Advice for balancing MCAT, classes, and a job? Feeling overwhelmed
I’m stressed out. I don’t know how I will balance GPA (studying for classes), studying for mcat, and doing a clinical job, and this doesn’t even include volunteering hours yet. I feel like it is going to be impossible to balance all 3 let alone 4. Clinical jobs are competitive and scarce so I may have to do overnight shifts at a place like an 1 hour away during school or maybe I won’t be able to get a clinical job- I don’t know how I’ll complete the training for a job between my classes. The premeds I know did overnight shifts, but it definitely took a toll on them and I saw them struggle with doing well in classes and they were not even studying for the MCAT at the same time. I plan to take the MCAT in January. My family told me that overnight shifts will ruin my MCAT sand GPA studying ability and I know they are right. Not to mention decreased ability to regulate emotions and manage stress and I know I will be stressed out even if I do manage to get a clinical job and just trying to balance everything. Everything feels overwhelming right now and classes have not even started. I basically do not have clinical hours (like 10) and it is my senior year. I feel like it is inevitable that my grades will dip and even though I am taking a lighter course load credit wise, human anatomy is known to be extremely difficult course where I am at and self study based and I am worried about combining it with the other courses I am taking. The rate my professor reviews are very disheartening to say the least. My GPA is decently high (~3.8), but if it dips too much, I feel like will lose my biggest application advantage- GPA given that I have not taken the MCAT yet. I feel like I am low on volunteering hours too even though I have not tallied them all up yet, but it is definitely less than 200.
The reason I am so stressed is that I only have one chance to get into med school next cycle. Pushing it back by a year is not an option for me. Reapplying is not an option for me. I get one shot and that is it. If I do not get in 2027-2028 cycle that is the end of my family’s financial and all support, and I will never be a doctor unless I take out loans myself or something and find somewhere else to live. This is not an exaggeration, this is what my family has told me. They do not like the idea of me being a doctor, but they give me limited support because they know I really want to do this. I would have to somehow find a different job from the one I have been striving towards my entire college life if I do not get in. I want to help people and learn how to diagnose and treat diseases and be a doctor that makes people feel heard. I cannot imagine wanting to do anything else besides a doctor. I am stressed about my future. I am unsure of how I will handle being a doctor when this issue of balance seems overwhelming presently. (Maybe Caribbean or DO would accept low clinical hours/volunteering and maybe low MCAT since I do not know how I will balance studying??? I wish I had more clinical hours and experience to draw from as I think it is needed to write a good personal statement.) Does anyone have any advice or have been in a similar situation or success stories?