full time premed student & FT worker thinking about doing a full time program at a trade school

[jcon21]

So to make sure I dont waste anymore time than I have to, I will being doing summer courses as well as winter courses to finish my BA degree in bioscience in about two years and im also working full time as a phlebotomist. I want to make more money however and was thinking about doing a surgical tech program that will last a year. If i do the program i will switch from full time to part time at work but do you guys who are also premed students think thats a little to much to be doing. Full time college AND trade school student and part time worker?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Dreamislandcaptive]

When would you sleep? It would take extreme time management skill but it can be done.

 

[Monkey.King]

How would anyone know that but yourself? We don't know what you do throughout your day like studying or hobbies ect. Nobody here knows your limitations or what you're capable of. We don't know whether your the type to study for the first time the night before a test while persevering through a hangover and still do better than most of the class or the type to study for months and still not do better than the class average. Just an example

 

[ProspectiveKidd]

You need to ask yourself how important this is to you, and if its going to help you reach your ultimate goal of becoming a doctor. If you really want to do this, just make sure your GPA is the last thing to take a hit if you get behind in anything.

You can probably do it, I'm also full time employee/ student with multiple volunteer obligations throughout the week. You're not going to have time to do do much else. Typically I get about 5 or 6 hours of sleep. Your situation depends almost entirely on the nature/demand of this trade school program, which we have no clue about. Id assume you're not going to have a lot of homework in something like this.

Your body can only take so much until it starts to slow down and it becomes hard to focus and more difficult to perform well. Something will probably have to give. You may not be at the point where its happening yet but it will if you keep adding things. Motivation and interest can trump exhaustion only to an extent.

 

[LizzyM]

What is your goal? What do you need to achieve your goal? If your goal is medical school, your highest priorities should be a high GPA and the acquisition of the knowledge needed to score well on the MCAT followed by an excellent performance on the exam itself. What else you do and how long it takes is less important than those two things. You can't make up for a poor MCAT and a poor GPA by having 10,000 hours of patient care experience. If that were the case, every 40 year old nurse's aide would be successfully applying to medical school.

Speeding through school is like speeding down the highway. You might get to your destination much more quickly but it is also possible you may be slowed down or completely stopped by a crash. Proceeding with caution and care is best.

While grades and scores are important, there are other things you should be doing to make your application the best it can be. One of the things is having a life outside of work/medicine and a means of dealing with stressful situations and decompressing. While it isn't a priority of most med school adcoms (yet), developing good health habits including time for exercise and good sleep hygiene are important for your health.

It would help to know more about you, OP. Are you a recent HS grad, a vetern, a career changer (from what), or a college student who recently changed direction (or something else entirely)?

 

[jcon21]

What is your goal? What do you need to achieve your goal? If your goal is medical school, your highest priorities should be a high GPA and the acquisition of the knowledge needed to score well on the MCAT followed by an excellent performance on the exam itself. What else you do and how long it takes is less important than those two things. You can't make up for a poor MCAT and a poor GPA by having 10,000 hours of patient care experience. If that were the case, every 40 year old nurse's aide would be successfully applying to medical school.

Speeding through school is like speeding down the highway. You might get to your destination much more quickly but it is also possible you may be slowed down or completely stopped by a crash. Proceeding with caution and care is best.

While grades and scores are important, there are other things you should be doing to make your application the best it can be. One of the things is having a life outside of work/medicine and a means of dealing with stressful situations and decompressing. While it isn't a priority of most med school adcoms (yet), developing good health habits including time for exercise and good sleep hygiene are important for your health.

It would help to know more about you, OP. Are you a recent HS grad, a vetern, a career changer (from what), or a college student who recently changed direction (or something else entirely)?

I was wondering if this could be done without it impacting my GPA but now thinking more about it, it probably would. You made some good points and thank you for the response. BTW Im a 21 yr old junior college student.

 

[Crayola227]

sounds unnecessary and like a set up for some really bad grades