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Incoming M1 c/o 2020 Back to school thread
- Thread starter Dr Tony T. Chopper
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It took all the temptation I had not to toss a bunch of stuff.
And yet, I still happen to lose a couple of appliances and things that are actually important. I suck at every day things.
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Oh dear God. This place is so hilly. We don't have hills in Chicago. I'm not physically fit enough to walk up these hills. Nor am I good enough at driving to drive on them. This is gonna be interesting.
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I got so used to my last home where there were no hills, and then I moved here. Biked 11.5mi today on these with a backpack full of textbooks I bought from an M4 (including Big Robbins, holy hell) so since I survived I guess I'm getting used to them. It's not *super* hilly here, but heavy backpacks add a grade, I think!
I straight up gained almost 30lbs in the few years since graduating....I could do with some hills. But I have access to a gym again and no longer work 13-14hrs/day, so I could exercise without a problem. I may or may not be more excited about the gym than classes (and I lose and gain weight really quickly which is good, but I have to reduce my carbs
)
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I straight up gained almost 30lbs in the few years since graduating....I could do with some hills. But I have access to a gym again and no longer work 13-14hrs/day, so I could exercise without a problem. I may or may not be more excited about the gym than classes (and I lose and gain weight really quickly which is good, but I have to reduce my carbs
I gotta start working out again too. I gained like ten pounds from my year working at the ice cream store. And I have no excuse, I have access to two free gyms at my apartment and at school. I just hate moving soo much. I really want to try playing squash actually, I think I'd enjoy that, but I don't think there are any courts here. Anyone have any suggestions for exercises for people with joint issues?
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Not sure what you mean by joint issues...do you need low-impact, or are you inflexible, etc? What kinds of things give you trouble?
Personally, I like rock climbing for the individual challenge nature of it. It's great stress relief and you don't need to coordinate with anyone else to boulder. It strengthens muscles you don't normally think about, and my very inflexible friend is just fine at it...he just picks different routes. If you down-climb it can be low impact except for the occasional fall (which, my strategy is to go completely loose anyway so I dunno if that would be an issue. If you can play squash I'd think you could withstand reasonable amounts of jarring), and if you really need guaranteed no impact you can just do top-roping where you never have to jump down. My friend was able to go rock climbing REALLY early in her ACL rehab, as long as she down-climbed, picked easier bouldering routes, or stuck to top-roping. So I think it can be low-impact enough depending on how you go at it.
Usually when I go rock climbing I never feel like I've been exercising until I realize that hey, I am a bit short of breath! Then the next day my body reminds me that yes, indeed, climbing is a sport.
Frisbee is my other sport, but that a) requires people and b) isn't so great for joint issues, because there's a lot of repetitive jarring (running) and fast direction changes.
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Like when I run or go down stairs my knees kill to the point where I have to take painkillers. Squash would probably be pretty painful but I feel like it looks fun to do once in a while. I'll definitely try rock climbing, but I still have issues raising my arms above my head ever since I got rotator cuff tendinitis from swimming back in high school. Maybe the joint pain will go away with exercise.
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What about biking or swimming (or is your rotator cuff still a problem)? Would erging hurt?
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Yeah, biking was the other one I was going to suggest, I just forgot it!
If you bike to class, that hilliness will help you out without you really noticing!
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I think biking is probably going to be my best option, but I highly dislike it. I actually love rowing. My knees hurt for the first few weeks when I started rowing about a year ago but after like a month it was manageable without pain killers. I'll probably go back to that. But I feel like the reason I burn out is because I have no variety in my workouts. Maybe I'll try switching between the bike and the rowing machine.
As for swimming, I swam competitively for like 8 years. It was alright. Maybe I'll try that again too, I'm assuming I'll have access to the undergrad gym complex where the pools are.
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@Lannister Try hard cider as a beer substitute for drinking games! Also seconding the GF beer. Omission makes a nice selection. Five years ago there wasn't much on the market but things have changed
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I only have to pack two more bags and then am done. Still not sure whether to buy an iPad Pro for annotating slides or stick it out with my 2011 MacBook Air with battery issues (damn you photos agent!). Anyone use any of these apps before? Back in undergrad we were low-tech, pen and paper style and the iPad allows me to still write on something. Tried the surface but hated the palm rejection (yay for lefties!!)
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First real day of school 
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Does surface not work for lefties? I've been considering one forever but if I will have problems then the decision is easier.
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Do you guys think an extra computer monitor is necessary/helpful?
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Necessary? Never. Helpful? Always.
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I think I read somewhere that having a second monitor increases efficiency by ~10%
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Guys, my orientation starts in 2 days and I'm beginning to freak out! I'm half-convinced I'm not going to be able to keep up and be a terrible student.
Am definitely terrified that in this last year of applying, I've forgotten how to school. Not to mention, all I can think about is how I'm super lame and people probably won't like me after realizing I'm a huge dork.
Just had to rant.
Am definitely terrified that in this last year of applying, I've forgotten how to school. Not to mention, all I can think about is how I'm super lame and people probably won't like me after realizing I'm a huge dork.
Just had to rant.
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Guys, my orientation starts in 2 days and I'm beginning to freak out! I'm half-convinced I'm not going to be able to keep up and be a terrible student.
Am definitely terrified that in this last year of applying, I've forgotten how to school. Not to mention, all I can think about is how I'm super lame and people probably won't like me after realizing I'm a huge dork.
Just had to rant.
Totally with you here. D: I've been out of school for two years and took my MCAT over a year ago. Plus, I just got invited to a program at my school that gives a little extra academic support in the first few weeks based on my stats and some online test I took a week ago. Awkward to start off like that.
Luckily they had enough faith in our abilities to accept us, so we shouldn't forget that!
First day of orientation was today. Booooring. I knew we were off to a bad start when they didn't have napkins to go with the "breakfast." Classmates seem fairly cool so that's good and by far more important.
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Holy. Crap. So much information...
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I'm going to preface this by acknowledging that my orientation is still 2 weeks away, but c'mon guys. I know it's intimidating, but you've worked hard to get here and you've shown you can handle a rigorous curriculum. Stick with a schedule and you will all do well. This SDN group is going to kick @$$! Let's get that AOA!
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From my very limited experience at the store, I found my already-bad handwriting to be much worse on the surface pro 4 with lots of "missing" lines or spaces if you will where words were supposed to be. It was still legible just much less so. I felt my hand got in the way of writing and the tablet couldn't get over the fact that I had to rest my hand on it as I wrote. N=1.
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Guys, my orientation starts in 2 days and I'm beginning to freak out! I'm half-convinced I'm not going to be able to keep up and be a terrible student.
Am definitely terrified that in this last year of applying, I've forgotten how to school. Not to mention, all I can think about is how I'm super lame and people probably won't like me after realizing I'm a huge dork.
Just had to rant.
I'm going through the same thing! I keep worrying about what happens if the workload really is too much to handle.
FWIW though, I award bonus points to self-proclaimed dorks.
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Day 2, and I'm already pretty sure that if I studied as much as I worry about the workload I would be fine.
I'm looking forward to being done with our inane orientation stuff and just get to it. I'll probably change my tune by Tuesday of next week though. Glad to hear you're staying afloat!
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No, orientation is the worst. Our M2s made it as bearable as humanly possible, I think, but school is better. It'll be even better when they ramp up the intensity after this block of exams (in a week!)
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I just finished day 3 of orientation and I love it! I love the city (minus driving on hills and the fact that you have to take the highway to get literally everywhere), I love all the people I've met, my lab group/small discussion group is great, the professors all seem extremely friendly and approachable...I have a really good feeling about this school. I know it's going to be hard but I think I'm really going to like it here.
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Woo! Good to see everyone had decent first impressions. The rough part will be adjusting and managing your studying...that learning curve is rough from what I've heard. But we are all more than capable of tinkering our habits until we find the most efficient study method!
Our m2s aren't really on campus yet so we're sol. Our saving grace is that it's over tomorrow (only 3 days). I'm really curious what this insane volume is actually like, so yeah I'm excited for classes too
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I think what I've noticed about the volume is that there isn't really any "you don't need to know this", nor will there likely be. And part of what makes it so intimidating is that professors are constantly saying "we'll get into this in more depth in X block", so you know you are only scraping the surface. And THEN I think what's making it feel like a lot is that I'm actually trying out good study habits. In undergrad I was often able to pull good grades while just cramming and pulling all nighters (not for things like Ochem, but for many of the memorize -> regurgitate classes), but I know that will not and should not fly here.
Edit: My classmates seem to be all going out and partying still so maybe I'm doing it wrong currently haha.
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See, when they tell me "we'll learn this in depth in Block X" my reaction is "then why are you bothering me with it now?" and then I don't focus on it or really bother studying it. Why put in redundant efforts?
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This. First day of gross anatomy is today. I spent about 5 hours yesterday drawing out and labeling the scapula, occipital and temporal bones, a bunch of vertebrae, the sacrum, etc. Before realizing I wasn't even halfway through the chapter yet. At around 10 I just said **** it, I'll see all of this tomorrow in a hands on setting.
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Well, that's not exactly what I meant...
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I feel like Anki will have good paybacks for anatomy. Particularly when worrying about specific tuberosities, origins and insertions, etc. Muscles maybe, but the forearm in particular has so much depth/layers to it, it's probably better received on a cadaver.
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Anki works great for muscles. So wonderfully. Remember, you can do images, and application questions.
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Everyone here has told me not to even buy the books because it's not really necessary to read them. So I definitely don't plan on reading textbooks, it doesn't seem like an efficient use of time. My plan is to watch all the lectures from home, and do a little annotation of the accompanying power points just to make sure I'm following along. Then I'll make quizzes based off the PowerPoints (basically notes but in question and answer format) and/or Quizlet cards, depending on the subject. I don't think rereading PowerPoints or notes is an efficient use of time either so I probably won't do that. I'll just study for exams by taking my quizzes, going through my Quizlet cards, and finding practice problems online. I've kind of refined this technique throughout undergrad so I'll see if it continues to work here. I'm a big fan of quality over quantity when it comes to studying, so I'm all about efficiency.
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Reading textbooks is fine, you just don't have to buy them to read them.
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This.
That may have come after 5 hours of drawing out structures when I could have just been actually doing stuff. My head was a little fuzzy.
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Haha, I'll learn anything that they actually want me to know in THIS block, and I'll try to learn it before the class section.This.
That may have come after 5 hours of drawing out structures when I could have just been actually doing stuff. My head was a little fuzzy.
But this 'we are going to give you an overview of Anatomy before we dive in, so learn 7 things about the pelvis, 5 about the thorax, 4 about the vertebrae, a bit about the spinal column...but don't worry, you'll end up learning 200 things about all of them later!" THAT? No. No, nope, hell naw, and $%#$ that. If you want me to learn it, I'll learn it. If you want me to half-learn it so I end up with a shoddy framework that I later have to tear down when I build my entire mental framework of that system/body segment? No, thanks...I'll trade an extra few months of ignorance on that area for the extra work it would take to learn it partially now and then unlearn and relearn it in more depth later. A giant NOPE to crummy overviews before the real deal.
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I guess I would disagree, but I know everyone studies differently!
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You disagree that it's OK to read textbooks if you want to?
I wasn't trying to say textbooks were the way to go, just that when people tell you not to buy the textbooks, it's typically not because they're saying you will never want to read any, but rather that the 'required' lists are overkill (you don't have to do the reading as assigned) and that you will probably not have to physically purchase whatever you end up wanting to read, if you ever choose to read anything. Aka "don't buy the required textbooks because you won't know what's a good use of your time until you show up, and the ones that are useful you won't have to buy" not "never read anything."
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You disagree that it's OK to read textbooks if you want to?
Uhh okay sorry, I didn't mean to be argumentative...I was just repeating what I was told (and, along with being told not to buy books, I was also told that reading them isn't very useful) and what I plan to do.
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Haha, no, sorry...I also wasn't trying to be argumentative in the sense that I didn't think what you were saying was wrong, I was just confused because I hadn't actually disagreed with you in my first post! I just think there's more to the 'don't buy textbooks' thing that I didn't see until this past week or so when the upper classmen came back. Words weren't working well, though, so my bad. They still aren't, obviously. Blegh. Good thing my school has essay tests, huh?
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Sorry, I think I read your post as more aggressive than it actually was haha.
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In other news, orientation is over and I had my white coat ceremony today! Now the real stuff is about to start. Luckily the next 5 weeks kind of ease us into med school. We start with a 2 week first responder training. We have mandatory class from 8-5 for those 2 weeks, which sucks, but from what I understand it's not a ton of work outside of class. Then after that we have physician and society. And just from the title I can tell I'm going to like that class, so that shouldn't be too bad. Then...we get to the hard stuff haha. I am not looking forward to our first real block, I feel like I'm going to be behind everyone else when it comes to biochem. I still haven't learned anything about like glycolysis and the krebs cycle and whatever.
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S'all good, we all know each other well enough to give benefit of the doubt on both ends now and then! So how are you liking school?
