Before I started grad school, I really wanted to find some “average weeks” on the Internet and I couldn’t really find any…..so here you go future student 🙂
Days of Class
In my experience, we have almost always had at least 1 weekday off. It could be a Tuesday, a Wednesday, or a Friday (we haven’t had any semesters with Monday or Thursday off that I can remember).
Times of Class
Our classes usually start at 8am. Unless it’s a day where they’re doing lab for half of the class at 8am, then of course the other half of the class would start sometime around noon. 8am is so. early. for. me. Some people like it. For me, it’s not my favorite, because I have to leave around 715 due to traffic, parking in the garage, walking to class, etc. and I just move so slow during the morning lol. But the good thing is that there is always parking at 745am. When we do have a 10am or 12pm class, sometimes it’s a bit of a challenge to find a spot. Many days, the only class is 8-11. Some days we might also have an afternoon class.
Total Time Spent in Class
Each week we spend around 15 hours per week in class. I am actually super thankful for this, since our professors help us so much and PT is so hands on. Plus it forces you to set aside this time to learn. I know of programs where the lectures are mostly online and the labs are in person. For me, that would be challenging. I really enjoy the classroom setting and it forces me to learn.
Study Time
I spend on average 5 hours per day studying. Some days it’s only 1-2. Other days it might be more than 8 😱 The most important thing is to stay consistent so you are keeping your mind engaged with the material every day. Every few weeks I might do something fun and take the day off from studying, by going to the beach, going to Disney, going to visit family, doing something in Miami. Other people might study more and others study less. Probably more study more. But yeah, on average it’s 5 hours a day of studying.
Breaks from School
Yes we do get time off – a month Dec-Jan, Spring Break, a week between spring and summer, and 3 or 4 weeks in August. But I still study and maybe just immerse myself in some textbooks during those times, but definitely not 5 hours a day!
Work
I work. There are some students who don’t work at all. Those people are extremely lucky and to be honest, in my opinion this does give them quite the advantage. Others may work very minimally, like 5-8 hours a week or so? I work more than that, because I like to work 🙂 and I also need to. I’ve heard of medical programs where the students are not allowed to work. I think that is preposterous. If that’s the case, then they should lower tuition. That’s even more of an unfair advantage for people who have financial support maybe from their parents or a significant other. For those that need loans, they have to take out even more loans which costs even more over time.
I am lucky enough to have my job that I’ve had for the past 7 years or so, which we were able to modify when I came to school so I only work about 1 hour per day on that. It’s remote work and I can do it whenever and wherever I want. Also I’ve been doing it a long time, so it isn’t super stressful for me, although there are many times where issues come up and that can be stressful. But I am extremely fortunate to have this.
I have been fortunate enough to fulfill one of my lifelong dreams to become a personal trainer. I absolutely love it and feel so, so happy that I was able to achieve this dream. So I shifted my schedule a bit and now I do training around 15 hours per week. This job has the added benefit of being on campus, so I don’t spend extra time driving all over Miami. That is a huge plus for me.
I also sometimes find random jobs to do on the weekends to get some extra money. Don’t ask, they’re so random.
Extra Stuff
While working on my dream to become a PT, living my dreams of being a PT (personal trainer) and a PhoTographer (wow), plus also doing other jobs, I also do other side projects because I just can’t stop. I’m just kidding, but I do have a lot of interests and I am taking the time while in school which is kind of a horizon-expanding scenario to also grow in other areas. These pursuits include this website, Youtube, social media and a line of apparel for university school spirit and PT related stuff, plus other fandom stuff. Feel free to check it out at squadstyles.com and this store (but buy from squadstyles.com cause it’s mine 🙂 Plus I’m working on tech stuff like design and coding.
I am also a photographer. I get clients much more occasionally than I would like, but it is slowly rolling along and I love, love, love every shoot that I book. Check out my stuff on oceanparkimages.com and @oceanparkinsta
I know this all sounds crazy, but I’ve always been this way – doing a bunch of stuff. For some reason this overwhelms other people which is weird because it’s not like I’m asking them to do anything? I had this boyfriend once who would talk about how overwhelming it is…..like what? He’s not my boyfriend anymore 💁🏼♀️
If you read this far, muah muah muah besitos! Feel free to reach out to me on my contact page if you have any questions I would love to help you in any way I can!