Working Full Time and taking 3 Courses in Winter?

[Telomi]

Hi Can anyone advise me if I am no going to be dead by end f the Winter term 🙁?
Situation:

• Working Full Time

Plan:

• General Chemistry 2 Lecture Only,
  
• General Chemistry 1 Lab Only,
  
• Biology 2 with Lab
  
• Physiology

and it will be 2 Year Credit in 4months.

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[Eccesignum]

Hi Can anyone advise me if I am no going to be dead by end f the term 🙁?
Situation:

• Working Full Time

Plan:

• General Chemistry 2 Lecture Only,
  
• General Chemistry 1 Lab Only,
  
• Biology 2 with Lab
  
• Physiology

and it will be 2 Year Credit in 4months.

Do your summer courses run the entire summer or are they 1/1.5 month modules? What's the rush to take so much during summer?

 

[Telomi]

Do your summer courses run the entire summer or are they 1/1.5 month modules? What's the rush to take so much during summer?

Thank you, but this is my plan for Winter Term (Jan- April). 5 days Lecture/Lab, and I have only Sat/Sun/Holidays for Studying.
So you think I am rushing?

 

[Eccesignum]

I can't tell, that's why I asked what the duration of the classes were. At my university there were three separate summer blocks, each about a month long. Typical 3-credit courses that met 3x a week for one hour in fall would meet several hours a day for 4ish weeks during a summer class. Trying to do four classes, two including lab, all in one summer block plus working would be a huge challenge to say the least.

However not all universities work that way, so I'm asking to see exactly what you're doing.

 

[Telomi]

I can't tell, that's why I asked what the duration of the classes were. At my university there were three separate summer blocks, each about a month long. Typical 3-credit courses that met 3x a week for one hour in fall would meet several hours a day for 4ish weeks during a summer class. Trying to do four classes, two including lab, all in one summer block plus working would be a huge challenge to say the least.

However not all universities work that way, so I'm asking to see exactly what you're doing.

So the duration would be 4 month.
Biology ( 3hrs lecture + 3hrs Lab)
Chem Lab ( 3hrs Lab)
Gen Chem 2 ( only 3 hrs lecture)
Physiology (3-4 hrs online lecture. This is full credit course presented in 4 month).

I am thinking of dropping physiology. Seems Physiology is difficult and time consuming.

What do you think? Thx

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I took four courses every term including winter term while working 70-80 hours a week. It is possible. You will be tired. The key is to manage your time very wisely.

 

[esob]

I typically take 12 hrs while working 40 - 60 hrs but I'm also raising 4 kids (including two special needs) so it's not impossible to do it, just be efficient with your time.

 

[Eccesignum]

So the duration would be 4 month.
Biology ( 3hrs lecture + 3hrs Lab)
Chem Lab ( 3hrs Lab)
Gen Chem 2 ( only 3 hrs lecture)
Physiology (3-4 hrs online lecture. This is full credit course presented in 4 month).

I am thinking of dropping physiology. Seems Physiology is difficult and time consuming.

What do you think? Thx

As above posters have said, sounds like it's doable but you need to stay on top of the time management.

Physiology isn't particularly useful at this stage of the game except that it'll count in GPA. You won't have that kind of material on the MCAT. More helpful right now would be classes like genetics, cell bio, intermediary metabolism, or molecular bio at some point.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I typically take 12 hrs while working 40 - 60 hrs but I'm also raising 4 kids (including two special needs) so it's not impossible to do it, just be efficient with your time.

The kids are the biggest time suck from studying or homework, but I'd always rather be with my wife and kids than studying.

 

[primetime8d]

I took four courses every term including winter term while working 70-80 hours a week. It is possible. You will be tired. The key is to manage your time very wisely.

Hi Telomi, I just joined this forum and am also in possibly pursuit of a health career although may not be the same as yours nor completely known yet. (Just a disclaimer for my 1 post count).

However, posts like Matthew9ThirthyFive are extremely rare and unrealistic. Although it is doable in some cases or others, the question you really have to ask yourself is how well will you come out on the other end with an "A" or a passing grade or whatever you will need? Working 70-80 hours a week and taking four courses every term is not realistic in many cases and this would be a RARE statistic to come out doing well on the first try for those classes with that kind of workload. If indeed Matthew9ThirtyFive accomplished this, kudos to him. He is a part of the rare accomplished statistic but to anyone else that is looking to build their way up, this type of response isn't for them.

From my experience on fighting into to get into tough programs etc (although not medical related) EVERY "A" counts. especially if you need to build your GPA up to get into a program or become more competitive on your applications. Working a full time job (40+ hours give or take) and doing these pre-req science classes full time are going to be difficult. They will be time consuming on their own and to do well in them to come out with an A will require a lot of dedication and work.

You'd really need to ask yourself ( as I do to myself) to know how much you can handle at a time to pull out with a good A rather than to speed up the timeline on completing your pre-reqs regardless of how bad you want to get it done quick. This would definitely be rushing. Once you apply to med school, your chances with the good grades on your pre reqs from the overall GPA and your MCAT score when you apply be also be a big determinant to my knowledge.

So while doable, how well and competitive will you be rounded out to be coming out at the other end is a good question to pose

 

[esob]

The kids are the biggest time suck from studying or homework, but I'd always rather be with my wife and kids than studying.

Yeah, it's hard to say no to my 2 year old when he barges into my office wanting to play monster trucks while I'm studying some esoteric chemical reaction that I likely will never again use in my lifetime, lol.

 

[68PGunner]

Doable when I was working 70-80 hrs/wk. However, I was probably on cruise mode in those classes bc the materials were very easy for comprehension. I am def not pulling that stuff in medical school due to the level of details and understandings needed to succeed in classes.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Hi Telomi, I just joined this forum and am also in possibly pursuit of a health career although may not be the same as yours nor completely known yet. (Just a disclaimer for my 1 post count).

However, posts like Matthew9ThirthyFive are extremely rare and unrealistic. Although it is doable in some cases or others, the question you really have to ask yourself is how well will you come out on the other end with an "A" or a passing grade or whatever you will need? Working 70-80 hours a week and taking four courses every term is not realistic in many cases and this would be a RARE statistic to come out doing well on the first try for those classes with that kind of workload. If indeed Matthew9ThirtyFive accomplished this, kudos to him. He is a part of the rare accomplished statistic but to anyone else that is looking to build their way up, this type of response isn't for them.

From my experience on fighting into to get into tough programs etc (although not medical related) EVERY "A" counts. especially if you need to build your GPA up to get into a program or become more competitive on your applications. Working a full time job (40+ hours give or take) and doing these pre-req science classes full time are going to be difficult. They will be time consuming on their own and to do well in them to come out with an A will require a lot of dedication and work.

You'd really need to ask yourself ( as I do to myself) to know how much you can handle at a time to pull out with a good A rather than to speed up the timeline on completing your pre-reqs regardless of how bad you want to get it done quick. This would definitely be rushing. Once you apply to med school, your chances with the good grades on your pre reqs from the overall GPA and your MCAT score when you apply be also be a big determinant to my knowledge.

So while doable, how well and competitive will you be rounded out to be coming out at the other end is a good question to pose

I'm noticing a pattern that the people saying it's doable to take a full load while working 60+ hours are either active or former military. Might be something about being used to putting in ridiculous hours and having to perform.

 

[Dr.Tao]

3 classes while working is inadvisable.

I took 2 in-person and 1 online last summer while averaging 45 per week. All I did was work or study and I burned out by the end of the summer.

It wouldn't have been doable except for the fact that the in-person courses were physics and I had calculus.

Yes.

People also forget that working like this ages TF out of you! So if you're already past say 35 yo, you may want to give that some thought knowing you'll be working like a rabid dog in med school and beyond.