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How can I work while being in Medical School?
I am concerned about the financial burdens while still being in school, and while debt can't be avoided for me, I need to know if it is plausible to work while at medical school.
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Karissa’s Answer
It is not possible to work in medical school. In fact most school have you sign an agreement that you will not work. You may have summer off in between your 1st and 2nd year. You could get a job then. Student loans will cover the cost of living alone in a studio apartment or living with roommates. Learn to live on a very low budget now and you will be fine.
Thank you, Karissa!
Grace
Updated
zhen’s Answer
Echoing Karissa's point, balancing a conventional job could pose a challenge due to time constraints, even in the absence of a binding agreement. However, you could explore unconventional avenues for income. The current digital era offers numerous opportunities for earning, such as social media and online commerce.
Consider producing informative content or guides to assist others on a similar path, using platforms like YouTube. Make sure to jot down comprehensive notes and compile study guides, which you can offer for sale on various online marketplaces. The advantage of these income sources is their potential for continuous revenue generation, as you only need to create them once, and they can keep yielding profits into the future.
Consider producing informative content or guides to assist others on a similar path, using platforms like YouTube. Make sure to jot down comprehensive notes and compile study guides, which you can offer for sale on various online marketplaces. The advantage of these income sources is their potential for continuous revenue generation, as you only need to create them once, and they can keep yielding profits into the future.
Updated
Owen’s Answer
I worked part time while in law school. We were not allowed to work in our first year such that we could focus on our studies. But in my second and third years I took a job to put some spending money in my pocket. With a job, you may not need to take out more loans to live off of, and that will allow you to pay off all your debt sooner, which, in turn, allows you to save more for retirement. Saving more for retirement over a much longer time horizon will exponentially increase your nest egg and provide more for you to live off of during your retirement years.
Saving!
Company match where applicable.
Find a job that you may be able to study at (store clerk, etc.).
Owen recommends the following next steps:
Updated
Alyssa’s Answer
Karen, you can't really work much...I know I could not have worked and still passed, at the med school that I attended. But I know that at some other schools students do side gig type things (b/c I have read internet posts about it). If you are going to attend UC Davis I would not freak out about it...they will help you. You can plausibly do things like house sitting, dog sitting or baby sitting during school vacations or weekends, particularly in your 1st couple of years of school, but you can't plausibly have a "real job". I think we will see the continuation of student loan forgiveness programs in the near future, so there will be things such as if you pay for 10-20 years on your loans, the rest will be "forgiven"...I don't see this going away soon and this is the trend in recent years...once can argue about the "fairness" of it or not, but I think it is here to stay. Not just for med school loans, but for school loans in general. In reality there is no such thing as "free" and someone else (tax payers) is paying for that "forgiveness" and it's sort of a double edged sword b/c it discourages colleges and grad school/med schools from actually doing things to control the rampant inflation of tuition and fees. But that is a whole other discussion. If you really want to be a doctor, don't let finances deter you but do consider finances in choice of school. If you have a choice between a state school that is cheaper and a more expensive school (unless maybe it's Harvard with huge endowment and huge prestige, etc.), then unless you want to do basic science research, probably better to pick the cheaper state school.