Is it possible?? thoughts? advice?

[mrs.nia]

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I graduated from a prestigious college-prep high school in 1999 and have completed only a semester of higher education since. As I prepare to go back to school fulltime in the fall of 2007, I have been considering the seemingly unattainable path of medical school. I am 25 years old, have a husband and two young boys (ages 7 and 1) and will need to work approximately 10 hours a week while in school in order to keep our house. Am I out of my brain thinking that I could be successful through eight years of rigorous schooling while being a good mother, wife and employee? I have a wonderful and competent husband to help along the way. I earned good grades in high school, with, in all honesty, little effort. Although math and sciences are my top interests, they are also the most challenging for me. I have matured since high school and am prepared to study my a** off, but is there enough time in the week for a school, studying, work and a family?? How can I judge my chance of success before getting in too far to turn back?? I know I will need to work on my self-discipline, study skills, organizational habits in order to keep up. How can I know if I posses what it takes to make it through? Any thoughts, advice, encouragement, discouragement (but please be gentle) is appreciated!

 

[gerilc]

I graduated from a prestigious college-prep high school in 1999 and have completed only a semester of higher education since. As I prepare to go back to school fulltime in the fall of 2007, I have been considering the seemingly unattainable path of medical school. I am 25 years old, have a husband and two young boys (ages 7 and 1) and will need to work approximately 10 hours a week while in school in order to keep our house. Am I out of my brain thinking that I could be successful through eight years of rigorous schooling while being a good mother, wife and employee? I have a wonderful and competent husband to help along the way. I earned good grades in high school, with, in all honesty, little effort. Although math and sciences are my top interests, they are also the most challenging for me. I have matured since high school and am prepared to study my a** off, but is there enough time in the week for a school, studying, work and a family?? How can I judge my chance of success before getting in too far to turn back?? I know I will need to work on my self-discipline, study skills, organizational habits in order to keep up. How can I know if I posses what it takes to make it through? Any thoughts, advice, encouragement, discouragement (but please be gentle) is appreciated!

I think it is entirely possible to do this you just have to be honest with yourself that you might have to sacrifice somethings. I've recently started down this path and the hardest thing for me is accepting that I can't do everything. I currently work full time, am a mother of two teens, a wife and am currently taking Bio 1 and Chem 1. Most of the home stuff my wonderful husband has taken over (like getting dinner on the table because I'm usually not home until past 9pm) but I have to be honest that the house isn't as clean as I would like. On the upside, I do have A's in both classes so it's a trade off.🙂 I also always try to make time for the kids and if I felt that this path I've chosen is harming my kids, I would quit or at least postpone the process. It's definitely not easy and there are times when I don't get to bed until 1 in the morning. But in the end I think it will be worth it.

As far as how will you know if you possess what it takes, I think only you can answer that. At times, I still wonder that myself...I don't think you ever stop wondering.

 

[mrs.nia]

...(like getting dinner on the table because I'm usually not home until past 9pm)...if I felt that this path I've chosen is harming my kids, I would quit or at least postpone the process.

Thank you for the thoughts. Don't you think mom not being home until 9pm most nights harms your teens? My boys are seven and one and I'm fortnate in that I'd only need part time work to make it happen, but I want to make sure I get to most of the wrestling matches and drama productions over the next eight years. Any opinions on how many hours a week study time on average are needed to maintain a 3.4 GPA as a premed student? What about you guys? Average weekly outside of class time spent on schooling? Thnx.

 

[notdeadyet]

Mrs. Nia: Why keep the outside job? Take more money in loans and pay it off as a physician. Those ten hours will go far in your studies and your child-time. I left a very lucrative business that would have been great to keep part-time for the sake of completely focusing on getting in to medical school.

Don't you think mom not being home until 9pm most nights harms your teens?

Again, if you rule out the 10 hour job, that's five nights a week you can get home at 7pm, which is better than the children of most working professionals.

Any opinions on how many hours a week study time on average are needed to maintain a 3.4 GPA as a premed student?

You will need about three years to finish your BA and apply. A 3.4 is below average for the current matriculant and I'd expect it will be higher in three years time, given past trending.

Do what you need to get a 4.0 and then accept less. I did my damndest to get a 4.0 in my postbac and walked away with a 3.7.

Best of luck in pursuing your dreams...

 

[mrs.nia]

10 hours a week at $18/hr is hard for me to leave behind. I work for my family's business and I'd like to stay involved even through school. It's good advice to leave it behind though. I'll see how the first semester goes and if it's too much, I'll definately pick my kids and schooling over maintaining ties to the family biz. I think I see it as a security net to fall back on in case I can't succeed in school and end up back in the land survey/city planning/mapping industry. (Self confidence is definately a weak point for me.) Thanks again 🙂

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

Going to medical school with young boys is a tough decision - sounds like you have a very supportive family, though. The problem with the job is that your first semester of medical school is the most stressful - it is a *massive* adjustment period, and it's going to be tough enough trying to make time for your kids out of the very few free hours that you have. I stayed on at my old job as a "emergency-call-back" employee, and I begged them to send about 10 hours a week of work my way. I called them after about 2 weeks of medical school and told them NOT to call. I wish you the best of luck, but please don't underestimate the demands of medical school as I did. Working is nearly impossible, and I know some moms in my class who don't work and who still struggle to squeeze out time for the kids.

 

[mrs.nia]

Going to medical school with young boys is a tough decision - sounds like you have a very supportive family, though. The problem with the job is that your first semester of medical school is the most stressful - it is a *massive* adjustment period, and it's going to be tough enough trying to make time for your kids out of the very few free hours that you have. I stayed on at my old job as a "emergency-call-back" employee, and I begged them to send about 10 hours a week of work my way. I called them after about 2 weeks of medical school and told them NOT to call. I wish you the best of luck, but please don't underestimate the demands of medical school as I did. Working is nearly impossible, and I know some moms in my class who don't work and who still struggle to squeeze out time for the kids.

Thank you for the thoughts/advice. I'll just be starting my undergrad in the fall 🙂 and I won't need to work at all in three years with the raises my husband can anticipate, once our youngest is out of daycare, and we can drop our mortgage insurance...so once I get into med school I will thankfully be jobless. We'll see how PT work as a mother and freshman in college goes and if I can't get the grades w/o losing the job, goodbye family biz that I'm not that interested in anyways.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

Thank you for the thoughts/advice. I'll just be starting my undergrad in the fall 🙂 and I won't need to work at all in three years with the raises my husband can anticipate, once our youngest is out of daycare, and we can drop our mortgage insurance...so once I get into med school I will thankfully be jobless. We'll see how PT work as a mother and freshman in college goes and if I can't get the grades w/o losing the job, goodbye family biz that I'm not that interested in anyways.

Oh... duh... didn't read your original post closely enough. Good luck to you - premed studies aren't easy with a family and a part-time job but lots of us non-trads did our prereqs at night - sounds like you can do it!! (And there's always a shoulder to cry on in the non-trad forum when nobody else can understand what you're going through. 😳 )

 

[gerilc]

I think that depends on the teens. So far I think my kids are well adjusted...not into drugs, gangs and what not. Their grades could be better though but that has always been a problem, not something that just came up since I started.

Forgot to add...recommendations I've seen regarding study hours is 2 hours study time per unit of class. So for a 5 unit course, they recommend setting aside 10 hours of study time. Of course, I think this depends on the individual. I've been getting by with less than the recommended.

 

[notdeadyet]

Forgot to add...recommendations I've seen regarding study hours is 2 hours study time per unit of class. So for a 5 unit course, they recommend setting aside 10 hours of study time. Of course, I think this depends on the individual. I've been getting by with less than the recommended.

Hats off to you. I spent about 3 hours study time per until for my science classes. But I've never been accused of being brilliant either...

 

[mrs.nia]

Hats off to you. I spent about 3 hours study time per until for my science classes. But I've never been accused of being brilliant either...

I'm more hard working than brilliant myself, so I will more than likely need to estimate on the higher end of the studytime spectrum 🙂

 

[gerilc]

Oh, I'm hardly brillian either. I just found the way of studying that works for me.

 

[mrs.nia]

Oh, I'm hardly brillian either. I just found the way of studying that works for me.

I need tips there, too...willing to offer any detail as to your method??

 

[gerilc]

You probably already do this but I never did. The new thing I've been doing is to actually read through the material before the lecture. Makes the subject matter stick better. And, if there are sample problems, do them, follow them step by step. I used to just read the sample problems thinking they would stick. I find that actually working through them helps me retain the knowledge better.

I find that if the knowlegde sticks the first time around, my review times are less.

 

[Playmakur42]

I don't see any reason why you can't do all three. Just put 30 hours a week into school and 10 to part time work. Easy. Plenty of time for family.

Hubby may have to watch the kids for a bit while you study on some weekends/nights or maybe even (gasp)😱 help you with the laundry/cleaning

(Hint: Try work study - many times you get paid to sit in the library or some other menial job and study.)

 

[mrs.nia]

I don't see any reason why you can't do all three. Just put 30 hours a week into school and 10 to part time work. Easy. Plenty of time for family.

Hubby may have to watch the kids for a bit while you study on some weekends/nights or maybe even (gasp)😱 help you with the laundry/cleaning

(Hint: Try work study - many times you get paid to sit in the library or some other menial job and study.)

Thanks for the thoughts 🙂 I am lucky to have a very competent hubby who is also an awesome father and homekeeper...I may need to sign him up into a cooking class though 😉

 

[kemper]

I quit school at 17, and didn't begin community college until 21 yrs. laters, (in between that time I began a business that became successful that I have since sold). 2 years CC.....3 yrs university.......applied 5 schools......interviewed at all 5....... have been accepeted so far at three.

But there is no way I couldv'e done it with out my wife's support. Support was manifested in many critical forms. I also have a teenage daughter that lived we me and my wife half the time; and I always attempted to make her a priority......often times that would simply be the two of us in a room studying together. And I would mostly only take 12 hours each semester so I had time for both my wife and daughter. I was very fortunate that selling my business along with my wife's practice allowed us to not worry about money.

My 44yr old opinion says go for it.........you sound like you have a good support system which wii always be needed.

Good Luck

 

[mrs.nia]

Alright, y'all...No time like the present, right? Thanks for all the feedback regarding my situation. Today is the day I tell my boss/uncle I want to cut down to 15 hours a week starting in January. I may be jobless after this conversation, but life will go on. I may never be welcome back to the family biz, but good riddens. Goodbye $37k/year (not that it's much to brag about) good-bye any future here, good-bye luxuries of cell phone and cable TV! Hello budget, thrift shops and ramen noodles, the life of a student awaits. So, deep breath, toss the emotions in the garbage and here we go...

 

[ShyRem]

I went back to school with two young children and a very supportive hubby. I didn't have the luxury of the job, tho - lost it about 1 month before school started. I could have handled 10 or 20 hours of work a week until my last year.

I think whether or not you can handle it depends on you, how you study, what kinds of classes you're taking, how much time you need to put into your studies. It's a very individual thing. I found biochem to be torturous and very time consuming, while other folks didn't put in half as much time as I did. On the other hand, I didn't put in any time for physics and thought that one was rather easy (to the extreme disgust of my classmates). It's very individual.

And now here I am, and MSI. I made it. You can too... just work hard, know your limits, don't be afraid to ask for help, and don't make mountains out of molehills. And get creative about how to save money. If you eat lots of beef, consider investing in a chest freezer and buying half a cow from a farmer (it'll only cost about $2.20/lb for all of it - including the NY strip steaks and roasts). Same for pork. Buy chicken and turkey on sale and throw it in the freezer. And (this is a biggie) TAKE YOUR LUNCH FROM HOME. Huge money sucker if you eat at the college cafe. Clip coupons. Look for the "Annual Free Day" notices regarding stuff to do with the family (museums, etc). Go berry picking in the summer - you can throw the rotten ones at each other and pick the good ones to freeze and it'll cost less than half grocery store prices.

Good luck and come back often to brag about your progress, cry over your worries, and just in general to realize you're not alone. 🙂

 

[mrs.nia]

Thanks for the tips!! I am actually looking forward to the challenge of a reduced budget, as weird as that may soud 🙂 I checked out the books Tightwad Gazette and a cookbook called Cheap.Fast.Good! The freezer is something I've started searching for on Craigslist. This site has been really helpful so far, I don't have a ton of friends and my mom and sister are in Austin, TX. Hearing so many people going through or having already gone through similar situations is so helpful! Thank you again and I'll be around 🙂 (I was able to keep my job PT for now👍 )