How much do you study?

[moy505]

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How many hours do you typically spend every week on pre-med related things (studying, volunteering, etc.)? What things take up the rest of your weekly free time in college? How many difficult classes per semester?


Weekly study hours: 40hrs
Weekly class time: 8 hours

 

[Buck Winters]

You spend more time eating dinner with friends each week than working?

 

[moy505]

You spend more time eating dinner with friends each week than working?

Ya I typically only work 1 four hour shift a week. Lol, why is that weird?

 

[Buck Winters]

Ya I typically only work 1 four hour shift a week. Lol, why is that weird?

Not weird I guess, but not my undergrad experience at all.

 

[moy505]

Not weird I guess, but not my undergrad experience at all.

welp, would you like to share your experience?

 

[Fedekz]

How many hours do you typically spend every week on pre-med related things (studying, volunteering, etc.)? What things take up the rest of your weekly free time in college? How many difficult classes per semester?

If I were to take the median of all my hours it would look like this:

Weekly study hours: 40hrs
Weekly class time: 8 hours
Weekly extracurriculars: 7-10hours
Extra: work (4hrs), and eating dinner w/ friends (1 hour/day)
Difficult classes: Out of my ~15 credits/semester ~8 credits are hard science

That's a TON of study hours. I don't think I've ever studied 40 hours a week in my entire college "career". Weekly class time 8 hours? My weekly organic chem lab time was about that alone, so you have a bit to look forward to! I mostly worked and went to school through college, I worked over 40 hours a week all 4 years on a night shift.

 

[Buck Winters]

welp, would you like to share your experience?

haha yeah, I couldn't earlier but here goes:

work - 30 hrs/wk
in-class - 16-20 hrs? b/w labs and lecture, this seems about right (~3 hrs/day + 1-4 hrs of labs)
commuting - 7.5 hrs/wk
ECs - quite variable depending on class workload (never got close to consistently 7-10 hrs/week)
Usually at least one test each week - some of which would take multiple hours to complete
study - no idea how much but pretty much whenever I had free time (definitely didn't have time to get close to 40 hrs/week)

There were a few semesters when I averaged 3-4 hrs of sleep each day. Thankfully that wasn't consistent throughout undergrad though.

I had a little sass in my first reply because I'm convinced that adcoms value EC's and great grades (much easier to accomplish with 40hrs/week of studying and 10hrs/week for ECs) much more than they value the time taken by somone holding a job because they have to.
(For those who might jump on my back about this, I know they acknowledge it, but I am convinced the scale tips in one direction. Not interested in a discussion.)

 

[allantois]

1-2 days before an exam

 

[Annabell Lee]

Weekly class hours about 18-19ish most semesters.

"Hard" classes 9-12 hours depending on the semester. I think next semester will be about 13

Extra curricular: like...it really varies. Most weeks at least 5 hours.

Work: Varies by semester and week. I've only been working about 6 hours a week this semester but I just got a new job that I'm super excited about so I'll be working about 24 to 36 hours a week there plus 2 hours a week tutoring. I also plan to tutor more next semester.

Other: Being a single mom takes up a lot of time which I've never calculated directly but I'm guessing at least 30 hours a week is devoted purely to mommy stuff.

Studying: Totally depends on all this other stuff. Honestly some weeks this semester I've only studied about an hour. I've learned to just be super efficient with my study time. Multitasking helps.

 

[GrapesofRath]

Huge Huge Huge Huge difference between time effectively/efficiently studying and time technically spent studying. My semesters with my highest grades were the ones I actually spent the least time behind the books, because of....well you guessed it time spent efficiently stidying kind of matters

 

[ConfusedChemist]

haha yeah, I couldn't earlier but here goes:

work - 30 hrs/wk
in-class - 16-20 hrs? b/w labs and lecture, this seems about right (~3 hrs/day + 1-4 hrs of labs)
commuting - 7.5 hrs/wk
ECs - quite variable depending on class workload (never got close to consistently 7-10 hrs/week)
Usually at least one test each week - some of which would take multiple hours to complete
study - no idea how much but pretty much whenever I had free time (definitely didn't have time to get close to 40 hrs/week)

There were a few semesters when I averaged 3-4 hrs of sleep each day. Thankfully that wasn't consistent throughout undergrad though.

I had a little sass in my first reply because I'm convinced that adcoms value EC's and great grades (much easier to accomplish with 40hrs/week of studying and 10hrs/week for ECs) much more than they value the time taken by somone holding a job because they have to.
(For those who might jump on my back about this, I know they acknowledge it, but I am convinced the scale tips in one direction. Not interested in a discussion.)

I think the proportion of med students from wealthy families more than supports this conclusion.
Also, as someone who also works 25ish hours a week to get through undergrad it's reassuring to see others feel the same

 

[aalamruad]

~35 hours of studying, a little more if I have tests coming up, a little less if I go back home for the weekend to visit family or have a weekend hockey tournament
13-14 hours in class
9 hours of research
3 hours of shadowing
4-5 hours of volunteering
A few hours of club stuff (chess club and dog rescue club)
~4 hours of club hockey
~2 hours coaching youth hockey
A few hours of commuting

I'm really fortunate to not have to work, though. Everything would obviously be a lot more difficult if I had to devote a significant amount of time to that.

 

[DrHart]

40 hours a week studying
15 hours in class
20-30 hours in research lab
2 hours volunteering

I aim for about 7 hours of sleep. Also agree that having to work would make being pre-med such a more difficult challenge. Wish my research lab paid :/ took some convincing of my parents to let me pursue unpaid research as opposed to paid minimum wage job but they caved eventually

 

[Hushman]

Weekly study hours: 30 hours - 40 hours depending on how many lab reports I have due
Weekly class time: 15 hours of lectures, 12 hours of labs
Weekly extracurriculars: 4- 8 hours

I'm trying to bump up the ECs a little but my schedule is a little random and hard to work around

 

[frosted_flake]

Read the book called How to Become A Straight-A Student... Make lists, use a calendar religiously and profit.

Study: 15 hours/week (20 max)- As you will learn in the book, efficiency is key. I used to sit around and "study" for hours on end (sometimes up to 8 hours a day...), when really I was on Facebook, texting or trying to "multi-task." Just sit down, focus intently on a single task and knock it out so you don't have to worry about it anymore! That book changed my life.
Class time: 12 hours/week
Work: 50-60 hours/week (definitely not by choice)
ECs (shadowing, volunteering, etc.): 7 hours/week
Hobbies: 10 hours/week
Commuting (sucks): 8 hours/week
Being an adult (cleaning, running errands, eating, etc.): 15 hours/week
Sleep: 6-7 hours night

 

[Buck Winters]

Weekly study hours: 30 hours - 40 hours depending on how many lab reports I have due
Weekly class time: 15 hours of lectures, 12 hours of labs
Weekly extracurriculars: 4- 8 hours

I'm trying to bump up the ECs a little but my schedule is a little random and hard to work around

Lab reports suuuuuuuck

 

[dreamadream]

Currently Major: Biology(thinking about changing it for a little better advantage into getting into med school...ssssshhhh, don't tell anyone)
Weekly study hours: 20hrs total; I spend 12 hrs a week studying math and the remaining 8 is for other courses
Weekly class time: (15 hours/week in total)
Weekly extracurriculars: (2 hours)I stopped going to my club at school which was every friday(work...study...and general loss of interest)
Extra: work (12 hours/3 days a week) Catering Associate(giving patient meals, picking up patient meals, and asking what they want for the evening meal and breakfast)
Difficult classes: Taking 15 credits(5 classes) 1 in which is a math, the rest are prereqs, so my hardest is math and English is grueling but I have a B so....
And trust me this isn't the worst of it...wait until I take my science again for next semester

 

[dreamadream]

Read the book called How to Become A Straight-A Student... Make lists, use a calendar religiously and profit.

Study: 15 hours/week (20 max)- As you will learn in the book, efficiency is key. I used to sit around and "study" for hours on end (sometimes up to 8 hours a day...), when really I was on Facebook, texting or trying to "multi-task." Just sit down, focus intently on a single task and knock it out so you don't have to worry about it anymore! That book changed my life.
Class time: 12 hours/week
Work: 50-60 hours/week (definitely not by choice)
ECs (shadowing, volunteering, etc.): 7 hours/week
Hobbies: 10 hours/week
Commuting (sucks): 8 hours/week
Being an adult (cleaning, running errands, eating, etc.): 15 hours/week
Sleep: 6-7 hours night

Omg how are you working 50-60 hours a week(unless your a manger or something) that is definitely illegal. Do you work 12 hours shifts because I need someone to share my pain with....

 

[davisfenos]

For tests I'm worried about, I try to give myself at least a week in advance to study. That being said, that week is usually cut a bit short due to assignments and other stuff that I have to do... but I usually try to get those out of the way as soon as possible so I can study up until test day.

RIP me after this radiological physics midterm wednesday. 🙁

 

[aalamruad]

Read the book called How to Become A Straight-A Student... Make lists, use a calendar religiously and profit.

Study: 15 hours/week (20 max)- As you will learn in the book, efficiency is key. I used to sit around and "study" for hours on end (sometimes up to 8 hours a day...), when really I was on Facebook, texting or trying to "multi-task." Just sit down, focus intently on a single task and knock it out so you don't have to worry about it anymore! That book changed my life.
Class time: 12 hours/week
Work: 50-60 hours/week (definitely not by choice)
ECs (shadowing, volunteering, etc.): 7 hours/week
Hobbies: 10 hours/week
Commuting (sucks): 8 hours/week
Being an adult (cleaning, running errands, eating, etc.): 15 hours/week
Sleep: 6-7 hours night

True. Incredible book.

His blog and speeches (I think most can be found on YouTube) are great as well.