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Time-Management Strategies for Prospective Medical Students

By U.S. News & World Report

In medical school, time is your most important — and rarest — commodity. The staggering volume of material covered in medical school is often referred to as “drinking through a fire hose” and represents a substantial increase from the amount of material presented in undergraduate courses.

With this in mind, it is essential for prospective medical school students during their undergraduate years to begin cultivating effective time-management strategies, particularly with regards to their studying. Here are four tips to build strong time-management skills in advance of medical school.

[Follow these seven tips to ease the transition to medical school.]

1. Ruthlessly prioritize studying: At the undergraduate level, it may be difficult to master every piece of information presented in a given course. During medical school, this is nearly impossible.

As such, it is essential to learn how to triage concepts based on your mastery as well as the relative importance of the material — or in medical school speak, “yield.” This is a particularly important skill considering medical students have perfectionist tendencies that have benefit ed them academically as high school and undergraduate students.

In contrast, the quest to comprehensively master all of the content in a given course irrespective of its importance will likely hurt more than help in medical school. I’ve lost count of the number of times I watched classmates dedicate hours to memorizing minutia that was low yield for both examinations and patient care.

Specific habits and systems that can help you prioritize your studying are outlined below, but your first step to implementing these systems is to acknowledge that not all information has equal value and that prioritizing the information is essential to surviving and excelling in medical school.

[Learn about five memory-boosting tips for medical school.]

2. Attend class and pay attention: This may seem obvious, but this is a key time-management strategy for prospective medical students. In both college and medical school, I had many peers who chose not to attend lectures, preferring to read from the professor’s slide deck or handout.

Skipping class is even more tempting in medical school, since many schools offer lecture video streaming. With this approach, four hours of lecture can quickly turn into eight-plus hours of streaming video and annotating, since students tend to be less disciplined when streaming video.

It’s tempting to pause the lecture repeatedly to look up concepts, take excessive notes , read a message from a friend or check social media. The advantage of attending class is that it forces you to limit your note – taking to the finite period of time allotted to the lectures.

Additionally, since professors either write or provide a great deal of input on the content presented on examinations, students who choose to skip lectures are missing the key points the professor emphasized that are most likely to be tested.

A system that I used to ensure I prioritized this material in studying was to add a unique, easily searchable character — I chose a star — to each slide the professor emphasized in a lecture. When I reviewed the material presented in the lecture, I used the search function to locate each slide with a star and made sure that I spent the greatest amount of time studying that material.

[Learn about five ways nonscience courses prepare students for medical school.]

3. Consult popular review sources: Professors typically stress knowledge that is emphasized on standardized tests like the MCAT, United States Medical Licensing Examination and Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination because it represents an important, foundational concept for a particular field of study.

When learning the material presented in your courses, consult a popular review resource that covers the same concepts in parallel. At the undergraduate level, this will likely be an MCAT review source, while in medical school, this will be a USMLE or COMLEX review source.

The advantages of this are twofold: First, you will be able to distinguish material that will most likely be tested in your current course and can dedicate your time to studying this content, and second you will simultaneously be studying for a standardized exam that is likely on the horizon.

Take this one step further and incorporate the prioritization study system by marking slides that contained content also covered in review sources with another character, such as a diamond.

4. Adjust strategies before exams: During your studies, follow these strategies. Then as time becomes increasingly precious in the days prior to an exam, stop studying other material and focus exclusively on material that you have annotated with characters, such as a star or diamond. During the final day before an exam, only study material with both characters, since this represents the content that has the highest likelihood of appearing on the exam.

Implementing this system — or a variant of it that works well for you — as an undergraduate will enable you to hit the ground running and effectively allocate your limited time when you start the first semester of medical school.

More from U.S. News

5 Memory-Boosting Tips for Medical School

4 Factors Prospective Medical School Students Overlook

How to Handle a Personal Crisis as Prospective Medical Student

Time-Management Strategies for Prospective Medical Students originally appeared on usnews.com

Don’t Settle for Student Loans to Pay for Online Education

By WTOP Staff
Online college programs are becoming a more popular choice for prospective students, with one study finding that more than 6 million students enrolled in at least one online course in fall 2015. The popularity of these courses can be attributed in part to their flexibility with working adults' schedules, students' ability to progress more quickly through online programs and, oftentimes, cheaper tuition. [See 10 low-cost online bachelor's programs for out-of-state students.]Online degrees can be beneficial to many college students, but some studies have shown online learners complete their programs at lower rates than students at traditional brick-and-mortar campuses. Individuals with student loans but no degree comprise two-thirds of defaulted borrowers. Though these numbers are not encouraging, just like for traditional programs, there are ways to reduce how much you'll need to borrow for an online program to ensure you won't become one of these statistics. Don't just settle on borrowing student loans to cover the whole cost of your program and living expenses. Instead, start thinking about how to cut costs and cover your balance in different ways, such as the following. -- Grants and scholarships: Even though you are taking an online course, you can still apply and receive grants and scholarships. But your first step should be to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly referred to as the FAFSA, which will allow you to receive a Pell Grant if your expected family contribution is low enough. The EFC criteria and award amounts are adjusted annually, but the 2017-2018 academic year awards range from $606 to $5,920, which could significantly lower the amount you borrow annually. Your next step is to apply for scholarships. You can start by checking online scholarship search engines, such as the Salt Scholarship Search, College Board's BigFuture and Peterson's. But don't forget to take advantage of local organizations and your school's financial aid office. Both may offer scholarships that you can't find with a national scholarship search. [Review these 10 sites to kick off your scholarship search.]For instance, organizations like the Elks Club, Knights of Columbus or the Rotary Club typically offer scholarships annually to local students. Just because you're going to school online doesn't mean you're ineligible. Visit your local library for scholarship listings, and ask around town. You might be surprised how many local organizations offer scholarships. While these scholarships typically aren't large, every little bit counts. Each dollar you receive in a scholarship is a dollar you don't have to borrow and pay interest on. -- Work-study: Another option for online students may be work-study awards. Not all students enrolled in online programs are eligible, but students at some schools -- including, for example, SUNY Empire State College and Liberty University -- are. Work-study awards are not given upfront like scholarships and grants. In most cases, they are an offer to earn up to the awarded amount if you secure an eligible work-study job. While there is a misconception that all work-study jobs must be on campus, students can work for off-campus, nonprofit or public employers as long as the work is in the public's interest. You may be able to work for a for-profit employer if the job is relevant to your course of study. No matter who the outside employer is, it will need to have an established agreement with your college for you to receive work-study funds. Remember, to be eligible for federal financial aid, you must be enrolled and pursuing a degree or certificate. If you're not working toward a credential, Pell Grants and work-study won't be option, but you may still be able to take advantage of private scholarships -- just be sure to read the eligibility criteria carefully. [Explore what to know about financial aid in online programs.]-- Pay as you go: One of the great benefits to enrolling online is the flexible schedule, which can allow you to complete your college coursework around your responsibilities. But prospective students often overlook using their part- or full-time job earnings as an option for paying for college. Almost 80 percent of college students in 2015 worked at least part time while attending classes, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By budgeting and thinking strategically about your college costs, you can likely reduce your dependence on student loans by paying a portion out of pocket. Many -- but not all -- online programs are less expensive than traditional programs and often have shorter payment periods. Six, eight or 10 weeks are common course durations. Because of the frequency of payments in an online setting, you may be well-placed to pay as you go and possibly avoid borrowing altogether. Attending college online and avoiding student loans may be challenging, but if you are willing to put in the effort, you can limit the amount you need to borrow. More from U.S. News Q&A: Understanding Student Loan Discharge Eligibility Student Loan Refinancing Isn't Right for All Borrowers
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