Working during medical school (pharmD)

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Singlecelled12

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Hello,

I am a pharmacist who was accepted to an MD school to begin this fall. I was wondering if there are any other pharmDs out there who are in medical school or have graduated that can speak about if you were able to work as a pharmacist during medical school. I currently work in both a hospital (completed a pgy1 and pgy2) and also work on the side in retail. I am considering keeping the retail job and attempting to pick up a few PRN days per month (probably just one or two shifts/month on weekends). Also, if anyone has gone through this, were you able to work during breaks/summers? If I am unable to work during medical school, I am fine with that as well. I do not have a family, so that wouldn't affect my decision to work on non-class days.

Hoping to get some insight from others who may have done this already.

Thank you!

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If I get in and if the school permits it, I'm going to try working Friday evenings during years 1 and 2. The argument I've seen some make is it's not worth it if your hourly rate is low, i.e. Why lose out on study time or family time for a couple Hundo. But if your earning potential is high... I'm a PA and take home is prob similar to pharm, so it's more worthwhile. I have a family so I want the liquidity.
 
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Haven't done it myself, but knew a guy who worked as a clinical lab scientist (high hourly wage, but prob less than you guys) for a couple 12 hr shifts a month for M1 & 2. He said it worked out okay, just about took care of his rent.
 
It is sometimes possible for some people to work under very limited circumstances during the preclinical years of medical school, if their school schedule and their work schedule are both flexible. However, I would suggest that you initially plan NOT to work during medical school. Wait to even consider the possibility until after you take your first round of exams, at which point you will have a better idea of how much time you need in order to keep up with your studies. If you find that you're doing well in school with time to spare, then you can add in some work hours. But while the urge to minimize loans is understandable and laudable, it's important to keep your priorities straight. Considering how expensive and time-intensive medical school is, it is highly unlikely that you can work enough hours to avoid taking out loans. And it is definitely not worth risking flunking out of school just to earn a little money on the side.
 
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Check your Student Handbook.
Many schools have policies restricting outside work (or requiring Dean's approval).

It is sometimes possible for some people to work under very limited circumstances during the preclinical years of medical school, if their school schedule and their work schedule are both flexible. However, I would suggest that you initially plan NOT to work during medical school. Wait to even consider the possibility until after you take your first round of exams, at which point you will have a better idea of how much time you need in order to keep up with your studies.

It would be my preference not to work during medical school, but I am afraid that I will lose my board certification without performing clinical case sign-out. I should be fine on CMEs (I think I can reasonably argue that medical school constitutes continuing medical education) and I'm willing to pay the $400 per year to maintain my certification. There are remote positions and perhaps one would be OK with me just doing a few cases on weekends. Alternatively, I could try to petition the board to defer the maintenance of certification requirements until after medical school/residency. If anyone here is in/ has been in a similar situation would you mind sharing how you handled it? Thanks!
 
You'd be making a foolish mistake. Do you want to be a doctor, or a pharmacist?
Your pharmacist days will end as soon as you put on that white coat in.med school

It would be my preference not to work during medical school, but I am afraid that I will lose my board certification without performing clinical case sign-out. I should be fine on CMEs (I think I can reasonably argue that medical school constitutes continuing medical education) and I'm willing to pay the $400 per year to maintain my certification. There are remote positions and perhaps one would be OK with me just doing a few cases on weekends. Alternatively, I could try to petition the board to defer the maintenance of certification requirements until after medical school/residency. If anyone here is in/ has been in a similar situation would you mind sharing how you handled it? Thanks!
 
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You'd be making a foolish mistake. Do you want to be a doctor, or a pharmacist?
Your pharmacist days will end as soon as you put on that white coat in.med school

Not the original poster, and not a pharmacist. Thanks for trying to provide guidance though.
 
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Again, really only looking for advice from people who have already done this. I have a few pharmd friends who have completed MD programs and were able to work a decent amount during schools without any detriment to their scores, but I am looking for a broad opinion. I worked 20hr/week throughout pharm school (graduated summa cum laude) and I understand that will not be possible, but would like to see if anyone was able to maintain 1-2 shifts/month to pay for rent (I'm looking to not have to take out loans for living expenses). Thanks!
 
I've been told to not work as well.

However all the people I've received advice from, had part time, low paying jobs in med school.

It's tempting to pick up a per diem job once I get settled as working two days a month would be around $1600 take home.

And considering I had no trouble working full time, taking 20+ units a semester, volunteering, and commuting a significant distance as an undergrad, two days a month seems totally doable.

I'm curious if anyone out there in similar shoes has any feedback...
 
I've been told to not work as well.

However all the people I've received advice from, had part time, low paying jobs in med school.

It's tempting to pick up a per diem job once I get settled as working two days a month would be around $1600 take home.

And considering I had no trouble working full time, taking 20+ units a semester, volunteering, and commuting a significant distance as an undergrad, two days a month seems totally doable.

I'm curious if anyone out there in similar shoes has any feedback...

One of my RN colleagues who is a 2nd year medical student works 1-2 shifts a month as a per diem nurse. She works the night shift, so majority of her shift, patient's are sleeping. During that time, she manages to squeeze in some studying time.
 
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I'm a pharmd and about 2 months away from graduating with an md. I personally didn't work during school (although you definitely can during m1 year if your school allows.) I know a friend of mine who was also a pharmacist who did work during both m1 and m2 years and said it was much more manageable first year...2nd year is tough because the volume of material is much greater and of course you're constantly stressing over step 1. 3rd year will be next to impossible, unless you're on something like psych or family med where you generally work 9-5 and have weekends off (although weekends are probably better utilized studying for your shelf exams than working, imo).

tldr; it's possible first year, harder 2nd year and nearly impossible 3rd year. 4th year is super chill and you can definitely work in between residency interviews and mostly blow off rotations...honestly though, you might want to save yourself the stress of working and re-charge your batteries before the torture that is intern year. Feel free to pm me if you have any other questions. Good luck.
 
Out of curiosity I checked the student handbook for the medical school where I will likely matriculate. It says students may not work more than 20hrs/wk the first two years, and not so much that it interferes with their clinical responsibilities their last two years. That seems *super* lenient to me (who on earth works 20hrs/wk during medical school!), but I guess it's good to know.
 
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It can absolutely be done. You can waste a ton of time in med school, as it turns out. The issue is that by the time you realize it/have gotten good enough to do so your first two years are pretty much gone. You may absolutely feel like you're drowning at the beginning and work won't help. Others play it cool and take every Sunday off from studying right from the beginning. The best analogy I've seen (was on here a year or two ago) is that med school is like eating 10 pancakes a day. It's a lot, but over the course of a day you do it easy. But if you take a day off, you have to spread those 10 across other days. Take a few days off, and now you have 40 pancakes to eat and some will go uneaten or you'll make yourself sick eating all 40 and you won't enjoy it at all.

All that to say that you absolutely can work a shift on weekends every week or two. Especially after tests. But remember that you might wanna take off time off, and you might not be good enough at first to know how much work is needed. For what it's worth, I still ran a very low-key small business my two years, which probably ended up being about 6-8 hours a week, and did fine.
 
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It can absolutely be done. You can waste a ton of time in med school, as it turns out. The issue is that by the time you realize it/have gotten good enough to do so your first two years are pretty much gone. You may absolutely feel like you're drowning at the beginning and work won't help. Others play it cool and take every Sunday off from studying right from the beginning. The best analogy I've seen (was on here a year or two ago) is that med school is like eating 10 pancakes a day. It's a lot, but over the course of a day you do it easy. But if you take a day off, you have to spread those 10 across other days. Take a few days off, and now you have 40 pancakes to eat and some will go uneaten or you'll make yourself sick eating all 40 and you won't enjoy it at all.

All that to say that you absolutely can work a shift on weekends every week or two. Especially after tests. But remember that you might wanna take off time off, and you might not be good enough at first to know how much work is needed. For what it's worth, I still ran a very low-key small business my two years, which probably ended up being about 6-8 hours a week, and did fine.

The pancake analogy originated here (one of my faves also):

Med School Metaphor: Pancakes Every Morning

Good blog
 
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They should have used waffles as the metaphor instead pancakes.

Everyone knows waffles are better than pancakes.
 
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They should have used waffles as the metaphor instead pancakes.

Everyone knows waffles are better than pancakes.
But the thing about pancakes is that if you eat too many of them you get truly sick of them and never want to have them again lol. You immediately forget this the next time they're an option, and by the end of the meal - yep - sick of em again.
 
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I am a pharmD in medical school, going into third year. I worked 1st and 2nd year (probably anywhere from 2-6 shifts/month on average, also worked quite a bit between M1 and M2 year). It's doable, especially if you can arrange it PRN and send out availability in advance (that way you can work around exam stretches, etc). Sometimes I really did not want to go in following a long week, but tbh it was sometimes nice to get away from being a student.
 
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remember some med school have rules about people working a job

someone said that was illegal, but med admin at all levels do illegal things all the time and never end up answering for it
 
I also worked during med school up until 4th year. But it was a special situation where I got a float PRN job at the Student Health Clinic Pharmacy. It was the best student job ever. They let me work flexible schedules and help with closing and doing QA. Overall I was able to work 5-10 hrs/week. Great for supplemental spending money, but not to support yourself. I had two other classmates who were also PharmD's and they both were working part time as well (one inpatient, one at Walgreens)
 
I have a similar question. Work at a startup company part-time, they pay me $1,000/month and I create my own hours. Mostly involves pubmed searches and a bit of R/programming. Also get .1% stock/month in the company and the valuation is increasing significantly. usually work less than 10/week. My boss is very lenient on how much I work week to week. Would this be worth it? Over 4 years that would be about 60k less of loans with interest, assuming I get nothing for my stock in the event of IPO (unlikely, we will likely sell out at some point).
 
I was doing 25 hrs a week (but was making quadruple what you are talking) and it was totally doable. Didn't leave much time for a social life tho.
For a 1k a month I don't think it's worth it. Take out loans. Focus on school.
 
Strongly advise against this even if permissible at your medical school. I, too, thought I could do this since I had a professional career before medical school. You should consider this as an option only if you are absolutely starving and can’t make ends meet any other way.

Medical school….any medical school…will absolutely bury here if you don’t give it 100% of your attention for the entire four years. Most people are looking at a 250K investment before interest. You’re looking paying back 1 to 2 extra dollars for every dollar you borrow over the lifespan of that loan. With that kind of money, a few hundred dollars here and there (in my opinion) is not worth the risk to maximizing your potential.
Hello,

I am a pharmacist who was accepted to an MD school to begin this fall. I was wondering if there are any other pharmDs out there who are in medical school or have graduated that can speak about if you were able to work as a pharmacist during medical school. I currently work in both a hospital (completed a pgy1 and pgy2) and also work on the side in retail. I am considering keeping the retail job and attempting to pick up a few PRN days per month (probably just one or two shifts/month on weekends). Also, if anyone has gone through this, were you able to work during breaks/summers? If I am unable to work during medical school, I am fine with that as well. I do not have a family, so that wouldn't affect my decision to work on non-class days.

Hoping to get some insight from others who may have done this already.

Thank you!
 
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Reactions: 1 user
Again, really only looking for advice from people who have already done this. I have a few pharmd friends who have completed MD programs and were able to work a decent amount during schools without any detriment to their scores, but I am looking for a broad opinion. I worked 20hr/week throughout pharm school (graduated summa cum laude) and I understand that will not be possible, but would like to see if anyone was able to maintain 1-2 shifts/month to pay for rent (I'm looking to not have to take out loans for living expenses). Thanks!

This is highly dependent on your medical school and what the specific curriculum/difficulty is. I had friends who would work 1-2 paramedic shifts per week during first year who stopped during second year because the difficulty and time needed to do well or even pass increased dramatically. You'd be better off asking med students who attend the school you will be matriculating to whether it's possible to pick up shifts than asking people who attend schools which may be dramatically different from yours.
 
As a PharmD, you will have a leg up on those who came fresh out of college. Don't let it get to your head however. It will still requires hours or study and practice. If you feel that you can work while also excelling at medical school, why not? To avoid the onerous debt would be great.

The reality is that while individual programs may have rules against working, if they conflict with the college rules it is the college rules that generally take precedent. Still, to play it safe, you may want to sit down with a dean and just discuss it. I would not approach it as, "I plan on working during this program," but rather, "I might try to work during the first month, to see if I can handle it, if I can't I will give up the job, and my employer knows this." School wants to see commitment. If you can talk up commitment, they will probably not have a problem with it.
 
Oddly enough, at the DO schools I interviewed at (KCU, DMU, RVU etc) they unanimously said it would be impossible.

Alopathically speaking, I met a bunch of students who still worked 20 hours/week and told me they were getting A’s, or whatever the equivalent was at the school.
 
I work 16 hrs/wk during school, nobody gives a dawn as long as you pass all your class. If you fail your class, working is not a good excuse though
 
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