Pre Meds with part time job

[packersandkings]

Hi everyone,
so i've held a part time job since my junior year of high school and i am currently a third year in college now. I work about 25 hours a week and believe me if i could i would reduce my hours, but anyways do medical schools take into consideration applicants that hold a job. I have okay grades but I know I can do so much better if i had more time to devote to my classes. Is it worth working and risking my chances at getting into med school? Any type of advice from people with similar situations or anyone that can relate would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

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[NoUse4aName1286]

I have to work as well, though not as many hours. S'pose I would ask you to clarify 'okay' grades?
IMO, they do recognize that you are working and it will count for something BUT if your grades are poor, your grades are poor. If you shooting a 3.5+, and then do well on the MCAT, you should be sitting fine. End up with 3.0 or less, you'll have significant issues. Again IMO, working is "cover" if you have limited EC's, but I don't think it'll cover you for mediocre grades.

 

[packersandkings]

what's an "IMO"? my grades are at about 3.5

 

[NoUse4aName1286]

IMO = in my opinion. You will also see IMHO = in my humble opinion.

 

[NoUse4aName1286]

what's an "IMO"? my grades are at about 3.5

Assuming a decent score on the MCAT (which I define as approx 29/30+ (assuming 10s, and not an 8 somewhere), and some shadowing and/or volunteer work (I had no volunteer, only shadowing w/2 docs of DIFFERENT SPECIALTIES [I feel thats valuable, but not everyone will agree; i see it as being able to say, yeah I like surgery AND family practice shadowing]) and of course a decent personal statement (PS) you should be okay for an allopathic school IMO.

 

[Geekchick921]

IMO = in my opinion. You will also see IMHO = in my humble opinion.

I always thought the H was for "Honest". I suppose it could be either.

 

[Myuu]

I always thought the H was for "Honest". I suppose it could be either.

Nah, it's humble. Old BBS and usenet acronym.

 

[Concordia]

To answer your question--yes, I believe that adcoms do take into consideration whether or not an applicant worked during college. At least they did in my case--I explained my lack of spectacular ECs by talking about great work experience and being able to put myself through college by working about 25-30 hours a week during the school year.
But a job and good grades are not a trade off. I'd probably say that adcoms would look more favorably at an applicant who recognized importance of good performance in classes over having to take out a loan. That might signal to them that you would work just as hard during med school.
It is understandable if you cannot quit your job or reduce your hours--school's not cheap. But is there any way you could bring your books with you? Or perhaps look for a job on campus? If you work for your institution, I would imagine them to be more understanding if you do your homework while on the clock or work more flexible hours... My best experience was working in a lab b/c the waiting time during my experiments was perfect for catching up on some studying.

 

[batman1983]

It depends on other factors such as your state, schools, and timing of app. But, from my experience, I don’t think they do, unless you try to qualify yourself as economically disadvantaged (even if you are supporting yourself, they will still look at your parents' income==>complete BS in my opinion). I worked about 25-35 hrs/week during school and got a 3.6/3.5 BCPM GPA from UC Berkeley. Like you, I wasn’t able to study as much as I would have liked or do that many ECs. I did a decent amt of clinical volunteering, but didnt do any research (didnt have the time as well as I was not really into the research that was offered at my school). In addition, with the big size of my school and the time constraints caused by work, I wasnt able to spend time networking with my science professors, which I think probably hurt me for my science LORs.

Yet, numerous friends of mine had similar or lower stats, but didnt worked and instead spent more time on the premed ECs(research, volunteer, networking with professors, doctors, and school), and got into numerous top tier med schools. In particular, I think research really helped them out.

While there were other factors that affected my application, like the timing of when I sent them out, I dont think they really considered my work experience and the time constraints caused by working. If anything though, I would recommend spending time at least getting some clinical experience(if you have the time) or trying to get a paid research position(from my experience, it is hard to get, but if you are able to get one, then you can kill two birds with one stone).

 

[caliprincess]

I worked multiple jobs 50+ hours a week going to school full time. Honestly, medical schools only care so much. Yeah, they do take it into consideration, but not wholeheartedly. During my interviews, they did ask about the discrepancy between my grades and my MCAT score, but you really can't use the responsibility of having to work as an excuse. I say that because in the end, there are some people that can do both and manage a 3.8+, a few but there are some nonetheless. Explain your situation in a way that indicates that you indeed had to work and balance school which may have impacted your grades, but also that you gained from doing both...gotta spin it around to be positive.just my 2 cents

 

[Lozza]

I think that they consider it... at least at the schools where I interviewed. It came up quite a bit in my interviews but like everyone before me said... I think it may only help when you have competitive grades... I think more than anything else it outweighed my lack of research experience, which I would have likely had if I did not need to support myself

 

[coldweatherblue]

yeah, I've worked since I turned 16. Throughout college I've worked about 25 hours a week at a restaurant to pay rent/insurance/etc.

Many of my fellow pre-med friends do not work at all and sometimes I'm jealous when they have all the time in the world to study and I'm going to class from 8-3pm then work from 4-11pm... BUT I will say that work is good for you and getting used to these hours will only benefit me in medical school imo.

I agree with difficulty in getting good EC's and getting to know your science profs. I never visited office hours because I never had time to study during the day.

 

[batman1983]

yeah, I've worked since I turned 16. Throughout college I've worked about 25 hours a week at a restaurant to pay rent/insurance/etc.

Many of my fellow pre-med friends do not work at all and sometimes I'm jealous when they have all the time in the world to study and I'm going to class from 8-3pm then work from 4-11pm... BUT I will say that work is good for you and getting used to these hours will only benefit me in medical school imo.

I agree with difficulty in getting good EC's and getting to know your science profs. I never visited office hours because I never had time to study during the day.

Yep, and at my school, the classes were so big that it was nearly impossible to know the prof in class. If you could, I would recommend taking out loans and spend your time focusing on the med path. Yeh, the debt will be a bitch, but at least it increases your chances of getting in. My mistake was working so much that it hurt my med school chances. While I have a good MCAT, I probably dont have strong science LORs(I know all my other LORs are good since I got them from work supervisors and professors that taught small classes and got to know me) and I have lack of research and probably to some extent compared to other applicants, community volunteer experience.

 

[coldweatherblue]

If you could, I would recommend taking out loans and spend your time focusing on the med path. Yeh, the debt will be a bitch, but at least it increases your chances of getting in. My mistake was working so much that it hurt my med school chances.

Good advice but I'm graduating in less than two weeks and have already applied for the 2008 cycle.

Good luck to both of us though, I looked at your MDapps and we have v. similar stats. I have no research (ouch) and my clinical experience is limited to about 100 hrs shadowing. ECs are most notably 1 year volunteering as an ESL teacher in the Czech Republic. The averages say we'll get in but it doesn't mean that I don't worry about it..

My GPA took the biggest hit freshman year when I tried to balance the transition to college-level science classes (took GB and G-chem both freshman year) while working the same hours. Last few years I've been able to pull a 3.8 and work at the same time but it took some getting used to.

 

[nogolfinsnow]

I worked multiple jobs 50+ hours a week going to school full time. Honestly, medical schools only care so much. Yeah, they do take it into consideration, but not wholeheartedly. During my interviews, they did ask about the discrepancy between my grades and my MCAT score, but you really can't use the responsibility of having to work as an excuse. I say that because in the end, there are some people that can do both and manage a 3.8+, a few but there are some nonetheless. Explain your situation in a way that indicates that you indeed had to work and balance school which may have impacted your grades, but also that you gained from doing both...gotta spin it around to be positive.just my 2 cents

They definitely only care so much. If you get an interview, having work or something equivalent (I played DI baseball, a big time drain) will probably help you a lot, especially when you get to talk about how good you've become at balancing demanding schedules, much like the one you'll be presented with as a med student. But if your grades are low, you'll have a tough time getting interviews now matter how hard you work. I only got one interview last cycle, but I sure charmed 'em