Question for Western U Pod students

[Summernight]

Hi all,
Would you please share your typical week as a 1st year student?

Especially interested:
-How many days a week do you go to class? Any days/half days are just lecture days? Late days?
-What time do you go to gym/volunteer/ect.?
-How many hours a day do you study?
-If I live 1.5 hours away, is it possible to drive every day (electric car) or should I move closer to the campus? (I have family, kids, they cannot move due to work/school)
-Please tell me about the work-study program/summer research program/additional scholarships/ any conferences, trips you attended.
-Besides the Gross Anatomy course, what is the hardest class?
-Any surprises/underwater rocks to be ready for?

Thank you in advance!

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[Dr.PatchAdams]

Hello there!

To answer your questions:
- We have class every day; but, only podiatry specific classes request your attendance. So, if you choose, you could stream/watch lectures from home. Podiatry specific classes take place ~2 days out of the week.
- You definitely have time to go to the gym/volunteer/free time. If you're proactive with your studying during the week you should have plenty of leisurely time on the weekends. The opposite is also true: if you'd like more free time during the week, you can use the weekend to catch up.
- Personally, I spend about 2-4 hours per day studying. I recommend studying as much as you can initially, and then tapering to a balance you desire once you're comfortable with how you study best.
- I recommend moving closer if funds permit. 1.5 hours each way, is 3 hours out of your day that you could be studying or with your family. I tolerated a 1 hour commute, so it is certainly possible. Just be aware of the time you may be losing, as to optimize your schedule elsewhere and not let your commute be to your detriment.
- Similar to the concerns regarding time that I mentioned before, taking on a job/work-study, would take away even more time that you could be using productively. As a result, few students will take on jobs during school. However, there are jobs on campus that may allow you to study on-duty.
- I believe gross anatomy may be considered hard because it is your FIRST class and you have not learned how you study best, yet. The material in each subsequent course remains challenging, but you learn to become a better student and efficiently process the material thrown at you.
- I really enjoyed the pre-clinical classes; you will learn from experts in each field and feel well prepared in clinic. The only "surprise" that I can think of is that, some may expect podiatric courses to be the mainstay of the pre-clinical curriculum; however, this is not the case. You devote much of your time to courses in medicine that you share with your DO colleagues. There is strong didactics in your clinical years that re-cover podiatric concepts you learned and prepares you well for rotations/clerkships.

I hope this helps.
If you have any further questions, feel free to ask or shoot me a message.