Working full time + taking science courses?

[epicurious]

I'm a non-traditional applicant, working full-time for a non-profit in international health.

I've signed up for 2 courses this fall at U of Maryland - Microbio and Gen Chem. I have my pre-reqs from undergrad and I am taking courses to show academic improvement and abilities since I graduated several years ago.

I'm a bit anxious about taking 2 courses while continuing to work full-time. I have a 40+ hours / week job that also requires some overseas travel. I'll talk to the professors in advance about missing a class or two this fall due to travel.

Is this an overly ambitious schedule? I've studied for the MCAT so hope that Gen Chem and the MCAT G Chem prep overlap in material.

Any advice from others who have been in similar situations?

Thanks!

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[Compass]

40+ with overseas travel + 2 courses is pushing it, I think. You're going to be putting 6 hours of class time in and about 12 of studying. Gen Chem isn't hard, but Microbio is if it's the 300-level course I'm thinking about.

 

[epicurious]

It's the 200 level Microbiology course. Does that make it better?

I'm torn between over-extending myself and not having non-intro level science courses to show "hey, I could be great in med school"

I might just need to give up working and find a more flexible job. Tough decisions to make...

 

[recycledpaper]

40+ with overseas travel + 2 courses is pushing it, I think. You're going to be putting 6 hours of class time in and about 12 of studying. Gen Chem isn't hard, but Microbio is if it's the 300-level course I'm thinking about.

12 hours is a lot... right? im assuming you're referring to 12 hours per week of studying.

 

[daabc]

I'm a non-traditional applicant, working full-time for a non-profit in international health.

I've signed up for 2 courses this fall at U of Maryland - Microbio and Gen Chem. I have my pre-reqs from undergrad and I am taking courses to show academic improvement and abilities since I graduated several years ago.

I'm a bit anxious about taking 2 courses while continuing to work full-time. I have a 40+ hours / week job that also requires some overseas travel. I'll talk to the professors in advance about missing a class or two this fall due to travel.

Is this an overly ambitious schedule? I've studied for the MCAT so hope that Gen Chem and the MCAT G Chem prep overlap in material.

Any advice from others who have been in similar situations?

Thanks!

I am taking those exact same 2 classes too this semester.

I suggest asking the professor for the power-points for the entire year and then condensing the lecture notes to save yourself time. Spend like 30 mins to condense 1 chapter from lecture notes for review and do the h/w.

I am actually trying something new to study to see if it is more efficient for me. You can try this if you want, but this is something I spent the last few weeks developing for me, and everyone learn differently.....

To Start
1. (10 minutes) read the lecture notes, don't worry about memorizing
2. (1 or more hours) Do ALL the h/w using the lecture notes as guide.

Your actually trying to figure out what is important.

Condense notes.
1. (15 minutes) Write questions to condense the chapter. Basically write a short question that requires knowledge of as much info as possible. Reading the slides and doing the h/w helps.

Use examples and h/w to illustrate rules instead of writing them
example
sig figs: instead of memorizing the rules for sig fig, just use problems that illustrate the rule.

Review (daily or whenever)
1. practice answering the questions and h/w until I don't need to look at the slides.

If I can answer the questions I wrote, it means I know the lecture notes. Doing the h/w means I am applying this knowledge. I make sure to note the logic in the h/w, so I am not just memorizing it.

So when it is time for midterms/finals. I am studying from a short list of questions vs. lecture notes/text book.

The labs on the other hand requires a lot of outside work if your not use to doing calculations and reports. My microbio also requires memorizing a lot of organisms so I am assuming yours will too. At the moment I am thinking of grouping them base on class and characteristics base on what is introduced so far. I will need to look into that later.

 

[mzblue]

Unless you don't want to have a life, then i say go ahead. Even then, it's possible to have a little bit of a life. The thing with taking science classes with labs is that you spend 3 hrs in lecture and at least 3 hours in lab. i know my ochem lab was 6hrs a week plus 3 hrs of lecture. Gen chem is about 3 hr lab, 3 hr lecture. micro bio is about the same. Also factor in the time for doing lab write-ups , research papers and what-nots. How many hours are you willing to devote to studying? how long does it take you to commute to the college? I took ochem, biochem and physics 2. i've had to take 3 sciences with lab along with volunteering and working full time and i'll tell you it's difficult. i couldn't even go out of state to visit family and friends because there was so much work to do.

All i'm saying is that 2 science classes is ok. heck i did 3. But it's very time consuming. If you want to break it down and take just one, that's fine but know that it'll take you longer to complete everything. I decided to suck it up and complete everything including taking an upper level course in a year. Crazy, yes. But at least i'm done.
This semester, all i'm doing is taking a research class and doing this research program at the NIH along with working full time. Nice break from having to have school daily since last summer.
All in all, i think 2 classes should be ok. You're not pushing it, yet, you're not going at a slow pace. Best wishes.

 

[BeachBlondie]

I'm currently interviewing for full-time research positions (just had 3) and am taking two courses this semester.

My opinion is that if you want ANYTHING badly enough you can make things work. You just have to be incredibly diligent with your time management. But, if you're motivated and open with your professors about the obligations of your schedules, you'll be fine.

I recently spoke with an alumni from my program who had worked 70+ hours/week while going through the academic rigors. I wanted his insight as I determined whether or not I COULD work. He said it very succinctly when he told me that it would, indeed, be easier to just take the classes and not risk getting anything less than A's. But, if you can hold down a full-time schedule AND get A's, you will be a standout among the sea of applicants.

Go get 'em, tiger!

 

[lmesina]

My opinion is that if you want ANYTHING badly enough you can make things work. You just have to be incredibly diligent with your time management.

I both agree and am inspired. I recently just graduated B.S. biochem with a sub-par GPA. I also just started an EMT course and am hoping to work 2 jobs that amount to maybe 40+ hours a week, all while taking additional upper-div science electives through my school's extension.

I realized that I actually get A's when I put my time and effort into doing well. Hopefully, I can time manage well enough to study enough and do well.
Good luck time-managing and kicking gpa butt!

 

[Lefty Doodle]

I think you really need to just look at what works best for you personally. I'm only at the beginning of my post-bac (I did 4 courses over the summer) but I have already noted the wide range of abilities and self-discipline of my classmates. Everybody is different. I personally am taking four courses per semester (3 lab sciences and Spanish), doing some freelance translating work and that's it. I could do more but I am keeping my eye on the long-term goal. If I screw up my grades, I can't go back and re-do the courses. Same with the MCAT. So I'm taking it one step at a time and making sure I hit every step right. If you know you can do well and want to do this, then do it. I just wasn't so sure loading up would work for me--I probably wouldn't be getting much out of that short-term OR long-term.