My summer classes start tomorrow... 6 weeks of microbiology followed by 6 weeks of physiology. Anyone else taking summer classes this year?
I'mma going to Physics Camp!
That's what I'm calling it, under the theory that "Physics Camp" sounds better than "sitting in a classroom and/or lab five nights a week three hours per night for twelve weeks this summer." Physics I and Physics II. (Fortunately, since misery loves company, it consoles me that one of my friends will be right down the hall in algebra-based Physics Camp.)
I've got to admit, it's my first time taking evening classes while working full-time and I'm just a weeee bit scared about balancing it all. Of course reading here from everyone who has done it before has been reassuring (and a good dose of reality). Advice? Support? Commiseration?
You can do it, but you have to know where your priorities lie.
I worked about sixty hours a week while taking sixteen credits of graduate coursework. That was in the liberal arts instead of the sciences, but the principle is the same. The most important thing is deciding ahead of time what will give, when something has to give, because someday I guarantee you that something
will have to give.
At the time I did my masters', work always won. So I got a couple A-'s instead of As. At the time, that was the right decision. For this coursework, if I want to go to medical school, I can't afford that. I want to go to medical school; else I wouldn't be going to Physics Camp, I'd be learning to surf and sleeping a lot. So I've shuffled the order. But the important thing is deciding what gives
before the crisis, because in the crisis you will not be equipped to make the right decision.
Make sure you run the numbers on the decision you make, by the way. I probably won't get fired for that order of priority, and if I did, I'm confident that I can pick up the phone and have a new job in very short order. The mileage for your situation may vary, and if you get fired, you're not going to have much luck paying for all of this delightful, delightful camp.
Finally, don't forget to put "your own sanity" on the list. That term I mentioned, I actually had an opportunity to experience crying-and-laughing-at-the-same-time. It was an interesting experience, but not one I care to repeat. Make sure you don't get to the point where you get first-hand experience with Haldol. (I didn't, but in retrospect, I was closer than I probably ought to have been.)
