How To Make Money In Medical School

What’s more, my wife graduated from med school in 2016, which means we both attended a school of medicine at the same time. Together we’ve learned a few things about making (and saving) money in med school.

How to Make Money in Medical School: 10 Side Gigs for Medical Students

Learn about the best side hustles for medical students so you can earn additional income and graduate with less debt

Introduction

It goes without saying that doctors are well paid, but medical students know that the path towards that lucrative salary can be tough in the meanwhile. As a med student, you’re probably subsisting on loans, scholarships, family help, or some combination of the three.

In any case, medical school is expensive and notoriously demanding, making it a challenge to hold down a traditional job while getting your education. This leaves many students wondering how to make money while in medical school.

If you could use extra income during med school, read on. In this guide, we’ll go over ten great side hustles for medical students. Though many med students participate in common part-time jobs like rideshare driving, bartending, dog walking, or babysitting, we won’t cover those here. Instead, we’ll go over work that’s especially well-suited for both medical students’ skillsets and their busy schedules.

List of the best side hustles for medical students

• Tutor: Medical students make desirable tutors. It’s widely assumed that if you can get into medical school, you have a record of high academic performance. That’s why tutoring undergraduates or high school students, particularly in STEM subjects, is a natural fit for medical students. You can also tutor fellow med students who are in the classes behind yours (for example, as an M2 you could tutor an M1). Whether you work through a company or independently, tutoring is usually a flexible and lucrative gig.
• MCAT tutor: If you scored highly on the MCAT (typically in the 90th percentile or better), you can also tutor premeds who are gearing up for the exam. Like other types of tutoring, you can work independently or for an established test prep company that will provide you with training and resources. Some companies might also hire you to promote their materials as a campus rep.
• Medical school admissions consultant: As someone who’s successfully gone through the admissions process, you may be a great candidate to guide medical school applicants as an admissions consultant. While consulting can be done independently, you’ll likely have better reach by working through an established, reputable company. Admissions consulting is typically flexible work that allows you to take on as many students as you have time to help.
• Medical writer: If you can write well, you can combine your scientific knowledge with your writing skills to work as a medical writer. Medical writers create a range of content from journal abstracts to policy documents to pharmaceutical sales training guides to health and wellness blog posts. Though companies and healthcare institutions do hire full-time writers, writing on a freelance basis is usually the best bet for med students.
• Medical editor: Medical editing relies on a similar skillset as medical writing, but instead of creating content from scratch, you’re responsible for tasks like formatting, proofreading, and fact-checking. If you’re well-versed in grammar and AMA style, consider working as a freelance medical editor.
• Research assistant: It’s likely that your medical school is attached to an academic research institution where you could get hired as a part-time research assistant to a professor or lab. While research work may require more structured hours than other side hustles, it has the added benefit of being excellent for your medical student CV.
• Research trial participant: You can also participate in research as a paid trial subject. Clinical trials test medications, devices, or medical interventions, so you can select trials based on your comfort level and demographic. Being a guinea pig isn’t for everyone. Nevertheless, it’s an easy and often low-time-commitment way to make money while getting another perspective on the research process.
• EMT: Some prospective medical students first train as EMTs in order to get a sense of whether medicine is right for them. EMT certification is time consuming enough that we don’t necessarily recommend pursuing it after you’ve already matriculated into medical school. However, for those who are already certified, working EMT shifts during med school can help you earn extra income while applying your medical knowledge.
• CPR/first aid instructor: Similar to EMT work, it’s not uncommon for medical students to already possess certification as a CPR or first aid instructor. If that describes you, you can continue to teach courses during medical school while practicing relevant skills.
• Personal trainer: Though personal training also requires certification, gaining that certification is a fairly easy process. Because most people seek out personal trainers to become healthier, medical students make highly appealing candidates. On top of this, personal training lets you set your own hours and helps you stay active yourself.

Final thoughts

Medical school is a busy time during which it can be a challenge to earn money. However, the above side hustles are all great ways for medical students to create income streams while staying engaged with their medical educations.

10 Ways to Make Money in Med School

There’s no doubt med school is expensive, but for many students, keeping a side job is out of the question. If you’re in medical school and are looking to earn a few extra dollars each month, keep reading. Below I’ve listed ten creative ways to make money while in med school.

Need to Make Money in Med School? We’ve Been There.

If you’re a poor med student, don’t worry; you’re not alone. As a physical therapist, I’ve been through those tight times and know what it’s like to carry around massive student debt – and an even heavier workload from school.

What’s more, my wife graduated from med school in 2016, which means we both attended a school of medicine at the same time. Together we’ve learned a few things about making (and saving) money in med school.

As a physical therapist and med school spouse, I’ve come across 10 creative and effective ways to make money in med school, including a way to earn a full-time income in grad school.

For a med student, you may think it’s unlikely you’ll spend that much money in such a short amount of time. However, if you time it right, you could use the card to pay for a few large expenses that you have to pay anyway, reaching $4,000 faster than you think. We did this by pre-paying our auto insurance for 6 months, buying new tires and brakes on our car, and using the card for all eligible purchases such as groceries, utilities, books and other necessary med school supplies.

The best part? Those 80,000 points are worth $1,000 in travel expenses. We found this to be a huge benefit from just paying for items we needed to buy anyway.

In general, the key to responsible credit card usage is to never run a balance on the card. No matter how good the points are, if you can’t manage paying off the card in full each month, you shouldn’t use a credit card.

5. Promote a Study Tool

Another way to both study and save money is to recommend and promote tools like Picmonic. If you’re not familiar with Picmonic, it’s a study aid that’s hugely popular among medical students and now physical therapy students also.

With Picmonic, you earn credits by sharing a link with friends as you use the app. Those credits can be redeemed for Picmonic gear or even free months of Picmonic for yourself.

Although that’s different from actually earning cash, promoting Picmonic could help you cover the cost of the tool so that it pays for itself. This opportunity deserves to be on the list because it’s a great way for med students to study while saving money at the same time.

6. Lead an exercise class

Med school students spend so much time studying that, oftentimes, they neglect their own health in the process. By leading an exercise class or becoming a personal trainer, you can ensure you’re looking after your health and your bank account simultaneously.

For example, one of my good friends in PT school made a couple hundred dollars a month as a personal trainer, and another student led a spin class each week in order to have her gym fees waived. Both are good ideas to make or save money while keeping your health a priority.

7. Join the Health Professions Scholarship Program (HPSP)

If you’re interested in serving in a branch of the military, you can earn a stipend from the HPSP. Right now this program isn’t widely available for physical therapists except for the Baylor DPT program, but physicians, dentists, and other medical professionals can receive a stipend well over $2,000 a month.

The catch? With this scholarship, you’ll be enlisting in a branch of the military and committing to an Active Duty Service Obligation.

HPSP isn’t for everyone, but it’s definitely worth knowing about as a way to earn money in medical school (and in some cases, study tuition-free).

8. Win a Scholarship Stipend

If joining the military isn’t for you, you can still earn cash in med school through the NHSC – National Health Services Corps. Their scholarship program is for students pursuing a primary care specialty in a Health Professional Shortage Area, or an area of particular needed.

Who’s eligible for this scholarship? At the moment, not physical therapists. However, many other healthcare professionals can apply for this scholarship: medical students (both MD and DO), dentists, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.

If you win the scholarship, the program will pay your school’s tuition expenses and a monthly stipend of ~$1,400 (as of 2020). With that “side” income, you could pay down your student debt without needing to sacrifice time working a job.

In sum, if you’re considering a primary care specialty and want to work in an underserved area, check out the NHSC scholarship stipend!

9. Start a Blog

While my wife and I were in med school and PT school, blogging enabled us to earn over $2000 a month. In truth, it took about two years for the income to grow that much, but eventually blogging became a great source of income in medical school.

Before starting a blog, be aware that it’s very time-consuming and sometimes takes months and months to generate income. In our situation, I started blogging at an opportune time before either of us started grad school. Consequently, I had time to gradually increase revenue from advertising and marketing (e.g., Amazon Associates and Google Ads).

If you want to start blogging to make money in med school, it’s relatively inexpensive initially. The investment is more in time than in finances. Expect to spend at least 10 hours a week or more writing content, formatting images, and posting to your site.

Since med school is a full-time job in itself and should be the primary focus, blogging isn’t for everyone. However, I would be remiss to not include this option on the list, because it is a legitimate way to earn extra money in med school. For us, blogging generated the equivalent of a full-time income while we were in school.

10. Create a YouTube Channel

This avenue is an extension of blogging, but it’s easier to get started. A YouTube channel provides a platform for sharing your knowledge with other people, and if you’re in med school, you’ve done something many people are interested in doing. You have a unique perspective that others may value.

Whether you share medical school insight, offer specialist tips, or compile study material for others to see, a YouTube channel could be a great – and lucrative – creative outlet.

Getting started is pretty straightforward. If you record video on your phone and edit with iMovie, it won’t cost you anything but your time. However, in med school, your time is sorely limited, so keep that in mind if you go this route.

Make Money in Med School: More Resources

If you’re interested in learning more about how I make money blogging, check out this article.

I also have lots more resources for physical therapists and med students, including ways to manage money in and out of med school.