How did you find time to enjoy undergrad while trying to compete for med school?

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ClrkKnt

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Enjoy undergrad meaning live the so called college experience which includes the partying, drinking, and all that other stuff.

I want to know how some people do this. Sometimes I have exams on Monday mornings so I am spending Saturday and Sunday prepping so I can do well. Didn't do that the past semester and had the worst semester of my college career.

How do you find the time to enjoy college (parties, drinking, etc.) while making yourself competitive for med school?
 
It's a balance. Personally, I didn't have a problem balancing fun with school work. There are a lot of threads on these boards where people did (did I kill my dream, are my chances gone, etc). I think my needy girlfriend was a huge asset in this way (she made me stay home a lot).

Successful pre-meds party somewhat less than, say, business majors, but that doesn't mean we can't have fun in college. Just don't expect it to be every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. To be perfectly honest, college isn't that f'in hard. Study for 2 solid days before an exam and watch the 4.0's roll in.
 
You have to be smart about when you... 'live the college experience' and when you don't. It's fine if you spend the weekend before an exam studying. Probably shouldn't spend the weekend before a Monday exam at the bar (although some people do this and turn out fine). But what about the weekend after your exam, or the weeks when you don't have any major assignments? Go out with your friends!!

I know this is a simplification, but it's all about being efficient with your time so you can make time to go out. Have an hour in between classes twice a week? Use that time to work on your online homework, or review some lecture material. Then you'll have more time in the evenings or over the weekend. Like Rik1111 said, you may not have as much time as business majors (for example), but you can definitely still make it work. And you'll probably burn out and be miserable if all you do is study. Be efficient with your time, be smart about when you study and when you go out, and I think you should be fine.
 
I pretty much went out every single weekend and Thursdays except for when I was studying for my MCAT (I locked myself in the library that semester, those were the dark days haha). I also do a sport which may have helped me in a way because I knew to get my work done before practice but it was extremely time consuming. Like everyone is saying, if you pace your work throughout the semester, a social life and good grades (and volunteering/research/a job) are doable. I sleep like 5 hours a night which probably isn't ideal but I definitely was able to enjoy college and stay competitive for medical school! Hope this helps 🙂
 
A lot of people aren't efficient with their studying. When you're "doing work," be productive. If you're spending time at the library hanging out with friends with Netflix/Hulu open, you're doing it wrong and wasting time.
 
Like Rik1111 said, it's definitely just a balance. The most important thing is finding a way to study smart; unless it's a huge, cumulative exam, a few solid hours of studying will get you the grades that you need to be competitive. Once you figure out the most effective way for you to study, you'll find that you have plenty of time to "live the college life". Also, if you want to go out with your friends the weekend before an exam, maybe just don't get blitzed? You can easily go out Saturday night, drink just enough to have fun, and study effectively on Sunday without having a massive hangover.
 
hay guys ignore the trolls calling me a troll, there are bound to be more on this thread anyways when they can simply post on the 20 other threads on the page. to clear things up

my past thread showed my frustration with not living the college experience and my obsession with the hookup culture.

this one talks more about me wanting to find a way to balance between that and academics.

Keep the good advice coming, I will like all great posts. Ignore the trolls.
 
ClrkKnt said:
hay guys ignore the trolls calling me a troll, there are bound to be more on this thread anyways when they can simply post on the 20 other threads on the page. to clear things up

my past thread showed my frustration with not living the college experience and my obsession with the hookup culture.

this one talks more about me wanting to find a way to balance between that and academics.

Keep the good advice coming, I will like all great posts. Ignore the trolls.
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So essentially those two threads ask the exact same thing? You're splitting hairs here, chief.
 
If you stop posting a new thread with this same question every week, you might save enough time to go out on Friday night. Problem solved.

Seriously though. If you want to have fun, the first step is to stop fretting so much about how you're not having any fun. It just stresses you out and gets you into a negative mood. Very counterproductive.

Having fun in college boils down to two steps:
  1. Do your work quickly.
  2. When you are done with your work, go out and have fun.

If you never get to step two, you are either doing your work inefficiently (i.e. Hulu is open in the other tab) or you have too much work on your plate. Fix the problem and then try again.
 
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I'm not much for the bar scene, so it wasn't a problem for me. Also, during my summer of mcat prep, my wonderful girlfriend lived with a stack of flash cards in her hands. "Oh, you want to eat dinner? Tell me the difference between E1, E2, SN1 & SN2." "You want me to get naked? Give me the equations for boiling point elevation and freezing point depression", etc...
 
Zelda840 said:
I'm not much for the bar scene, so it wasn't a problem for me. Also, during my summer of mcat prep, my wonderful girlfriend lived with a stack of flash cards in her hands. "Oh, you want to eat dinner? Tell me the difference between E1, E2, SN1 & SN2." "You want me to get naked? Give me the equations for boiling point elevation and freezing point depression", etc...
Click to expand...

Now that's a woman! 😉
 
Zelda840 said:
I'm not much for the bar scene, so it wasn't a problem for me. Also, during my summer of mcat prep, my wonderful girlfriend lived with a stack of flash cards in her hands. "Oh, you want to eat dinner? Tell me the difference between E1, E2, SN1 & SN2." "You want me to get naked? Give me the equations for boiling point elevation and freezing point depression", etc...
Click to expand...

ClrkKnt said:
hay guys ignore the trolls calling me a troll, there are bound to be more on this thread anyways when they can simply post on the 20 other threads on the page. to clear things up

my past thread showed my frustration with not living the college experience and my obsession with the hookup culture.

this one talks more about me wanting to find a way to balance between that and academics.

Keep the good advice coming, I will like all great posts. Ignore the trolls.
Click to expand...


I see what people are thinking...
 
I didn't have fun during semesters. I had to study and work almost full time and do research shadowing etc. I did have a lot of fun doing SMDEP and SURF/SURP. Plus, drinking etc. is illegal. I was not trying to end up with institutional action etc.

Honestly, having fun in undergrad is lame. You cannot "drink", you cannot go to bars, you can't do anything. My year off has been cool though. Medical schools GIVE you free alcohol on interviews, you can watch your bowl game with alumni, you can go wine tasting, you can go to the venue/lounge because you're 21, you fly out to your poster presentation and network with leaders in your field over a drink etc., because I have money and work full time I can travel, go to concerts etc. without worrying about classes

Put in the work in undergrad so you can take a year off and do research, travel etc. Doing that in undergrad is hard. You usually don't have money, you're spread thin on commitments, you're not legal, so you risk getting caught with alcohol etc.

I told myself I am going to sacrifice fun in undergrad for an awesome year off and considering the stuff I have done so far its worth it. For real.
 
Espadaleader said:
Honestly, having fun in undergrad is lame.
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James-Franco-Confused-Look1.gif
 
Espadaleader said:
1. Honestly, having fun in undergrad is lame. You cannot "drink", you cannot go to bars, you can't do anything.

2. Medical schools GIVE you free alcohol on interviews
Click to expand...


1. I understand that everyone's experience is different, but making a blatantly false blanket statement like this doesn't help anyone.

2. Where the **** have you been interviewing and how can I get an invite?
 
For the love of all that is good, do not think of undergrad as "competing for med school". I am sure that is not what you intended to mean, but just in case I will say this: just compete with yourself. Set your own expectations and goals for how you want to do each semester based on your past performance. Once you are rocking and rolling all your courses and your EC's are in place, your goals can include better time management such that you can go out X nights per week or Y hours per day, or however you want to do it.

I hear undergraduates like drinking while hanging out, so you X nights per week (where x is 1 or 2), is probably more conducive to that type of socialization than setting aside Y hours per day.
 
Espadaleader said:
Honestly, having fun in undergrad is lame. You cannot "drink", you cannot go to bars, you can't do anything.
Click to expand...
I've never understood why so many people equate drinking with fun. It really isn't difficult to have fun without alcohol. Going hiking or rock climbing is fun. Going out to watch a play or an opera is fun. Going into the countryside to pick fruits, see farm animals, and see the stars is fun. I know people who have done all these things and find other new and interesting things to do on a regular basis. It can be pretty cheap too if you put a little effort into searching for best deals. Even if you're too lazy for all that, saying home and watching TV or playing videogames can also be fun. Just invite a few friends over.
 
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Chipster. said:
1. I understand that everyone's experience is different, but making a blatantly false blanket statement like this doesn't help anyone.

2. Where the **** have you been interviewing and how can I get an invite?
Click to expand...

Like, you need to take a load off here and there but honestly what can you do in undergrad? You cannot go to bars, you cannot drink legally, you cant do a lot of the things the are really FUN. Sure, I had fun in undergrad. My friends and I would play video games and watch anime and play basketball etc. NOW, its just a lot more fun so, undergrad is lame in retrospect. The point of the story is sometimes you will have to sacrifice in undergrad to get where you need to be but trust me you can make it up. Hopkins has "Liver Rounds" where you can have drinks with faculty etc. Pretty cool. I think UPenn has happy hours but I didnt get an invite.
 
Euxox said:
I've never understood why so many people equate drinking with fun. It really isn't difficult to have fun without alcohol. Going hiking or rock climbing is fun. Going out to watch a play or an opera is fun. Going into the countryside to pick fruits, see farm animals, and see the stars is fun. I know people who have done all these things and find other new and interesting things to do on a regular basis. It can be pretty cheap too if you put a little effort into searching for best deals. Even if you're too lazy for all that, saying home and watching TV or playing videogames can also be fun. Just invite a few friends over.
Click to expand...

Agreed. Drinking and partying is like a once in a very long while thing for me, and unless you go to college in the Sahara, there is always something to do with friends. Working all the time is just dull.
 
Espadaleader said:
Like, you need to take a load off here and there but honestly what can you do in undergrad? You cannot go to bars, you cannot drink legally, you cant do a lot of the things the are really FUN. Sure, I had fun in undergrad. My friends and I would play video games and watch anime and play basketball etc. NOW, its just a lot more fun so, undergrad is lame in retrospect. The point of the story is sometimes you will have to sacrifice in undergrad to get where you need to be but trust me you can make it up. Hopkins has "Liver Rounds" where you can have drinks with faculty etc. Pretty cool. I think UPenn has happy hours but I didnt get an invite.
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Plenty of people have fake ids, bouncer friends, or go to parties with alcohol. I am not advocating anything here. Just saying.

I don't know how I feel about drinking with faculty during the interview. I'd probably have as much fun as having a drink with my future in-laws.
 
SunsFun said:
I don't know how I feel about drinking with faculty during the interview. I'd probably have as much fun as having a drink with my future in-laws.
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It's a trap! They just want to get us wasted so that we'll admit that we did just do the volunteering for the hours.

But seriously, I agree 100%. I remember receiving the invitation to the U Penn happy hour now, and I ignored it for just that reason.
 
Squeezed 4 years of partying into my freshman year, while keeping a semi-decent GPA, then buckled down for the remaining 3.
 
Here has been my undergrad experience: I "go out" 2-3 nights a week (some Wednesdays, and almost every Friday and Saturday), either to a bar or to a friend's house or apartment, and this is when I get to relax and have some fun. Often we have a few beers, sometimes more than a few. I'm surprised to see posters here taking issue with drinking being "illegal"; this is an attitude that appears to almost entirely dissipate after someone's freshman year.

Partying and socializing three nights a week doesn't have to interfere with your academics so long as you manage your time during the day. I've only had to "stay in" on a weekend night a handful of times in my four years, and my GPA >3.9. Am I a naturally gifted student? Yeah, probably a little, but everyone going to med school in this country is gifted. More to the point, it's totally possible to manage your time well in order to study hard AND play hard.

addendum: Undergrad is about more than just getting into medical school. In the USA we are so privileged to be able to take four years to study whatever we want with a bunch of other young adults, all of whom are passionate about different things. Take an art history class, or classic literature class, or creative writing, or mesopotamian history, or contemporary marxism, and you might find that you can have fun WHILE talking to your classmates and professors about these social and cultural issues. Plus, the boys and girls outside the hard sciences you might find are both cuter and more interesting than us science nerds.
 
Get up at 7 or so. Eat breakfast watch sportscenter. At 8 either go to class or start studying. Study between classes. I'd usually be done studying for the day by 5 but of course some days ran later some shorter. This leaves plenty of time in the evenings for fun. My goal for each day was to learn the material from each class cold before the next class period. Electrical field in empty space on Monday? I knew it solid before Wednesday's lecture. This way when it came time for tests I just did a short bit of review. There's really no secret besides time management and self discipline and these two skills will serve you well the rest of your life.
 
Euxox said:
But seriously, I agree 100%. I remember receiving the invitation to the U Penn happy hour now, and I ignored it for just that reason.
Click to expand...

You missed out! The happy hour was with a bunch of students, no adcom members, and has zero impact on our interviews - according to the med students. No, clearly getting trashed would have been a bad idea, but I had a great time and learned a ton about the culture of the school. I ended up brining up some of the topics I chatted to the med students about during my interviews as reasons I was excited about the UPenn community. I would say that UPenn is very high on my list right now specifically because of my experience with the current students. Who knew UPenn has a group of students who regularly get together to drink and learn about various whiskeys! Those are my kind of people 😉

The adcoms are not out to get us. I suppose I have not heard back from UPenn yet so I may still get a rejection based on my decision to go the the happy hour....but I somehow doubt it, there are plenty of better reasons to not accept me 😛
 
kyamh said:
The adcoms are not out to get us. I suppose I have not heard back from UPenn yet so I may still get a rejection based on my decision to go the the happy hour....but I somehow doubt it.
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Haha, I was joking about the adcoms. In my case, I drove into Philly in the morning, so going to the happy hour would have meant having to book a hotel room for the night. It just didn't feel like the quality of socializing at the happy hour would be worth the cost. But it sounds it might have been worth it? Oh well. Glad you had fun!
 
Euxox said:
Haha, I was joking in my last post. In my case, I was planning on driving into Philly in the morning, so going to the happy hour would have meant having to book a hotel room for the night. But it sounds it might have been worth it? Oh well. Glad you had fun!
Click to expand...

Yeah, booking a hotel makes zero sense. I second not bending over backwards to attend these social events. If you are around, however, it certainly beats sitting in a hotel room and watching Netflix.
 
QuantumJ said:
Get up at 7 or so. Eat breakfast watch sportscenter. At 8 either go to class or start studying. Study between classes. I'd usually be done studying for the day by 5 but of course some days ran later some shorter. This leaves plenty of time in the evenings for fun. My goal for each day was to learn the material from each class cold before the next class period. Electrical field in empty space on Monday? I knew it solid before Wednesday's lecture. This way when it came time for tests I just did a short bit of review. There's really no secret besides time management and self discipline and these two skills will serve you well the rest of your life.
Click to expand...

Undergrad wasn't as fun for me because I was working 30 hours a week at retail, plus research, shadowing etc. I was already at work for an hour at 5. Trust me my time management was at the max. People have to know where they are. I know many college students who wanted to party and have fun and throw their careers away because of it. Sometimes college is not fun and you have to suck it up. If you have to work 30 hours a week or take care of you elderly grandmother etc. you cannot expect to have the same undergraduate experience fun wise as everyone else. I still had fun when I could, but now I can open up (family has recovered from recession with jobs, less burden, more time for fun).
 
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