Post the busiest schedules you've had during undergrad/med school

[Halcyon32]

I'm talking how many classes you took, how difficult the classes were, research you took part in, ECs, shadowing, work, relationships/marriage/kids, illness. Anything you can think of that contributed to a really hectic and busy schedule. Also, explain how it affected you/your grades/your life and what you would change in retrospect

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[NotASerialKiller]

Answering this would feel like answering a secondary question 🙁

 

[Halcyon32]

Answering this would feel like answering a secondary question 🙁

True, I hope I'm not triggering anyone's PTSD with this post.

 

[HybridEarth]

If you'd really like to know...

My undergrad years went kinda like this:

Monday-Friday: classes scattered throughout the day between 8am to 7pm, 18 credit hours per semester. Day was filled working on wet lab research, computational stuff, clinical research, etc. About an hour or two of downtime each day was spent reviewing class notes. I'd come home at night and review for another hour or two depending on the workload.

I'd volunteer one of those evenings for several hours. On another morning in the week I'd be doing clinical research at a local hospital. On weekends, I worked open to close (approx 24 hours). Some weeks, I'd work a shift or two during the weekdays (40ish hours total).

I took a few classes over the summer too, while doing research fellowships and studying for the MCAT. Any free time I had was spent doing hobbies with my close friends.

The freshman year transition was hard, but I managed a 4.0 the other three years. After a while, the classes were getting very difficult, but managing the workload became progressively easier. I kinda just felt "numb" to it and wasn't really that stressed during my junior/senior years, even though there was always a ton going on and I never had days off.

Overall, I don't regret anything. I'm sure I could have eased down on the workload, but it has been taken very well by the schools I've interviewed and been accepted at. It has always been a topic of discussion, and I think some of my letter writers talked about it from the way my interviews seemed to go so far. I'm now enjoying my gap year, catching up on some things I didn't get to do (traveling!!!!!! Oh and tons of metal concerts).

I definitely feel very confident to handle whatever crazy schedule med school throws at me. I'm sure it will be tough and I will struggle, but having a proven track record of bouncing back with many responsibilities makes me feel more than ready to kick butt.

 

[samac]

Med school is harder than any semester you will have in undergrad. Promise.
My hardest undergrad semester was taking Micro, Organic, Biochem, and Anatomy lab at the same time, with an Honors class and another random thrown in there. I. Was. Dumb.

But seriously, comparing med school and undergrad is like comparing an apple with an Orange. No wait. Those are both fruits. It's comparing an apple to a steak.

 

[davisfenos]

Mine's pretty busy right now. Taking human physiology 1, genetics, metabolism 1, ultrasound physics, radiological physics. I wouldn't call any of the classes "easy", but in general radiological physics is my hardest and the one I'm usually stressing over. Genetics has a weekly lab, and radiology does as well (sometimes at the local hospital's cancer center, sometimes at the school's medical physics lab). My days are generally 8:30 AM-7 PM, because of huge breaks between classes and the fact that I live too far to justify going home during them. I also work in three hospitals (two emergency rooms, one outpatient physiotherapy unit). I'm really liking being busy though, I feel I operate better this way.

 

[Halcyon32]

Med school is harder than any semester you will have in undergrad. Promise.
My hardest undergrad semester was taking Micro, Organic, Biochem, and Anatomy lab at the same time, with an Honors class and another random thrown in there. I. Was. Dumb.

But seriously, comparing med school and undergrad is like comparing an apple with an Orange. No wait. Those are both fruits. It's comparing an apple to a steak.

I didn't mean it as a comparison between med school and undergrad, just figured I should include med students to hear their side. But yeah I've totally heard that med school is way harder. just due to the sheer amount of info you need to know at once.

 

[CoomassieBlue57]

Sophomore Year
Biology (Ecology/Evolution Fall & Cellular and Molecular Spring) - 3 hours
Bio Labs - 4 hours (required to be there the full class period Fall and Spring)
Organic Chemistry - 3 hours
Organic Chemistry Lab - 4 to 5 hours (required to be there the full class period Fall and Spring)
World History (Fall) - 3 hours
Visual Rhetoric (Spring) - 4 hours
Computer Science (Web Programming Fall & Computer Science I Spring) - 4 hours
= 21 hours/week of class


Athletics - 30 hours/week in season (plus any travel)
Part-time job - 10 to 12 hours/week
Multiple clubs and organizations - 2 to 3 hours/week
Started research in spring - 10 hours/week
Various volunteer activities - 1 to 2 hours/week average
= 43 to 57 hours/week

~ 64 hours a week that I was occupied (not including any studying or homework)

I still had time for a committed relationship and a social life going to parties. My other semesters/years were just as busy, but Organic Chemistry was probably my most difficult and time consuming class.

 

[mehc012]

36-48hrs/wk scribing (3 or 4 12hr shifts w/ an hour+ commute each way)
3hrs volunteering
2 evening science classes (one 45min each way, 1 at least an hour)
16-20 hours per week at a biotech company.

So that's 61-77 scheduled hours per week, plus 12-14hrs of commuting, depending on how the individual week's schedule shook out. Plus homework/studying.

I changed things around every semester or so...decrease hours here, take away volunteering, add more classes, or MCAT, or an internship 2hrs north, etc. but my schedule was similarly packed (even if the makeup varied) for 2.5yrs during my postbacc.
Then I cut everything back except the best paying job and focused on the app itself.

 

[arc5005]

I haven't been to med school yet...so...

My post-DIY pre-med reqs:
One semester:
Organic Chemistry II - 5 cr
General Chemistry II - 4 cr
Anatomy & Physiology II - 4 cr
College Physics II - 4 cr

Pretty busy schedule, but probably still nothing compared to med school!

 

[WedgeDawg]

I would say sophomore fall:

Physics, Physics Lab, Cell Bio, Cell Bio Lab, French, French "lab"
Lead study sessions for General Chemistry
First term working in my lab where I eventually did my thesis
Fraternity pledge term

Probably wouldn't have been this term if it wasn't for pledge term - boy did that take up a lot of time.

 

[summergirl]

Something weakly related to the topic: I have discovered that science classes take up significantly more time than some other classes. I used to only take sciences before, but ever since I randomly decided to take an economics class, I found that I can literally gave one tenth of the efforts I gave to a normal science class and still end up with +10% on the economics class than I would normally get in a science class 😱. So moral of the story is, if your schedule is too packed, maybe throw in an economics class in there😉

 

[Promethean]

In the 6 months from August 2014-February 2015, I earned 90 undergrad credits, while working 50 hours a week at my job. That only worked because it was an online school with asynchronous courses. You could begin the next as soon as you completed the ones you were in. Most people take normal course loads of 12-24 credits per term, but I had to have my degree done by June if I was going to keep my seat to start med school this July, so I didn't have time for that. And if I didn't get done by February, I'd have to pay tuition for another term, so, again, I busted hump to get it done.

The degree was in business administration, HR Management, and I had been in the work force for several years, plus owned my own businesses, so the material wasn't all new to me. So, for many of the courses, I was able to challenge the final exam within a day or so of starting the course, so that I could rack up 3-4 credits once or twice a week. I stayed late at work, using an empty office as my own personal recording studio for filming presentations, etc. The only really tricky part was scheduling the proctored exams, but once I figured out how to do those via webcam, it was on.

The only time busier than that was when I was working full time (40-50 hours a week) and operating a storefront business (40-50 hours per week.) I would get up at 5, open the shop at 6, be relieved so that I could go to work by 7, work until 5, and come back to close the shop at 9. Did that every day for a year and a half. I think there were 2 days off in that entire stretch. It was a great adventure, and made it so that now, in med school, I feel like I have a fair amount of free time. =) It is all about perspective, you know?

 

[Promethean]

Something weakly related to the topic: I have discovered that science classes take up significantly more time than some other classes. I used to only take sciences before, but ever since I randomly decided to take an economics class, I found that I can literally gave one tenth of the efforts I gave to a normal science class and still end up with +10% on the economics class than I would normally get in a science class 😱. So moral of the story is, if your schedule is too packed, maybe throw in an economics class in there😉

Yup. There was a reason I decided to do a degree in business as the cheapest, fastest route to complete undergrad. If you've been used to studying physics and ochem and you find yourself in a business law course, it is suddenly really easy to do. Read the material through once and you are ready for the final.

The accounting courses were a little less breezy, but again, if you've been accustomed to lab sciences and suddenly all you need to remember are a few dozen terms and patterns, it isn't all that hard. Heck, with spreadsheets, there isn't really even any math to it, other than when setting a new form up.

 

[enchantediris]

Something weakly related to the topic: I have discovered that science classes take up significantly more time than some other classes. I used to only take sciences before, but ever since I randomly decided to take an economics class, I found that I can literally gave one tenth of the efforts I gave to a normal science class and still end up with +10% on the economics class than I would normally get in a science class 😱. So moral of the story is, if your schedule is too packed, maybe throw in an economics class in there😉

That's why I always try to schedule one elective class a semester – to keep me sane! 😀 I've also found a variation in the amount of time I spend studying for various science classes. Because I'm personally good at memorizing things, classes that were almost completely memorization (not that you didn't have to understand concepts, but that there was no computation involved and very few practice problems) like genetics and even biochem were much more manageable than those that I had weekly problem sets or large amounts of homework for, like all my physics classes and organic. And of course, any science class without a lab takes much less time!

My busiest semester was probably when I took Quantum Mechanics, Astrophysics, Genetics, and Sociology. Having two classes with weekly problem sets took up a lot of time, as did the lab reports for Genetics lab. I was also volunteering 5-10 hours/week, doing research 10 hours/week, and it was my first semester as an RA. On the bright side, after Quantum I feel like it's all downhill!

 

[Dr. Death]

Spring 14
Anatomy
Anatomy Lab
Micro
Micro Lab
Physics II
Physics II Lab
Bio II
Bio II Lab

I had class from 830 am - 9 pm TTH with no breaks and I worked 30+ hours a week on MWFS because my wife was pregnant and couldn't work

 

[BluMist]

semester with 8 classes (4 engineering, all 300/400 level), 24 credit hours, research, volunteer
I could not procrastinate because I was always procrastinating
sleep schedule was 11PM to 3AM, wake up, finish paper/homework before 8:30 class the day of
managed to pull out a 3.5, never ever doing that again.
no regret though, I managed to graduate on time.

on the flip side, I learned that I was super good at procrastinating...

 

[HybridEarth]

semester with 8 classes (4 engineering, all 300/400 level), 24 credit hours, research, volunteer
I could not procrastinate because I was always procrastinating
sleep schedule was 11PM to 3AM, wake up, finish paper/homework before 8:30 class the day of
managed to pull out a 3.5, never ever doing that again

on the flip side, I learned that I was super good at procrastinating...

Haha that's pretty rad. What kind of engineering? Just curious

 

[themockjock]

4a Mon-12p Tues
4a Weds-8p Weds
4a Thurs-6p Fri (post call clinic FTW)
6a Sat-5p Sat
6a Sun-2p Mon

Wash, rinse, repeat for 2 months straight. The occasional pre-call day off thrown in.

It always gets worse.

 

[Slave to the Game]

Spring semester courses:

• Organic I
• Organic Lab I
• Differential Equations
• Physics II + Lab
• Psychology I

Volunteered Saturdays 9AM-3PM, Monday+Friday 4PM-6PM teaching (health education)
Worked Tuesdays+Thursdays 8AM-1PM, and every other Sunday 7AM-4PM

Leave home every day before 7AM (6 on alternate Sundays), M/W/F home by 8PM, T/Th home by 7. Life was hell

 

[Theafoni]

If you'd really like to know...

My undergrad years went kinda like this:

Monday-Friday: classes scattered throughout the day between 8am to 7pm, 18 credit hours per semester. Day was filled working on wet lab research, computational stuff, clinical research, etc. About an hour or two of downtime each day was spent reviewing class notes. I'd come home at night and review for another hour or two depending on the workload.

I'd volunteer one of those evenings for several hours. On another morning in the week I'd be doing clinical research at a local hospital. On weekends, I worked open to close (approx 24 hours). Some weeks, I'd work a shift or two during the weekdays (40ish hours total).

I took a few classes over the summer too, while doing research fellowships and studying for the MCAT. Any free time I had was spent doing hobbies with my close friends.

The freshman year transition was hard, but I managed a 4.0 the other three years. After a while, the classes were getting very difficult, but managing the workload became progressively easier. I kinda just felt "numb" to it and wasn't really that stressed during my junior/senior years, even though there was always a ton going on and I never had days off.

Overall, I don't regret anything. I'm sure I could have eased down on the workload, but it has been taken very well by the schools I've interviewed and been accepted at. It has always been a topic of discussion, and I think some of my letter writers talked about it from the way my interviews seemed to go so far. I'm now enjoying my gap year, catching up on some things I didn't get to do (traveling!!!!!! Oh and tons of metal concerts).

I definitely feel very confident to handle whatever crazy schedule med school throws at me. I'm sure it will be tough and I will struggle, but having a proven track record of bouncing back with many responsibilities makes me feel more than ready to kick butt.

When did you even study?

 

[Theafoni]

36-48hrs/wk scribing (3 or 4 12hr shifts w/ an hour+ commute each way)
3hrs volunteering
2 evening science classes (one 45min each way, 1 at least an hour)
16-20 hours per week at a biotech company.

So that's 61-77 scheduled hours per week, plus 12-14hrs of commuting, depending on how the individual week's schedule shook out. Plus homework/studying.

I changed things around every semester or so...decrease hours here, take away volunteering, add more classes, or MCAT, or an internship 2hrs north, etc. but my schedule was similarly packed (even if the makeup varied) for 2.5yrs during my postbacc.
Then I cut everything back except the best paying job and focused on the app itself.

Why did you work so much??

 

[Bruskie_77]

Easily my junior year winter quarter.
I had physical chemistry, biochemistry, thermodynamics part II, heat/mass transfer, and engineering lab. I was working part time (20 hrs per week) in a tox. lab with a grad student doing wet lab time trials at ridiculous hours along with other projects. I was also involved in a handful of clubs, a christen co-op/fraternity, and clinical/non-clinical volunteering jobs. The workload and difficulty was very challenging especially in thermo. I spent many nights up until 3 am working on homework/finishing up labs and had to wake up at 7 for lecture. On weekends and fridays I would volunteer. Out of some miraculous miracle I'm here today.

 

[HybridEarth]

When did you even study?

I'd review notes before classes for about 15-20 minutes, re-review during any downtime in lab, and review yet again when I got home at night. Doing it this many times made studying for exams pretty effortless, although this was very mentally exhausting. I'd catch up on a lot of studying if needed after work, but that would often require energy drinks/coffee lol. Not the healthiest way to do it I'm sure, but I made it work

 

[themoonman2]

Man I feel inadequate compared to some of these schedules. One of my busiest semester was spring of my post-bac year. I was taking Bio 2 w/ lab, o-chem 1 w/ lab, physics 2 w/ lab, working ~20 hours a week as a waiter, and shadowing ~ 8 hours a week. Schedule would typically be class/studying M-Th with labs M-Wed, then after class thursday, go straight to clinic until ~7 at night. Hang out with friends that night, wake up at 7am next day to be at 9am waiting shift, after which I would study, then repeat for Saturday and Sunday.

 

[ProspectiveKidd]

Im still a freshman, but right now I work 40 hrs/week, volunteer 3 hrs/week, and take 5 classes. Not a crazy schedule at all but the 40 hour work week makes things difficult. Hopfully I am able to adjust to the upper level pre reqs while still working a little bit.

 

[vantheman]

.

 

[-----MD]

One semester I was an idiot and signed up for:
Ochem 1
Physics 1
Biology 2
(all three had labs)
2 more core classes = 18 hours a week

I was teaching 30 hours a week
Volunteered in the ICU 8 hours
Kaplan MCAT course: ~12 hours a week

(EDIT) Oh and I was also still married at that point... And I was also still at the "I gotta make dinner for my hubby every night" stage.

MY GPA fell a full point after that semester....

 

[Goro]

Here's a generational look. I was pre-med for all of about 10 minutes, so my very first semester in UG looked like this:

Into to Bio I (4 CR)
Inorganic Chemistry (4 CR)
Painting I (3CR)
English I (3CR)
Spanish 3 (3 CR)

Total 17 CR.

Jeeze, this was > 40 years ago!!!

I'm talking how many classes you took, how difficult the classes were, research you took part in, ECs, shadowing, work, relationships/marriage/kids, illness. Anything you can think of that contributed to a really hectic and busy schedule. Also, explain how it affected you/your grades/your life and what you would change in retrospect

 

[mehc012]

Why did you work so much??

I wasn't a premed until after graduation...I had no clinical experience whatsoever, no volunteer hours, a low gpa, and needed to complete some prereqs to boot. And I wanted to take the MCAT before the 2015 one went into effect, which meant applying this cycle.

Scribing was only hiring at full time, so I took it. That didn't earn enough $$ (esp after gas for the commute) to pay for classes or save up for the app cycle, so I took the biotech job...plus, I had agreed to work there just before the scribe position came through, and didn't feel like I could back out. It payed 3x as much as scribing, too. Volunteering I a) needed for the hours and b) had a year long commitment that I didn't want to break even when I got a better clinical gig.
I then took on an internship (after the volunteering ended and not while taking classes) that was the best experience I've yet had, so no regrets.

TL;DR Scribing for the experience, biotech for the money, volunteering for the hours/I had already made a commitment.

 

[somsoup]

Rise and shine at 6am.
Out of the house by 6:30am.
Commute and be sad for an hour and a half.
Arrive at BCPM class lab by 8:00am.
Take more classes/study until 3:00pm.
Commute and be sad again for an hour .
Work 1st job from 4-8.
Work 2nd job from 9-12, usually getting out at 1:30am because other retail workers love slowing things down.
TRY to commute home and wait for bus for about 30 min because after midnight, public transport sucks.
Finally get home at 3:00am.

Rinse/repeat/cry

That didn't last long thankfully. It wasn't a tough semester academically.

Academically, the hardest was:

Bio I&Lab
OChem I
Ochem I Lab
Some other 3 credit course
Calculus 2 Lab
Calculus II
Gen phys II
--------------------------
22 credits

x_x

 

[WhittyPsyche]

Every semester has been pretty exhausting but this one particularly has been a pain.
I leave the house at 6:00am daily, get home at 6:00pm.
Sleep ranges from 3-5hrs / night. At least two nights a week I pull all nighters to finish work/study.

-School: 20 credits (3 labs)
Physics
Adv Cell Bio
Neuro
Cog Neuro
Cog Sci
Spanish Linguistics

-Research: 15-20 hours/ week physically in the lab
(Too many UNPAID, UNPREDICTABLE hours outside the lab)

-With traffic live about 2 hours away from school= 4hrs a day in traffic (20hrs/week)

-Children ages 4 & 2, (one in school 45 mins away opposite direction). Believe it or not, you have to spend time with the rugrats whether or not there is an exam the next day!

-Finding time to do apps, write essays, and the such for Postbac research fellowships/master's programs

Best thing is next semester will be identical! Yay!

 

[baratheonfire]

Every semester has been pretty exhausting but this one particularly has been a pain.
I leave the house at 6:00am daily, get home at 6:00pm.
Sleep ranges from 3-5hrs / night. At least two nights a week I pull all nighters to finish work/study.

-School: 20 credits (3 labs)
Physics
Adv Cell Bio
Neuro
Cog Neuro
Cog Sci
Spanish Linguistics

-Research: 15-20 hours/ week physically in the lab
(Too many UNPAID, UNPREDICTABLE hours outside the lab)

-With traffic live about 2 hours away from school= 4hrs a day in traffic (20hrs/week)

-Children ages 4 & 2, (one in school 45 mins away opposite direction). Believe it or not, you have to spend time with the rugrats whether or not there is an exam the next day!

-Finding time to do apps, write essays, and the such for Postbac research fellowships/master's programs

Best thing is next semester will be identical! Yay!

I feel like having kids and living 2 hours away from school is what makes it difficult for you.

 

[Fedekz]

Non-trad student...

Courses:
Physics 2 + lab (4 credits)
Biochem + lab (4 credits)
Ochem 2 + lab (4 credits)
Advanced O chem + lab (3 credits)
Gen chem 2 + lab (long story, got a waiver to move on to ochem before g. chem 2) (4 credits)

Typical "school" day was like 10AM-6PM or 8PM, had a few breaks during the day.

Work:
Police Officer 1800-0600 40hrs/week (3x 12 hour shifts 1 week, and 4x 12 hour shifts the next to get the 80 hrs per pay period )
Mental Health Counselor at Psych hospital 1900-0700 24hrs/week (Sat/Sun night shift)
PRN as a Paramedic, working 24 hour shift on Monday occasionally.

So I had school from 10AM-6PM, then worked 6PM - 6AM, slept from 6AM to 10AM, back to school and repeat. I should have bought stock in red bull - the only energy drink that worked and didn't make me feel like **** (looking at you Monster and Nos)

Worked a minimum of 64 hours/week on a night shift. If I worked as a Paramedic that week, it brought the hours up to 88/week. I did get to sleep on shift as a Paramedic, and occasionally as a counselor.

 

[WhittyPsyche]

I feel like having kids and living 2 hours away from school is what makes it difficult for you.

It's a lot of it. I start work later in the evening than most people I imagine, so I'm up all night.

 

[bceagle411]

Courses: Physics II, Physics II Lab, globalization (history course), behavioral neuroscience, and biochem.

Activities: Average of 10 hours a week of EMS shifts, TA for a physiology class about 9 hours per week, Tutoring 4 hours per week, studying for the MCAT about 5-10 hours per week, and training for a lab about 5 hours a week.

By far my lowest GPA by semester at school at a 3.55, and I found the limit of things I could do during school.

 

[ewax]

wait until your surgery clerkship 3rd year. ew.