Working part time while in Med School

[doctorold]

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I have 2 kids and another on the way. My wife is a stay at home Mom. If I get in, can I work part time while I'm in Med School? Is this realistic? If it's not, what to do if you are the breadwinner for the family? Loans will be enough?

 

[QofQuimica]

I have 2 kids and another on the way. My wife is a stay at home Mom. If I get in, can I work part time while I'm in Med School? Is this realistic? If it's not, what to do if you are the breadwinner for the family? Loans will be enough?

No, it's not likely that you can work while you're in medical school; most people don't. For sure don't try to work during your first semester until you get through your first few exams and can see how much time you need to do well in your courses. Yes, the loans should be enough to cover basic living expenses. If you need more money above and beyond what you can borrow from the government, you will likely need to take out private loans. So make sure you're as credit worthy as possible before you go to apply.

 

[wholeheartedly]

There are a couple threads on this, I think one was in the medical school forum. I think the consensus was that it is possible, but generally not a good idea for most people and that if you do attempt it, you should wait until you've been in med school for a few months and have a good idea what the workload is and how much time you'll need to spend studying and to pick something that allows some flexibility.

I think it also depends on your options and cost/benefit ratio. ie. working 10 hrs a week for 10 bux an hour is not likely to be worth the time sacrifice and you're probably better of studying/working to get a good residency. However, for some people who have the ability to make 30-40 bux an hour, working 10 hrs a week would be great. I just went to a non-trad med school info session by a local program and one guy worked 2 X 12 hr shifts a month as a clinical lab scientist. I'd guess he's at about 25-30 bux an hour for that. I've seen a few previous nurses, NP's, PA's that still pick up shifts.

 

[Dartmouth2005]

I have 2 kids and another on the way. My wife is a stay at home Mom. If I get in, can I work part time while I'm in Med School? Is this realistic? If it's not, what to do if you are the breadwinner for the family? Loans will be enough?

It would be hard but is possible if you can find the right job and only work a few hours tops. It is likely not possible. You have no idea much time you will have to spend learning the various fossa of the scapula or what nerves innervate the trapezius or what antibiotics cannot be given to a pregnant woman.

 

[Dartmouth2005]

There are a couple threads on this, I think one was in the medical school forum. I think the consensus was that it is possible, but generally not a good idea for most people and that if you do attempt it, you should wait until you've been in med school for a few months and have a good idea what the workload is and how much time you'll need to spend studying and to pick something that allows some flexibility.

I think it also depends on your options and cost/benefit ratio. ie. working 10 hrs a week for 10 bux an hour is not likely to be worth the time sacrifice and you're probably better of studying/working to get a good residency. However, for some people who have the ability to make 30-40 bux an hour, working 10 hrs a week would be great. I just went to a non-trad med school info session by a local program and one guy worked 2 X 12 hr shifts a month as a clinical lab scientist. I'd guess he's at about 25-30 bux an hour for that. I've seen a few previous nurses, NP's, PA's that still pick up shifts.

I have a jd and do this every couple of weeks. I also collect unemployment during down times.

 

[theseeker4]

I have 2 kids and another on the way. My wife is a stay at home Mom. If I get in, can I work part time while I'm in Med School? Is this realistic? If it's not, what to do if you are the breadwinner for the family? Loans will be enough?

It is not realistic to expect to be able to work while in med school. As a year one, med school is a full time job as it is, so if I tried to work enough to actually provide a meaningful income, I would never see my wife and son at all. The time commitment only goes up after this year. There are those who are able to do it, but you need to get in and find out if it is realistic FOR YOU before you enter med school planning to work.

You will need to find out whether you can live on the budget set by schools for their cost of attendance. Schools will usually have this published on their web pages. If you cannot live on the amount available in federal loans (which is limited to the cost of attendance with a few narrow situations that allow increasing this amount) you need to assess what you need to change. Your wife might have to work, even if it is simply providing in-home day care to other children in addition to taking care of yours. You might pursue private loans, though those are a very, very last resort and may not even be available beyond the cost of attendance (I am not aware of the rules for private loans). If nothing else works, you would be better off abandoning/delaying pursuit of med school until you ARE able to live on the loans available, either by saving enough or when your children are old enough for your wife to get a full time job.

Unfortunately for non-trads, schools plan for their students to live like college students, not like established, family-supporting breadwinners, and the loan amounts available reflect this. I take out the maximum COA in federal loans, plus the increase available for child care expenses (we have one child), and my wife works. There would be no way for me to do this if she didn't.

 

[theseeker4]

I have a jd and do this every couple of weeks. I also collect unemployment during down times.

😱 You can seriously collect unemployment as a student if you are between terms/semesters/school years?

 

[SeekerOfTheTree]

My friend worked one shift as an EMT every weekend. Medical School is not that hard. I had crazy amounts of free time the first two years. I did some consulting here and there. It's a fun challenge to see how far you can push yourself.

 

[Law2Doc]

I have 2 kids and another on the way. My wife is a stay at home Mom. If I get in, can I work part time while I'm in Med School? Is this realistic? If it's not, what to do if you are the breadwinner for the family? Loans will be enough?

As everyone else has suggested, it's simply not realistic to hold any semblance of a job while in med school. Most people feel like they are barely prepared for tests as is. It's not like college. Borrow.

 

[Dartmouth2005]

😱 You can seriously collect unemployment as a student if you are between terms/semesters/school years?

Under my state law, yes. They are aware that I am in med school and ruled that I could.

 

[theseeker4]

Under my state law, yes. They are aware that I am in med school and ruled that I could.

Wow, I wonder what Michigan's laws are....

 

[LingoLaine]

No way.

 

[2008orbust]

As the consensus above states, working during medical school is not the best idea. However, it is occasionally necessary and as Wholeheartedly stated, there is a numbers game involved.

I worked all the way through medical school and was able to keep my grades up and match in my desired field. There is no way a minimum wage job would have been worth it at all. I worked as a nurse practitioner up to two days a week all four years because casual work as an NP pays very well.

Some schools say they do not allow it. My school said they "don't want students to work" and that we weren't really supposed to. They never said "You cannot hold any job during medical school", but if your grades started to slip, the very first question they asked you was if you were working. If you got to that point, you were told to quit your job or else you would be required to spread your classes out and take five or more years to graduate. I don't know a single non-trad that wants to add yet another year to the process.

So.... as someone who lived it, I do not recommend working through medical school, but am living proof it can be done if you are out of options.

 

[Dartmouth2005]

Wow, I wonder what Michigan's laws are....

I collected Michigan unemployment while I was doing some post bacc work in Ann Arbor.

 

[wholeheartedly]

I'm working almost full-time and going to graduate school pretty much full-time with a big commute and quite frankly I'm looking forward to just having school be my job. 😛

 

[sk7]

I have 2 kids and another on the way. My wife is a stay at home Mom. If I get in, can I work part time while I'm in Med School? Is this realistic? If it's not, what to do if you are the breadwinner for the family? Loans will be enough?

I think it depends on the school. At my school, we had to sign a contract stating that we would not work while in school. You might have to get private loans in addition to the federal ones to allow your family to be a bit more comfortable. I would say contact the financial aid offices of schools you're interested in and ask them about the options available.