not enough time

[Guest reahg]

O.k so I know what I need to do to enhance my chances of getting into medschool. Travel, volunteer, research, stellar gpa ( full courseloads!), super MCAT. My question is, how does anyone find the time to do all that?? esp. w/ a full 5 courses per semester???!! I would LOVE to hear how people have been managing this!

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hey there reahg,

 

That's why it's so important to do things that you really dig. If you love and have fun with the activities, you'll simply want to make time for them. If they're a drudgery then time to do any one of them will probably be usurped by doing laundry, cleaning the toilet...

 

Enjoying what you do applies to everything: the traveling, the volunteering, and taking individual courses. Especially if you have a packed schedule, make sure that it's filled with activities you like. You'll enjoy your really jam-packed days more, and should come out at the end a lot happier than if you chose things just for the enhancement of your meds applications.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest Carolyn]

Of course my suggestions won't work for everyone but it definitely worked for me.

 

When I went back to school full-time, I wanted to keep my part-time job, continue training competitively in the sport I was involved in and volunteer in a couple of different areas... I thought I was nuts to try to do it all but in the end I did...

 

1) I woke up at 6 am every day except Sat and Sun (and rarely slept past 8) ... whether I had a class at 8:30 or not... I got to school by 7 am and studied until my first class which usually meant at least 3 hours straight studying when my mind was fresh... I also studied probably another hour or two in the middle of the day between classes... It ended up being a rare for me to have to study in the evenings... This started in September - not just during midterms etc...

 

2) I made sure I got at least 6 hours sleep a night... It definitely helped me cope through the busy days.

 

3) Exercise... Training helped me deal with the stresses of getting into medical school. It was also nice to concentrate on something totally different.

 

4) Schedule in Fun time... I went out at least one night a week with friends and let off steam.

 

5) Finally - What Kirsteen said is so true... make sure you really enjoy what you're doing and you'll find a way to fit it all in...

 

I did that for two years while applying for medical school - in the end it all worked out... It is definitely doable and can be quite fun

[Guest Kirsteen]

Thanks for your post, Carolyn--some of it strikes a very familiar chord. It's great to hear how other folk go about all this stuff, and read some snippets of some great lives in action. Can I ask, how do you find your pre-meds schedule compares to medical school life? Similar, more intense, less...?

 

I don't know if many out there are in the same boat as myself, but just in case you're contemplating it, this may be of use... For the past number of years, I've been juggling a full-time (9-5) job at a high-tech firm with a full university courseload. I completed a 3-year B.Sc., an MBA, and am now upgrading to a 4-year B.Sc. in this fashion. I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but it can be done. Whoo baby, your Filofax/Palm Pilot becomes your Siamese twin, but at the end of it, although you feel that you may be prematurely balding due to the odd stint of hair-pulling during the more challenging periods, it can be incredibly rewarding.

 

Similar to Carolyn's pre-med experience, days typically begin at the crack of dawn with getting me and my venti latte to work by 7am. Sometimes this time is used to transcribe notes, or to study for upcoming tests, but it's also used for responding to presonal e-mails, participating in discussion groups (ahem!). "Work" work begins at 9 when most of the other folk appear.

 

Non-class evenings and weekends represent a great time to do all the other things that are necessary to fulfill some of life's wants. For example, sports are big: like Carolyn, training and competing is important. A squash freak, I enjoy getting out to regional tourneys as well as the requisite varsity meets. (By the way, if anyone is into squash and a UT student, come try out for the team!) Being captain of the varsity team also requires a few hours per week off-line organizing team activities and pulling team-related things together, including our jaunts to the pub for some lagers n' lime after our weekly league matches.

 

Regarding other activities, on volunteering, I spent a long time searching out a great position and gladly spend one night or Saturday morning per week counseling there. Being a major gastronome (the true reason I play so much squash!) I also enjoy getting out or cooking a good meal or three with pals. Then there's a weekly need to drop by the local magazine store for the requisite bedtime brain candy, (very important for winding down).

 

With respect to the question of research: not everyone likes it, and nor is it requisite to becoming a good medical school applicant and medical student. However, if interested, you may be able to give it a go by talking to your profs. See what sorts of things they are working on and again, see if anything they're doing excites you. If what they're doing doesn't, you may be better to move on than to spend your pre-lab time dreading the time you will soon spend in the lab. In any case, some universities offer excellent research opportunities via second, third or fourth year research courses. Those can be excellent vehicles for exposure to the world of research.

 

On the travel front, go to places you dream of or if you feel more constrained by time or finances, somewhere closer that you would simply love to visit, if you can. These travel experiences need not be medically related to be wonderful experiences that will aid you as a person and future doctor; every experience in another culture is so valuable. Not only does travel furnish you with the opportunity to understand other backgrounds and viewpoints, but it also provides a great chance to pick up naughty, ice-breaking phrases in other tongues! I often try to maximize my relatively small amount of vacation time to get out to all sorts of corners of the globe. For example, last winter, during my office's 8-day holiday shutdown, I managed to tack a few days on either end and spent the time biking and hiking in Rajasthan. How awesome to meet so many amazing people and camels ("oot" in Hindi) and then get stuck behind elephants plodding the streets of Jaipur (not a good place to be!). Not only are travel experiences great in themselves, but also they offer a little escapism from the realities of med school application frets, etc.

 

Overall, sure, time can feel constrained when you're busy with lots of activities. However, no matter what you do with all that time, the fact remains that it is still going to pass. Therefore, you can watch it tick by, or you can fill it to the brim with activities that you really enjoy and which can expand your life experience and benefit you and those around you. And hey, if all of that just happens to make you all the better of a person, and coincidentally, all the better a medical school applicant and doctor, then fab!

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest reahg]

geeze Kristen thanks for the wicked reply! lots of good advice in there. Inspiring too!

 

cheers!