School + Work -- Question on hours and demand

[Pose]

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Well Ladies and Gents...I just got back from a stressful as all hell interview.

The interview is for an ER Tech position at a local hospital/trauma center. I was placed in a conference room and surrounded by 8 people--including the director of nursing, human resources director, and charge nurse for the department. All went okay (surprisingly), although they were very strict about my schedule, and the amount of hours I could work.

I REALLY want to get the skills they're offering (EKG, Phlebotomy/IV, ACLS, suturing, HAZMAT...), but they're asking for a minimum of 32 hours a week for the first month. My dilemma? I just started school a week ago (freshmen) full time (14 credits).

After the initial 32 hours, they're asking for a minimum of 24 hours, with a 32 hour week once a month, and every other weekend and holiday. Oh, and medical/dental insurance. Unfortunately, I need to maintain at least a 3.7GPA this semester (for multiple reasons)...So I'm very insecure about all of this.

Anyone have some advice while I'm waiting to hear back? And how many of you have done or exceeded the above?

Thank you...

 

[silas2642]

Well Ladies and Gents...I just got back from a stressful as all hell interview.

The interview is for an ER Tech position at a local hospital/trauma center. I was placed in a conference room and surrounded by 8 people--including the director of nursing, human resources director, and charge nurse for the department. All went okay (surprisingly), although they were very strict about my schedule, and the amount of hours I could work.

I REALLY want to get the skills they're offering (EKG, Phlebotomy/IV, ACLS, suturing, HAZMAT...), but they're asking for a minimum of 32 hours a week for the first month. My dilemma? I just started school a week ago (freshmen) full time (14 credits).

After the initial 32 hours, they're asking for a minimum of 24 hours, with a 32 hour week once a month, and every other weekend and holiday. Oh, and medical/dental insurance. Unfortunately, I need to maintain at least a 3.7GPA this semester (for multiple reasons)...So I'm very insecure about all of this.

Anyone have some advice while I'm waiting to hear back? And how many of you have done or exceeded the above?

Thank you...

It's a fantastic job and a great opportunity, no doubt. I don't know what to tell you except that you really need to search yourself, sit down and look at your schedule, think long and hard about if you have the time to do all of this, and then make your decision. If you want to go to medical school, you really can't let your grades drop too low, and you already said that you need to maintain a 3.7 this semester. I would say give it a go and see what happens... if disaster begins to occur, then quit your job and concentrate on school. Then again, it might be doable for you and not nearly as bad as you think. Good luck.

 

[godsfshrmn]

I agree. If you feel like you can handle this workload, go for it! I am in almost the same situation as you are. I work 20 hours on the weekends at a local hospital and I have 15 hours this semester. The classes I have are pretty demanding too =/
Organic chem 2
Organic lab
Physics
Calc 2
Poly Sci

You just have to devote yourself and realize you probably won't have much time to see friends =/ Plus it would give you something to brag about in your med interview

 

[nimotsu]

I say that getting these skills would be a great opportunity but you are not going to have much time to enjoy college if you do the job and you would have to be a master at juggling coursework and work.

My advice: enjoy college

 

[chandelantern]

What classes are you taking and how did you do last semester? If you did well and feel you can take on some more, go for it. I don't know about where you live, but positions like that are difficult to come by in alot of places!

 

[ClearDay]

Well Ladies and Gents...I just got back from a stressful as all hell interview.

The interview is for an ER Tech position at a local hospital/trauma center. I was placed in a conference room and surrounded by 8 people--including the director of nursing, human resources director, and charge nurse for the department. All went okay (surprisingly), although they were very strict about my schedule, and the amount of hours I could work.

I REALLY want to get the skills they're offering (EKG, Phlebotomy/IV, ACLS, suturing, HAZMAT...), but they're asking for a minimum of 32 hours a week for the first month. My dilemma? I just started school a week ago (freshmen) full time (14 credits).

After the initial 32 hours, they're asking for a minimum of 24 hours, with a 32 hour week once a month, and every other weekend and holiday. Oh, and medical/dental insurance. Unfortunately, I need to maintain at least a 3.7GPA this semester (for multiple reasons)...So I'm very insecure about all of this.

Anyone have some advice while I'm waiting to hear back? And how many of you have done or exceeded the above?

Thank you...

With good time management skills, you can have it all -- school, work, and college life. The only thing is that you've just started as a freshman and may need an adjustment period.

Whatever you decide, good luck

 

[Bubchik]

With good time management skills, you can have it all -- school, work, and college life. The only thing is that you've just started as a freshman and may need an adjustment period.

Whatever you decide, good luck

I agree it is possible to do all of these things together, but the adjustment might be hard. If you have not worked full-time before it might be hard and stressfull.
I would wait a little bit to see how school goes and then decide, maybe you'll be able to find something that 20 hours a week? I did full time work plus 12 credits at school and some minimal research. It was hard, but i still managed to have fun and get into med school. The main thing: you have to enjoy what you do otherwise it is a pain..Oh, and you can always quit your job if it is too much. Good Luck.

 

[McMD]

Evaluate your grades from last semester, 32 hours of working is a lot to take on..but the clinical experience you get would also be great. Understand that freshman year is a large transition that many people don't succeed with.

In my opinion (and this is only me looking hindsight), I took a management position that was supposed to be 40 hrs a week and ended up being nearly 60 during my freshman year, while taking 14 credits....needless to say, it was the biggest regret I've had in all of college. However, I've had a friend work 2 full-time jobs bc he had absolutely no financial support and made straight A's all through college...it's all about the person and what they think they can manage.

 

[Pose]

I never thanked everyone for the advice--so thank you all.

I recently got a call back from the hospital, and they said they were interested enough to hire another part-time tech to allow me to work 24 hours a week. This is good news, so I believe I'll definitely be taking it. I don't know what kind of studying I'll be required to do for the orientation (HAZMAT, phlebotomy, EKG, etc.), but hopefully it's more watch-perform than read-test-perform.

Hopefully my sanity and back hold up!

 

[jrci215]

that thing was quite similar to my situation before during my first freshman semester...i got an emt position at an ambulance company and i had to work full-time (36 hours of three 12-hours shifts) while going to school full-time...it was a really great medical experience for me, but after a month...i quit.

bottom line is, what is your priority? both clinical experience and grades do weigh in adcom decisions, but getting a better gpa boosts your application...

now, there's always room for clinically-relevant alternatives...what i am actually doing now is working 24 hrs/week fridays-sundays as a radiology assistant while going to school full time m-th, 15 units...

you could still work really more hours while going full-time in school provided you create a balance for yourself in your courseload- like, chem and physics with a couple of "buffer" general ed courses- work, and personal time.

 

[Rafa]

My advice: enjoy college

Yup. With me, I've found that I can handle taking obscene amounts of semester hours per term, but I become quite depressed when working more than a few hours a week at my job. So (for example), if not for the fact that working will count as one of my primary ECs, I would much rather take 28 credits and work zero hours per week over taking 20 or 24 credits and working 10-12 hours a week. And I work in a *bookstore*. So it totally depends on how much you value your free time compared to your 'obligation' time, and also how you feel about your job. Personally, if I could find another EC and wasn't set on keeping this one (since I've been doing it for a year, and would like to do it all the way through second semester Jr year), I'd drop my job like a hot hammer, tack on the new EC, and ramp up the credits another notch (or enjoy the free time).

It totally depends on how you feel about your job, and about working in general.

 

[gary5]

Don't take the job. You'll learn all those skills in med school. More important now is that you maintain your GPA and prepare for MCATs.