I have just joined the site, however have been reading through for several weeks. I couldn’t help but notice that a few of you work and go to school. When making my decision to follow this lifelong dream of mine at my age I spoke with several people who were already pre-med and they suggested making school my full-time job and to get loans if I needed money to live on rather than working, so I wouldn’t have any distractions and could more easily maintain a high GPA. This is what I was planning on doing when I start classes this summer, what are some of your opinions on this matter?
Welcome to oldpremeds, JCE. Probably a common response you’ll get around here is, do what works best for you. If that means focusing full time on your courses and living on loans, great.
But if you are uncomfortable with accumulating debt this early in the process, and you don’t feel a need to rush, you can take courses at a leisurely pace and continue working full or part time. Probably the majority fit into the latter category.
There’s no particular advantage to rushing, even though we all would like to get through this as quickly as possible. I suggest you do what’s best for your education, and not feel pressured into completing your prerequisites in 12 or 15 months. Some people manage to do that, but for many others it makes more sense to stretch it out and nail those grades in a methodical manner.
Best of luck,
Do what you’re comfortable with. The ideal situation is to mimic the path of a traditional premed student. If you choose not to because of family or whatever then you do what you can. However fulltime doesn’t equate to better GPA. Study, study, study…whether full or part time is the way.
hi and welcome, I agree with rest, there is no rush no real timeline just go at what you are comfortable with and kick butt with grades!
Good luck
I’m going to school full time and working part time and mostly living off of savings. I’m glad that I have the opportunity to go to school full time, because I think it’s the best way for me to express my dedication.
IMHO, do what makes you happy, and what will allow you to excel - loans, working, or whatever that may be.
Thank you all for the kind welcome!! I am sure this will be a place for me to give and receive a lot of support in the future, so I am glad to be a part of the “family”. I appreciate all of your responses and I agree that I’ll just do what’s best for me personally, I guess that’s really what we’re all trying to do. I feel much better about my decision now. Thank you.
I worked full time and went to school part time, taking no more than two classes (and ONE lab) at a time, and I’m in med school right now. It’s doable if you polish up the rest of your application.
I worked part time and went to school part time. This is a good compromise, just takes slightly longer; especially good if, as in my case, you can do a health- or research-related job that will also help you with med school admissions.
j