Juggling Paramedic School and work as an EMT

It sucks,, kiss goodbye your social life for a year.

my first go round I had to drop due to finanical obligations that was tues thurs fri and one weekend class a semester.

this round I am tues and thurs in classroom. and I have to do 40 hours clinical per month. 20 hospital, 20 ride time. One saturday class a month for labs. and pratical skills. But now I go 3 days a week to finish my degree.

I work a 12 hour day friday. and a 24 saturday. it gets me my 36 hours.

Its not the best of situations but its what I want so I gotta suffer.
 
My school is all day Tues, Wed evening, all day Sat and one all day Sun a month. I work a 14 on Mon and Thurs, and usually pick up an extra 12 on either Friday or my off Sundays. Permanently scheduled for 28 hrs/wk but picking up the 3rd shift brings me up to my 40. Doesn't leave room for much else but my program is only 11 months start to finish.

Who needs sleep and a social life anyways?
 
I did medic last year while working 3 part time jobs and going to another school full-time. It is definitely doable. I scaled back my work hours, but still made the dean's list in school. I had ZERO social life. People in medic school that tried to go out for beers on a Saturday night failed out. The people who passed (and also worked jobs concurrently) spent their Saturday nights eating pizza and studying with a study group. I saw my girlfriend once or twice a month for a year. It's a balancing act. You can definitely do it, and it will even benefit you...you can ask your medics for help with questions you have during shifts. But remember that if you choose to do that, you will have to neglect other things like your family or a social life. Delete things like Facebook and give away your tv and you'll come up with lots of free time.
 
Sorry, but you can still have a social life and attend paramedic school.

It's 10th grade level material and sadly, most of it is rote memorization.

Rocket science (or any real science) it ain't.

I was still able to work 24 to 36 hours a week, go to a movie or go have beers with friends on weekends. I maintained a 4.0 throughout medic school. It all about time management. You do not need to study EVERY WAKING MINUTE and if you go out for a beer you won't instantly forget pharmacology. Balance your life and you won't wind up as a person who is an EMS zombie and not much of anything else. And if you want to keep your relationship healthy, taking your wife or girlfriend out for dinner every now and again is a good idea...
 
DEmedic said:
Sorry, but you can still have a social life and attend paramedic school.

It's 10th grade level material and sadly, most of it is rote memorization.

Rocket science (or any real science) it ain't.

I was still able to work 24 to 36 hours a week, go to a movie or go have beers with friends on weekends. I maintained a 4.0 throughout medic school. It all about time management. You do not need to study EVERY WAKING MINUTE and if you go out for a beer you won't instantly forget pharmacology. Balance your life and you won't wind up as a person who is an EMS zombie and not much of anything else. And if you want to keep your relationship healthy, taking your wife or girlfriend out for dinner every now and again is a good idea...
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Depends on how your schedule for medic school and work are set up, not to mention if you have to pick up extra shifts.

The last couple of employees who went thru medic school had school from 0900-1800 Mon, Tue, Wed, and Thur. They had to stay full time at work for the money. So they would have to work Fri, Sat, and Sun. Every other week they would have to 4 shifts. Most of the time they would be go straight from work to school back to work.

So not much free time at all. The little bit of free time they had was spent doing essays, homework, reading assigned material, and studying.
 
DesertEMT66 said:
Most of the time they would be go straight from work to school back to work.

So not much free time at all. The little bit of free time they had was spent doing essays, homework, reading assigned material, and studying.
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At one point I had a stretch of about 8 weeks where the way my work, school, and clinical schedule fell, I'd wake up for work Sun morning and wouldn't get to bed again until Thurs night. Just got by with naps on the couch or in the ambulance whenever I could fit them in.

Most of the time it wasn't that bad though, and though I was busy and tired, I still hung out with my family and friends some. What little studying I had to do got done in the ambulance during work or ride clinical. The whole thing went by plenty fast anyway.
 
I am currently working as an EMT through medic school. I started off working full time during the beginning but switched to part time once clinicals started. I manage to work 20-30 hours a week. Money is tight but studying and earning that card is my priority right now.
good luck
 
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