Pre-Medical Work-Study. Is it doable?

[j814wong]

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Have any of you succeed in geting into Medical School while having a work-study job, pre-med coursework, volunteering, research, shadowing, etc?

Can you share some advice on balancing it all but not dropping those most important things?

Thanks 🙂

 

[Ogmora]

I haven't gotten in (yet ) but I have been working 40+ hours a week since september last fall (a part-time job before that for almost a year) and I've been involved with a research study since last july. When I have off of work/school/class I fill it with shadowing.

It's a tough lifestyle, especially if you like to go out a lot, but it's definitely doable as long as you're motivated.

 

[Ost3oclast]

I worked 80+ hours a week through undergrad while volunteering etc etc. just know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and when your done, you will realize that it really helps to hone your time management skills. There really are no pro tips for balancing stuff. Just gotta do it.

 

[abolt18]

Worked 36 hours per week for the past 3 years (i.e. all but 1st year of undergrad). Married, volunteered, shadowed, did club stuff, started a pre-SOMA chapter and all kinds of other volunteering. Simply you just never get a rest. When you're not in school/work/volunteering/shadowing/etc. you are playing hard to make up for missed time. My "balanced time" was actually me hanging out with my wife from 10pm-midnight, MAYBE going rock climbing on saturday if I wasn't studying (twice a month when it's warm?). I tried to take Sundays off entirely to just spend time with family/go to church.

I would say that one huge thing that allowed me to knock out school in a normal amount of time was I didn't usually take a very heavy load (13 credits min-16 credits max). I did all my gen-ed requirements in the summertime (usually online) in order to allow me to focus on my prereqs during the normal semesters. Yes that meant I went to school year round, but it lightened my load by 3-5 credits for each spring/fall semester.

 

[hallowmann]

A lot of people have done it, and a lot of us non-trads had to do it, so its definitely doable. The thing is that you have to make sure you still do well. You can't work, do research, volunteer, and do poorly on the pre-reqs. As long as you maintain your GPA, you'll be fine, if you see it dipping, you'll have to reassess your options.

You just need to schedule and plan your time well, but its manageable.

 

[sgemmell]

I worked 20 hours a week as a work study as an undergrad. I was also newly divorced and a mother of 2 kids (one of them a toddler at the time), took 20 - 22 credit hours a semester, did research, volunteered and shadowed.

So, yeah, it's entirely possible to manage working in undergrad while doing everything else. It's all about time management - be efficient. Make the most of every minute you have available. Also recognize when you need a few hours off. Do things you enjoy doing still.

 

[SFU]

I worked 80+ hours a week through undergrad while volunteering etc etc. just know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and when your done, you will realize that it really helps to hone your time management skills. There really are no pro tips for balancing stuff. Just gotta do it.

How are you working 80+ hours a week, and taking courses ect? Are you just taking 1 or 2 classes a term for example?

 

[Vulcan66]

It's tough. I just completed my first year taking Gen Chem I + II and Gen Bio I + II and ended up doing really well, all while working part time and being in a frat. There are days when I don't remember the last time I went to bed at a decent hour, but it definitely is doable. You just really need to manage your time wisely. Finding friends in the same predicament as you and studying with them helped me a lot too, because then I would have to set aside time to study.

 

[Ost3oclast]

How are you working 80+ hours a week, and taking courses ect? Are you just taking 1 or 2 classes a term for example?

16 credits man. On top of shadowing volunteering etc. I literally, literally, had no life. I had to support my family and still try to get into med school. I guess something worked hahaha

 

[kperry]

It does suck but definitely do-able. I have worked full time (45+ hrs week) since graduating in 2008 and started a do-it-yourself pre-med science track taking the gen chems, orgo, physics, bios, genetics, biochem, immunology, and microbiology in the past 2 1/2 years.

Your grades certainly can suffer when fitting in shadowing, social life, family/friends/significant other, mcat studying, and all of the other little things sprinkled in that are necessary. My grades certainly suffered trying to fit all of that in and I ended up getting a C+ in both gen chems which is the reason my science (pre-med science) gpa is now a 3.3

You can certainly do it but just make sure you are absolutely ready to put in all of the work. DO NOT rush everything and you need to respect the fact that it is a long process and may experience some bumps along the way. Make sure you stay motivated too because it is very, very easy to get burned out when you throw in full time work in the mix.

 

[3bamboo]

I'm taking 16 credits and yes you have plenty of time for at least 10 hours a week. If you have the smarts for medical school you will probably be super bored if you DONT have work or volunteering.

 

[PreDoc4321]

It's not easy, but it's doable. I worked 40+ hours a week (plus ECs, volunteering, and a full courseload). When I received my acceptance letter, it was all worth it.

 

[j814wong]

Well then, looks like I'll have to try to get more scholarships for my second yeear so hopefully, I can avoid ahving to work-study. Hopefully, I would be able to balance studying, volunteering (EMT may now be out of question if the schedule is too consuming), research, and work-study.

By any chance, after work-studying one semester, is it possible to simply reject the work-study program and simply pay for it normally of of my own pocket or via extra loans?

I am given $1500 in work study a year. What is the general pay for basic jobs or clerical work?

Assuming minimum wage, $1500 max WS in a year/$7.25 per hour=206.896551724 hours necessary. Assuming there are a totla of 30 weeks in college, 206.896551724 hours per year/30 school weeks per year=6.89655172414 hours per week. Wow. I seem quite fortunate to have to work on around 7 hours a week.

Well best of luck to teh rest of you pre-meds.

 

[dsoz]

Find a job that allows you to study at work. From my experience, Food service jobs suck. Library jobs have you pulling/shelving books the whole time. Clerical jobs don't give you time to work on school.

Back when I was in undergrad, the best job I found was working at the computer lab. If someone needed help with something, I would need to know what to do, but for the most part, my time was spent studying, writing papers, etc. I didn't need to do much outside my work schedule to study for classes. YMMV

I liked working at the computer lab so much I would always ask for extra work study so I could increase my hours there. It helped decrease the loans that I had to take out. Finals week was awesome. While everyone else was asking for time off to study, I would pick up extra shifts and make some extra money.

dsoz

 

[SFU]

16 credits man. On top of shadowing volunteering etc. I literally, literally, had no life. I had to support my family and still try to get into med school. I guess something worked hahaha

How many hours does 16 credits translate to? For me that would be 5 classes, at a minimum of 15 hours a week without any labs or tutorials factored in, so it could be upwards of 30 hours a week.

Sorry to sound skeptical, but did you just not attend class? How would it be possible to fit 80 hours of work in 7 days. That's 11 hours a day of just work. Unless you're working night shift,and spend the whole day in school ect. It just doesn't add up...

 

[Ost3oclast]

How many hours does 16 credits translate to? For me that would be 5 classes, at a minimum of 15 hours a week without any labs or tutorials factored in, so it could be upwards of 30 hours a week.

Sorry to sound skeptical, but did you just not attend class? How would it be possible to fit 80 hours of work in 7 days. That's 11 hours a day of just work. Unless you're working night shift,and spend the whole day in school ect. It just doesn't add up...

Lol wow dude. Yes I worked night shift usually until about 2 am for 1 job. 1 job allowed me to make my own hours for 20 hours a week. 1 job was a work study where I could study at work 40 hours a week with breaks for class and the other was a janitor for a couple hours a week cleaning. Yes my credit hours are roughly the same as yours unless its a 4 credit class. Good enough or do I need to send you contact info and a job description? Lol good lord

There is a reason I got 18 interviews this cycle and it wasnt just because I had a decent gpa or mcat and average EC's. Every adcom that interviewed me was astounded with my ability to manage literally every single minute of everyday and still pull off a decent application without killing myself.

 

[vonburen]

I worked full time my last year of college and I just would not recommend working more than say 15 hours per week while doing your undergrad studies. Your GPA is very important, and it's difficult to get A's when you go home tired from work/don't have time to study since you're spending it working.

P.S. There is no way you can work 80 hours per week and be a full time undergrad student.
8-7 m-f would be 50 hours (1 hour lunch)
8-10 Saturday and Sunday would be 28 hours

That still leaves 2 hours to be worked somewhere

Unless you were taking classes from 8-1 am m-f or taking online courses. You just don't physically have time to schedule classes.

Not to mention you gotta study/sleep sometime in between all of that.

 

[SFU]

Lol wow dude. Yes I worked night shift usually until about 2 am for 1 job. 1 job allowed me to make my own hours for 20 hours a week. 1 job was a work study where I could study at work 40 hours a week with breaks for class and the other was a janitor for a couple hours a week cleaning. Yes my credit hours are roughly the same as yours unless its a 4 credit class. Good enough or do I need to send you contact info and a job description? Lol good lord

There is a reason I got 18 interviews this cycle and it wasnt just because I had a decent gpa or mcat and average EC's. Every adcom that interviewed me was astounded with my ability to manage literally every single minute of everyday and still pull off a decent application without killing myself.

That's good on you for being able to do so! It just doesn't make sense from a time allocation sense to me, because usually classes are spread out through the day ect.

And just so we're on the same page, when you say 16 credit hours per term, were talking Sept-Dec, kinda thing right? not for like, the whole year?

I'm not trying to be rude, just trying to wrap my head around how its physically possible with scheduling to be able to do 80 hours a week. Usually classes are disbursed throughout the day ect, even if all your jobs were conveniently bending over backwards to accomadate your schedule, it just seems off.

 

[hallowmann]

I worked full time my last year of college and I just would not recommend working more than say 15 hours per week while doing your undergrad studies. Your GPA is very important, and it's difficult to get A's when you go home tired from work/don't have time to study since you're spending it working.

P.S. There is no way you can work 80 hours per week and be a full time undergrad student.
8-7 m-f would be 50 hours
8-10 Saturday and Sunday would be 28 hours

That still leaves 2 hours to be worked somewhere

Unless you were taking classes from 8-1 am m-f or taking online courses. You just don't physically have time to schedule classes.

Not to mention you gotta study/sleep sometime in between all of that.

7 x 24 = 168 hours in a week
7 x 8 = 56 hours for good sleep
2 x 16 = 32 hours of class
80 hrs work + 32 hrs class + 56 hrs sleep = 168 hrs
That's also with a pretty solid daily sleep schedule. Many people live off of 5-7 hours of sleep a day.

He's already said that one job was work-study and basically was time he used for studying (guessing at a dorm front desk, computer lab, etc.). Sure its rough, but why automatically assume he's lying when some people just have to work those types of hours.

 

[Ost3oclast]

Hahaha you guys can call BS all you want I could genuinely care less. Just thought I would let OP know that it IS possible to work and take classes. Carry on trying to nit pick my schedule but you are wasting time on something that doesnt really matter. Lol

 

[Ost3oclast]

7 x 24 = 168 hours in a week
7 x 8 = 56 hours for good sleep
2 x 16 = 32 hours of class
80 hrs work + 32 hrs class + 56 hrs sleep = 168 hrs
That's also with a pretty solid daily sleep schedule. Many people live off of 5-7 hours of sleep a day.

He's already said that one job was work-study and basically was time he used for studying (guessing at a dorm front desk, computer lab, etc.). Sure its rough, but why automatically assume he's lying when some people just have to work those types of hours.

Something like that. Except I never slept for 8 hours a night. More like 5 so i could fit in a workout ass early in the morning most days. I had a day or two of 7 hours of sleep but that was it. I only held this schedule for 3 years of undergrad but it was pretty intense none the less.

Also, you are spot on about the workstudy....computer lab front desk. I sat there 8 hours a day M-F (except for class) and made up the hours I missed early Sunday so round out my 40. I could study all I wanted there so the little time I had at home was spent enjoying it instead of studying.

 

[j814wong]

Something like that. Except I never slept for 8 hours a night. More like 5 so i could fit in a workout ass early in the morning most days. I had a day or two of 7 hours of sleep but that was it. I only held this schedule for 3 years of undergrad but it was pretty intense none the less.

Also, you are spot on about the workstudy....computer lab front desk. I sat there 8 hours a day M-F (except for class) and made up the hours I missed early Sunday so round out my 40. I could study all I wanted there so the little time I had at home was spent enjoying it instead of studying.

Thanks for the reply. I'll stay on the look out for that sort fo work study.

 

[vonburen]

7 x 24 = 168 hours in a week
7 x 8 = 56 hours for good sleep
2 x 16 = 32 hours of class
80 hrs work + 32 hrs class + 56 hrs sleep = 168 hrs
That's also with a pretty solid daily sleep schedule. Many people live off of 5-7 hours of sleep a day.

He's already said that one job was work-study and basically was time he used for studying (guessing at a dorm front desk, computer lab, etc.). Sure its rough, but why automatically assume he's lying when some people just have to work those types of hours.

You forgot time to eat + transportation/parking + bathing/hygiene which over the course of a week could easily amount to 20 or so hours.

Either way, the job I worked at was a solid 40 hr/week job with no time except for the lunch break that I could spend studying. It's just not advisable, you need to focus on getting A's in your undergrad. A's and 30+ MCAT. Do a research job if you must work, at least then you're adding something a little bit more than a regular job and getting paid. Also learning valuable skills.