Difficulty of Undergrad vs Medical School

[DrDummyAccount]

What would be the relative difficulty of finishing top quartile compared to finishing in top 5-10% in undergrad?

Everyone who matriculates into medical school was in the top 5-10% in undergrad. So yes, it can be very difficult to finish top quartile when everyone is the best, but someone needs to be at the bottom.

Only 3 people from my 100ish graduating “premed” class in undergrad actually ended up going to medical school. I was one of them, and I’m sitting pretty at the 50th percentile now in med school, and I busted my ass just to stay average. Med school is hard, and you really need to harness the “Cs get degrees” mentality at times to manage the stress.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[YCAGA]

I feel like this will be increasingly unlikely due to automation (see Epic’s slicer dicer algorithm) and midlevel independence

At the hospital system that I go to, the default provider for physicals/checkups is an NP/PA. This wasn’t true even five years ago.

I will keep it brief to try and not derail the thread entirely, but your comment is based on the major (incorrect) assumption that IM/FM/peds are easier to automate and easier to use midlevels in compared to other specialities in terms of $$$ saved.

Also, fears of "automation" in general are a sign that someone doesn't know what they don't know in regards to the practice of medicine.

 

[YCAGA]

Everyone who matriculates into medical school was in the top 5-10% in undergrad. So yes, it can be very difficult to finish top quartile when everyone is the best, but someone needs to be at the bottom.

Only 3 people from my 100ish graduating “premed” class in undergrad actually ended up going to medical school. I was one of them, and I’m sitting pretty at the 50th percentile now in med school, and I busted my ass just to stay average. Med school is hard, and you really need to harness the “Cs get degrees” mentality at times to manage the stress.

I think you misunderstand. A hypothetical scenario that I see all the time at my school: Person A studied 60 hours/week to get in the top 5-10% of their undergrad. Person B studied 5hrs/week to get into the top 5-10%. Both people matriculate to medical school. Person A was already red-lining to get their acceptance and has no more horsepower to give. Person B can start studying 30-40hrs/week and get AOA while person A unfortunately is just not at that level. Just how the cookie crumbles.

The big differentiator that can make someone into person B is to study smarter not harder. Trying hard to be efficient is much more important than simply trying hard.

 

[deleted314957]

Let’s be honest…difficulty of medical school or perception thereof likely correlates with the speciality that one is trying to match. I would image a P/F STEP1 will amplify this. When there are no metrics to differentiate (both curriculum and standardized tests are P/F), those trying to get a top speciality will be even more anxious because they can’t measure their progress.

Problem is, when you are in your early years of med school you have ABSOLUTELY no idea of what is going to be a “hot”, “ highly desirable” or “ competitive” specialty. I have been in this field for going on 50 years and I have seen AT
LEAST a half dozen specialties, easy, that have gone from very hot to very cold in a shorter time period than it will take you to be out in the real world of practice. Trying to “time the specialty” is about as fruitful as trying to time the market.

Now, this may sound real trite and stupid, but, over the next few years, learn the fundamentals of medicine common (or should be) to all physicians and during that process try to find something you want to, and could, do for 40 years. If you try to inject money, prestige or “hotness” into that decision, many of you will be very, very disappointed.
Remember, I was where you are 48 years ago so i’ve basically seen, if not all, lots of it.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Problem is, when you are in your early years of med school you have ABSOLUTELY no idea of what is going to be a “hot”, “ highly desirable” or “ competitive” specialty. I have been in this field for going on 50 years and I have seen AT
LEAST a half dozen specialties, easy, that have gone from very hot to very cold in a shorter time period than it will take you to be out in the real world of practice. Trying to “time the specialty” is about as fruitful as trying to time the market.

Now, this may sound real trite and stupid, but, over the next few years, learn the fundamentals of medicine common (or should be) to all physicians and during that process try to find something you want to, and could, do for 40 years. If you try to inject money, prestige or “hotness” into that decision, many of you will be very, very disappointed.
Remember, I was where you are 48 years ago so i’ve basically seen, if not all, lots of it.

Wow, thanks for sharing. Never thought about it like this. Out of curiosity, what are some of the specialities that faded out of style during your career?

 

[Goro]

Wow, thanks for sharing. Never thought about it like this. Out of curiosity, what are some of the specialities that faded out of style during your career?

When I started on SDN about ten years ago, the ROAD (Rads/Oprtho/Gas/ Derm) specialties were hot. Now Rads and Gas are easy to get into, and the hot fields are the DOONE firelds (Derm/Opthal/Ortho/NeuroSurg/ENT)

 

[deleted314957]

off the top of my head, in years recent enough for you to talk contemporaneously with folks who have seen it, Path and Rad onc. Psych and PM&R were DEAD. No more.
Derm path was REAL hot. No more. FP was considered the last refuge of fmg’s. If you have a good personality and ANY entrepreneural drive you can easily have an income any specialist would envy. Hot field for those business savvy types. Orthos were kinda considered the ape men of medicine in the 70’s.