How much harder is Medical School than a full time job?

[Filibuster]

Quite simply, I'm looking for opinions from people about how much harder medical school is compared to working a full time job... say 50 hours a week not including the mandatory white knuckle commute. Maybe harder isn't the word I should be using, how about time consuming.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[MJB]

I would add to this question...and going to school.

Last summer when I was at work from 7-5 and studying for the MCAT every night (and last semester studying Org. II and doing BS lab write-ups), I often wondered about this.

 

[Filibuster]

I would add to this question...and going to school.

Last summer when I was at work from 7-5 and studying for the MCAT every night (and last semester studying Org. II and doing BS lab write-ups), I often wondered about this.

Yeah, if we include that then I'd say Medical School would be less time consuming. At least for me it had to be. I had weeks of 100+ hours, easily. Then again, I applied to nearly 40 schools.

Thank God I've got my acceptance, so that step is history. But I'm more interested in how Medical School compares to a regular job. Not that there is such a thing. I'm a software developer right now and actually I'm working on a project from home. I'll easily log 60 hours this week.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

Quite simply, I'm looking for opinions from people about how much harder medical school is compared to working a full time job... say 50 hours a week not including the mandatory white knuckle commute. Maybe harder isn't the word I should be using, how about time consuming.

I could probably give you a reasonable comparison. When I was doing my pre-reqs, I was working full-time at a professional job. My life was so crazy that I thought surely medical school couldn't be as bad.

It was. I have no idea how many hours I actually log, but most days when I am not in class, I am at my desk working. The volume of material is absolutely overwhelming.

I know people who don't go to class who study all day and then don't work in the evenings. The problem is, I saw a survey of the class ahead of me and the number of hours devoted to studying weekly was all over the map, from 20 up to 100+. You'll have to find your own groove - it depends on how quickly you pick up new material and how badly you want top-notch grades (either on a conventional grading system or USMLE Step 1 score).

 

[Law2Doc]

I could probably give you a reasonable comparison. When I was doing my pre-reqs, I was working full-time at a professional job. My life was so crazy that I thought surely medical school couldn't be as bad.

It was. I have no idea how many hours I actually log, but most days when I am not in class, I am at my desk working. The volume of material is absolutely overwhelming.

Second this. During the week, you can more or less compare it to a professional job in terms of long hours. You have time for meals, exercise, maybe goofing off for an hour each day. But the big differences are that (1) in med school you rarely have much of the weekends off -- those are the only big blocks of time you have to review (or if you fall behind, to catch up), because those are the only days that you aren't getting new lecture material. And (2) you pretty much have to give up any sort of late night socializing or imbibing that will impact your getting up early the subsequent day. And (3) your schedule is not really in your control -- your exams are when they are, and so during those weeks you need to expect to be unavailable for everything that isn't an emergency.

 

[MJB]

Big reason i'm looking for a place with block testing...I don't think i could do the whole test per week thing...

The hardest part for me will be giving up weekends...but as long as I can have one day a week "off", I'm good.

 

[Law2Doc]

.but as long as I can have one day a week "off", I'm good.

ROFL - Lots of luck with that.

 

[MJB]

All I'll need is my college football fix....and college bball fix every now and then. After talking to a friend that has made it to some actual games (even road trips)...it seems it can be done.

 

[Law2Doc]

All I'll need is my college football fix....and college bball fix every now and then. After talking to a friend that has made it to some actual games (even road trips)...it seems it can be done.

Depends on the kind of student you are, the kind of grades you aspire to, and your ability to absorb enormous amounts of material quickly. Until you try you cannot know, and certainly shouldn't assume any level of capability. I know a few people who are able to take a day off now and then, but far more people who are working a good chunk of every weekend (and the entire weekend before exams). You will be able to budget in a ballgame here or there but really shouldn't bank on anything consistant or involving travelling, unless you just enjoy being disappointed. If you find you are able to do more than I'm suggesting, consider yourself one of the luckier few. But even then you probably won't enjoy the games as much because you will be feeling guilty about all the course stuff you should be doing.

 

[MJB]

That's actually one of the things I've gone into this considering. I know full well I won't know what it will be like until I actually experience it. I try to ask a ton of questions of those who are "in the trenches" or who have been there to get an idea of what it will be like, but know that every person's situation is a little different.

I'm excited to get the opportunity to see for myself what it's like. Very unlikely we will be going to games, but with my wife continuing to work, we do hope to keep our season tickets and just sell them, etc...for the years of schooling in hopes of being able to use them again someday.

Just have to see.

I would hope I could take a few hours on the weekend to watch a game on the tube though!

I already know all about the guilt associated with taking time off from studying...I learned that the hard way last summer and this past fall with lake trips and football season.

We've only been able to make one bball game this season thus far, and that's been a bummer...

Still not sure I'll make Big Monday next week either.

 

[Law2Doc]

I would hope I could take a few hours on the weekend to watch a game on the tube though!

You likely won't be able to do this every weekend but certainly can catch some -- it's all about how you prioritize your downtime. Just don't bank on anything and expect to have to work more than you think.

 

[viostorm]

Med school is ridiculously hard ... I have never worked so hard academically in my life.

You have no life.

It does not compare 1 bit to job, job is nothing compared to med school. Pre-reqs are nothing to compared to med schools.

I actually have been mentally ill at times during the second year, a 1st for my life. Med school is a miserable existence.

 

[MJB]

Kinda what I figured.

How long does it take to "adjust"?

Finding time for school, exercise (need to get back in shape), studying, family (wife), and leisure I'm sure is a challenge.

The good thing is, I hopefully will find most of the stuff very interesting, keeping me motivated.

That hasn't been a problem in studying the last couple years...but I've found taking breaks definitely helps to stay away from burnout.

 

[Slitherin]

I feel like I am on vacation now that I finished first year.

 

[MJB]

Do nearly all schools provide notes, etc... for all lectures?

 

[Law2Doc]

Do nearly all schools provide notes, etc... for all lectures?

Most do. At some places it is even recorded in digital format for downloading, so you can watch/rewatch lectures from home.

 

[MJB]

I thought so...most places I've seen had the notes pre-provided...and some had the digital thing and archives like you talked about. That has to be nice...

 

[Law2Doc]

I thought so...most places I've seen had the notes pre-provided...and some had the digital thing and archives like you talked about. That has to be nice...

Yes and no. It makes it possible to periodically skip lecture and study remotely. But it also sometimes means it's just one more thing you feel like you should be reviewing that you simply don't have time to get to. A mixed blessing. In med school you can never really win.

 

[lilnoelle]

I don't think its nearly as bad as you guys are making it. I goof off quite a bit during the week and still take off one day a week. I usually study very seriously the entire week and a half before each test and have done relatively well on exams. I'm really hoping that I can discipline myself to study more efficiently and longer during the week so I can honor my courses instead of high pass. But I definitely feel like its not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Obviously everyone is going to have different experiences, are aiming for different grades, and there is some adjustment time at the beginning of M1, but I don't think I'm all that intelligent and haven't found it THAT overwhelming.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

Kinda what I figured.

How long does it take to "adjust"?

Finding time for school, exercise (need to get back in shape), studying, family (wife), and leisure I'm sure is a challenge.

Actually, you have a pretty good attitude. It is possible to over-do things. My first semester I studied around the clock, even though they had told us not to. I landed in the Student Clinic with major-league panic attacks - sweats, chills, crying jags - I was a mess (and I wasn't unusual - it happens to a lot of new Type "A" medical students).

Taking one evening a week off is an excellent idea. It's helped me to keep my sanity.

What helped me to adjust more than anything was when I finally got it through my head that I could do the work - study and do well on an exam. I was convinced that I was going to flunk until I actually got it through my head that I was doing quite well.

 

[JadedSurgeon]

I am a MSI

Med school is very hard:

Class 4 hours every morning starting at 8:00
Lab twice a week for 3 hours in the afternoon
Study afternoon, evening until at least 10:00pm
Study weekends
Find time for extracurriculars during all of this (O, i'm sorry, you didn't know that you still had to be involved with extracurriculars even in medical school in order to get a good residency)

Test week is much, much worse



This is just the first two years though, it is supposed to get easier during clinicals.

 

[Samoa]

Med school is easier than a job.

In fact, med school and a part time job is easier than a full time job and part-time college courses. I know, because I did both.

However, clinical rotations are harder than a job. It's like working, except without any of the normal motivators (pay, promotion, the respect of your coworkers, feeling competent, etc.). Plus, every couple of months, there's a standardized test designed to challenge even the best and brightest in your class. It's basically a combination of the worst parts of both work and school.

 

[MJB]

I am a MSI

Med school is very hard:

Class 4 hours every morning starting at 8:00
Lab twice a week for 3 hours in the afternoon
Study afternoon, evening until at least 10:00pm
Study weekends
Find time for extracurriculars during all of this (O, i'm sorry, you didn't know that you still had to be involved with extracurriculars even in medical school in order to get a good residency)

Test week is much, much worse



This is just the first two years though, it is supposed to get easier during clinicals.

I'm just being totally honest, but that sounds pretty familiar...my life from May to December last year was work from 7-5, study from 6-11, sleep...rinse, wash, repeat.

Now, I realize there's lots more material in med school...but again, I'm hoping it's a lot more interesting than the 10 or so hours a day I blow at work right now.

Actually, I had lab 2 afternoons a week last semester...Usually took Saturdays off, but if I took both days off on the weekend, I paid for it dearly.

Sounds like time management is again a big part of success.

 

[NonTradMed]

Med school takes up more of my time than my old job at an IT company where I worked as a developer for two years. I say this because I had evenings and weekends relatively free except for the occasionally 70 hours/week at critical points in the rev cycle. I think that's the biggest difference between a fulltime job and med school, those evening and weekends hours which tends to be eaten up by studying. But you will probaly find variations in this. People who worked IB hours may find med school a step down. I know one student who used to work 12 hour days, 7 days a week who is now doing med school and he finds it about the same as his job in terms of work hours. But on average, I'd say med school is like having a job and a half where you'll putting in a full day's work then working at another job in the evenings and weekends.

 

[Beau Geste]

I think it will depend very much on your personal style of studying. I can think of two doctors I know (that I grew up with) that graduated from the same med school in 2002. One was able to get high marks and held a part-time job at a tuxedo shop. The other had high marks, too, but had to study much harder and did not have a job.

I think back to when my mom was in med school in the late 80's-early 90's and she was able to spend at least every other weekend with us, if not more.

So really, it's going to depend on what style and how fast you learn the material.

The word I've heard about M3/M4 is that it's easier with regards to book-study, but harder with regards to learning details about your rotations + long hours for the most part.

I have to admit, I take this thread with a grain of salt. I know it will be hard, but I won't know how it will exactly affect ME until I experience it.

I guarantee I'll be a study slave until the first exam and then see if I overstudied and make adjustments.

 

[IceMan0824]

MS0(Class or Work) is easy. I laugh when anyone makes any reference to how hard what they are doing is compared to medical school.

Full Time Job is difficult, but noone expects you to listen, and know everything you hear each day, then go back home and absorb it some more, and maybe get read for what you will hear/learn the next day...

Simply, because of the enormous work load of medical school, and the simple fact that you're going to be among the best of the best, many of whom are hyper competitive, life is just going to sux...unless grades or AOA or top-notch residency does not matter that much.

 

[cfdavid]

Wow, I'm suprised to see some of these comments. So, here's a different viewpoint. Medical school is demanding, but it's also interesting. You're learning cool stuff each day (o.k. embryo was a tough pill to swallow....) and it's rewarding when you work hard for an exam and then do reasonably well.

Also, after exams, you'll usually have the weekend off (assuming they're on a thurs or fri) with no new material to worry about. So, you can have some fun. I can only speak of the first two years (i'm a first year actually), versus the clinical years, but school's the ONLY thing you really need to worry about. And it's not like med school is really all that ambiguous (that, like any other career, will likely come later). They tell you what you need to know (more or less, but not unlike undergrad), and as long as you put in the time to know the material, you should do o.k.

Ofcourse medical school is a priority. But, it's not that much different than a tough, demanding, full time job. Actually, if your school streams lectures online, you actually have way more flexibility with your time versus an actual career. I realize that's going to change in a big way after 2nd year, and from then on. But, at that point, it's not all that different from any other career with lots of responsibility.

 

[resxn]

For me the hardest part of med school was getting in. I didn't really find the work that hard. Time-consuming because of volume, maybe, but not "hard" to understand. But I also came in with lots of science and anatomy background.

What I found in med school was that there was not much effort in studying to get from a 70% to an 85% on any particular test. (In our school, we had a P-F only the first 2 years and you had to get 75% to pass). However, there was an enormous effort that took getting from a 90% to a 95%. After I got over my Type A OCD need to get 95% and was ok getting between 85-90% I didn't have to spend nearly as much time studying and had more free time to enjoy life which I think helped prevent me from burning out.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I don't think its nearly as bad as you guys are making it. I goof off quite a bit during the week and still take off one day a week. I usually study very seriously the entire week and a half before each test and have done relatively well on exams. I'm really hoping that I can discipline myself to study more efficiently and longer during the week so I can honor my courses instead of high pass. But I definitely feel like its not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Obviously everyone is going to have different experiences, are aiming for different grades, and there is some adjustment time at the beginning of M1, but I don't think I'm all that intelligent and haven't found it THAT overwhelming.

Yeah, I agree. I don't study all day, and I generally take most of the weekend off. Following test block, I always go on a mini vacation with absolutely zero studying. Sure, I'm only down one semester (a pretty successful semester, mind you), and I expect that I won't be AOA. However, I think I can manage to pull out a respectable class rank and board scores with my current effort.

I'm not going to say it's not stressful, but I think you do have an option to have a life.

 

[Tiagao]

I am a MSI

Med school is very hard:

Class 4 hours every morning starting at 8:00
Lab twice a week for 3 hours in the afternoon
Study afternoon, evening until at least 10:00pm
Study weekends
Find time for extracurriculars during all of this (O, i'm sorry, you didn't know that you still had to be involved with extracurriculars even in medical school in order to get a good residency)

Test week is much, much worse



This is just the first two years though, it is supposed to get easier during clinicals.

Congrats on your acceptance to Loma Linda (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=355634), but please do not pose as a Medical student until classes begin for you this fall.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Congrats on your acceptance to Loma Linda (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=355634), but please do not pose as a Medical student until classes begin for you this fall.

Good catch! I was suspicious when this dude posted about being on clinicals when he's supposed an MS1. Now, we know he's not even that. What is wrong with these people who feel the strong need to misrepresent themselves on SDN?

 

[Law2Doc]

Also, after exams, you'll usually have the weekend off (assuming they're on a thurs or fri) with no new material to worry about. So, you can have some fun.

Must be nice. Many places have Monday exams, so that kills the weekend preceding and you already have 4 days of new material to review by the next weekend. So not as much time for fun.

 

[lilnoelle]

In some ways med school is nicer than working full time because you have more freedom concerning what to do during the day or week. You can choose your own time to study. On my birthday, I refused to look at my school work. If I'm sick or my children are sick, I stay home and just make it up later. If I need to run out and get groceries, I do it. When working full time, I was a slave to my work schedule. I had to work on my birthday, and for a whole week while I was sick because we didn't have overly generous days off. I barely ever got to see my husband (he worked days and I worked evenings) and we didn't really get to celebrate any holidays or birthdays, or med school acceptances, or anything because our schedule was so tight (again cuz he worked days and I worked evenings, I had Tues, Wed off and he had the weekend) we had to schedule days off to do ANYTHING.

 

[Faze2]

What does "AOA" mean? Obvously I am not a Med Student (YET). Just curious.

 

[Tones24]

At first I found your stories of medical school to be somewhat daunting, until I realized how much I love to study.

Granted, I won't officially be a med student until this coming August, but I'd have to figure that how you feel about your experience as a med student will likely depend on how you view life in general. If you keep a positive attitude and genuinely find the subject material interesting, how could you ever get frustrated??

As an undergrad I remember getting overwhelmed (studying Bio and Physics will do that to any student from time to time)... Typically however, I would get over this by simply thinking about all the people I would be able to help someday . I imagine that the same will be true when im in med school...........

 

[Just Joshin]

I wonder what people mean when they say that the material presented in med school isn't hard, there's just a lot of it. I found the concepts in undergrad biochem hard so I assume the biochem in med school would be harder. Am I wrong? Or am I just a weird person who found undergrad biochem hard?

 

[Law2Doc]

I wonder what people mean when they say that the material presented in med school isn't hard, there's just a lot of it. I found the concepts in undergrad biochem hard so I assume the biochem in med school would be harder. Am I wrong? Or am I just a weird person who found undergrad biochem hard?

If you thought college biochem was hard, then it will be harder (or at least more detailed) in med school. What people meant was that, compared to pchem and orgo etc med school material is conceptually fairly straightforward. You rarely do any math, never push any electrons, etc. You tend to be more overwhelmed than confused. What makes it a challenge is that each semester in med school covers the equivalent amount of several semesters of college. You are expected to know huge amounts of detail and it keeps coming at you daily. So most people find that you need to go through the same material multiple times and hope enough sticks. The drinking water from a firehose analogy is popular and pretty accurate.

 

[Beau Geste]

I know several people who made it through med school. If they can do it, so can I. No one expects it to be a cake-walk, though. I am going to plan for the worst (e.g. studying/class 20 hours a day) and hopefully will be pleasantly suprised.

 

[viostorm]

I don't think its nearly as bad as you guys are making it. I goof off quite a bit during the week and still take off one day a week. I usually study very seriously the entire week and a half before each test and have done relatively well on exams. I'm really hoping that I can discipline myself to study more efficiently and longer during the week so I can honor my courses instead of high pass. But I definitely feel like its not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Obviously everyone is going to have different experiences, are aiming for different grades, and there is some adjustment time at the beginning of M1, but I don't think I'm all that intelligent and haven't found it THAT overwhelming.

I screwed around during 1st year quite a bit. Second year is a whole different level.

 

[wook]

Quite simply, I'm looking for opinions from people about how much harder medical school is compared to working a full time job... say 50 hours a week not including the mandatory white knuckle commute. Maybe harder isn't the word I should be using, how about time consuming.

As you've ascertained by now, everyone has their own experience with med school. I personally thought the first two years were unfun, but I was still able to work out and spend some family time (although minimal). Other folks in my class as you've seen posted had no problem, while others had significant problems (ie failed out of school).

As others have said it mostly depends on you. The attitude that others have mentioned previously (ie finding the materila you are studying interesting) can shape your experience.

One other tidbit I would share...at some point during their first year some people think that they cannot complete med school and think they will fail out (ie they get overwhelmed). Realize that you will need to get your study rhythm and this feeling will generally go away.

Wook

 

[tr]

The first two years were kind of like a nondemanding job for me. I'd say I put in about 40h/week or less, on average (less during non-exam times, more during exam periods). I skipped most of my lectures, studied in the mornings, and went to group sessions and practicals in the afternoon. Was usually done by 5-ish; would go for a run, get dinner, maybe study a little in the evening but goofed off a lot too. I had a boyfriend in another city and used my weekends to hang out with him.

Note that I knew from the start that I was not interested in derm/ent/neurosurg and figured I could afford to slack. My grades were squarely mediocre, I think I was at about the 40th or 50th percentile in my class for grades and ended up around the 66th percentile for Step I.

Third year varies a lot. I have yet to do surgery (which is supposedly the most time-intensive rotation). Some of the rotations were pretty cush (psych and primary care were 40 h or less, and we had some random subspecialty weeks that were <30 h/week). Medicine averaged maybe about 60 h/week depending on call. Ob-gyn was maybe 60-75 h/week depending on the call (10-12 h/day on non-call weekdays, if you had call that would bump your total hours up). There was some studying in the off time but I got most of mine done during down-time on the wards. I ended up with mostly passes and some honors in the rotations I especially liked.

(As a comparison to this, in grad school I logged about 70 h/week without overnight call (typically 11-14 h/day on weekdays plus a variable 4-16 h per weekend).)

People who want to stand out in med school have to work harder than I did. But if you are not gunning for a super-competitive residency there is no reason you can't have a life during med school and still learn everything you need to know to be a good doc. Intern year may be a different story.

 

[wook]

The first two years were kind of like a nondemanding job for me. I'd say I put in about 40h/week or less, on average (less during non-exam times, more during exam periods). I skipped most of my lectures, studied in the mornings, and went to group sessions and practicals in the afternoon. Was usually done by 5-ish; would go for a run, get dinner, maybe study a little in the evening but goofed off a lot too. I had a boyfriend in another city and used my weekends to hang out with him.

Note that I knew from the start that I was not interested in derm/ent/neurosurg and figured I could afford to slack. My grades were squarely mediocre, I think I was at about the 40th or 50th percentile in my class for grades and ended up around the 66th percentile for Step I.

Third year varies a lot. I have yet to do surgery (which is supposedly the most time-intensive rotation). Some of the rotations were pretty cush (psych and primary care were 40 h or less, and we had some random subspecialty weeks that were <30 h/week). Medicine averaged maybe about 60 h/week depending on call. Ob-gyn was maybe 60-75 h/week depending on the call (10-12 h/day on non-call weekdays, if you had call that would bump your total hours up). There was some studying in the off time but I got most of mine done during down-time on the wards. I ended up with mostly passes and some honors in the rotations I especially liked.

(As a comparison to this, in grad school I logged about 70 h/week without overnight call (typically 11-14 h/day on weekdays plus a variable 4-16 h per weekend).)

People who want to stand out in med school have to work harder than I did. But if you are not gunning for a super-competitive residency there is no reason you can't have a life during med school and still learn everything you need to know to be a good doc. Intern year may be a different story.

Very true!

If the OP is considering any of the competitive residencies, it may behoove him/her to put in more effort. But again, it depends on how efficient a learner he/she is.


Wook

 

[tr]

Find time for extracurriculars during all of this (O, i'm sorry, you didn't know that you still had to be involved with extracurriculars even in medical school in order to get a good residency)

That's so not true. The most important things for residency are your clinical grades and your board scores.

Extracurriculars are only relevant if they are significant: e.g., published papers or other significant research, setting up a free clinic, or whatever. Contributing to your school's literary magazine isn't going to matter one way or the other.

 

[Law2Doc]

People who want to stand out in med school have to work harder than I did. But if you are not gunning for a super-competitive residency there is no reason you can't have a life during med school and still learn everything you need to know to be a good doc. Intern year may be a different story.

Folks should be careful with this though. There are always people in many schools who have to put in an inordinate amount of effort just to stay above the passing range. I wouldn't ease up just because you think derm isn't for you until you are darn sure that easing up will still result in a passing grade. It doesn't for everybody. Schools vary, but I know of enough people retaking first year courses that I wouldn't assume passing is a freebie.

 

[QofQuimica]

This is an interesting question. In my opinion, med school is much harder than most full-time jobs because your work is never really done. Even if you do all of the required assignments, there are always more things you could be reading or studying. You could always be doing more volunteering or going to more talks or shadowing more physicians. This is assuming, of course, that your life revolves around medical school. I think that mine does for the most part. But if you have a family or other outside obligations, your free time will be more limited in comparison to people like me who only have themselves to worry about. I don't really go out because I wouldn't go out anyway, but I do have plenty of free time where I'm not studying. I just fill it with other things that I enjoy doing, mostly things like volunteering and attending seminars or interest groups. I still teach MCAT classes, and I joined a singing group. I'm taking a graduate school course this semester along with my med school classes. As you can see, I am the kind of person who wants to do everything, and as much as I can, I do exactly that. Spending so much time on ECs hasn't prevented me from doing very well in my classes, at least so far.

I guess my advice for you M0s would be to start out slowly and see how things go. If you find that you have a lot of time your first semester, you can always add more activities later. Don't overextend yourself though; it's really easy to do that in med school.

 

[efex101]

I think that the consensus in this thread speaks for itself....for *most* medical students medical school IS very time consuming and difficult. I worked multiple FT jobs and was in the military and have to say that hands down that medical school is more time consuming. Now, sure this can vary depending on which medical school you go to and if classes are mandatory or not but for most of us mortal folks it takes a lot of hours to get down this huge volume of info. Some luckier folks can easily get by on lesser hours but this is not the norm. Expect to spend a TON of time studying and adjust as you go.

 

[Taurus]

Working is easier because after a while you're not learning much. Most things at work become intuitive and you're just putting in the hours and going through the motions. And I averaged 60+ hours for years.

 

[MJB]

Working is easier because after a while you're not learning much. Most things at work become intuitive and you're just putting in the hours and going through the motions. And I averaged 60+ hours for years.

Which is exactly why some days at work are pure hell.

 

[Beau Geste]

Working is easier because after a while you're not learning much. Most things at work become intuitive and you're just putting in the hours and going through the motions. And I averaged 60+ hours for years.

I think this is a fair statement to make, however right now I would take med school over my post-bacc studies + work that I'm doing now. It will be nice to have to focus only on one thing (school), even if it is hard and time consuming. I've been stretching myself thin over the last few years and while I don't have the stress of learning large volumes of material in a few weeks, I have large amounts of volume in school + large amounts of volume of work at home to finish in timely manners.

That's just me, though. I think I thrive on deadlines.

 

[MJB]

I think this is a fair statement to make, however right now I would take med school over my post-bacc studies + work that I'm doing now. It will be nice to have to focus only on one thing (school), even if it is hard and time consuming. I've been stretching myself thin over the last few years and while I don't have the stress of learning large volumes of material in a few weeks, I have large amounts of volume in school + large amounts of volume of work at home to finish in timely manners.

That's just me, though. I think I thrive on deadlines.

Preach on....