Doing med school with 2 kids?

OP

Original post by becausethenight

I’m someone who went into medicine at 18 with no kids, so please don’t ask me for advice :tongue:

, but just wanted to bring up one thing that maybe hasn’t been mentioned so far - have you spoken with your medical school and let them know what’s happening and what you plan to do?

As some people have mentioned they may well have policies around pregnant students and when you can rejoin the course, so it’s worth getting in touch to make sure whatever you plan can be executed. For example, based on a quick check of online FAQs, my medical school has a policy that they expect pregnant students to take a one year interruption of studies, basically, and you have to get permission to do something else.

You’ll also need to keep them in the loop around scans etc I imagine and many have quite strict attendance policies.

Thanks! I’ve already had a look as I had an offer for when I was pregnant with my first ( I didn’t end up going due to all the mess with a levels), so my schools pretty lenient, they expect a minimum of 2 weeks off after having baby during pre clinical years and a doctors note to say that I’ll be fine to sit exams, they’ll obviously need to carry out a risk assessment whilst I’m pregnant, and I won’t be allowed on GP placement after 35 weeks but other than that they’re happy to let students continue when they feel ready, and are happy to allow time off for medical appointments, so all in all they’re pretty accommodating :smile:

Reply 23

becausethenight

19

Original post by Sbjx

Thanks! I’ve already had a look as I had an offer for when I was pregnant with my first ( I didn’t end up going due to all the mess with a levels), so my schools pretty lenient, they expect a minimum of 2 weeks off after having baby during pre clinical years and a doctors note to say that I’ll be fine to sit exams, they’ll obviously need to carry out a risk assessment whilst I’m pregnant, and I won’t be allowed on GP placement after 35 weeks but other than that they’re happy to let students continue when they feel ready, and are happy to allow time off for medical appointments, so all in all they’re pretty accommodating :smile:

That sounds great then :smile:

I’d definitely speak to them as well as reading the policies online too (might be harder if you haven’t enrolled yet so don’t have an academic tutor and stuff) to talk about it more and sort the details (for example, not being on placement after 35 weeks sounds straightforward, but might mean you miss a sign off or assessment and become a problem annoyingly).

You might also want to check with them what happens in a “worst case scenario” (like if something happened that meant you weren’t fit to sit your exams at the time :frown:

)?

Reply 24

Turning_A_Corner

15

Practical advice: listen to people with experience.

Reply 25

the mumivator

Original post by Sbjx

Thanks! I’ve already had a look as I had an offer for when I was pregnant with my first ( I didn’t end up going due to all the mess with a levels), so my schools pretty lenient, they expect a minimum of 2 weeks off after having baby during pre clinical years and a doctors note to say that I’ll be fine to sit exams, they’ll obviously need to carry out a risk assessment whilst I’m pregnant, and I won’t be allowed on GP placement after 35 weeks but other than that they’re happy to let students continue when they feel ready, and are happy to allow time off for medical appointments, so all in all they’re pretty accommodating :smile:

I think you've already made up your mind and not sure what more can be said as your situation is quite unique. You are determined to start in Sept, have a support network in place so you're just gonna have to work it out as you go. As a mum, there are some things you just cannot plan as who can tell how you will cope with new baby, med school, commute etc - only time will tell. Every child is different. I had a breeze with no1 child. No 2 was a whole different board game (hence why there wasn't a number 3!). I wish you luck!

Reply 26

OP

Original post by Catherine1973

I suppose i considering it from a cv point of view.

Defer now and start when baby is a year. So you’d be 20/21 and then go though medical training straight through.

However start now and have to take a 1-2 year break mid way through (or fail or miss exams and have to resist) and that’s your cv showing that plus maternity leave forever.

Rightly or wrongly future employers will judge this and may dismiss you as a candidate.

Starting when you can go straight through with no worries seems more sensible and avoids any breaks or fails on your cv.

I’m already 21, I’d be 22 nearly 23 if I deferred another year, I was supposed to start in 2020 but all the a level mess meant I had to retake, so I already have quite a big gap! Once I graduate, I’d have to then do 2 years foundation training, where I’m placed is more based off my ranking than a CV, the better my ranking the more competitive hospitals I can work in (the area I’m planning to work in isn’t competitive at all, almost everyone gets in if they put it as first choice so even with a mediocre ranking it’s almost guaranteed). I wouldn’t be planning to pause my studies anyway, my first year exams would be about 1 month pp, then I’d be off for a few months then resume as normal in the September when the youngest is 5 months and in nursery, so I’d still be running straight through the course :smile:

Reply 27

OP

Original post by the mumivator

I think you've already made up your mind and not sure what more can be said as your situation is quite unique. You are determined to start in Sept, have a support network in place so you're just gonna have to work it out as you go. As a mum, there are some things you just cannot plan as who can tell how you will cope with new baby, med school, commute etc - only time will tell. Every child is different. I had a breeze with no1 child. No 2 was a whole different board game (hence why there wasn't a number 3!). I wish you luck!

I suppose it’ll be a case of having a plan a b c d and e for when things go a bit sideways (I’m sure there will definitely be a few hurdles along the way) 😂

Reply 28

the mumivator

Original post by Sbjx

I suppose it’ll be a case of having a plan a b c d and e for when things go a bit sideways (I’m sure there will definitely be a few hurdles along the way) 😂

It is what it is - I don't think delaying will be any benefit as you will still have young children and they don't get easier! You just have to go for it and if it doesn't work out, at least you have tried. But you have a positive outlook so you just have to take it week by week but make sure you look after yourself!

Reply 29

username3901812

Original post by Sbjx

Thanks! I’ve already had a look as I had an offer for when I was pregnant with my first ( I didn’t end up going due to all the mess with a levels), so my schools pretty lenient, they expect a minimum of 2 weeks off after having baby during pre clinical years and a doctors note to say that I’ll be fine to sit exams, they’ll obviously need to carry out a risk assessment whilst I’m pregnant, and I won’t be allowed on GP placement after 35 weeks but other than that they’re happy to let students continue when they feel ready, and are happy to allow time off for medical appointments, so all in all they’re pretty accommodating :smile:

Tbh, reading your initial post I thought "no way" but reading on, if you did A levels with a 3 week old and got the grades for medicine, I think you can make it work.

A couple more things you might want to check with the uni - is there a study leave period before exams? How long is it? Are lectures / teaching sessions recorded and then available online? I'm thinking that if there is no gap between end of teaching and exams it's going to be very difficult to cover the topics you've missed, especially if lectures are not recorded. However if you get a couple of weeks study leave and access to recordings than why not.

I met a GP who had had a child at med school in clinical years, she took a week off and then carried on and graduated as normal without issues. I would guess that is very much not the norm though! A mum in my cohort ended up having 2 years out to have her baby.

Just a final note that your age shouldn't be a factor. Plenty of people start older than you (I was 34).

Reply 30

OP

Original post by jzdzm

Tbh, reading your initial post I thought "no way" but reading on, if you did A levels with a 3 week old and got the grades for medicine, I think you can make it work.

A couple more things you might want to check with the uni - is there a study leave period before exams? How long is it? Are lectures / teaching sessions recorded and then available online? I'm thinking that if there is no gap between end of teaching and exams it's going to be very difficult to cover the topics you've missed, especially if lectures are not recorded. However if you get a couple of weeks study leave and access to recordings than why not.

I met a GP who had had a child at med school in clinical years, she took a week off and then carried on and graduated as normal without issues. I would guess that is very much not the norm though! A mum in my cohort ended up having 2 years out to have her baby.

Just a final note that your age shouldn't be a factor. Plenty of people start older than you (I was 34).

Luckily all the lectures are recorded so I wouldn’t miss out on much learning, I’d have to ask about study leave as that’s not something they mentioned. Honestly I found studying with a newborn quite easy, especially as they sleep so much it gave me a lot of time to just sit down and do as much as I could (even if I didn’t have the energy to lift a pen I could at least watch some videos for some sort of revision) so hopefully if they don’t do study leave I’d be able to keep up relatively well, I’d definitely be aiming (if all goes to plan) to go back after the 2 weeks if there’s no study leave, so hopefully I wouldn’t miss out on too much content either :smile:

Reply 31

EBluebear