Time for hobbies during Medical School?

[Chojo]

Hey guys!

 

Just wanted to get an idea of how much spare time you guys find yourselves with during med school?

 

I ask this because I'm a musician that maintains a pretty serious Youtube channel, and I was wondering if it would be reasonable to continue pursuing this on the side if I am eventually successful in entering med school.

[hking03]

Hey guys!

 

Just wanted to get an idea of how much spare time you guys find yourselves with during med school?

 

I ask this because I'm a musician that maintains a pretty serious Youtube channel, and I was wondering if it would be reasonable to continue pursuing this on the side if I am eventually successful in entering med school.

 

I'm not in med school so my comments aren't based on anything beyond my own logic and understanding.

 

I think you'll be able to maintain it... maybe not to the same degree, but if you plan it out and make time for your music/channel then you'll be able to do it. That is until clerkship... then... maybe not.

 

Med school is about balance... I think we'll have time to do stuff we want to do, but priority number one should be med school. I plan on going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, playing sports, having a social life and studying my ass off. I'll figure out a way to make it work, but I'm not expecting to go out every weekend or playing varsity (even though I want to). So, if you put the time in, make it important and prioritize... you should be able to do it. If you did it in undergrad, then you will figure out a way to keep it going in med school.

 

Good luck- also, if you feel so inclined, hook us up with your youtube channel.

[Chojo]

I'm not in med school so my comments aren't based on anything beyond my own logic and understanding.

 

I think you'll be able to maintain it... maybe not to the same degree, but if you plan it out and make time for your music/channel then you'll be able to do it. That is until clerkship... then... maybe not.

 

Med school is about balance... I think we'll have time to do stuff we want to do, but priority number one should be med school. I plan on going to the gym 3 or 4 times a week, playing sports, having a social life and studying my ass off. I'll figure out a way to make it work, but I'm not expecting to go out every weekend or playing varsity (even though I want to). So, if you put the time in, make it important and prioritize... you should be able to do it. If you did it in undergrad, then you will figure out a way to keep it going in med school.

 

Good luck- also, if you feel so inclined, hook us up with your youtube channel.

 

Thanks for the reply Yup, I hope it's just a matter of brushing up my time management skills!

 

Here's a video from my channel, if you are actually interested This is a song I wrote together with my friend that we also self-directed. It's a pretty happy and cheesy song so don't worry, I won't take any offense if it's not your cup of tea X)

 

 

I do all kinds of music though, but I only have about 15 or 16 videos up. My channel also isn't anything special yet, just 11,000 subs, but I'm hoping to work myself up the ranks eventually!

[Guest copacetic]

i have a ton of time, sure im busy, but the thing is we do everything in blocks meaning that we have exams every 3 months or so. so for half the block its straight chilling. if you're worried about time, choose a curriculum that has alot of independent self directed learning.

[hking03]

Thanks for the reply Yup, I hope it's just a matter of brushing up my time management skills!

 

Here's a video from my channel, if you are actually interested This is a song I wrote together with my friend that we also self-directed. It's a pretty happy and cheesy song so don't worry, I won't take any offense if it's not your cup of tea X)

 

 

I do all kinds of music though, but I only have about 15 or 16 videos up. My channel also isn't anything special yet, just 11,000 subs, but I'm hoping to work myself up the ranks eventually!

 

it was a cute video. the music/beat makes me think of michael buble's latest album. good stuff.

[kkentm]

get a haircut

[Chojo]

it was a cute video. the music/beat makes me think of michael buble's latest album. good stuff.

 

Haha thanks! My friend actually got quite lucky, she got signed by Universal Music Group just a few months ago.

 

get a haircut

 

LOL! You get a haircut!

 

In all seriousness though, I'm definitely getting a super short haircut if I'm invited for any interviews

[deeman101]

Of course theres time to do other things. Well I mean you could just strap yourself to the books day and night to get that 99.99% average on a pass/fail cirriculum. But most people don't do that. Really I feel the first couple of years of med you'll have time to do things that a busy UG might not allow you to do.

 

This all ends on clerkship. Especially surgical rotations. But IMO thats when med school gets really fun. You get to do doctor things, instead of lectures/labs/exams endlessly.

[Jochi1543]

You'll be fine in pre-clerkship, for sure, although I can't speak for clerkship - it really depends on the rotation. Family med and psych are usually very student-friendly, but even there you could end up working 80 hrs a week depending on the site and your preceptor. Several people in our class played varsity sports throughout preclerkship, and several students are in a locally successful band that probably plays several dozen gigs a year. And of course, everyone is involved in SOME sort of ECs.

[medguy5367]

Dumb question:

 

What is the difference between clerkship and residency??

[hking03]

Dumb question:

 

What is the difference between clerkship and residency??

 

Clerkship takes place in years 3 and 4 (unless you go to a 3 year school) and exposes you to various specialties. It's part of the curriculum and helps med students make a decision on what they want to do for residency.

 

Residency is the length of time after med school that you further develop your medical knowledge and exposure to various cases... I believe you still rotate through different specialities, but the focus is on the specialty you have chosen or been matched to. This can be anywhere from two-five years followed by fellowships that can take you another few years. You get paid during this period of time, but it is a reduced rate and goes up different amounts annually depending upon your province of training.

 

After residency you become an attending... then all the residents want to sleep with you... or at least that's how it goes on grey's anatomy.

 

I'm sure someone with actual experience will clarify, but that's the basic premise behind the different stages (at least how I understand it).

[EoE]

After residency you become an attending... then all the residents want to sleep with you... or at least that's how it goes on grey's anatomy.

 

Bam! I love it.

 

From what I see of the med students at my Ontario school, they do not seem stressed out at all preclerkship. They sure aren't stressed out when I am TAing them (as long as their Blackberries/iPhones still get reception in the lab!).

 

When I didn't get into medicine after undergrad, I told a friend who was in clerkship that at least doing grad school would be easier... She looked at me sideways and told me that with a health sci background preclerkship meds can't be harder than grad school. This probably means there is lots of time for hobbies. That is what she said. I haven't started anything yet so I don't know for sure.

[deeman101]

I've been told that clerkship can actually be rougher than residency (depending on the specialty of course). I haven't met a resident yet that looks like they work 50+hrs a week. And if nothings happening you get to sleep while on-call.

[Lactic Folly]

If clerkship in a particular specialty is tough, you can usually bet that the residency in that specialty is rougher.

[Jochi1543]

I've been told that clerkship can actually be rougher than residency (depending on the specialty of course). I haven't met a resident yet that looks like they work 50+hrs a week. And if nothings happening you get to sleep while on-call.

 

I shadowed a resident throughout first year. He said 3rd year was the absolute worst. His reasoning was that not only did he have to work 80-100 hours/week - same as residency - but he actually had to come home and study after. In residency, he was still very busy at work, but once he left the hospital, he was free. So while you are right that clerkship might be rougher, I certainly wouldn't say residency will be <50 hrs a week! Maybe on some rotations you could get away with 50-60 hours, but not on most.

[Ian Wong]

Third year med school is rough because you are at the absolute bottom of the totem pole, yet are still expected to perform since your third year evaluations, and more importantly, the resultant letters of reference can be critical for matching.

 

Hours are usually also demanding, particularly on surgery and CTU, and considering you are paying tuition which is greater than any stipend you receive, it's easy to get jaded that you are actively paying money to be stressed out and working 80+ hours.

 

This is counter-balanced by the thrill of actually doing clinical medicine, particularly after two years of predominantly basic sciences.

 

Residency is tough because the level of responsibility increases dramatically. Hours are still bad; the hours for a resident on a given service should correspond pretty closely to a medical student hours. You are making at least some money (although it sure doesn't feel like much on a per hour basis), and hopefully the majority of your residency is spent in an area of medicine that you actively enjoy, unlike third year, where you rotate through everything (ie. Peds, Psych, OB/GYN, CTU, surgery, etc).

 

Third year med school was both simultaneously the best and worst year of medical school for me. I would do any year of radiology residency over repeating third year med school, except for PGY-5 year, which was horrific because of studying for Canadian and US boards.

 

Ian

[Renin]

I think it's important to try to keep positive in year 3. We all know that I'm terrible at it; but knowing that I'm the "junior doctor who is happy all the time" to the patients does help me even through CTU.

 

Although CTU makes me want to gauge my eyes out. NO. I do not know the criteria of this weird disease. I have worked 30 hours. Let me go sleep. sleep. sleep. sleep. zzz. Luckily, my residents are ++++nice. Having a nice team to work with makes all the difference!

[Lactic Folly]

His reasoning was that not only did he have to work 80-100 hours/week - same as residency - but he actually had to come home and study after. In residency, he was still very busy at work, but once he left the hospital, he was free.

Except for things like board exams (and research projects, journal clubs, and rounds presentations which students are also involved in). Yes, if you're off-service (i.e. doing a rotation not in your home department), your time away from the hospital is your own, but I would think that every program expects their residents to be studying and building their knowledge base throughout the course of their residency, and assesses them both informally and formally on a regular basis. I agree that clerkship is uniquely stressful because of the perceived importance of evaluations for CaRMS.

[peachy]

If clerkship in a particular specialty is tough, you can usually bet that the residency in that specialty is rougher.

My PGY1 year was way, way, WAY easier than clerkship. Yeah, I read, but about things I care about and want to know about. Not having an exam every six weeks is really awesome.

[lostintime]

I have no idea who you guys think PGY is easier than clerkship. All the residents I know work way harder than clerks....sounds like clerk abuse haha... j/k

 

I think there is a lot more responsibility as well as a PGY whereas clerks always answer to someone else and it's never really our fault if things go wrong (unless you lie or do something REALLYYYYYYYY bad).

 

And the hours aren't THAT bad. For every bad rotation you have, you have a nice rotation to balance it out.

[Lactic Folly]

Maybe they're referring to junior residents on off-service rotations - in many ways like an experienced clerk except with order signing ability and no exams. I agree that my PGY-1 year was relatively carefree for this reason.

 

However, when I said residency would be tougher than clerkship, I meant completing a residency in that field of study. If you thought staying up all night doing admissions as a clerk on internal medicine was tough, try being the senior medical resident who is responsible for the entire team. If you thought six weeks of general surgery clerkship was painful, try 5 years of general surgery residency.

[peachy]

If you thought six weeks of general surgery clerkship was painful, try 5 years of general surgery residency.

Presumably, though, if you thought your gen surg clerkship was that painful, you wouldn`t have chosen it as a career? I don`t really mind being up all night on call for my chosen specialty, because I enjoy it... Then again, I have an unusually easy residency.

[Lactic Folly]

. . . my original post was in response to deeman, who opined that residents looked well-rested and clerkship could be tougher. Hope that helps put it into context.

[tigars53]

Hey guys!

 

Just wanted to get an idea of how much spare time you guys find yourselves with during med school?

 

I actually found myself spending much more time for hobbies than I did for college or undergrad. Since my program is pretty much all self-learning, I kinda make my own schedule for study, and that helps a lot when you can do the activities you want to do at the time you want to do them.

Since the beggining of med school, I started rock climbing, playing hockey with friends and weight training, and my grades are still always in the A-B range (sadly, med schools in Quebec do not use Pass/Fail gradation...)

Also, in order to maintain your mental health during med school studies, which are obviously pretty intense, you NEED to spend time doing the things you love.

[youngdad]

I actually found myself spending much more time for hobbies than I did for college or undergrad. Since my program is pretty much all self-learning, I kinda make my own schedule for study, and that helps a lot when you can do the activities you want to do at the time you want to do them.

Since the beggining of med school, I started rock climbing, playing hockey with friends and weight training, and my grades are still always in the A-B range (sadly, med schools in Quebec do not use Pass/Fail gradation...)

Also, in order to maintain your mental health during med school studies, which are obviously pretty intense, you NEED to spend time doing the things you love.

 

Agreed. I am at UBC. I was way busier in my undergrad. And I have 2 kids in med school. I do well enough and still have lots of time for my family and time for myself. I treat each day at school like a work day. I try to stay 8-4 9-5 every day and get everything I can out of the day. I go home and eat dinner, put the kids to bed and study 0-2 hours depending on how difficult the concepts are that week. If I don't study I just waste a couple of hours and unwind. In bed by 10-11. Over the weekend I will do another couple of hours of study. The rest of the weekend is family stuff, church, golf, whatever I want.

Then about 3 weeks before exams I go into what I call "bunker mode."

Works for me.