Pursuing a medical degree costs a fortune, as does being a medical student. However, as a medical student, there are always ways to offset the costs by working side jobs while studying.
You must devise a better plan to balance your studies and side hustles. Making extra money as a medical student to bring in some extra cash helps manage your costs.
You will be able to keep your credit card balances at a minimum, as well as your student loans.
Fortunately, there are many side hustles for medical students that you can use to make extra cash while still studying. Some offer you much flexibility, while others call for commitment and good time management.
Keep reading to learn how to make money in medical school.
How to make money in medical school
Tutoring
The easiest way to make money as a medical student is by offering tutoring services, or simply teaching others what you already know. As a medical student, you’re highly qualified to tutor college students. Most students will even want you to tutor them, assuming that if you can get into medical school, you must be brilliant and good at it.
And when it’s college students, that means more money. You can make an average hourly pay of $18.31. There is always a high demand for tutors, especially for college students.
You can look for tutoring opportunities at neighboring schools and colleges. They should be your first target. You can advertise your services through social media, word of mouth, and posters.
Ensure to include what subject you’ll be teaching and any other services you offer, and leave your contact details on how they can reach you. This way, potential students will be able to contact you. You can also tutor your classmates struggling with the medical concept and charge for your help.
Participate in focus groups or surveys.
You can get paid to participate in surveys and focus group discussions. You will find businesses that offer money or freebies in exchange for your participation in their research.
Mostly, you’ll find businesses that want to improve their products, services, or marketing strategies. They will design survey questions where you fill in your opinion and later get paid. You will get paid in cash through PayPal, a Debit card, or gift card once you hit a certain earnings threshold.
Businesses can also call up a small group of individuals and ask questions about their products and services. If your interest aligns with their ideas, you can always participate and get paid for your time and opinions.
Every day, a business gathers small groups of people to ask them questions and come up with ideas for their new products. If you meet their requirements, you can participate in their focus group and earn good money for your time. They may also look at your profile, hobbies, interests, etc.
Become a Phlebotomist
As a phlebotomist, you will collect blood from patients and prepare the samples for testing. Of course, when you’re a medical student, you’re taught how to do this. Therefore, if you don’t have any issues collecting blood, you can look for job opportunities in hospitals and clinics.
You’ll often find hospitals or clinics collecting blood for donation purposes. When drawing blood, you must explain the blood-drawing procedure to your patients and put them at ease. And it doesn’t require you to have a license.
You can also be sent to a patient’s home to take blood. If you choose to go to the patient’s home, you’ll be paid per home you go to, and you’re free to go to as many as you want.
That can be a great way to maximize how much you earn. Make sure you choose reasonable hours during which you don’t have classes, such as nights, early mornings, or weekends. Don’t miss classes!
Work as a research assistant for a faculty member.
Medical schools are mostly part of academic research institutions. As a medical student, you can offer your services as a research assistant.
Many academic physicians engage in research projects that require extra hands. You can always work with one of them as a research assistant, and it’s not always free. You get paid some dollars.
How much you earn will depend on the project and the doctor in charge. The work is also flexible but pretty demanding, so you should choose the best time to commit to the project in advance.
Work as a scribe
Being a scribe is one of many part-time side hustles you can venture into as a medical student. You can work in a clinic, hospital, or physician’s office. Many medical schools also have built-in days/hours for students to shadow doctors in practice, and you should participate.
This is a fantastic way how to earn money in medical school while also gaining exposure and experience. However, you’ll be required to follow an attending physician around, take notes, and later enter the data collected into electronic medical records (EMRs), which limits how flexible the position can be.
You are limited to scribing during the hours the doctor sees patients, which might conflict with your schedule. Therefore, find an attending doctor whose schedule aligns well with your spare time.
Become a driver for a ride platform.
You can work as a delivery or Uber driver in your spare time. Companies such as GrubHub, Postmates, UberEats, DoorDash, etc., require delivery drivers to complete customer orders.
The best thing about this side hustle is that it is flexible, as you can do it in your free time at any hour of the day or night. It will be easier if you have a car and a valid driving license. Install the app of the company you choose to work for on your phone.
You can install the company’s app and turn it on whenever you feel like delivering people or food around and earn extra money.
Look up online jobs.
With the popularity of the internet and the advancement of technology, there has been a high demand for online freelancers. Many companies and individuals are looking for freelancers to handle their work, such as content writing, documentation, translation, transcription, etc.
You can take advantage of such chances and earn money from the comfort of your home/school. Online jobs also offer flexibility, so you’ll be able to manage your study time and working hours without any problems.
You can always look up for pay per task jobs on online platforms specifically made for freelancing work.
Start a blogging website.
You can make passive income as a medical student by starting a blogging website. You can create a medical blog website covering the latest happening or newest technologies in the medical industry.
You can also sign up for affiliate programs and add them to your website to help you make extra money. Make sure to write content that meets readers’ intent that is genuine, helpful, and authoritative medical information.
The blog may take time to grow, but it’s worth it in the long run. You will start earning a decent amount of income if you stay consistent.
Participate in Essay Contests
You can also participate in essay contests that call for medical student participation. You stand a chance to win cash prizes of up to $1,000 or extra non-cash prizes like laptops, medical equipment, and paid holidays.
You can participate in essay contests such as Thestudentmedic, Lasker foundation, and more. However, you must be a good writer.
Other requirements include being an enrolled student in medical school or can verify your acceptance into medical school, being a medical intern or resident, or being a fellow to pursue a medical specialty.
Conclusion
There are many ways to make money in medical school, from working as a tutor or research assistant or finding a part-time job in the medical field working in hospitals or clinics.
The side hustles can help you maximize the potential of making money in medical school without sacrificing your valuable study time.
With careful planning and dedication, you can ensure that paying for medical school won’t strain your finances or impede your studies by starting one of the side hustles today!