Working full time with post bacc?

[Nontradlooking4advice]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hey everyone,

Has anyone here managed a full time post bacc and full time job?

I’m Nontrad and plan on starting a fully online post bacc next fall. The program has direct linkage to its medical school.

Essentially I want to get your opinion on whether or not you think it’s feasible to do the post bacc and keep my job. The job is hybrid, pays decent, is pretty dead easy and not super time consuming.

I’m older, have many bills and a mortgage. So completely discontinuing working is going to be very difficult.

My fear however, is that something is going to happen where my job affects my grades and I don’t matriculate into the linkage program. I would never forgive myself. If need be, I would quit my job when I need to.

But has anyone done this before? I know a guy that completed his first year PharmD courses while working full time in a research lab. He said it was tough, but he made it work.

This medical school is EXPENSIVE, but it’s where I want to go and the linkage program has great outcomes.

What are you thoughts? Has anyone done something similar? What should I be prepared for that I’m not already considering? Thanks!

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

Full time at both is doable if you're not doing any other extracurriculars. But, barely. And it will be the worst time of your life probably.

I worked 60h a week as a software engineer, did 8-9 credits a semester, and 10-20h of ECs per week for 3-4 years. My spouse and I did the math once; factoring in eating, sleeping, showering, and pooping time plus travel time, I had like 5-10 free hours per week to hang out with them, see friends, or have solo time. For 3-4 years. It's a lot but definitely cut back if you feel your mental health slipping.

 

[Nontradlooking4advice]

Full time at both is doable if you're not doing any other extracurriculars. But, barely. And it will be the worst time of your life probably.

I worked 60h a week as a software engineer, did 8-9 credits a semester, and 10-20h of ECs per week for 3-4 years. My spouse and I did the math once; factoring in eating, sleeping, showering, and pooping time plus travel time, I had like 5-10 free hours per week to hang out with them, see friends, or have solo time. For 3-4 years. It's a lot but definitely cut back if you feel your mental health slipping.

So my case this would be a one year online program, probably ~15 credits. I work a 40h/week 9-5, but realistically I only spend about 20-25 hours a week actually working. What do you think?

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

That doesn't sound incredibly unreasonable. Give it a shot and see what happens.

 

[Nontradlooking4advice]

That doesn't sound incredibly unreasonable. Give it a shot and see what happens.

Thank you!

 

[holdthemayo]

It will be highly dependent on the person. I worked full-time during my post-bacc, but I stretched it over two years. I needed my income and also needed to be certain that I could get straight A's.

I think some people could manage a 1 year while working full-time, and also people who couldn't manage working full-time doing what I did.

Without knowing anything else about you, it's hard to say.

More importantly, what is your plan during medical school? I had one classmate who continued to work as a nurse during medical school. She was superhuman and somehow managed to still be at the top of our class. You probably aren't superhuman. What is your plan for paying the bills during medical school?

 

[Nontradlooking4advice]

It will be highly dependent on the person. I worked full-time during my post-bacc, but I stretched it over two years. I needed my income and also needed to be certain that I could get straight A's.

I think some people could manage a 1 year while working full-time, and also people who couldn't manage working full-time doing what I did.

Without knowing anything else about you, it's hard to say.

More importantly, what is your plan during medical school? I had one classmate who continued to work as a nurse during medical school. She was superhuman and somehow managed to still be at the top of our class. You probably aren't superhuman. What is your plan for paying the bills during medical school?

I guess I could give you some background.
Currently I’m working full time in science, taking 2 upper division bio courses at a local 4 year (albeit online), and volunteering on the side and find it manageable. But I am no means superhuman.

If it means anything. I already have a masters degree in a hard science, of which I got all A’s except one B. Undergrad is weak from freshman/sophomore years, but most upper division bio courses are A’s. I was working part time during that and found it very reasonable. The SMP I’m looking at has a lot of overlap with classes I’ve taken before. So I’ll have a fair amount of prior knowledge going in.

My big thing here is I don’t know how “fair” these SMP’s are. I know they’re difficult and time consuming.. but to what degree? How much will my prior knowledge help me?

A program that’s heavy in difficult multiple choice exams is very different than one with a bunch of “fluff” assignments and time consuming projects if you know what I mean.

I would not work at all during med school. I’m just trying to offset racking up an extra $100k+ (tuition and COL) just for an SMP.

 

[hr2dr]

Can I ask where you’re doing your online post bacc at? I was looking at online post baccs but my advisor said some of the in-state med schools we’ve aligned on don’t accept online prereqs. But yours has a linkage which is promising so just looking for insight. Can dm you also to not take away from the intent of this thread. I’m in the same boat also where I cannot step away from my job. It’s fully remote so at least that helps. I start my in-person post bacc in the Jan. Good luck!

 

[nobadwaves]

I guess I could give you some background.
Currently I’m working full time in science, taking 2 upper division bio courses at a local 4 year (albeit online), and volunteering on the side and find it manageable. But I am no means superhuman.

If it means anything. I already have a masters degree in a hard science, of which I got all A’s except one B. Undergrad is weak from freshman/sophomore years, but most upper division bio courses are A’s. I was working part time during that and found it very reasonable. The SMP I’m looking at has a lot of overlap with classes I’ve taken before. So I’ll have a fair amount of prior knowledge going in.

My big thing here is I don’t know how “fair” these SMP’s are. I know they’re difficult and time consuming.. but to what degree? How much will my prior knowledge help me?

A program that’s heavy in difficult multiple choice exams is very different than one with a bunch of “fluff” assignments and time consuming projects if you know what I mean.

I would not work at all during med school. I’m just trying to offset racking up an extra $100k+ (tuition and COL) just for an SMP.

Yeah, staring down the barrel of a 1 to 2 year SMP is not appetizing.

 

[nobadwaves]

Hey everyone,

Has anyone here managed a full time post bacc and full time job?

I’m Nontrad and plan on starting a fully online post bacc next fall. The program has direct linkage to its medical school.

Essentially I want to get your opinion on whether or not you think it’s feasible to do the post bacc and keep my job. The job is hybrid, pays decent, is pretty dead easy and not super time consuming.

I’m older, have many bills and a mortgage. So completely discontinuing working is going to be very difficult.

My fear however, is that something is going to happen where my job affects my grades and I don’t matriculate into the linkage program. I would never forgive myself. If need be, I would quit my job when I need to.

But has anyone done this before? I know a guy that completed his first year PharmD courses while working full time in a research lab. He said it was tough, but he made it work.

This medical school is EXPENSIVE, but it’s where I want to go and the linkage program has great outcomes.

What are you thoughts? Has anyone done something similar? What should I be prepared for that I’m not already considering? Thanks!

Anything is possible, but not everything is reasonable. Additionally, everyone's situation is different so mileage on "advice" will vary. If you are disciplined and have the wherewithal to get online, either at work or after, and complete your coursework in an accurate and timely fashion you'll be able to do this. Assessing yourself will require a bit of honesty. IF you are this type of person, do it and do it well! IF not, maybe hold off for a year or so to reduce expenses (pay down debt, limit payments, increase income) to be able to step back a bit to focus on the academics. Conversely, see if you can take the classes at a slower pace if the coursework proves to be difficult as a returning student.