Hi,
I just got accepted to KU and I wanted to ask, how is it being married while in medical school. How much time, really, do you have for family? Also, about utilizing the notebooks for taking notes, is it easier to actually type or do you use the actual screen as a notepad?
Concerning family and med school... I definitely have less study time than my single classmates. I also have to keep a more rigid study schedule and have to try avoiding procrastination. There are certainly days when I think life would be easier without the extra responsibilities of having a spouse and children. I also have quite a bit of difficulty finding time to spend with my classmates or doing anything extracurricular. But there are definitely benefits as well. I'll never be as isolated in my med school experience as some of my classmates might feel when they're deep in their studies the days before the test. I also (maybe) am forced to have some perspective and am less likely to let bad grades bother me. That can be difficult for new med students since they are used to perfection. With two young kids, I'm so used to making life work in the chaos, that I'm ready to take whatever life (or med school) throws at me.
Concerning family and time.... In an ideal situation, you should be able to get what you need to get done for med school during the day, spend your evening (5:30-8:30) with your kids, and then wrap things up during the evening. I usually go to bed by 10:00, and I get plenty of sleep. I study 8 or so hours on Saturday and while my kids are napping on Sunday (2 hours) but otherwise take the rest of the weekend off. Other than Saturday, my kids don't see less of me than they would if I worked a normal job, but I don't have any extra time to do other things so our house is really messy and I don't get out very much. The weekend before the test, my hubby takes my kids to his parents' house, so I do get some more study time then. My daughter has gotten to where she doesn't like that because she knows I'm not going with her, so I feel a little bad about that, but it really is necessary for me to prepare for the test.
Concerning the notebook, I really like my notebook. I take notes both ways... it just depends on how much I want to write. If I want to write a lot, I type, if its just a little, I use my pen.
edit: after rereading your post, I notice that you asked about being married in med school, not about children. I'd say in general, if your spouse is understanding and you make a concentrated effort to make time for your spouse, you'll probably find med school easier than your single classmates.
Obviously, any time a relationship has problems, that can cause problems in med school, just work to make sure that doesn't happen, and you'll be golden.
