How do you do it?

[Neurocentric]

Non-traditional student here. I'm 25, and a sophomore in college. I work as a barista, I take about 15 credits a semester, and I'm still trying to - roughly - have a life. How do you do it?

I have days where I feel like I'm doing more than I should, and some days where I feel like I'm not doing enough. My family is not as supportive for my aspirations as they should be, so I feel like I wanna do well not only for me, but for them, and some days I lose my motivation.

Not to mention I just bombed my Bio 2 class exam on plants, so I feel like I'm not smart enough.. although plants seriously suck. So, how do you do it? How do you keep feeling like you can do this, no matter the fact that you work, or have a family, or whatever?

Advice?

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[Ellipsis1104]

Some days, it's just faith and forward momentum. Don't lose confidence over one exam; (most) all of us have tanked a test at some point.

Hang in there

 

[Neurocentric]

Some days, it's just faith and forward momentum. Don't lose confidence over one exam; (most) all of us have tanked a test at some point.

As for having a life: I have a husband and two kids, so my non-school "life" is mostly family stuff. What is mostly working for us is scheduling activities and having a theme-day (Monday fun-day, Friday night family night, etc...). We do simple stuff, but the boys are still young enough to enjoy it.

I also start my day really early; I get several "extra" study hours in that free up the evenings.

Hang in there

Thanks for responding, and for your advice. I think some days for me are harder than others. Today is one of those hard days. I've worked and gone to school before, but it seems like the pressure of pre-med makes it harder for some reason. I actually quit thinking about pre-med for a year, but came back to it right before the start of the semester. And now the stress begins again.

 

[QofQuimica]

Advice?

Best advice I can give you is to take things one step at a time, one day at a time, one test at a time. You'll be overwhelmed if you try to think about and plan for everything you have to do between where you are now and where you want to be in a decade. There's only so much you can handle at a time, so keep cutting down your chunks until they're finally small enough to chew. I don't try to think beyond what I'm doing on my current rotation, and sometimes beyond my current week or even day. The other thing is to get a support group. If you're not getting that from your family, then find some peers, talk to a mentor or counselor, etc.

Everyone has "one of those days" once in a while. It doesn't mean you're not smart enough; it just means you're human. Have your brief pity party, then dust off your derriere and get back up again.

to you.

 

[Neurocentric]

Best advice I can give you is to take things one step at a time, one day at a time, one test at a time. You'll be overwhelmed if you try to think about and plan for everything you have to do between where you are now and where you want to be in a decade. There's only so much you can handle at a time, so keep cutting down your chunks until they're finally small enough to chew. I don't try to think beyond what I'm doing on my current rotation, and sometimes beyond my current week or even day. The other thing is to get a support group. If you're not getting that from your family, then find some peers, talk to a mentor or counselor, etc.

Everyone has "one of those days" once in a while. It doesn't mean you're not smart enough; it just means you're human. Have your brief pity party, then dust off your derriere and get back up again.

to you.

Thank you. I've definitely dusted myself off, now I just have to go to sleep and remember tomorrow is a new day.

 

[ShoTyme]

Not to mention I just bombed my Bio 2 class exam on plants, so I feel like I'm not smart enough.. although plants seriously suck.
Advice?

Plants do suck. But here come animals right around the corner. I can't wait!

There's only so much you can handle at a time, so keep cutting down your chunks until they're finally small enough to chew.

Everyone has "one of those days" once in a while. It doesn't mean you're not smart enough; it just means you're human. Have your brief pity party, then dust off your derriere and get back up again.

to you.

It's really important to make sure to break things down into manageable pieces. I'm sure you've heard that when running a marathon, don't think about the finish line; just think about putting one foot in front of the other. In that line of thought, everyday I make a "To Do List" for myself. I know it may seem childish, but I've come to rely on it. I have everything I need done on that list. In all reality, I know that I will never be able to finish everything on there. But I do as much as I can. Also crossing off a completed task gives me a sense of satisfaction and a small feeling of accomplishment.

Everyone has bad days. That's why it's even more important to celebrate victories, however small. Good luck to you.

 

[simondimond]

Your goal has to be crystal clear and you have to be able to see it.

If you can do that, it makes getting there that much easier.

Preparing for med school without a clear plan is very hard and frustrating.

 

[Neurocentric]

Plants do suck. But here come animals right around the corner. I can't wait!

You're in Texas too! It'd be really funny if you happened to be at my school and in my class.

It's really important to make sure to break things down into manageable pieces. I'm sure you've heard that when running a marathon, don't think about the finish line; just think about putting one foot in front of the other. In that line of thought, everyday I make a "To Do List" for myself. I know it may seem childish, but I've come to rely on it. I have everything I need done on that list. In all reality, I know that I will never be able to finish everything on there. But I do as much as I can. Also crossing off a completed task gives me a sense of satisfaction and a small feeling of accomplishment.

Everyone has bad days. That's why it's even more important to celebrate victories, however small. Good luck to you.

I do the check list thing, too. Call it completely OCD, but I like having things done systematically. Even so, some days I just feel like I'm not catching up, even though the amount on my list is dwindling down.

Also, and this might sound really stupid.. my lack of wanting to stay at school and study stems from the fact about my boyfriend. In June, he almost died and was in the hospital, and in July, I was off to Russia for five weeks. I feel almost like I have or need to spend time with him, when I forget that he's fine and no longer in danger. My Biology grades though, are, if I don't do better!

 

[futuredocandmom]

Great advice offered above from others. To add my two cents, I recommend sticking around SDN for support, and also identifying sources of support in your daily life and at school - teachers are often wonderfully supportive.

Sorry to hear you bombed your exam. Do you have enough time to study in your schedule? Having personally arrived a medicine from a creative and humanities background, it's taken me a few years to figure out how to effectively study the sciences and take exams. There are so many study strategies, and I've solicited a lot of advice on these topics from my TAs and instructors as I've taken courses. Does your school have a tutoring center where you can ask for help?

Take care, and please feel free to keep us posted!

 

[ShoTyme]

You're in Texas too! It'd be really funny if you happened to be at my school and in my class.




I do the check list thing, too. Call it completely OCD, but I like having things done systematically. Even so, some days I just feel like I'm not catching up, even though the amount on my list is dwindling down.

Also, and this might sound really stupid.. my lack of wanting to stay at school and study stems from the fact about my boyfriend. In June, he almost died and was in the hospital, and in July, I was off to Russia for five weeks. I feel almost like I have or need to spend time with him, when I forget that he's fine and no longer in danger. My Biology grades though, are, if I don't do better!

Sorry to hear about your boyfriend. Are you anywhere near Dallas?

 

[Neurocentric]

Sorry to hear you bombed your exam. Do you have enough time to study in your schedule? Having personally arrived a medicine from a creative and humanities background, it's taken me a few years to figure out how to effectively study the sciences and take exams. There are so many study strategies, and I've solicited a lot of advice on these topics from my TAs and instructors as I've taken courses. Does your school have a tutoring center where you can ask for help?

Take care, and please feel free to keep us posted!

Not as much as I'd like, but some of that - I'm willing to admit - stems from the fact that I'm trying to lose weight, so I recently added gym time to that. I'm trying to switch my schedules around so I can maybe work out on the weekends, thus giving me more time to study during the week when the information is fresh. It also doesn't help that since I'm working and in school, when I get home all I want to do is curl up next to my boyfriend and watch TV. Studying is last on my mind, though it should be.

As far as the studying techniques, I'm trying to fine tune those as well. I'm a Russian major, so that degree of studying is different. I've figured out for my Bio class that recording the lectures and adding that spoken information to my written notes is starting to help.. that and we're learning "cool" stuff now He did tell us that this exam can be subbed for the final -- apparently even with the curve, A LOT of students did poorly.

 

[Neurocentric]

Sorry to hear about your boyfriend. Are you anywhere near Dallas?

Arlington, actually. I'm assuming you're in a Dallas school, but it'd be funny if you were going to my school. I'm not too familiar with the school systems here -- only been a resident of Texas for two years.

And thanks, he's doing much better now. Diabetic Ketoacidosis was his diagnosis.. good times.

 

[ShoTyme]

Arlington, actually. I'm assuming you're in a Dallas school, but it'd be funny if you were going to my school. I'm not too familiar with the school systems here -- only been a resident of Texas for two years.

And thanks, he's doing much better now. Diabetic Ketoacidosis was his diagnosis.. good times.

Gotcha. Yeah I go to Collin College out in Plano and Frisco campuses depending on the class.

 

[Jack is Back]

I'll give you the tough love perspective...

So, chances are, even if you are working 20-30 hrs a week or whatever, and have 15 credit hours, you still have tons of time to cover the volume you need to compared to what you would have in medical school.

I wouldn't have believed this before medical school, but you learn that you are a really inefficient student in UG because you didn't ever HAVE to be efficient.

Chances are, your tests aren't that hard either. Determine how the teacher is testing and then study in that way (if their lectures are awful or you need tutor help or an outside source, then find it. Be resourceful!).

It sucks to not have a life, but in medical school you will probably have less free time than you have now (again, based upon volume of material compare to time to study it).

UG + whatever else (job/volunteering/etc) is a good selection tool because if you can't navigate through it with a 3.7+ or so, then honestly, medical school would be pretty damn tough. You certainly will feel more overwhelmed and feel like you have less of a life in medical school, IMO.

Good luck. Remember, no one test makes or breaks your career. We will take a few hundred exams in this whole process, one isn't a deal breaker. BUT if you can't learn and adapt from these, then it is a deal breaker. So study hard, stay focused and learn from the best (i.e study habits, skills, efficiency).

 

[AlphaKeto]

Non-traditional student here. I'm 25, and a sophomore in college. I work as a barista, I take about 15 credits a semester, and I'm still trying to - roughly - have a life. How do you do it?

I have days where I feel like I'm doing more than I should, and some days where I feel like I'm not doing enough. My family is not as supportive for my aspirations as they should be, so I feel like I wanna do well not only for me, but for them, and some days I lose my motivation.

Not to mention I just bombed my Bio 2 class exam on plants, so I feel like I'm not smart enough.. although plants seriously suck. So, how do you do it? How do you keep feeling like you can do this, no matter the fact that you work, or have a family, or whatever?

Advice?

Lots of caffeine

Seriously though, you just have to make that goal your central focus in your life, and everything starts to fall into place. Last spring I was doing 17 hrs plus part time construction work. This fall I'm doing 21 + work study and hopefully starting a shadowing rotation schedule soon. I also have 2 kids, and ALOT of other things going on. So i basically feel overwhelmed all the time. And like you, if I happen to get a day that I'm not going 200mph, I feel like I'm supposed to be doing something, because I'm used to it.

But what keeps me going is that I know I'm working towards a very particular goal. And I can see how each step is an integral part of completing that goal.

 

[Neurocentric]

I'll give you the tough love perspective...

So, chances are, even if you are working 20-30 hrs a week or whatever, and have 15 credit hours, you still have tons of time to cover the volume you need to compared to what you would have in medical school.

I wouldn't have believed this before medical school, but you learn that you are a really inefficient student in UG because you didn't ever HAVE to be efficient.

Chances are, your tests aren't that hard either. Determine how the teacher is testing and then study in that way (if their lectures are awful or you need tutor help or an outside source, then find it. Be resourceful!).

It sucks to not have a life, but in medical school you will probably have less free time than you have now (again, based upon volume of material compare to time to study it).

UG + whatever else (job/volunteering/etc) is a good selection tool because if you can't navigate through it with a 3.7+ or so, then honestly, medical school would be pretty damn tough. You certainly will feel more overwhelmed and feel like you have less of a life in medical school, IMO.

Good luck. Remember, no one test makes or breaks your career. We will take a few hundred exams in this whole process, one isn't a deal breaker. BUT if you can't learn and adapt from these, then it is a deal breaker. So study hard, stay focused and learn from the best (i.e study habits, skills, efficiency).

Thank you for your approach, and believe me, I use this approach several times in my head. I know in the long run, medical school/residency will be much tougher than anything I'm experiencing right now, I'm just not used to what I'm experiencing right now, since I went so many years after high school NOT doing this, lol. No excuses here, just fact.

Also, I'm only taking one science class this semester, while the rest are Russian classes, which, to be blunt, aren't nearly as difficult, but they are more time consuming. I'm reading the works by famous Russian authors, and I might be quizzed on them at a later date, but I'm usually just writing papers. The lectures are mild, and I'm already done with my language classes, so the excessive studying is done, although my Russian teachings will be never be done.

My Biology class and lab, however, are a completely different entity, and that's where I'm finding there is no balance between it. I recently came back to pre-med (long story short, I can't give up wanting medicine, no matter how hard I try) so I'm just adjusting to the pressure.

I just won't give up.

Lots of caffeine

Seriously though, you just have to make that goal your central focus in your life, and everything starts to fall into place. Last spring I was doing 17 hrs plus part time construction work. This fall I'm doing 21 + work study and hopefully starting a shadowing rotation schedule soon. I also have 2 kids, and ALOT of other things going on. So i basically feel overwhelmed all the time. And like you, if I happen to get a day that I'm not going 200mph, I feel like I'm supposed to be doing something, because I'm used to it.

But what keeps me going is that I know I'm working towards a very particular goal. And I can see how each step is an integral part of completing that goal.

haha I work as a barista, so you can BET I'm getting all the caffeine I need, and then some!

I really admire people who do way more than me as far as credit hours and a job and still survive. It reminds me that I can do this, and I'm also reminded I'm not alone.

I do feel better that someone else feels like they have days where they feel they're not doing enough. You're moving so fast all the time, and when you finally have a day to breathe, you have this WTF moment.

Thanks again for all the advice, guys. Really helping me out.

 

[Herminyi]

Basic university business courses will cover most of it. Generally it is still theoretical.
There are already alot of start-up business with successful ideas that you may wish to study and look at, for example you have great inventors like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. Or Investment king like ronald trump. Each of them have published their journey and they do have insight on how they started their ideas.