Pre-Meds/Med Students with part time jobs?

[heinzmoleman]

just wondering how many pre med/ med students have jobs. I have no choice I must work in order to pay for living expenses. I work as a firefighter/Emt and it takes up alot of time, Ive kind of narrowed this down to being the root cause of not getting all A's. Anyone else struggle with school and a job. I also work on cars on the side for some extra cash.

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[texahn]

i work. we all do what we can right?
character building?

 

[mybubbles14]

I think it's pretty uncommon to be able to juggle a part-time job during med school from what I've heard unless you're lucky enough to snag one of those "I really can just sit here and study jobs" (designed for students) like at the library or some front desk position somewhere that doesn't get a lot of action. I definitely will be on the look out for such positions next year, but I won't hold my breath as I know many medical students just live entirely off of loans.

In undergrad I and many of my fellow pre-med friends had part-time jobs on or around campus...and by part-time I mean 10 hours a week on average. I worked for 2 years part-time as a research assistant. During my senior year I was lucky enough to find a job that a 3 yr-old could've done and it really was just an opportunity for me to study and make money at the same time when we weren't busy (it also included a lot of weekend and night hours). So combined with my research job I was actually pulling about 30 hours a week total...but fortunately I was able to study during a large majority of that time so it wasn't too bad.

 

[JonathanMD]

I worked for 2 years of my undergrad at 20+ hours a week at an acute patient care position in a hospital. I actually got better grades during those years. I think it's mostly because I was never able to turn off my work mode. I never had to reset and switch gears back and forth from free time/play to work/study. It was just work, study, work, study. I got so much done in those years and I was on top of everything.

Anyway, we're all different.

What I really wanted to say is... whenever things get tough, for whatever reason. I always remind myself that there are some people who are full-time students who have full-time jobs AND are raising a child. Some of them make it out just fine. Those are the people who have it tough. When I think about that, I remind myself to get back to work and stop b!tching.

 

[heinzmoleman]

What I really wanted to say is... whenever things get tough, for whatever reason. I always remind myself that there are some people who are full-time students who have full-time jobs AND are raising a child. Some of them make it out just fine. Those are the people who have it tough. When I think about that, I remind myself to get back to work and stop b!tching.

This is exactly what my battalion chief told me. haha great minds think alike

 

[ILikeDrugs]

40 hours/week for the first 3 years of undergrad. 30 hours/week the last 3 years/undergrad. Hence, 6 years of undergrad. I managed a ~3.0 the first 30 years and a ~3.75 the last three years . Now, I am unemployed. That's probably a good thing since I am applying this summer.

 

[TraderDoc]

I also worked full-time (35hrs/week) first three years in college in order to pay for housing and tuition. Grades suffered heavily during freshmen year, but I became more efficient with studying as time went on and that made a huge difference later on.

 

[MusicJunkie]

My freshman and sophomore year, I worked about 26hrs/week.
Now I work about 15hrs/week as a junior.
Definitely gives me more time to study for those tougher classes (like biochemistry and o-chem. yeesh.)

 

[ezsanche]

I worked 25+ hours a week and took 18+ credits hours and still got 4.0 in most of my semesters. It's possible but you must know how to manage your time right.

 

[armybound]

it's extremely uncommon to work in med school

 

[allinthecookies]

Freshman and Sophomore years worked 20 hours a week. This year (Junior) working 10-15 hours a week plus volunteering 4-6 hours a week. Took 16-18 units Freshman/Sophomore years but trying 12 this semester...but I'm taking 3 really difficult science courses sooo it's basically the same

 

[parafilm]

Work 15 hours a week, play a varsity sport (although not an extremely demanding schedule, as far as varsity sports go)

Don't sleep, and don't get straight As, so it's a trade off. But worth it in the end.

 

[MidnightSun32]

I'm a sophomore, went back to work, manage a large retail store, minimum hours = 55/wk + 17 credits this semester. It's possible, not what I call fun, but possible. I think my district manager just thinks I'm a tad bit more pissy than every other manager.

 

[kevster2001]

Most premeds do. Most meds dont

 

[MexicanDr]

just wondering how many pre med/ med students have jobs. I have no choice I must work in order to pay for living expenses. I work as a firefighter/Emt and it takes up alot of time, Ive kind of narrowed this down to being the root cause of not getting all A's. Anyone else struggle with school and a job. I also work on cars on the side for some extra cash.

I am an EMT and work usually 36hrs a week ( 3 12s), there is a few times, maybe once a month where I work 2 24s.

The thing I like about working as an EMT is that there are times that we have no calls for 1-2 hrs, some days more and I can get a lot of studying done while posting.

There is days that we get call after call, but when we have down time, I really try to make the best of it.

Another thing that might work with you is to schedule working on weekends; that's what I do: M-TH just for school and volunteering, and Friday,Saturday and Sunday is work.

I want to get a job as an ER Tech since its more money and more clinical things to do, but the only thing holding me back is the hrs(weekend) I have and the down times when we have no calls.

 

[heinzmoleman]

Thanks for the advice. For the people that said i should only work on the weekends, this is not possible since firefighters work as a platoon, so you really don't get flexibility. I don't really wanna quit the dept to become a low paid EMT so I guess I have to manage. It does make it feel better that alot of other pre meds have jobs. I doubt I will still be working with the dept if i get into med school. I will more than likely live off loans in a small apt or I will get a job tutoring. I just don't want to quit the dept because this way if med school doesn't work out I still have a backup.

 

[MedMan25]

just wondering how many pre med/ med students have jobs. I have no choice I must work in order to pay for living expenses. I work as a firefighter/Emt and it takes up alot of time, Ive kind of narrowed this down to being the root cause of not getting all A's. Anyone else struggle with school and a job. I also work on cars on the side for some extra cash.

I've met 1 person in med school who worked part-time. He wasn't doing very well in school as you could probably guess. I worked through most of undergrad though. Probably could have gotten better grades without working but having work experience to put on your application to med school is seen as a plus for most schools I think.

 

[minicow]

ummm..on the other end of the spectrum...what about students who cant get a job? freshman with soo much time to kill...its harder to get a job than to get a good gpa at this point...

how bad will it look later on when im applying to have not had a job?

 

[MedMan25]

ummm..on the other end of the spectrum...what about students who cant get a job? freshman with soo much time to kill...its harder to get a job than to get a good gpa at this point...

how bad will it look later on when im applying to have not had a job?

Use some of your free time to volunteer.

 

[minicow]

Use some of your free time to volunteer.

im doing this. im just worried it would look bad never being employed. is it common for accepted applicants to have never had a real job? i want a job, but if i cant find/get one (..paranoia) would it look bad? would volunteering about 10-15 hours a week sufficiently fill the nonemployed gap later on?

 

[heinzmoleman]

im doing this. im just worried it would look bad never being employed. is it common for accepted applicants to have never had a real job? i want a job, but if i cant find/get one (..paranoia) would it look bad? would volunteering about 10-15 hours a week sufficiently fill the nonemployed gap later on?

I cant see why it wouldn't be, The only thing I would say is maybe boost it up to 20. Just cuz your down on one part (being unemployed) doesn't mean your out of the race you are actually very lucky. If I wasn't working full time I would have so much more time to help out in the lab and go wild with volunteering at various things. You can use this as an opportunity to make yourself a well rounded app. Join clubs,Research, etc