Time Management

[vpv]

Hi, I am a senior in a Canadian high school and will be attending University of Waterloo. I know that with the end of school just around the corner, everyone must be excited. I am both freaked and excited. Excited to leave and live on my own but freaked that I will flunk out of school or get below 80 (which is 3.7 in Canadian universities).

I wanted some advice from all the premedical students already in university and from those medical students lucky enough to be accepted into a medical school. I want to work hard in university but at the same time I have established absolutely no work ethic in high school. Currently I am getting in the high 80s but I know it will drop once university comes around. I get distracted by MSN, Youtube and House online. When I study in the library, I get distracted by friends..

How have you developed a work ethic which has helped you succeed in university or medical school? How do you organize and manage your time well, for those who do so?

Thank you.
- vpv

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[Future Doc1]

Hi, I am a senior in a Canadian high school and will be attending University of Waterloo. I know that with the end of school just around the corner, everyone must be excited. I am both freaked and excited. Excited to leave and live on my own but freaked that I will flunk out of school or get below 80 (which is 3.7 in Canadian universities).

I wanted some advice from all the premedical students already in university and from those medical students lucky enough to be accepted into a medical school. I want to work hard in university but at the same time I have established absolutely no work ethic in high school. Currently I am getting in the high 80s but I know it will drop once university comes around. I get distracted by MSN, Youtube and House online. When I study in the library, I get distracted by friends..

How have you developed a work ethic which has helped you succeed in university or medical school? How do you organize and manage your time well, for those who do so?

Thank you.
- vpv

I myself am not a university student, at least not yet, but I am in a very
rigorous and intense college prep high school program that supposedly has a very similar work load to that in college. It was very difficult at first but
I found a helpful way to do well in the program--I tried my best not to
procrastinate, which is very helpful. I kept current (watched news and
sometimes read news paper) and related what I heard to my studies.
I studied until I memorized the material. I went to tutoring a lot. Most
importantly, I renewed myself by having fun with friends and not just
working too hard until I dropped. Hope this helps

 

[NickNaylor]

To be honest, your work ethic has to be developed internally. I know exactly what you're talking about. In high school I got good grades, but I did zero work. I was the kind of person who studied for tests 20 minutes before and did homework when it was due. You have to realize that your performance in college actually matters. High school doesn't matter anymore. You now have a fresh start to paint your own portrait as a student.

You don't have to spend 24 hours a day working. I would argue that this is counter-productive, at least for me. You have to find a balance. If you're happy in all other aspects of your life, it will more than likely be easier to focus on school work. There are times where you have to blow off studying to keep your sanity. Unless you're superhuman, you have to give your brain a break.

So there are basically two factors to motivating: 1) realize the importance of your work; understand that one poor test grade can and will have an impact on your GPA, and 2) once you understand that importance, find the happy balance between completing your work and having a balanced life. You have to figure out what sacrifices you're willing to make for your academics. Some people accept that they can't go out and party every night and must study (this is me) while others refuse to let their social life suffer for grades. There are very, very few people who can do both, but I wouldn't count on that.

I hope this is somewhat helpful.

 

[ACGator09]

for me, college consisted of 3 parts: academics, social life, and sleep. at any time, you can only have 2 of the 3. sometimes only 1 of the 3.

moral of the story? pick wisely.

 

[NickNaylor]

for me, college consisted of 3 parts: academics, social life, and sleep. at any time, you can only have 2 of the 3. sometimes only 1 of the 3.

moral of the story? pick wisely.

 

[CoolWhipp]

1) realize the importance of your work; understand that one poor test grade can and will have an impact on your GPA

This is a great point by ColeOnTheRoll, it is one of the essential motivating factors for many pre-professional students.

 

[FuturaDocta]

Maybe once you realize that you are basically messing with your future by getting a crappy grades, then you will straighten up like some other students and start putting on your A game.

Perhaps you need motivation/humbling experience/etc.

Though, it is normal for a high schooler to not know what studying is about. So, when you enter college, I would suggest you take on some relatively easy courses so you can figure out how to study and deal with distractions.

g'luck

 

[engineeredout]

1) realize the importance of your work; understand that one poor test grade can and will have an impact on your GPA

Okay dude, kudos to you for having a 3.99 in college, but this kind of thinking is what turns premeds into little introverted neurotic messes. A poor grade on an exam is not going to get you expelled (and according to the OP, 3.7 = flunk out), it isn't going to wreck your application, it isn't going to keep you out of medical school. Social awkwardness will be a bigger determinant on that.

You can't go absolutely ape**** over every single grade. Do your work and try hard but, to paraphrase you, "Understand that one poor test grade cannot and will not have an effect on your life".

 

[CScull]

Mmm, for me it's all about strategy. In high school classes you just study for everything and try and tackle it all to make 100s because that's what matters. In college it's way better to make a 90 in every class (if that's what an A is, it's different if you're on a +/- scale) than to make 100s in 4 classes and an 89 in one. So you spread your time out accordingly, you can pick what you want to do well on and what doesn't really matter as much.

For instance in one class my professor drops a test grade, so if you've made 90's on all of your tests and you have two exams on the same day then study for the other class and don't worry about the drop grade... it's not going to effect you if you make a 20 on it anyways...

I always find if you make out a strategy and have a plan, you're more likely to get stuff done than if you're trying to cram for everything at once.

 

[tennisball80]

I lived through high school by myself. The good thing to do for me is to carry a daily planner around. If you have something to do, write it down on the planner immediately. Although the list gets long, I can still manage it to get it done.

I'd recommend you to use a daily planner and manage your schedule effectively.

Good luck.