the vacation for the summer?While id depends ont he school my school has Some time off for the summers. The summer between one and two was pretty much off. Between Summers 2-3 We will be studying for boards, Likwise between 3-4. So while not traditionally off there is some time built in for decompression.

- Also while in medical school do you get every single weekend off like normal undergraduate education?We have no required weekend times during school but this time will be invaluable to further study the subjects.

- How many hours on average per day are needed at minimum to devote to medical school classes/studying ?I personally spend about 4hrs/day Some people do a lot less and some more. In reality I probably actually study between 2-3 hours of those I have set off.

- Also do you get to pick the times to take your classes at? If not what is the typical Medical student schedule look like? We have no choice in our classes or times ours is in one room with the entire class present. Unless it is Lab in which we are seperated in two groups. The hours are generally 8-5 everyday with an hour lunch. While one day a week will be all lecture for us our labs in the afternoon are either 1-3 or 3-5. One day every other week we also have shadowing from 1-5

- How about 3rd and 4th year what are the school hour requirements, I have heard that 3rd and 4th year are like residency and you have to be "on call" is that true? While I cannot attest personally to this my understanding is we have rotations that will vary with our preceptor and while we do not have call for year three our 4th year we will have a mini internship where we will have call and be treated like an intern.

Thank you all in advance for your time and for your input. I would love to hear from parents/spouses who went through the process or are going through it for some insight. I really want to know what the required time devotion is like so I can know if it will be something Im willing to put not just myself but my family as well.

If you want some more info from spouses you can always get in touch with a "Spouses" Club at the schools you are interested in. I know for osteopathic schools these are called SAA (Student Advocates Association) maybe my allopathic brethren cancomment on their side. Good Luck.

 

[dotdash]

I just read a book called Body of Knowledge: One Semester of Gross Anatomy and one part of it is a non-trad student trying to deal with balancing school/her family. She gets five hours of sleep a night, studies at sporting events, and has a lot of tension with her family members. You could read it if you want more details.

Wasn't this book written by a man? Are there two with the same title? (Not that it matters, it's still probably a useful book)

I second the recommendation to read medical memoirs -- they are great for giving a feeling of the day-to-day.

 

[cabinbuilder]

So I went to med school at 32 with 2 small kids ages 2 and 5. I will tell you my husband basically did everything - cooking, laundry, shuttling kids to daycare, school, housekeeping, lawn. I did the bills and bought the groceries.

I was in class 8 hours a day and studied 4 hours a night on top of that, took saturday off to do family things and studied 12 hours sundays since we had exams every monday over the prior week's material. The first semester is the worst since you have anatomy and lab dissection and have to learn all the structures for the practical as well.

You only get the first summer off. I haven't had a summer off in the last 7 years although I have been able to take a week at a time vacation. Took 4 weeks off this year to move across the country a made a road trip out of it.

I had a few required labs in a saturday in medical school (ophtho, genital exam labs). I never was on call in medical school. Residency was a whole different beast and u have no say as to schedule so you need to be sure your spouse is on board.

feel free to pm me with any questions

 

[Law2Doc]

... i never was on call in medical school. ...

Overnight call is pretty common in med school these days. I'd say most med students can expect to stay overnight at the hospital during third year ever 4th (or maybe even every third) night during surgery, in-patient medicine, Obstetrics rotations, and maybe even during psych and peds. And then in fourth year you will generally do call just like an intern during your sub-I. And in many of these rotations, you will be working many weekends (many med schools use the 4 weekend days off a month approach, just like in residency). Other than that, cabinbuilder's post seems pretty on the money.

 

[cabinbuilder]

Just to clarify about not being on call. I just graduated 3 yrs ago. Much of it was because I was had kids and was very picky about where I did my rotations. Since I went to med school in Erie, I rotated in the city where I knew I wouldn't have call:

Ob/Gyn - my attending hated being on call and would induce patients before staying over night since she had a family too. Never stayed overnight for her.

Internal Medicine: did it at the hospital assoc with the school. The residents took care of things overnight - they sent the students home. I did the "call" required which was to stay until 10pm once during the rotation.

General surgery: I did a sub-I in albuquerque and did not have call there either since they had a night float system. I was on the day shift and worked twelves.


I did have some days that I stayed late, 11pm at the latest but I never did a 24 hour shift in medical school. I didn't go looking for it either. Was lucky in residency too, my intern year I had 3 weekdays and one weekend a month, second year I had 2 calls a month and third year one call a month. I realize that my experience is not the norm but I wanted to put it out there that it can be ok to be the mom and not be killed during the med school journey. I saw my kids plenty and didn't feel away any more than when I worked full time.

 

[Law2Doc]

... I realize that my experience is not the norm but I wanted to put it out there that it can be ok to be the mom and not be killed during the med school journey. ...

Sounds like you got very very lucky. A lot of folks have the other extreme where they actually end up logging as many hours as interns during large parts of third year. Some of us had plenty of blocks of q4 or q3 call, and periodic stretches of 20+ days without a day off. So while experiences vary, I think the OP has to be cognizant of the fact that she more often than not will not be able to schedule rotations to avoid call like cabinbuilder, and may very well go through months where her family barely sees her, both in the third and part of fourth year of med school, and through much of residency.

Whenever someone asks about having summers/weekends off and how much time they have to spend per day, I worry that this isn't the right path for them. It's like shopping on Rodeo Drive -- if you have to ask what things cost, you can't afford it. Much the same with med school -- if you are already asking how much time it will take, you probably aren't in a position to give that much time. I agree that it's important to research things fully, but the wording of OPs question made me very nervous for her.

 

[devilpup]

Gruel... sandwiches, gruel omelettes. Nothing but gruel. Plus you can eat your own hair.