How Awful Is First Year?

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So, if one budgets his or her time well and studies every night is it still going to be hell? I think that I have developed good study skills and self discipline, but I'm already having trouble sleeping because I'm worried about the workload. Just how ridiculous is it? I'm going to PCO, by the way.

I don't know how it is at PCO but at SUNY ~10% of the class fails every year but they do a make up exam in the summer and in the end only like 3% have to repeat the year.

Originally Posted by BeesKnees22

So, if one budgets his or her time well and studies every night is it still going to be hell? I think that I have developed good study skills and self discipline, but I'm already having trouble sleeping because I'm worried about the workload. Just how ridiculous is it? I'm going to PCO, by the way.

If you study hard and stay on top of the work you should have no problems. You don't have to study 14 hours a day. It's not like that. And the material is not conceptually difficult in most cases. It's the volume of material needed to be learned that is the problem. So staying on top of it is the most important.

Time management is key for 1st and 2nd year. Just as KHE said, the matierial isn't that difficult to grasp. As long as you did OK in physics and anatomy in undergrad, I think you will be fine. I'll say it again, time management is key.

Don't be worried, be excited!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=778560

There are other ones if you searched, since they didn't have any specific for PCO in that thread.

I guess I studied much less than my classmates, and I also didn't take anatomy in undergrad. I had plenty of time to watch TV, movies; go out on the weekends, and went to the gym often.

It takes a while to get into a good groove, so I would suggest actually using a planner for the first few semesters...especially if you're somebody who might be easily stressed. It makes life much easier.

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate it!

First semester is manageable assuming you study smart and hard, in addition to everyone being motivated to learn and etc. traditionally the hardest semester at PCo is the 2nd half of the 2nd semester of your first year. It could get nightmarish. I'd suggest doing as well as you can in your first semester to get a good cushion for 2nd semester incase the pressure becomes overwhelming. People will have to repeat first year if they don't meet 2.0 or if they fail certain core classes, but that's usually a small number of students about 10 or so, just a guess. Make friends and help each other out that's always a good start good luck you'll like it there. Ps Try to not live in the colonnades imo.

It's all about time management, expect the program to be a lot more work than undergrad but still manageable. Key is to pay attention in class, cause that really reduces the amount you'll actually have to spend studying. I agree that it takes a while to get into your groove, just cause everything's so new. Above all make sure to keep active and do fun things while in school. I know quite a few students that stopped exercising when they were stressed out first year, and it's only gonna make things worse by adding stress.

I like to exercise consistently, so I'm hoping to keep that up for stress management. And haha, when I was touring I was warned about The Colonnade. I'm living in Wyncote House, which seems to be clean and safe. The apartment is a little smaller than I expected, but oh well. I try not to be picky.

The volume of material sucks. The concepts aren't hard, but finding time to learn them is. It really is as bad as you think, but it's do-able.

In short, passing was harder than any A I've ever earned.

Originally Posted by Roffles

The volume of material sucks. The concepts aren't hard, but finding time to learn them is. It really is as bad as you think, but it's do-able.

In short, passing was harder than any A I've ever earned.

So true! I studied harder this past year than any year in my life and thankfully I was in the top 90% that passed. I wish college was this hard. College is such a joke nowadays when you realize how hard professional school is!