Week in the life of a pre-med student?

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neur0goddess

neur0goddess

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^^ high school junior here trying to get a glimpse into my future haha
do you find it hard to balance a social life with school and extracurriculars?
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Study all week. Not much in the way of homework, but you have to keep yourself accountable for knowing the information which is more difficult in my opinion. I'd much rather have homework assigned by the teacher, because it helps me gauge how the exams will be.
Have exams/tests every week that can potentially make/break your grade. Work 8-24 hours/week as a scribe in the ER. Currently 3rd year pre-med with 1000+ hours as a housekeeper in hospital, +200 as a scribe in ER. Trying for 3000 hours of clinical experience (hsk+scribe) before I apply, planning on a gap year. Pre-Med is higher pressure then Med, Med is more information that isn't more difficult, but higher in volume. HS is BS and has no implications on how you do in college. Social life involves studying with friends, which can be pretty damn fun. Yes balance is difficult. Although if I can maintain my 3.8 and get a 28~32 MCAT, I will be in good shape.
 
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I'm a computer engineering student so I may be different from most people on here. My schedule looks like this:

Mondays: Wake up at 5am to workout, go to lectures from 8am-4pm, take a break for an hour, homework/study from 5pm till 11pm/12pm.
Tuesdays: Wake up at 5am to workout, to to 3 labs from 8am-5:30pm, take a break or go see friends for an hour or two, homework/study from 7pm-12am.
Wednesdays: Wake up at 5am to workout, go to lectures from 8am-4pm, take a break for an hour, homework/study from 5pm till 11pm/12pm.
Thursdays: (No Classes/Sleep in day!) Workout at 7am, volunteer at a local hospital for 6 hours (usually around 10am-4pm), chill with friends, then after that homework/study till 11pm.
Fridays: Wake up at 5am to workout, go to lectures from 8am-3pm, go out to eat for dinner with friends (or play videogames), do an hour of homework then go to bed around 11pm.
Saturdays: Wake up at 7am, volunteer at a free clinic for 6 hours from 8am-2pm, if I have a test on Monday I will study the rest of the day (if not I will browse the SDN forums!), go to bed around 10pm
Sundays: Sleep in till 8am, go to church at 9am-11pm, study/homework for the rest of the day, go to sleep around 11pm.

Then I do it all over until the semester ends!

I know that this schedule is really busy, but that's what I get for doing engineering and premed at the same time. This schedule has worked so far for me. I'm a junior in college and have maintained my 4.0 GPA!!

Good luck to you sir! Always good to see people joining the premed community 🙂

JB
 
neur0goddess said:
^^ high school junior here trying to get a glimpse into my future haha
do you find it hard to balance a social life with school and extracurriculars?
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It's a sacrifice that's for sure. It takes a lot of perseverance.

Just get ready for a lot of studying and stressing about multiple exams, balancing a work schedule and extra curricular activities.

Also get ready to tell your friends, family, girlfriend that you aren't going to make it to a lot of events. That's OK, you have to do what it takes to get into medical school.

Good luck and PM me if you have any questions!
 
JBDoctor35 said:
I'm a computer engineering student so I may be different from most people on here. My schedule looks like this:

Mondays: Wake up at 5am to workout, go to lectures from 8am-4pm, take a break for an hour, homework/study from 5pm till 11pm/12pm.
Tuesdays: Wake up at 5am to workout, to to 3 labs from 8am-5:30pm, take a break or go see friends for an hour or two, homework/study from 7pm-12am.
Wednesdays: Wake up at 5am to workout, go to lectures from 8am-4pm, take a break for an hour, homework/study from 5pm till 11pm/12pm.
Thursdays: (No Classes/Sleep in day!) Workout at 7am, volunteer at a local hospital for 6 hours (usually around 10am-4pm), chill with friends, then after that homework/study till 11pm.
Fridays: Wake up at 5am to workout, go to lectures from 8am-3pm, go out to eat for dinner with friends (or play videogames), do an hour of homework then go to bed around 11pm.
Saturdays: Wake up at 7am, volunteer at a free clinic for 6 hours from 8am-2pm, if I have a test on Monday I will study the rest of the day (if not I will browse the SDN forums!), go to bed around 10pm
Sundays: Sleep in till 8am, go to church at 9am-11pm, study/homework for the rest of the day, go to sleep around 11pm.

Then I do it all over until the semester ends!

I know that this schedule is really busy, but that's what I get for doing engineering and premed at the same time. This schedule has worked so far for me. I'm a junior in college and have maintained my 4.0 GPA!!

Good luck to you sir! Always good to see people joining the premed community 🙂

JB
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Jesus Christ you must have amazing self control and a fantastic attention span. I applaud you for doing ALL of that and maintaining a perfect GPA...:O
 
here's an inside look at what my life was like in college. ill use my 5th year as an example because that was the most fun. we'll assume it's either Monday or Thursday

7:30- get up, drink some coffee down FAST, maybe eat something
7:45- go to xc or track practice
8:00-9:30 - run 7-10 miles. (hardest part of my day)
9:30-10:00- chill in the cafeteria
10:00-11:15- skip physiology (unless there was an exam). chill in the cafeteria some more
11:30-12:45- take a shower. MAYBE go to biochem. or MAYBE take a nap (usually the nap)
1:00 pm- 2:30 - chill in the cafeteria, unless there's lab (they don't let you skip that crap). get out AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE, and head to the caf.
2:30-5:00- study a little bit. OR take a nap.
5:00-8:00- chill in the cafeteria. POSSIBILITY for a 2nd run in there before the caf.
8:00-whenever I can fall asleep (usually late as hell, like 1 or 2 am)- combination of studying, drinking coffee, and chilling in my dorm with my friends.

obviously there is a gradient, where the largest concentration of studying falls toward the end of the day, which is why I could never get to sleep early and why there was always a need for naps the following day. still, if I was able to balance a d1 sport, getting decent grades, and having a good amount of "fun" time, im sure youll be fine. by the way, the rest of my week looked very similar. this was a semester where I took physio (with the stupid lab), ecology (with the stupid lab), biochem, and molecular bio.
 
Sleep in til 8-10 depending on which day it is, go to class for a couple hours, work on assignments and study for a couple hours, watch Netflix for a couple hours, play FIFA with the bros, lift, eat, meet girls, go to bed at about 12.
 
AlteredScale said:
It's a sacrifice that's for sure. It takes a lot of perseverance.

Just get ready for a lot of studying and stressing about multiple exams, balancing a work schedule and extra curricular activities.

Also get ready to tell your friends, family, girlfriend that you aren't going to make it to a lot of events. That's OK, you have to do what it takes to get into medical school.

Good luck and PM me if you have any questions!
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is it possible to go out (hit the bars, go to parties, attend a concert, eat out, etc) if I only do so thursday/friday/saturday nights and maintain a good GPA/sGPA, study for the MCAT, pursue ECs? Like do you think its possible if I study and do all my ECs during the week and during the mornings and afternoons before I go out?
 
MarylandMatt said:
Sleep in til 8-10 depending on which day it is, go to class for a couple hours, work on assignments and study for a couple hours, watch Netflix for a couple hours, play FIFA with the bros, lift, eat, meet girls, go to bed at about 12.
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well that sounds awesome haha
 
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user12 said:
here's an inside look at what my life was like in college. ill use my 5th year as an example because that was the most fun. we'll assume it's either Monday or Thursday

7:30- get up, drink some coffee down FAST, maybe eat something
7:45- go to xc or track practice
8:00-9:30 - run 7-10 miles. (hardest part of my day)
9:30-10:00- chill in the cafeteria
10:00-11:15- skip physiology (unless there was an exam). chill in the cafeteria some more
11:30-12:45- take a shower. MAYBE go to biochem. or MAYBE take a nap (usually the nap)
1:00 pm- 2:30 - chill in the cafeteria, unless there's lab (they don't let you skip that crap). get out AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE, and head to the caf.
2:30-5:00- study a little bit. OR take a nap.
5:00-8:00- chill in the cafeteria. POSSIBILITY for a 2nd run in there before the caf.
8:00-whenever I can fall asleep (usually late as hell, like 1 or 2 am)- combination of studying, drinking coffee, and chilling in my dorm with my friends.

obviously there is a gradient, where the largest concentration of studying falls toward the end of the day, which is why I could never get to sleep early and why there was always a need for naps the following day. still, if I was able to balance a d1 sport, getting decent grades, and having a good amount of "fun" time, im sure youll be fine. by the way, the rest of my week looked very similar. this was a semester where I took physio (with the stupid lab), ecology (with the stupid lab), biochem, and molecular bio.
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seems like your daily schedule is pretty relaxed haha
what do you mean by "decent" grades? like good enough for a pretty prestigious med school?
 
neur0goddess said:
seems like your daily schedule is pretty relaxed haha
what do you mean by "decent" grades? like good enough for a pretty prestigious med school?
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I finished with a 3.8. I think that semester was my lowest, like a 3.6 (but with those classes it was HARD). 3.8 isn't good enough for a super prestigious med school i dont think unless you combine it with like a 38 mcat, which I don't have.
 
neur0goddess said:
is it possible to go out (hit the bars, go to parties, attend a concert, eat out, etc) if I only do so thursday/friday/saturday nights and maintain a good GPA/sGPA, study for the MCAT, pursue ECs? Like do you think its possible if I study and do all my ECs during the week and during the mornings and afternoons before I go out?
Click to expand...

It depends if you are working or are employed I guess. I worked as a barista at sbux so I never really got to go out every weekend. It's definitely possible if you have good time management, I've seen many students with the perfect "work hard, play hard" mentality and lean to much towards the "play hard" aspect and it messes them up.
 
damn I do not work as hard as a lot of yall I guess. I honestly don't think premed is any harder than many other majors at my school. I spend a decent amount of time studying + extracurriculars but honestly I average at least 8 hours a night of sleep and have fun on the weekends. We'll see if this schedule gets me a spot in med school.

anyways, time to go sleep, peace
 
user12 said:
I finished with a 3.8. I think that semester was my lowest, like a 3.6 (but with those classes it was HARD). 3.8 isn't good enough for a super prestigious med school i dont think unless you combine it with like a 38 mcat, which I don't have.
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really? Isn't a 3.8 about the average GPA a med school matriculant has? Idk, to me that's a really good collegiate GPA but then again I'm just a high school student so I'm not 100% sure
 
If you can't get atleast 8 hours of sleep as a college student, you are not managing your time well. It's not that bad, its been 5 weeks into the semester and I haven't gotten less than 8 hours of sleep every night.

It's not how long you study, its how effectively you study.

I honestly see NO point in studying for 5+ hours per night... Doesn't make sense to me.
 
user12 said:
I finished with a 3.8. I think that semester was my lowest, like a 3.6 (but with those classes it was HARD). 3.8 isn't good enough for a super prestigious med school i dont think unless you combine it with like a 38 mcat, which I don't have.
Click to expand...

Lol are you kidding me? Stop perpetuating the SDN neuroticism. 3.8~3.9~4.0. If you're at or above a 3.8, you've proven that you're a stellar student and anything above that doesn't make a difference.
 
If you have block scheduling in your high school, it might not be that different. You'll swap out the classes you have now for other classes and instead of having a sports practice you might be volunteering, doing research or just studying.

I have class M-F. I spend an average of 4 hours a day in class, then I spend another 4 or so studying. Depending on the day, I'll go to some kind of club meeting, go to band rehearsal or volunteer.

I get 7-8 hours of sleep every single day. There's no reason why this shouldn't be d0able.
 
College isn't that bad.
neur0goddess said:
what about your social lives?
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It all depends on your intelligence and ability to buckle down when you have to. I led a very social life and seldom went to class, then would pull 1-2 all-nighters right before the test and teach myself all the material. However I didn't start out that way. My first half of first semester I studied an extreme amount and went to all my classes. I would recommend overstudying at first, and then decreasing it once you take tests and see how much you actually need to study.
 
jqueb29 said:
College isn't that bad.


It all depends on your intelligence and ability to buckle down when you have to. I led a very social life and seldom went to class, then would pull 1-2 all-nighters right before the test and teach myself all the material. However I didn't start out that way. My first half of first semester I studied an extreme amount and went to all my classes. I would recommend overstudying at first, and then decreasing it once you take tests and see how much you actually need to study.
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I like to party and drink socially, but I'm worried I won't be able to have that classic college experience because I'll be worrying about my grades. I'm a really bad procrastinator but I almost always manage to pull through and buckle down at the last minute. Can that sort of behavior fly in college?
 
neur0goddess said:
I'm worried I won't be able to have that classic college experience
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I'm of the opinion that this has become cliché. You're worrying about your college grades, but you have at least a year-and-a-half before you could enter college; essentially, this is cooking your rabbits before they're caught. You have plenty of time to figure out how you'll attack your college classes and activities. Focus on finishing strong in high school.
 
neur0goddess said:
I like to party and drink socially, but I'm worried I won't be able to have that classic college experience because I'll be worrying about my grades. I'm a really bad procrastinator but I almost always manage to pull through and buckle down at the last minute. Can that sort of behavior fly in college?
Click to expand...

That is largely how I got through college. A big portion of my med school classmates were also heavy partiers in college, and we continue to go out in med school. It just is about finding the right balance that works for you.
 
neur0goddess said:
I like to party and drink socially, but I'm worried I won't be able to have that classic college experience because I'll be worrying about my grades. I'm a really bad procrastinator but I almost always manage to pull through and buckle down at the last minute. Can that sort of behavior fly in college?
Click to expand...

Yeah it definitely can fly. For me, I'll go out, be social and have drinks on 1-3 nights a week IF I don't have midterms or big papers that week. If you feel like you need to study all night every Friday and Saturday you're doing college wrong.

Now, I've definitely spent Fridays and Saturdays hard at work when there's a big Orgo midterm the following Monday. But that's a few times a semester.
 
Agreed. I study extensively, do not work, do volunteer, and go to organization meetings. I don't have much of social life though.

BUT I ALWAYS HAVE 8 HOURS TO SLEEP. and usually get to workout 3-5 times per week. Boo yah, time management
 
jqueb29 said:
College isn't that bad.


It all depends on your intelligence and ability to buckle down when you have to. I led a very social life and seldom went to class, then would pull 1-2 all-nighters right before the test and teach myself all the material. However I didn't start out that way. My first half of first semester I studied an extreme amount and went to all my classes. I would recommend overstudying at first, and then decreasing it once you take tests and see how much you actually need to study.
Click to expand...

This is a very bad approach to college and studying in general. *NOT intelligent
 
Evisju7 said:
This is a very bad approach to college and studying in general. *NOT intelligent
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Like I said, it doesn't work for everyone. It worked fantastic for me and many others I know of, though.
 
Mad Jack said:
Life of a premed student>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Life of a med student
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I would have had those arrows pointing the opposite way, though I'm a minority in that opinion. Med school is significantly more difficult, but society gives you a free pass for missing social events and socializing minimally.

And in the end, the amount of time you save NOT doing stupid volunteering and shadowing stuff ends up being similar to the amount of extra time you're studying.

The hardest part of med school is getting in.
...If you can get through med school without developing a Psych disorder (partially a joke).
 
Last edited:
I'm in a fraternity and if you want to find time for it, you definitely can. Rushing/pledging was a pain in the ass and definitely interfered with school. Be prepared for that if you choose to participate in Greek life.
 
Hospitalized said:
Pre-Med is higher pressure then Med, Med is more information that isn't more difficult, but higher in volume.
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Dumbest thing I have heard!
You clearly aren't in med school yet so how can you comment on which has higher pressure? Undergrad exams had less pressure because literally everything was in the notes. Have you written board exams? Shelf exams? Didnt think so! Dont comment/speculate on stuff you dont have a clue about.
 
Overall, I would say the entire pre-med process is overhyped. Looking back, I was just like everyone else. Keep getting good grades, get a good MCAT, get patient contact, research or TA and maybe volunteer and you won't have problems.
 
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