GEP timetables how intense are they??

[curlysin]

Hi there,

was wondering if any of the present GEP students could shed any light on this matter. I will be 28 when i hopefully gain a place on a GEP course, However, being a little older a wedding is on the cards for me and most likely will occur during my second year. Is there enough holiday time to make this visible?

could you maybe give a rough idea of a day in your shoes and a rough layout of a yearly timetable??

all information appreciated, thanks for reading

[sali_mali]

Ooh I'd like to hear this too because I'm hoping it's possible to fit a job around the course. God knows how I'm going to get through otherwise...

[curlysin]

i will also need to work throughout the course. i have the added advantage of being a nurse so i will hopefully be able to fit in a couple of night shifts a month (just one or two) to help with the finance side of things. so many things to think about, sometimes its all a bit overwhelming!!

[yazoo]

To be honest, anyone capable of being a Dr can do a GEP and do part time work. Working life after the degree is harder. You are expected to have a job and work for post-grad exams in your (often minimal) spare time.

View it as good practice for the future. Time management skills are vital. Many people doing GEPS have these already - which is why GEPs work.

Don't worry about these things too much. Worry about getting the place and then organising yourself well to study, work and have fun. All are essential!

There is also plenty of time to get married... Again, i would say it's harder to do after med school, especially if you are trying to co-ordinate 2 rotas for the honeymoon. Then, lots of people get married and have honeymoons at different times, or just take a week.

Being a Dr impinges on many aspects of life, espcially when you are a junior and cannot make long-term plans. The rewards, for most, outweigh these disadvantages. But there are disadvantages...

[Echani]

I have to say that I found it impossible to work a part-time job at the start of the course, unless your hours are extremely flexible (as in being able to call up and say when you can work). I kept working on Sundays for a month or so, but as continuous assessment began to pop up on the Mondays I had to give up entirely.

I'd like to have some kind of income during the course, but I eventually accepted that I was going to be in debt by the end of it. It's not so much the lecture hours that I found difficult to manage my time around, but the amount of library / revision time to keep yourself from falling behind. I also wanted to be able to spend time with my class and non-med friends outside of study time, so I didn't want work affecting that either. So like I said, maybe with good time management you could fit in some part time work.

As for getting married and such .. I haven't really considered it since I'm on the younger side of the GEP age groups. You still get holidays, so I'm sure it'd be do-able. The organisation could take quite a lot of time management though. Like yazoo said, it'd certainly be easier to plan during med school than during your Junior years

Don't let this discourage you - it's a serious commitment, but it's definitely worthwhile.

[sali_mali]

Echani, if you don't mind me asking, how did you finance your medicine degree without working? We don't get student loans do we?

Must confess, I haven't really looked very far into the financial aspect of doing a second degree because it scares me! I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!

[Echani]

Well, my parents agreed to pay the first year's fees and I'm paying for my living expenses from what I have left over from working through my undergrad. I'll be paying the next couple of years out of savings and getting a loan in 3rd/4th year, whenever it's needed. I'm pretty lucky in that my parents are very supportive, but if that wasn't the case I'd say the plan would be very similar. I'd rather have a bit more debt to pay off at the end than live on a shoestring budget and not enjoy myself when the timetable permits it

[curlysin]

hi guys,

thanks for all your replies. i'm lucky in the fact that i am a nurse and with agency nursing you pick when you are available to work therefore not compromising your studies. if you cant work you don't have to as your tided into specific hours. unfortunately i don't have the luxury of being a few years younger(get the violin out eh), i have a mortgage and bills to pay so i could'nt afford not to do any part-time work. It so exciting but scary also, its a huge commitment but i still am of the opinion that the benefits out way the risks!! thanks again for you comments

could i ask when the holidays are?

[auden]

holidays completely depends which GEP you're on. At Georges, you get 'university' holidays for the first year (ie proper 4-6 week affairs) but from 2nd year on you get 2 weeks in the summer (max), and 2 weeks at xmas and one week at easter. Basically, it's a full time job, with similar hours and holidays (except my boyf gets 5 weeks annual leave plus bank holidays!!)... The only annoying thing is all the holiday is in school holiday time, which makes it very expensive to actually take a proper break away from home.

There are certainly people who do work throughout their first 1/2/3 years here though it depends on how you want to balance your work/study/home life. Certainly by year 3 here I am working 35 hours a week in hospital, then doing 2-3 hours study in the evening most days and a half day at least each weekend. By the time I've spent some time with my (very understanding) other half and done a couple of extra curriculars which help my cv as well as being fun, I'd be hard pushed to work. OTOH, I could work fewer hours and still pass, or I could not do my extra curriculars, or I could ditch the boyf )

Everyone will have a different balance that they strike. You absolutely /can/ work and do GEP - but it will involve making good decisions about the use of your time.

[pipedreamer]

I have worked since the start of my GEP course but it doesn't suit everyone. If you're someone who gets easily stressed and likes to spend a lot of time studying then it would probably be too much.

As others have said the most important thing about part time work is that it's flexible. I started off working part time at Tesco but found that some weeks I had plenty of time and others (e.g. exam time) I didn't. Since finishing that I have worked as a bank HCA and a note summariser for a GP. I found these jobs much more manageable as I could do extra hours during holiday time and then have time off for exams.

As for a wedding, it's certainly possible but you'd have to fit in with the official holidays as it's very difficult to take time off during termtime.