Is med school really all that hard?

[Brando989]

psh....Bring it on!

I eat Gray's Anatomy for breakfast...

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[WashMe]

... [sigh]

If you have a 4.0 and scored a 40+ on your MCAT, you'll still have to work really hard. Think about the implications this has for everyone, including myself, who cannot boast of such success.

Know what you're getting yourself into. You'll have many days when you wish you weren't in medical school because it is so much work and it is exhausting. Just remember, illegitimi non carborundum.

 

[Shinobiz11]

Obviously, if you need perfect grades, a good standardized exam score and tons of extra curriculars. You have to study around 6 hours a day to keep up.

 

[Shinobiz11]

Usually when something is hard to get in, it is hard overall. What would be the point of making the pre-requisites so hard if it was going to be so easy. Also this is what I've heard from many doctors that I know, so "Excuuuuuuuuuse me Princess."

 

[Bacchus]

I'm sorry, but what does that have to do with how hard medical school actually is? This just speaks as to the difficulty of getting in.



I'm pretty sure noone can make the blanket statement of "you need to study _____ amount" because it can differ significantly for everyone.

But yet, you can make that blanket statement. If you're not going to study at least 3-4 hours a day, usually more, especially during the week before the exam then you will, in 95% of the cases, fall behind, fail, and if it gets too bad... remediate or leave the program.

 

[Depakote]

Pick whatever number to quantify it that you'd like, but I suggest planning on studying a lot... maybe you'll be surprised and then you can tone it down a bit.

Yep, med school is one of those things where what you did that worked in college is going to need a big step up for M1. If it worked M1, you'll need to do more of it M2 and M3 you'll use the same strategies to study... just with less time, also you're in clinic.

 

[corbis11]

It has been said in other threads like this, but the hard thing about medical school is the amount of information you have to learn is killer. The biochemistry i'm in now is nowhere as hard as the prokaryotic biochem I took in undergrad. In undergrad I could go for days on end (and some times more than a week) without studying, but if you did that in medical school you would get so far behind you would rather jump off a bridge than get caught up.

If I could give you one piece of advice it would be to work on your time management skills in college. Get used to doing a little bit of studying daily and stick to it...and DO NOT forget to have fun ie get drunk, hook up with skanks, and party all night...Yes you can have fun in med school, but it pales in comparison to how much fun college is

I'm not sure why I typed this...must be from sitting inside studying too long today :slamhead:

 

[ziggydoc]

An overrated tv show about residents that aren't even med students anymore that have horrible personalities and hate eachother isn't exactly the best portrayal of med school life.

Scrubs exagerrates a lot of things but it's more in tone with how actually working in a hospital is like in my opinion. I've never seen a tv show that's in any way similar to what actually attending med school is like. Guess a tv show about people staying in a library from 3 pm to 12 am wouldn't grant very good ratings.

Lol, just imagine the cliff hangers. On next week's episode, Will Johny stay in the library all day, or will he become a REBEL, and venture to step outside in defiance of the medical school gods. What will happen? WE will find out on next week's Johny Vs med school

 

[ZeusonRoids]

I'm sorry, but what does that have to do with how hard medical school actually is? This just speaks as to the difficulty of getting in.



I'm pretty sure noone can make the blanket statement of "you need to study _____ amount" because it can differ significantly for everyone.

I'm sorry what medical school did you get into again?

I agree with this statement. You will have around 4-6 hrs of class on average daily...and then you will need to spend at least 4-6 hrs studying each night (1hr lecture ~ 1hr studying) not to mention for tests you will probably need to go over EVERY set of notes at least once more.

The smartest guy in my class is able to get away with studying like 3hrs outside of class every day...but even he stays at the library till at least midnight once per week.

If you ever get into medical school, come back here and tell us how much you study. I bet it is 4-6+ hrs outside of school per day.

 

[dualcmz]

It has been said in other threads like this, but the hard thing about medical school is the amount of information you have to learn is killer. The biochemistry i'm in now is nowhere as hard as the prokaryotic biochem I took in undergrad. In undergrad I could go for days on end (and some times more than a week) without studying, but if you did that in medical school you would get so far behind you would rather jump off a bridge than get caught up.

If I could give you one piece of advice it would be to work on your time management skills in college. Get used to doing a little bit of studying daily and stick to it...and DO NOT forget to have fun ie get drunk, hook up with skanks, and party all night...Yes you can have fun in med school, but it pales in comparison to how much fun college is

I'm not sure why I typed this...must be from sitting inside studying too long today :slamhead:

Sorry if this comes off rude but what undergrad did you go to? if i dont study for a day i fall so behind. but then again my university is known to be crazy like that.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I think 4-6 sounds like a pretty reasonable estimate for standard per-day studying time on top of class. I usually study a little bit less (3 hours, maybe), but I'm not shooting for A's and typically study more efficiently than most.

 

[WashMe]

Personally, I skip every class except for required labs and small group sessions, so I only spend ~12-15 hours per week in lecture. I would say I average 2 hours of studying per day during the week and I do about 5-6 hours each day on Saturday and Sunday.

Of course, when exam week rolls around, I start studying about a week out and I study 12-14 hours per day, then I study all day every day during exam week to cram in whatever I need for the nearest upcoming exam.

It's not a bad method, My overall exam average thus far is ~90%, and could be better but there isn't much motivation (P/F 1st year).

Everyone has their own methods. I prefer to put in ~90hr weeks when it's crunch time, then do a little less than 35 hours per week the rest of the time.

 

[Omzy]

psh....Bring it on!

I eat Gray's Anatomy for breakfast...

An overrated tv show about residents that aren't even med students anymore that have horrible personalities and hate eachother isn't exactly the best portrayal of med school life.

Just so everyone's on the same page...

Bwahahaha

 

[Vicviper]

If it's anything like my dental school where we're taking 25 units our first semester, and you're required to be in class 40 hours a week, yes, it will be rather difficult, haha. But hey, it's only a few years of hell!

 

[Pet of the Week]

It really depends on how your mind works. I didn't have to spend a lot of time "studying" to make high B's/A's. (Maybe 3-6 hours of focused studying the night before a test?) If I had studied 4 hours a day, I might have made all A's. I doubt it though. I like to get my 8 to 10 hours of sleep, and I'm too ADHD to sit still that long. Anyway, I try to engage and understand the big concepts behind the material as we go along. I don't worry much about the details. They fill in later. Every lecture, lab, sp encounter, pbl session, etc. is a form of study. That and a focused review before a test was enough for me. Of course, I think this only works if you really try to comprehend the material in each of these experiences rather than simply going through the motions. For example, my anatomy lab partners and I would quiz each other as we tore through flesh. This type of "study" is much less tedious than hours in libraries with books.

Also, if you are one of those people who needs to memorize every little detail before you can grasp a big concept, good luck. You'll likely have a more difficult time.

And like someone said already, it's a volume issue. There are processes in biochemistry that you learn much more thoroughly in undergrad, but they are coming at you much faster and with related medical/clinical info in medical school.

Overall, I found medical school to be much easier than undergrad, but much harder than high school.

(And yes, I am a pre-med again, but it's not relevant to this thread.)

 

[MilkmanAl]

The time investment required of you will certainly vary depending on "how your mind works," but you prospective pre-meds and med students should know that 4-6 hours per test is an EXTREMELY atypical amount of studying even for the brightest minds. I know a grand total of zero people who study that little. One of my friends hardly ever studies for more than 3 days, but she probably puts 40+ hours in during those days and is barely passing. The other estimates in this thread are much more realistic.

 

[Pet of the Week]

The time investment required of you will certainly vary depending on "how your mind works," but you prospective pre-meds and med students should know that 4-6 hours per test is an EXTREMELY atypical amount of studying even for the brightest minds. I know a grand total of zero people who study that little. One of my friends hardly ever studies for more than 3 days, but she probably puts 40+ hours in during those days and is barely passing. The other estimates in this thread are much more realistic.

This is true. I knew only one person who studied less than I did, and he was of the 70=MD/DO variety. 4-6 hours per test is not really accurate because you have to add in the time spent in labs and listening to lectures. Some students do not make good use of their lab time and have to make up for it later in the library. I just meant 4 to 6 hours actually physically sitting down and studying for the test. Too boring for me. I'd rather be digging out nerves while I learn which muscles they innervate. Does that make sense? I guess I multi-task.

 

[riverjib]

This is clearly a rhetorical question. Medical school is not easy. Then again, if you've been working full-time while balancing a full course-load in addition to extracurriculars and volunteering, and your objective in med school is to maintain the status quo, it WILL be easier. And if you get into a small medical program after attending a giant university with 500+ students in your organic chem class, med school may present fewer challenges. But if you lobbied hard to get into a top-tier med school, and plan to lobby hard for a top-tier residency, expect to sleep even less in med school than you might have during your undergrad years!

 

[Brando989]

An overrated tv show about residents that aren't even med students anymore that have horrible personalities and hate eachother isn't exactly the best portrayal of med school life.

Scrubs exagerrates a lot of things but it's more in tone with how actually working in a hospital is like in my opinion. I've never seen a tv show that's in any way similar to what actually attending med school is like. Guess a tv show about people staying in a library from 3 pm to 12 am wouldn't grant very good ratings.

I was referring to the book.

 

[Brando989]

I'm sorry what medical school did you get into again?

I agree with this statement. You will have around 4-6 hrs of class on average daily...and then you will need to spend at least 4-6 hrs studying each night (1hr lecture ~ 1hr studying) not to mention for tests you will probably need to go over EVERY set of notes at least once more.

The smartest guy in my class is able to get away with studying like 3hrs outside of class every day...but even he stays at the library till at least midnight once per week.

If you ever get into medical school, come back here and tell us how much you study. I bet it is 4-6+ hrs outside of school per day.

That's not relevant to my case. I have a photographic memory.

 

[Omar Gooding]

I'm a chemistry major and was recently accepted to med school. There is no doubt in my mind that medical school will entail consumption of large amounts of information, which is time consuming; however, there is also no doubt in my mind that the concepts taught in med school will be significantly less mind bending than in upper-level chemistry courses and thus be easier to comprehend.

 

[fahimaz7]

Passing medical school isn't that hard... Maybe 2-3 hours/day of studying.

Making an B requires 4-6 hours/day of studying.

Making an A requires the lots of studying, intense test weeks, and an act of god.

 

[xnfs93hy]

psh....Bring it on!

I eat Gray's Anatomy for breakfast...

 

[Brando989]

Once again...




You're much too hilarious...

 

[Music MD]

I didn't go to a top 10 med school, but I did finish number 1 in my class. I consider myself a fairly smart guy but still had to put the hours in. I had class 6-8 hrs a day including labs. So a typical day would be 8-5 in class (1 hr lunch break) , hour for dinner, then 6-12 studying and repeat. On weekends I would put in 8-10 hours each day. This was ramped up the weeks before tests.

Once you get to M3, just an hour or 2 a night until before the shelf. M4 no studying.

This schedule is completely unwarranted and unhealthy as far as I'm concerned. If you can't figure out a way to make medical school a 50-60 hour endeaver tops, class and studying included, you aren't studying efficiently and should change something. The hours you describe wouldn't allow you to sleep properly, do the things you enjoy away from school, or spend enough time being social and having friends. Pre-meds, please do NOT believe this is what you'll need to do well in medical school.

 

[Premed Worrier]

I have only been in school for about 3 months and can tell you that I studied approx. 2-3 hours a night, 6-7 hours on Saturday or Sunday and 4 the other weekend day. Test week I studied about 5 hours a night. This got me an average basically at the class mean.
To answer the original question though. I don't think it is real hard as long as you keep up. Period. Just a lot of information. But only a first year here, so it may change tomorrow.

 

[MilkmanAl]

This schedule is completely unwarranted and unhealthy as far as I'm concerned. If you can't figure out a way to make medical school a 50-60 hour endeaver tops, class and studying included, you aren't studying efficiently and should change something. The hours you describe wouldn't allow you to sleep properly, do the things you enjoy away from school, or spend enough time being social and having friends. Pre-meds, please do NOT believe this is what you'll need to do well in medical school.

I agree that you don't need to work that hard to do well, but if you want to top your class, that's probably a realistic workload to expect. I don't care if you're at Harvard or North Dakota (or Arkansas ), there are going to be some exceptionally brilliant people in your class, and being top 5 is going to take a crapload of effort.

 

[raaska55]

Lol, just imagine the cliff hangers. On next week's episode, Will Johny stay in the library all day, or will he become a REBEL, and venture to step outside in defiance of the medical school gods. What will happen? WE will find out on next week's Johny Vs med school

I thought this was really really funny. Oh med school....how it's taken a toll on my sense of humor....

 

[psipsina]

One way to think about it is to recognize what the quality of your classmates will be. Think about everyone you know who actually has a chance of getting into medschool and realize that you'll be surrounded by people who are all of that caliber. And most of them will not be honoring the exams and being AOA despite working their tails off (bell curve dictates this). A handful of them will fail each course.

Everyone has to work differently and for different quantity of times, and discussing times is pretty meaningless because I can now memorize more minutiae in 4 hours than I did in weeks of undergrad. A hand full of people are super talented learners and can literally read everything once or twice and know it, granted they still have to read, but that saves a ton of time. But for nearly every person I know medschool has been the hardest thing they ever did and they have had to work for their success in the first two years. And third year is a beast that even a photographic memory can't save you from. I've had 90 hour weeks in the hospital while sick with some nasty from the kids on peds plus reading about my patients, practice questions for the shelf and preparing presentations in my "free time". No matter how smart you are third year is hard work.

 

[45408]

I'm sorry, but what does that have to do with how hard medical school actually is? This just speaks as to the difficulty of getting in.

Because you need good M3 grades, a good standardized exam score (Step 1), and for really competitive specialties, extracurriculars like research, research and research? Just take the same standards that apply for getting into med school, and remember that these are the people who will be competing with you for residency.

 

[45408]

That's not relevant to my case. I have a photographic memory.

If you actually have an eidetic memory, which is fairly rare, you'll still need to upgrade your storage capacity. In addition, it won't really get you that far in certain classes, like physiology, which require more than just memorization.

 

[ZeusonRoids]

That's not relevant to my case. I have a photographic memory.

So does Kim Peak (the real person who the movie "The Rain Man" is based on). I think he is considered to be mentally ******ed.

Just sayin...that dont mean **** on the street son.

lol...BTW I know you were kidding so nobody jump on my ****.

 

[ZeusonRoids]

Perhaps there's been some misunderstanding. You seem to be under the impression that I think medical school will not be difficult, or that studying 6 hours a day is excessive (or perhaps minimal). I don't (and personally, I would be thrilled if I thought I would only need to study 6 hours per day in medical school). My point was that assigning a random # of hours a day that will be required was baseless (and ironically enough, also coming from someone that hasn't gotten in to medical school).

The strange thing is that you make a point of saying I'm not in medical school, and then go on to confirm what I wrote by saying 4-6 (which differs from 6), mentioning a case of someone who does less, other people in the thread mentioned numbers that might be more or might be less, varies by person, etc.

I'll try to say it again differently: the number of hours could very well be 6. It could be 20. I don't know, and nobody (med student or not) can speak to the amount of hours of studying it will take for anybody but themselves. This doesn't mean the amount isn't a lot, it just means quantifying it with an exact number (not even a range) is relatively useless. The same concept applies to amount of hours one has to spend studying for undergrad each day. As I said earlier: the fact is one will have to study often and consistently.

Good to know that 2 months of medical school has given you a nice pedestal to stand on, though. Next time, try reading a post thoroughly before jumping to attack.

This was not an attack. Had it been an attack I would have used lots of and ... I was telling you the reality of medical school.

BTW I don't think that estimating how many hours 95%+ of people in my M1 year spend studying outside of class is useless. I think it provides a VERY accurate representation to how all but maybe 7-10 people per class spend their time.

Again...talk to me in a year or two if you get into medical school and tell me if you disagree with this statement.

I personally find it funny that you are even contributing when every medical student who has posted on this thread has agreed with what I have estimated. (while still pointing out that there are a minority ...meaning like 5-10... in the class who study more or less).

 

[Omzy]

Bump, for the heck of it...Interesting thread.

 

[RySerr21]

I agree that you don't need to work that hard to do well, but if you want to top your class, that's probably a realistic workload to expect. I don't care if you're at Harvard or North Dakota (or Arkansas ), there are going to be some exceptionally brilliant people in your class, and being top 5 is going to take a crapload of effort.

True that. IMO its not at all worth the benefits. That sounds like an absolutely miserable 2 years. I hope it was worth it for him/her.

 

[ZeusonRoids]

Yep, you're not even acting overly aggressive/defensive or anything!

Well, there's two issues here:
1. The estimate wasn't made by a medical student to begin with...
2. The estimate wasn't even an estimate. It was a precise number. Irrespective of class, exam weeks or regular weeks, how well one wants to do...nope...just a number. 6 hours a day.

Perhaps you could tell me what the use of being told that you need to study 6 hours a day is. Not a range, mind you, but precisely 6 hours a day.

Honestly, I think you completely missed the point. I very much doubt I'll go to medical school and find out that in fact, I did need to spent precisely 6 hours daily! And you've been in for 2 months, feel free to tone down your 'reality of medical school' talk. I personally love seeing posts by med students, residents, attendings, etc to get a feel for how things will be but you've been in for 8 weeks - ease up a bit.

How have they agreed with what you said? First off, what you said didn't even agree with "6 hours a day". You yourself gave a range and then said that amount would increase based on exam weeks. Other people's numbers all differed. One guy studied 6 hours a day and was at the top of his class. Another said 3 hours a day to pass. I'm not here to dispute that the amount of time will be lengthy, just that slapping a certain number on it won't work.

Sometimes, you don't even need to be in medical school to figure things out about generalizing study time for everyone - all it takes is some common sense! Tone down the douche a bit, and you might have an easier time getting your (failed) point across.

Anyways, I don't want to continue arguing and come across as a dickhead because I think you and I just completely misunderstood one another. I appreciate your insight as to how med school will be and will try to be a bit more receptive to estimates, regardless of who they come from.

Have you ever had a normal conversation with anyone ever? when someone says you need to spend 6 hrs a day they dont mean they are sitting there with a timer and once 6 hrs hits they put down all of their books. My god you have the personality of a ****ing rock. Also in normal conversation people can disagree with others without being bashed on for it...

Good luck in your interviews (you will need it), and I pray to Apollo that you can obtain some sort of personality before you ever see a patient because they will likely hate you and figure out pretty fast that you are a complete douche.

Good day sir.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Have you ever had a normal conversation with anyone ever? when someone says you need to spend 6 hrs a day they dont mean they are sitting there with a timer and once 6 hrs hits they put down all of their books. My god you have the personality of a ****ing rock. Also in normal conversation people can disagree with others without being bashed on for it...

Good luck in your interviews (you will need it), and I pray to Apollo that you can obtain some sort of personality before you ever see a patient because they will likely hate you and figure out pretty fast that you are a complete douche.

Good day sir.

Epic ****ing win.

 

[Global Warming]

Have you ever had a normal conversation with anyone ever? when someone says you need to spend 6 hrs a day they dont mean they are sitting there with a timer and once 6 hrs hits they put down all of their books. My god you have the personality of a ****ing rock. Also in normal conversation people can disagree with others without being bashed on for it...

Good luck in your interviews (you will need it), and I pray to Apollo that you can obtain some sort of personality before you ever see a patient because they will likely hate you and figure out pretty fast that you are a complete douche.

Good day sir.

Agreed on e-ownage

In addition, I want to add that (at least in my experience) successful pre-meds are generally kind of weird. Please note bolded word in previous sentence before bashing your keyboard with an angry response. Although anecdotal, just look at all the "I have a problem being social" threads that floats on SDN every week. Also, I've met so many smart pre-meds that, although brilliant....are just kinda fail in life.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Agreed on e-ownage

In addition, I want to add that (at least in my experience) successful pre-meds are generally kind of weird. Please note bolded word in previous sentence before bashing your keyboard with an angry response. Although anecdotal, just look at all the "I have a problem being social" threads that floats on SDN every week. Also, I've met so many smart pre-meds that, although brilliant....are just kinda fail in life.

and that's why they don't get in to medical school.

 

[tncekm]

It really depends on how your mind works. I didn't have to spend a lot of time "studying" to make high B's/A's. (Maybe 3-6 hours of focused studying the night before a test?) If I had studied 4 hours a day, I might have made all A's.

I crammed for almost every test in undergrad and kept pretty much all A's. That's not the case in med school, not even close. E.g. If I skip about a month of physio (class, etc), it makes for a whole week of hell.

Easy classes like histo, etc, I can study a few weeks worth of material over 2-3 days and do really well. But, it's still 2-3 DAYS! I studied for my undergrad biochem final the morning of, lol.

Moral(s):
a) Don't go into med school thinking it'll be easy. It's not as hard as many people make ti out to be (during your first year, lol), but it's definitely not easy.
b) Don't go into med school burned out because you'll be investing A LOT of time studying.

 

[Depakote]

Let's try to address the OP's original question.

This is not the appropriate forum for an argument. If this thread continues down that course the mod staff may be forced to close the thread and take action against parties that continue to be responsible for derailing the thread.

 

[xnfs93hy]

So then what is the purpose of saying 6 hours a day? You seem to be ignorant of the fact that ultimately everyone in this thread DID post different ranges. The comment was pointless, that was what I was saying from the beginning.



This is coming from the guy who is nerd raging over a discussion over medical school studying time? Ooooooook....



Why the e-rage? It's not THAT big of a deal. You seem to have difficulty admitting you may have just misinterpreted what somebody said. If you want to talk about being a complete douche, take a look at your last few posts and how worked up you're getting. You strike me as that dude in real life that gets angry over every little disagreement and just can't let it go.


I like people that say "epic ****ing win", because they tend to be the same kinds of people who spend their Friday nights high-fiving each other over some "e-ownage". Can you nut hug any harder?



lol, the irony, the same guy lecturing about pre-med personalities is the same one that spent his saturday studying and getting broken up with.

Good day, bro's.

Sir, you know nothing about me. Ease up on the stereotyping.

Everyone in this thread needs to get the d*ck out of their a**.

 

[fahimaz7]

Here's 12 weeks of medical school..

 

[schrizto]

Sir, you know nothing about me. Ease up on the stereotyping.

Everyone in this thread needs to get the d*ck out of their a**.

You're really not giving much commentary to this thread other than throwing curse words around... anyone who does that comes across sounding stupid.

Let's try to address the OP's original question.

I was going to agree with that but it doesn't even seem like the OP wanted serious answers when he made this thread.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Here's 12 weeks of medical school..

That doesn't look that bad for two/three months worth of work.

 

[xnfs93hy]

You're really not giving much commentary to this thread other than throwing curse words around... anyone who does that comes across sounding stupid.



I was going to agree with that but it doesn't even seem like the OP wanted serious answers when he made this thread.

Give me a break. You haven't contributed anything either. The OP was asking for a flame war regardless of whether that was his/her original intention at the time. Either way, I think the OP's question has been answered already in the previous page.

 

[schrizto]

That doesn't look that bad for two/three months worth of work.

Yeah, like you've ever had that amount of notes to study in two/three months.

 

[xnfs93hy]

Yeah, like you have ever had that amount of notes to study in two/three months.

All I meant was that it I was imagining more binders full for that period of time. That does look like a ton of work though, but not an unbearable amount if you put the time in, I would imagine.

And no, I've never had to study that much.

 

[MSSM2013]

psh....Bring it on!

I eat Gray's Anatomy for breakfast...

every time I visit hSDN I feel like I've become stupider.

 

[MSSM2013]

This schedule is completely unwarranted and unhealthy as far as I'm concerned. If you can't figure out a way to make medical school a 50-60 hour endeaver tops, class and studying included, you aren't studying efficiently and should change something. The hours you describe wouldn't allow you to sleep properly, do the things you enjoy away from school, or spend enough time being social and having friends. Pre-meds, please do NOT believe this is what you'll need to do well in medical school.

please don't tell others how to live their life.