Working during Postbacc

[neurosci08]

So I am attending Case's new MS in medical physiology this fall and have been debating on whether or not to get a job as well. I plan to spread out the degree over two years since I am planning to apply to medical school next summer.

If I am able to get a job at Case or the hospital on campus, 6 credits each semester would be included in my benefits (and 3 credits during the summer). So essentially I could take the core 9 credits during the first and second semester and only have to pay for 3 each semester. Plus I would be pulling an income to help with rent and those three remaining credits I am paying for out of pocket. This would save me from going into close to $50,000 into debt for the one year.

My only worry is whether or not I will have time to study and do well. Since this is a new program, there is really no one to ask if it is possible except for those of you who might have done it in other postbaccs.

If I did get a job, it would be as a research assistant. I was planning to do research anyways while at Case since I am very passionate about it and have a lot of experience already (3 years full time, 2 years during college). Plus, research is flexible and during experiments or times when there is not much going on in the lab, I could essentially study.

Does anyone have experience or advice about working and doing a postbacc? I have been going back and forth so much, any opinion would be helpful!!

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[Donchissy]

Working while in a post bac is a good idea, especially for students who are restrained on cash of some sort. if you cant provide some funds to cover essentials, you will find the program very difficult to go through, a friend of mine told me, he was always thinking of rent fees and stuff, when taking the postbac without working, and those thoughts made he not concentrate on the program itself, I must say, it will be challenging though, but know that taking postbac courses plus a parttime job, is equivalent to just full time as a medical student..in terms of rigor, so you might as well start experiencing that now...some will say working is gonna distract you, but anything really could distract \you, it just takes patience and sheered determination. Good luck.

Im a postbac student in California,
class of 2012.

 

[DrMidlife]

Saving tuition is an obvious priority, but only if you also do well in the program.

In an SMP or SMP-like program, where the whole point is to do better than the med students, it wouldn't be worth it to work if it costs you exam points.

If you're coming into the program without ever having had a straight-A heavy-science term in undergrad, for instance, then it's not likely to be a good idea to try to work, at least not at first.

If your job isn't flexible, meaning if you can't lighten your load ahead of exams & paper deadlines, that would also be a problem.

I recommend being very responsible with understanding your schedule and predicting the tricky parts. See if you can get syllabi for your classes now, and lay out an estimate based on 2-4 hours of work outside class for every 1 hour in class (whatever you think you'll need). Maybe assume you can't work the day before an exam. If your work schedule can support this, then you're good to go.

Best of luck to you.

 

[mm855752]

i was debating working in an accounting firm while doing post-bacc, but there are many problems with this, you must ask yourself certain questions:

1. How quickly do you want to finish your post-bacc?
If your trying to finish it up in a year or very condensed, it'll be very hard to fit in a full time job, let alone a part time job. Most jobs are from 9-5, and most science classes are usually in the morning with a lab after, and depending on how condensed your post-bacc is going to be, you're looking at being in at class everyday.

2. Type of job?
If its a freelance job or something that you can work from home, at your convenience, then of course you can work during post-bacc. Also you must consider how many hours you can actually dedicate to the post-bacc and work. Ive' heard for almost each class in post-bacc its about 10-20 hours a week of out of classroom study time.

3. Is your university flexible?
Does it offer science lectures and labs at night? or everything in the morning? Depending on what type of work your doing, if your working at night, can you attend all the science lectures, labs, recitation in the morning and vice versa. But now you have to question if you'll have enough time to prepare for exams and study.


Do it once, do it right, get it done with. I can easily pick up a job in an accounting firm making 50k a year while doing post-bacc, but in my scenario, i want to be top, and i know if working, i wont be able to dedicate enough time to study and focus in my science courses. To each his own! You might be excellent at juggling priorities, but these post-bacc classes are not to be taken lightly, this could be the difference of if you get into medical school, be a doctor, or not!

If you can find like a saturday/sunday job, i'm pretty sure you could handle that!

*Make sure you get a couple hours a week of volunteering as well!