How to Balance a Full-Time Job With a DIY Post-Bac
When I started my DIY post-bac, I was working a mostly 8-to-5 job. My schedule was hybrid and fairly flexible, and the mental demands of any given day varied considerably. On paper, it seemed like a pretty ideal setup for taking classes alongside work. And, for a while, it was.
I liked my job, it was relevant to my eventual medical school application, and continuing to work meant I could pay my bills and keep saving while completing my prerequisites. I generally took one course at a time, studying before work, after work, and on weekends.
Eventually, though, I realized that there is a meaningful difference between a schedule that is technically possible and one that is actually sustainable.
When school required around ten hours a week outside of class, fitting it around work was relatively manageable. When that became closer to twenty or twenty-five hours, on top of a forty- to fifty-hour workweek, things changed considerably. When I took two courses at once, I ultimately decided to reduce my hours at work.
For me, learning how to balance a post-bac with a job has been less about finding the perfect productivity system and more about figuring out what I am actually trying to optimize for. If you are starting out trying to balance work and a pre-medical post-bac, I highly recommend taking the time to think through, and continually evaluate, your priorities and how your actual life aligns.
Think Beyond Whether You Can Fit the Classes In
When planning a DIY post-bac, it is easy to focus narrowly on whether you can physically fit a course into your schedule. Can I attend the lecture? Can I make the lab? Can I squeeze studying into the evenings?
But there are also bigger questions worth asking, because your academic record matters a lot for your admissions chances. Your eventual MCAT performance matters a lot as well. And medical school applications generally require commitments beyond coursework, including clinical experience, volunteering, research, shadowing, or other activities depending on your background.
Working full time while rushing through prerequisites may be possible, but if the result is sacrificing your GPA, barely learning the material you will later need for the MCAT, or leaving yourself no time to develop other parts of your application, it may not actually be moving you toward your goal as efficiently as it seems.
Not everyone has the financial flexibility to reduce their work hours, and I recognize that being able to do so is a privilege. But if you do have some flexibility, I think it is worth seriously considering the tradeoff.
If the ultimate goal is medical school, there may be times when earning or saving a little less in the short term allows you to put yourself in a much stronger position for the application you ultimately want to submit.
Protect the Hours When Your Brain Actually Works
When I was working full time, my weekdays often started around 6:00 or 6:30 in the morning so I could get schoolwork done before starting work.
I would work until around 5:00 pm, take a break to exercise, and then either spend another couple of hours studying or go to an evening class. Weekends became catch-up time, particularly around exams.
One of the most useful things I learned was that all study hours are not equal. For me, mornings are when I have the most brainpower. If I need to learn something difficult, that is a much better time than 9:00 p.m. after a full workday.
I started treating those hours as absolutely protected time: Do Not Disturb on, work laptop closed, and attention directed completely toward school.
If you are balancing work and classes, I would think seriously about when you personally do your best cognitive work and try to protect some of that time for your hardest academic tasks. Studying cannot always be relegated to whatever scraps of attention are left at the end of the day.
Look Several Weeks Ahead
Balancing work and school also made me much more deliberate about looking ahead. When a new class starts, I always map when my major exams, assignments, labs, and work deadlines are. If I know I have a major exam approaching, I can allocate more weekend time to studying, communicate earlier at work about what is realistic, and, when necessary, take some paid time off.
That communication piece was something I underestimated before beginning. It helped to be proactive with work, but also with friends. I had to accept that I was simply no longer available on most weeknights. Knowing ahead of time which evenings or weekends I would need for school made it much easier to say, “I'm busy that night,” rather than continually trying to fit plans into an already overfilled week.
At the same time, I have found that having something to look forward to matters. If every free hour becomes work or studying indefinitely, even a perfectly organized schedule can become exhausting.
Assume Your Course Will Take More Time Than You Think
Another thing I underestimated was how dramatically the workload can vary from one course to another. A class might require six hours a week outside of lecture. Another might require twenty.
Labs are particularly easy to underestimate. The scheduled lab period is only part of the commitment; there may also be preparation, reports, commuting, studying practical material, or dealing with experiments that take longer than expected.
The quality of instruction matters too. Sometimes you get an excellent professor who teaches the material clearly. Other times, you may effectively need to teach substantial portions of the course to yourself.
For that reason, I would be cautious about planning a schedule around the absolute minimum number of hours a course could require. Leave yourself some margin. At least for me, I have found that taking one difficult science course at a time while working is often much more reasonable than stacking several simply because they technically fit on the calendar.
Pay Attention to How the Schedule Feels
There was not one dramatic moment when I realized my original approach was unsustainable. Instead, I noticed over a few months that I was waking up every day feeling overwhelmed and behind, and that there was essentially no end in sight.
I rarely felt that I had enough time to do something as thoughtfully as I wanted to. I could meet the deadline, but I was constantly thinking about the next thing I needed to finish. My schedule had become so tightly optimized that there was almost no room for anything to go wrong.
Eventually, I realized that I did not want to spend years of my life functioning that way. I am someone who likes to understand things deeply and put real effort into my work. I also want some balance in my life. Once I recognized those priorities, extending my timeline and taking fewer courses became a relatively easy decision.
That does not mean everyone needs to make the same choice. If someone's highest priority is completing prerequisites as quickly as possible, that is a legitimate decision. But I think it should be a conscious one. I have watched other nontraditional students put enormous pressure on themselves to move as quickly as possible, sometimes at the expense of learning the material, preparing adequately for the MCAT, or developing other parts of their application.
A Few Things I Would Recommend
If I were starting again, these are the things I would prioritize:
Protect dedicated study hours. Turn on Do Not Disturb, step away from your work devices, and use the time of day when you have the most mental energy.
Be cautious about stacking hard science courses. One difficult course at a time may be slower, but it can give you substantially more room to learn the material well.
Look ahead at exams and major deadlines. Identify difficult weeks before you are already in them.
Communicate early. With your employer, your friends, and anyone else whose expectations will need to change.
Budget more time than the course description suggests. Labs, poor instruction, difficult units, and exam preparation can dramatically change the weekly workload.
Keep something enjoyable in your week. A schedule with absolutely no margin is difficult to sustain for very long.
Remember that coursework is only one part of the application. Leave enough time to build the clinical, service, research, and other experiences that matter for your particular path.
Most importantly, I would not judge a post-bac plan solely by whether it is possible. Ask whether it gives you enough time to earn the grades you are capable of earning, genuinely learn the material, prepare for the MCAT, develop the rest of your application, and still remain a person outside of work and school. For me, slowing down ended up being part of taking the goal more seriously, not less.
You can also reach us directly at success@admitmd.com, or call or text 512-693-9228.
Comments