Working full time (PCP) - B.Sc part time (first year)

[Guest medicrescue9]

Ok here's my situation.

 

I am working full time as a Primary Care Paramedic in (semi-)nothern Ontario. I am heading into university this fall for my Bachelor of Biomedical Biology. I have to upgrade my math and chemistry since I didn't take my OAC's. Since I have to upgrade I can't take the "real" chemistry or math until next year. Originally I was going to just take the upgrades then start everything full time next year. Recently I decided to take the upgrades as well as 2 other classes. This ends up being 1 class by distance education and 3 in school.

 

Also since I plan on continuing working full time as long as possible I won't have any extracurricular activies (I'll still try).

 

How will this look to the admissions board for med school since the reason I don't have EC is due to my current field in medicine?

 

Also with me having to take the upgrades it spreads my classes out over 5 years instead of 4. How does that effect how I look as well? I plan on being full time next year (I'll take electives to make the 5 course load.)

 

One last question. Do they look at distance education classes any less favourably than actual lectures?

 

Thanks,

Crissy

 

P.S. I saw it had been asked in another forum. With my Paramedic diploma I recieved 18 transfer credits for university. (So no electives.)

[Guest Elaine I]

Hi Crissy,

 

You will certainly have the opportunity to discuss your experiences as a paramedic as part of your med school application. (I did.) That said, I also participated in other extra-curricular activites, not because of my med school application, but because I wanted to. I started these activities prior to deciding that I wanted to apply to med school, and don't plan on giving them up anytime soon.

 

Where do you work? How much down time do you get? Even working full time in Toronto, at a very busy station, I've still managed to squeeze in a bit of studying at work. Are you in a remote area? Do you have the opportunity to transfer to a slower station? (I chose to stay at my station, as I like being busy at work, am in a high-acuity area, and have a great partner; however, had I gone to a slower station, I probably could have got more studying done at work.) Studying at the station and on stand-bys will definately decrease your workload. Sometimes it can be hard, when your partner is surfing the web or watching TV; however, the discipline is worth it in the long run.

 

Personally, I found in-class courses easier than distance ed courses, despite scheduling issues. (My Director was extremely supportive of my return to school, and allowed me to move my shifts around to accomodate my class schedule.) I found that I absorbed information quicker in class than I did self-studying. Admissions committees don't have preferences of distance ed or in-class, and usually, you can't tell the difference from your transcripts.

 

As far as working full time and going to school full time - it is possible. For the last two years, I took 7.0 courses while working full time. As I said, I also stayed heavily involved a couple of extra curricular activities, and maintained and built friendships during that time. Sometimes I had to miss activities that I would have liked to attend; however, for the most time, I was able to do everything I wanted. Time management was key.

 

Many universities offer first year university courses for which you don't require OACs. That is, they cover the OAC material plus first year university (usually by adding an extra hour of lecture a week). That means that you don't have to spend the extra year taking non-university level courses. Does your university? That may prevent you from spending an extra year in university. Even if you have to wait until your second year to take your first year chemisty and physics, you may not have to spend an extra year in university, depending upon the sequence of upper level courses that your degree requires. (Most universities won't care that you spend an extra year to get your degree; it just will mean taking a lot more electives to maintain a full time course load.)

 

Best wishes,

Elaine

[Guest medicrescue9]

Thanks for your input Elaine, I saw you on some other posts and was hoping you would respond. I'll try and answer your questions to me as asked. (So I don't miss any)

 

Where do you work? How much down time do you get? Even working full time in Toronto, at a very busy station, I've still managed to squeeze in a bit of studying at work. Are you in a remote area? Do you have the opportunity to transfer to a slower station? (I chose to stay at my station, as I like being busy at work, am in a high-acuity area, and have a great partner; however, had I gone to a slower station, I probably could have got more studying done at work.) Studying at the station and on stand-bys will definately decrease your workload. Sometimes it can be hard, when your partner is surfing the web or watching TV; however, the discipline is worth it in the long run.

---I work in Sudbury. I don't really have the option to transfer to a slower station (not enough senority and they plain just don't let you) But I enjoy working right downtown and we get down time anyways. Sometimes not as much as I would like but it varies. I definately plan to bring as much stuff to work with me as possible.

 

Personally, I found in-class courses easier than distance ed courses, despite scheduling issues. (My Director was extremely supportive of my return to school, and allowed me to move my shifts around to accomodate my class schedule.) I found that I absorbed information quicker in class than I did self-studying. Admissions committees don't have preferences of distance ed or in-class, and usually, you can't tell the difference from your transcripts.

---Perfect. I only plan on taking a few (simple) classes by distance ed. Ie. My math upgrade, and probably first year psych (I already have psych credits from my paramedic diploma) and possibly second semester anthropology depending on how I find first semester class.

 

 

As far as working full time and going to school full time - it is possible. For the last two years, I took 7.0 courses while working full time. As I said, I also stayed heavily involved a couple of extra curricular activities, and maintained and built friendships during that time. Sometimes I had to miss activities that I would have liked to attend; however, for the most time, I was able to do everything I wanted. Time management was key.

---Wow, i'm very impressed. What kind of EC activities do they look for? I'm a CPR / First aid instructor..

 

Many universities offer first year university courses for which you don't require OACs. That is, they cover the OAC material plus first year university (usually by adding an extra hour of lecture a week). That means that you don't have to spend the extra year taking non-university level courses. Does your university? That may prevent you from spending an extra year in university. Even if you have to wait until your second year to take your first year chemisty and physics, you may not have to spend an extra year in university, depending upon the sequence of upper level courses that your degree requires. (Most universities won't care that you spend an extra year to get your degree; it just will mean taking a lot more electives to maintain a full time course load.)

--- For some reason Laurentian doesn't do this for Chemistry and Math. Passing the Math was part of the conditional acceptance and there is no other option for chemistry. I am currently looking at the classes I have to / want to take and what their prerequisites are. I might just end up having a funky schedule with doing some stuff earlier and some stuff later.

 

Thanks for all your input!

[Guest leviathan]

I can't offer much insight about working as a PCP and studying, but I can say that Elaine hit the nail on the head about time management. I have a lot on my plate lately, and on paper it looks near impossible to do, but somehow I pull it off by multi-tasking and planning out my time the best I can. I'm also a first-aid / CPR instructor during the summer, and I'll probably stick with that during my next year of studies.

[Guest medicator007]

I can attest that it is completely doable to work full time as a paramedic and complete and be rather successful in any BSc of your choosing. I did it and am now in my final year of medical school (and still working the odd shift on the rig every now and then for old times sake).

 

It really is a matter of time management as has been stated above and more importantly about sacrifice. You WILL LIKELY NOT be able to have the most florid social life while you are pulling double duty, not the complete absence thereof either, but certainly not going out on a regular basis. It is all a matter of the journey being worth the destination.

 

Good Luck,

Medicator007

[Guest medicrescue9]

Thanks Medicator007. I'm glad to hear that i'm not the trailblazer for this particular task. I went to the university today and got my next four years all planned out considering I had to move a bunch of classes.

 

Thanks again!

[Guest medicator007]

No many have come before you and myself as well. It is not all that common a switch, but not unheard of.

 

Good luck with everything and if I can be of assistance please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

All the best,

Medicator