Need Help With a Job

[FrkyBgStok]

Alright here is my situation. I own a home, have a wife, daughter, bills, etc. I currently work full time (40 hours/week) and go to school full time (16 hours all with labs) so as you can imagine time is limited.

My daughter is 4 months old so I want to spend as much time with her as I can, and because of my schedule volunteering isn't an awesome option, so I would like to get paid experience for medical school. During breaks I was planning on shadowing, but I am not sure how much experience this will provide to look good to adcoms.

Another problem I have is that I cannot afford to take time off to get certified in something, and if I do, I won't get paid enough to afford the mortgage, bills, and general expenses with my daughter. I was thinking of becoming an EMT-B but like I said, I won't get paid enough. I am not money hungry, but as you can see it is an important issue. What should I do and what route should I go? Any help will be appreciated.

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[cfdavid]

I'm a non-trad that can relate. I think you should hang on to the current job. It is serving an important purpose right now, and it's highly unlikely that you'll be able to come anywhere close to that kind of money (ie. the money you need to pay the mortgage etc...) without any kind of certs or qualifications in the medical field.

I think the best thing you can do is to set up some shadowing experiences maybe as little as once per month. You can handle that. Maybe at an urgent care center, where they are open after normal business (i.e. work for you) hours. OR in the ER.

Also, think of ways that you can show some leadership that involves your kid(s). Coaching or something etc.

I've recently had some interview, and my PERSONAL experience is that the adcoms understand fully that each applicants situation is different. You're not going to get anyone saying "but, why didn't you volunteer 10 hrs a week?".

The key is to show that you've had SOME exposure to the medical field. They want to know you're making an educated decision.

Also, make sure you state your schedule (work, family, class........) in your application and personal statements. That, in itself will go a long way.
But, they won't look at you as if you're a senior in college. I've been pleasantly suprised at this process so far.

Good luck. The first thing to do is to call up an urgent care clinic or ER (may be tough, you may need to go there), and try to get a doc willing to let you shadow 1 or 2 times per month in the evenings. If you need to skip a class or something, then at least it's only once per month.