Sissi Posted June 19, 2018 Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 Hello, I want to have advice from someone who is in medschool or heard about someone in medschool. I would like to know if it is realistic to have a job while going in first year of medical school. I got accepted and now I have to think about either keeping my job during academic year or not. It is a job where I work saturday and sunday (8 hours) on the weekend. Thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_jacob_45 Posted June 19, 2018 Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 I don't know anybody with a regular job in my class, but that sounds doable for most of the year, just not during the 1-2 weekends before an exam. Also, you'll need to put in effort to get more done on weeknights, but it sounds possible if your boss is understanding about giving you more time off on weekends before exams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambi Posted June 19, 2018 Report Share Posted June 19, 2018 It makes absolutely no sense to work during med school, not only do your earning reduce your bursary so, in effect, you are working for nothing, but your time is precious and should not be devoted to working for a few extra bucks. I come from poverty, have lived on student loans since after h.s., and never once considered it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyAndHopeful Posted June 20, 2018 Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 Would it be possible to maybe work one day instead of two? The weekdays can get very busy, especially at certain times of the year, so it's nice to be able to have some down time on the weekend and sleep in. I think it's doable, but I wouldn't necessarily recommend it for fear of taking on too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted June 20, 2018 Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 What are your reasons for keeping the job? How will this balance out against the opportunity costs of the time you could otherwise have spent on other activities? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sissi Posted June 20, 2018 Author Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 Thank you all for your answers, i really appreciate ! But I still don't know what I will do with my job haha. Maybe I will ask for one day a week instead of 2... And @Lactic Folly, the reason I want to keep this job is simply because I love it. I really enjoy working there, I have good friends and it gives me good experiences and contact with patients, doctors, etc. It doesn't feel like a job. Each day I learn something new. Also, it will ensure a money entry since I have to pay everything by myself... The reason I am thinking about quitting is because I want to devote myself entirely to my studies. I want to fully live and enjoy the medschool life and opportunities and I don't want to compromise my performance et my learning... Even if I am busy with school and work, I will still find time to volunteer, go to the gym and so on. I wanted to have your opinion on whether it's too much or if it's possible. thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted June 20, 2018 Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 Sure, you can make time for the things that are important to you, like a job you love. But it won't be possible to do everything. 16 hrs each weekend would be a very large time commitment and would almost certainly limit your ability to participate in medical school activities that may be scheduled on the weekend, as well as cut into study and gym time (unless you can study on the job). I personally did continue to volunteer in the preclerkship years of medical school, but no more than a few hours per week. For the job you describe, I would prefer a commitment of one 8 hr shift every second week if possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MountainAmoeba Posted June 20, 2018 Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 On 6/19/2018 at 12:20 PM, Bambi said: It makes absolutely no sense to work during med school, not only do your earning reduce your bursary so, in effect, you are working for nothing, but your time is precious and should not be devoted to working for a few extra bucks. I come from poverty, have lived on student loans since after h.s., and never once considered it. That seems a “bit” extreme. I work quite a lot, I love my job, and it’s nice sometimes to work at something that’s just yours. I would consider working two weekends a month, rather than one shift a weekend (that way you can have entire weekends off). Also set some boundaries, and know when you need to quit. I will be quitting in clerkship. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bambi Posted June 20, 2018 Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 34 minutes ago, MountainAmoeba said: That seems a “bit” extreme. I work quite a lot, I love my job, and it’s nice sometimes to work at something that’s just yours. I would consider working two weekends a month, rather than one shift a weekend (that way you can have entire weekends off). Also set some boundaries, and know when you need to quit. I will be quitting in clerkship. Good luck. Well, it depends upon your point of view and your particular reality. I found that I had to study hard throughout med school. I devoted one weekend day a week to my s.o. and family. All my other time was devoted to studies, so I had absolutely no time to work; however, work would have been a zero sum gain as my bursary would have reduced by whatever I would have earned, i.e., I would have been working for nothing, and I had more important priorities than working to make a few extra bucks that I would have been too busy to enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyAndHopeful Posted June 20, 2018 Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 2 hours ago, Sissi said: Thank you all for your answers, i really appreciate ! But I still don't know what I will do with my job haha. Maybe I will ask for one day a week instead of 2... And @Lactic Folly, the reason I want to keep this job is simply because I love it. I really enjoy working there, I have good friends and it gives me good experiences and contact with patients, doctors, etc. It doesn't feel like a job. Each day I learn something new. Also, it will ensure a money entry since I have to pay everything by myself... The reason I am thinking about quitting is because I want to devote myself entirely to my studies. I want to fully live and enjoy the medschool life and opportunities and I don't want to compromise my performance et my learning... Even if I am busy with school and work, I will still find time to volunteer, go to the gym and so on. I wanted to have your opinion on whether it's too much or if it's possible. thank you That's awesome! It wouldn't hurt to try it out for the first few weeks of medical school and see how it goes before you make any decisions. Best of luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GITG Posted June 20, 2018 Report Share Posted June 20, 2018 For people who mentioned bursaries, are you talking about the grant portion of OSAP or Ottawa-specific bursaries? Because if I remember correctly, you can work up to certain # of hours/week without it affecting your OSAP funding (At least that is how it was in undergrad). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donald_Duck Posted June 21, 2018 Report Share Posted June 21, 2018 I would take Bambi's advice who has a lot of experience. I won't repeat what Bambi said but spending the time to study and fully devote your time to know the material is a lot more important than getting money, let alone the fact that you need to keep time aside for mental sanity. The weekends will basically be the only time you have to breathe. It would suck to take that away. I have so much more satisfaction with myself knowing I devoted myself to studying and achieving high grades. Anyone that tells you that grades don't matter in med school I would disagree with; yes they do matter and translate to a certain degree to clinical performance. Students that achieve lower grades in pre-clerkship perform worst on national exams and residency matching, it's a known fact. As much as I loved my job too, I know that I'd be able to do more for my patients if I perform my best during pre-clerkship. That's my take on it. You can always go back to your job in the summer if you wanted to (I actually did that and recently quit because I'd rather continue reading on pathophys and doing electives on the weekend!) Also, you'll make the money you missed out on in a few weeks as a physician lol. Mr Duck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostLamb Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 On 6/21/2018 at 11:36 AM, Donald_Duck said: Students that achieve lower grades in pre-clerkship perform worst on national exams and residency matching, it's a known fact. I’m not sure where this information comes from, as I certainly haven’t heard of this “fact” and in fact I know of some med students who were excellent pre-clerks who failed to match to their higher ranked residency specialty, and several who did not match at all. @Sissi do what works best for you. Perhaps let your workplace know that you may not be able to sustain long term employment depending on how you find the workload as time goes. Personally, I echo the above statements that you have plenty to keep you occupied and you also need to maintain your sanity—these being the 2 big reasons I did not work during Med school. At the end of the day, you may be able to balance the two, or med school may suffer, and it is up to you to decide your priorities best, LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jul059 Posted June 29, 2018 Report Share Posted June 29, 2018 On 6/21/2018 at 1:36 PM, Donald_Duck said: Anyone that tells you that grades don't matter in med school I would disagree with; yes they do matter and translate to a certain degree to clinical performance. I would tend to be cautious with such assumptions. For example, it has been shown that the score on the bio section of the MCAT shows a decreasing correlation with performance in med school, whereas performance on CARS shows an increasing correlation. Now I understand this is different than grades IN med school vs. clinical performance and an argument could be made that it needs proper study, but it still basically says: "your prior knowledge of biology doesn't help you perform any better", which most people would assume is not true. Anyways, you can hear Dr. Ian Walker talk about it at around 17:10: YouTube. Very interesting stuff for all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donald_Duck Posted July 2, 2018 Report Share Posted July 2, 2018 @LostLamb from a director within the faculty. Students between 60-70 do a lot worst on national exams according to FoM statistics. To the point where they are considering identifying them early and coaching. After that threshold you may argue it’s negligeable difference. The reason why they added the requirement to have higher grades for Science Pre-reqs (above a b) is because they found an important correlation between high science pre-req grades and performance within medical school. I’m not inventing the stuff it is what it is. It dosent change that if people want to P=MD and cruise in the 60s then that’s their decision, but common sense tells me that its not the same as someone who has good studying habits and performing average of the class. Mr Duck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostLamb Posted July 2, 2018 Report Share Posted July 2, 2018 @Donald_Duck Fair enough. This may moreso be school dependent and not trend generalizable across every school given different curriculum and emphases in preclerkship training. I am not against encouraging good study habits and good grades. I’m glad the faculty is reaching out to help those who aren’t performing. In fact, I think it is the faculty's responsibility to identify and support those who are struggling. Also, P=MD isn’t part of the culture of the school I attended. I guess it’s an Ottawa/Eastern Canada thing? cheers, LL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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