How to handle work in the morning and mcat studying at night?

[misplacedshadow]

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Greetings Fellow Posters,

I was skimming through the 30+ MCAT study habits and I read how a resident while studying for the MCATs was also able to maintain a full-time job as an undergraduate. I already graduated in june, but I am still inspired by how he was able to study for his mcats at night and still maintain a job in the morning. I am in a similar situation. I will start a research position at a top medical university starting tomorrow. It is not a paid position but I will be working full time and learning various laboratory techniques and with hopes of getting a publication. I will also be taking the MCATs this year. I plan on doing at most 3 months of content review or less and then do 1 month of practice exams. I intend to work in my research position in the morning and study for my mcats at night. Has anyone ever heard about other people or were you yourself in a similar situaion where you were able to succeed both in a full time job and studying for the MCATs?

 

[glasshalfMD]

Greetings Fellow Posters,

I was skimming through the 30+ MCAT study habits and I read how a resident while studying for the MCATs was also able to maintain a full-time job as an undergraduate. I already graduated in june, but I am still inspired by how he was able to study for his mcats at night and still maintain a job in the morning. I am in a similar situation. I will start a research position at a top medical university starting tomorrow. It is not a paid position but I will be working full time and learning various laboratory techniques and with hopes of getting a publication. I will also be taking the MCATs this year. I plan on doing at most 3 months of content review or less and then do 1 month of practice exams. I intend to work in my research position in the morning and study for my mcats at night. Has anyone ever heard about other people or were you yourself in a similar situaion where you were able to succeed both in a full time job and studying for the MCATs?

I did this. I was working full-time in clinical research, coming home around 5:30, grabbing some dinner, and sitting down and studying for 4+ hours each evening. Then, weekends I was able to do more. After a couple months of content review, I began doing practice exams every Saturday and honing down the areas I needed to focus on most. It was really tough, and I feel like I likely could have done better on the test had I more time and motivation to study (8 hour work days are often exhausting), but I still got into school and that's what matters! I wish you luck! I definitely recommend not waiting until the last month of studying to do practice exams. I did probably 7-8 of them and they were by far the most helpful out of anything I studied.

 

[Lil Mick]

Yes, when I took mine, I was a full-time student and a full-time employee with family duties. I didn't really study for it, per se, but I usually read journals/books at night before bed or during snow days at my university. It's just a matter of time management (reading while you wait for dc's swim meet, doing homework during your commute, taking classes that will prepare you for the MCAT)...

 

[NickNaylor]

I was a full-time student (15 hours of classes) and continued all of my ECs while studying for the MCAT. It can certainly be done, but you have to be well-disciplined. It can be very easy to decide not to study because you're "too tired" or "too busy."

 

[bassvp]

40-hour per week job
Newborn baby
5-hour physics class
Study for MCAT

I'm sure that people can easily top this, but basically you just decide to do it and figure out the details later. It was actually kinda nice b/c I think the amount of time it took gave me a little refresher on what it's like to be pretty busy again. Maybe it'll take some of the edge off the first week of med school (should I get in)....probably not, though. 🙄

 

[pkwraith]

It's quite doable, but it sucks, for a lack of better word. The month I spent cramming for the MCAT was probably some of my miserable times. You pretty much have to work, come home and study, go to bed.

I had a full time job, plus I had work trips. So, I even had to work multiple 12-hour shifts in an ED, study in the hotel while eating room service, and sleeping for 6 hours. Study on the airplane in between trips to Vermont and California.

It's all about discipline, setting a plan/schedule and following through. I gave up all my social time (except the few days before the MCAT), time with my girlfriend, and all of my extracurriculars. You have to make a lot of sacrifices, but you just have to drink the bitter tea to the dregs.

 

[warypremed]

Thanks for asking this. I sympathize with you and would also appreciate any advice. I finished classes in early May and immediately went back to working in my lab full time. I usually don't get home and done with dinner until 8-830pm. I wasted pretty much the entire month of May and early June slacking when I got home and not studying. I'm having a pretty difficult time focusing on studying when I get home, because I tend to work best when I have long periods of time versus short hour-long stints before I want to go to bed so I can wake up the next morning... studying mode is kicking in finally, but any tips appreciated.

Luckily my PI asked if I wanted perhaps a week or two off before my MCAT so I can focus on studying, so I might take him up on that offer...