IfOnly Posted May 30, 2014 Report Share Posted May 30, 2014 Hi, As the title suggests, I am just trying to guage from other members if studying for the mcat while working full time (40 hours/wk) is doable. I am currently taking a prep course and I TRY to get all my work done in the evenings after work. I dont write until the end of summer. I wouldnt work full time if my financial situation depicted otherwise. Any advice or tips from other members who have worked full time while studying for the mcat within 3 months would be greatly appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTJJ Posted June 5, 2014 Report Share Posted June 5, 2014 I'm a full time lawyer, married and father of two young boys and I'll be writing the MCAT at the end of summer without taking a break from any of my professional or family activities. I commute one hour to work each way, so that gives me 2 hours of MCAT reading per day. After the boys are in bed I try to do one hour for a total of 3 hours per day. Sometimes I'll do a little MCAT reading at lunch. Weekends are family time so I try not to study on Saturdays and Sundays except for maybe an hour in the morning before everyone wakes up. I did book three days of vacation before the exam for a final review. I think it will be enough, but I won't know until I sit for the exam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benhc911 Posted June 6, 2014 Report Share Posted June 6, 2014 Hi, As the title suggests, I am just trying to guage from other members if studying for the mcat while working full time (40 hours/wk) is doable. I am currently taking a prep course and I TRY to get all my work done in the evenings after work. I dont write until the end of summer. I wouldnt work full time if my financial situation depicted otherwise. Any advice or tips from other members who have worked full time while studying for the mcat within 3 months would be greatly appreciated. If you ask these sorts of questions, you are doomed to get a few answers like mine... extenuating circumstances, would not recommend... but great results. I studied for the MCAT in a little under 3 weeks while doing research full time... because the other option was to study while the research continued, but I started additional summer courses as well. I had recently taken low level bio classes, and I was in a chemical engineering undergrad so the physics part was covered well... Anyways I prepped with EK, and got 11 verbal, 14-14-T... Although the T is no longer a thing if I understand correctly. Anyways... these answers are useless... because they amount to "yes its possible" but in the end it is more dependent on you than on me. Study hard, make every moment count, and kick some standardized ass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bozo22 Posted June 6, 2014 Report Share Posted June 6, 2014 As was mentioned above, it is generally not recommended to study while working full-time or engaging in any other time-heavy commitments. But, it really depends on your unique situation and you may want to consider a few points before you start: 1. Have you taken the recommended prereqs and if so how fresh are they in your mind? 2. Is this your first time writing the MCAT? 3. Have you done a diagnostic test to see what your baseline score is? Depending on the circumstances, you may be able to perform brilliantly on the MCAT while working full-time and people have definitely done this in the past. But, if it's your first time writing, the prereqs aren't fresh and your baseline score is low, you may want to consider devoting a summer or christmas break when you have fewer commitments to really give it your best shot. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brinehog Posted June 6, 2014 Report Share Posted June 6, 2014 This is definitely doable. I studied for the MCAT while working full-time and got a 38Q (12 PS 13 BS 13 VR). I started studying mid-June and wrote the first week of August. It had been a couple of years since I took the prereq's, but they came back pretty quickly. It was a lot of work, but I didn't really have the option to not work over the summer, and I found working provided a nice break from having to study (worked outside). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daftypatty Posted June 6, 2014 Report Share Posted June 6, 2014 This is definitely doable. I studied for the MCAT while working full-time and got a 38Q (12 PS 13 BS 13 VR). I started studying mid-June and wrote the first week of August. It had been a couple of years since I took the prereq's, but they came back pretty quickly. It was a lot of work, but I didn't really have the option to not work over the summer, and I found working provided a nice break from having to study (worked outside). That's really impressive... Less than 2 months of studying while doing a full-time job? If you don't mind me asking, what was your gpa when you applied? And what type of job did you work that summer? Around how many hours did you put into studying per day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybenow Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 It was a lot of work, but I didn't really have the option to not work over the summer, and I found working provided a nice break from having to study (worked outside). Do new concepts come to you quickly? i.e. are you just very gifted? In all seriousness though, after work how many hours would you usually devote to the MCAT stuff, broken down by content review and then practice questions? Edit: oops sorry just saw the post above mine. I mimic daftypatty's response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybenow Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 2. Is this your first time writing the MCAT? 3. Have you done a diagnostic test to see what your baseline score is? To me, it seems almost useless to do the diagnostic test because I do not remember a sliver of a thing from prereqs or the contents therein. I'd get 10. Maybe 5. Do most people who take these diagnostic tests prior to studying for the MCATS do it because the material is still relatively fresh in their heads? Because otherwise, it really says nothing, besides... well besides confirming that I haven't the slightest clue of anything just yet. Does this make sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gojetsgo Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 This is definitely doable. I studied for the MCAT while working full-time and got a 38Q (12 PS 13 BS 13 VR). I started studying mid-June and wrote the first week of August. It had been a couple of years since I took the prereq's, but they came back pretty quickly. It was a lot of work, but I didn't really have the option to not work over the summer, and I found working provided a nice break from having to study (worked outside). Same situation for me. I studied eight weeks total while working full-time (plus a little PT bartending for ~50 hours/week) and scored 37Q. I was fresh out of second year (orgo, physiology) and so had a solid foundation to work with. It was an extremely self-disciplined eight weeks. No course, just a lot of self-discipline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT1 Posted June 11, 2014 Report Share Posted June 11, 2014 Hi, As the title suggests, I am just trying to guage from other members if studying for the mcat while working full time (40 hours/wk) is doable. I am currently taking a prep course and I TRY to get all my work done in the evenings after work. I dont write until the end of summer. I wouldnt work full time if my financial situation depicted otherwise. Any advice or tips from other members who have worked full time while studying for the mcat within 3 months would be greatly appreciated. 3-4 weeks before your write date cut down your hours working significantly for the last push. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybenow Posted June 12, 2014 Report Share Posted June 12, 2014 3-4 weeks before your write date cut down your hours working significantly for the last push. When you cut down your hours in those last few weeks, how much studying would or might constitute as the "last push?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narwhale Posted June 12, 2014 Report Share Posted June 12, 2014 When you cut down your hours in those last few weeks, how much studying would or might constitute as the "last push?" I know from my personal experience, the last push involves as much full-time studying as I can handle. For the last 5 months, I've been studying every morning for 2 hours on the days I work (45 hours a week), and studying 4-6 hours on my two days off. This summer I will be between work (moving to Calgary so my husband can start medical school) so I will be making studying my full-time job with 6-8 hours of studying 6 days a week until my writing date. This will include full-length tests, and intensive review of my weaknesses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IfOnly Posted June 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted June 12, 2014 This is definitely doable. I studied for the MCAT while working full-time and got a 38Q (12 PS 13 BS 13 VR). I started studying mid-June and wrote the first week of August. It had been a couple of years since I took the prereq's, but they came back pretty quickly. It was a lot of work, but I didn't really have the option to not work over the summer, and I found working provided a nice break from having to study (worked outside). WOW extremely impressive! I can only hope to emulate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maybenow Posted June 12, 2014 Report Share Posted June 12, 2014 I know from my personal experience, the last push involves as much full-time studying as I can handle. For the last 5 months, I've been studying every morning for 2 hours on the days I work (45 hours a week), and studying 4-6 hours on my two days off. This summer I will be between work (moving to Calgary so my husband can start medical school) so I will be making studying my full-time job with 6-8 hours of studying 6 days a week until my writing date. This will include full-length tests, and intensive review of my weaknesses. Oh wow. Thanks for replying! How long 'til your exam date, then? P.s. are you doing anything to manage stress? I ask because it seems you are working hard and I hear that MCAT students have to be weary of that, to not over-work, and to have a certain # of "off" days - but how many, I don't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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