<p>I'm currently a freshman at a University and I was wondering if it was a good idea to get a job. Since I am a Biology major, and am definitely going to be applying to med school, I was wondering if I should get a job. A job I could stay at all 4 years, maybe at my schools on campus clinic, or something like that. Does a job even matter, better yet, which job I'm actually doing matter? And by matter, I mean give my application a couple boosts.
Thanks so much!</p>
<p>I am doing work study in a biology lab. My 1st year was spent doing scut work but after that it was paid research pretty much. I am not sure if your campus clinic would even have any jobs and if they did it would just be secretarial work.</p>
<p>Sure, it’s a good idea to get a job. Money is helpful and if you are likely to be successful as a premed, holding down a job along w/ taking freshmen science courses shouldn’t be difficult at all. That being said, finding anyone interested in a “freshmen pre-medical student” will be like finding a politician who stands by his word. CF’s suggestion of doing scutwork in a lab is probably the best you’re going to get for now. You could also add an EMT-B or CNA course to your freshmen load and work as an EMT or CNA during school. The EMT-B or CNA would give you some relatively marketable skills. (The cert alone is worthless in terms of application, though, so make sure you would be able to find a job with it and find out which market is better in your area before spending $500-1500 on the training and licensure exams).</p>
<p>Do a great job academically, help others and you might get hand picked by prof. to be his assistant. it happened to my D. and it is the best job on campus.</p>
<p>All,</p>
<p>Would you advise a student to apply for a scholarship with a requirement of doing 8-10 hours of research per week with professor/professors for 8 semesters? Would this work load be reasonable assuming that the school allows the student to take some research credits? </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>yes it would. I did twice that for free.</p>
<p>A research position is definitely a great one to have, especially if you find a lab you like and stay there for a few years. 8-10 hours typically means a couple hours each day, which can be easily done in-between classes if you have breaks. If you’re getting scholarship money that’s a plus!</p>
<p>Hi, most colleges should have federal work-study program available. You can become part of this program, for example, tutor? Library staff? Lab assistant (I am referring to research position), and of course lab TA.
Lab TA are mostly reserved to graduate students, but I know some undergraduate students (most are upper junior and senior) can also become lab TA.</p>
<p>In US, you can also get paid for doing research 
Getting a job and still get a great GPA is possible. But you have be able to handle it.</p>
<p>Sometime taking federal loan should be another option. I know people hate loan. But if you can do well in school, move on to medical school, with a enlightened spirit, instead of overload your health and brain, and get depressed because you screw up with some classes, you can pay off your debt rather quickly.
So it’s welcome and good to have a part time job, but make sure you don’t overload yourself.</p>
<p>D. is doing both research and job. She did apply and got 2 grants for her Research at Med. Research Lab at her college. She is getting 1 credit hour for it. Grants were forwarded to lab, they are not her “scholarship” $$, but she does not need any additional to her Merit Scholarhsips anyway. I am not sure how many hours she spends in lab / week, she spends about 4 or less hours / week on her job, some of it is to sit thru the class, so that she can effectively tutor kids in their current class material - it is her paid job, she loves it. So it depends on time demands of your jobs and/or research.</p>