To All Med school students: Need opinion

[shaq786]

I just wanted to know how many classes do you all have to take the first year? Science classes are tough. I can imagine 6 or 7 science classes being taken. It would be hell. Is there a requirement for a certain amount of classes that need to be taken?

Can you do summer classes in med school?

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[Bones2008]

I think most (if not all) med schools have a set curriculum for the first couple years. It's not like you can really choose when to do anything or to take classes over the summer instead of during the regular year. And yes, it is hell. The only requirement is that you pass everything, which is not nearly as easy as it sounds.

 

[shaq786]

I'm guessing for those schools that have the grade system...there is not a big A turn up????

 

[efex101]

About 32 credit hours or more...it is a lot of work get ready.

 

[MeowMix]

we only have 3 classes right now, but one of those is 15 credits

 

[DW3843]

Here is how our hours break down for the fall semester (I think)

Anatomy is 8 hrs
and this includes some embryology and radiology

Microanatomy (Histo) is 5

Biochem is 3

and we have the obligatory "how to be a good, touchy-feely doctor class" that counts for 2 hrs

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

When someone on here says they study 4 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they're struggling just to stay in PASS range, that should tell you something about the difficulty.

 

[bkmonkey]

i've got histo, embryo, gross, behavioral, fundamentals of clinical care, and medical spanish. and it's all in the first semester! i eat, breath, and sleep school

 

[Discobolus]

At my school the first year was a total of 36 credit hours and the second year is a total of 38.5 credit hours. These numbers do not correspond to undergraduate credit hours in difficulty though.

Basically every test in medical school feels like a semester final and covers about as much information.

As has been said many times before the information is not hard at all to grasp, but it's just the volume of memorization.

For example I just took a microbiology test and here is a sampling of all the "alphabet soup" of growth factors, proteins, and cytokines we had to keep straight:

C1qr2s2, C4, C4a, C4b, C2, C2a, C2b, C3, C3a, C3b, C5, C5a, C5b, C6, C7, C8, C9, Factor B, Factor D, Factor P, C1 INH, DAF, CR1, C4 BP, Factor I, TNF-alpha, Fas, FasL, Th1, Th2, IL-1, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12, IL-13, IgG, IgA, IgM, IgE, IgD, CD 40, CD 25, CD 28, B7, IFN-alpha, IFN-beta, IFN-gamma, GM-CSF, MHC-I, MHC-II, HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, HLA-DP, HLA-DQ, HLA-DR, LPS, LD3, CD 14, TLR 2, TLR 3, TLR 4, ICAM, VCAM, CD 8+, CD 4+, LTC4, LTD4, LTE4, H1, H2, H3, etc, etc. (and there are many, many more)

Then add on top of that a big list of antibiotic drugs. It's doable but the memorization of medical school sucks.

So far 2nd year has been much worse than 1st year, you just get better at studying (or in my case cramming) and it doesn't SEEM as bad.

edit: This semester I have Pathophysiology I, Microbiology, ICM-2, Genetics, and Ethics.

 

[Stinger86]

At my school the first year was a total of 36 credit hours and the second year is a total of 38.5 credit hours. These numbers do not correspond to undergraduate credit hours in difficulty though.

Basically every test in medical school feels like a semester final and covers about as much information.

As has been said many times before the information is not hard at all to grasp, but it's just the volume of memorization.

For example I just took a microbiology test and here is a sampling of all the "alphabet soup" of growth factors, proteins, and cytokines we had to keep straight:

C1qr2s2, C4, C4a, C4b, C2, C2a, C2b, C3, C3a, C3b, C5, C5a, C5b, C6, C7, C8, C9, Factor B, Factor D, Factor P, C1 INH, DAF, CR1, C4 BP, Factor I, TNF-alpha, Fas, FasL, Th1, Th2, IL-1, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-12, IL-13, IgG, IgA, IgM, IgE, IgD, CD 40, CD 25, CD 28, B7, IFN-alpha, IFN-beta, IFN-gamma, GM-CSF, MHC-I, MHC-II, HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, HLA-DP, HLA-DQ, HLA-DR, LPS, LD3, CD 14, TLR 2, TLR 3, TLR 4, ICAM, VCAM, CD 8+, CD 4+, LTC4, LTD4, LTE4, H1, H2, H3, etc, etc. (and there are many, many more)

Then add on top of that a big list of antibiotic drugs. It's doable but the memorization of medical school sucks.

So far 2nd year has been much worse than 1st year, you just get better at studying (or in my case cramming) and it doesn't SEEM as bad.

edit: This semester I have Pathophysiology I, Microbiology, ICM-2, Genetics, and Ethics.

nothing like a laundry list to emphasize a point

What's really frustrating is how you'll find out that only about 20% of what you learn in your Microbio course is actually tested on the shelf exam and the Step 1/2/etc. Kinda makes it all seem like a waste of time

 

[drlexygoat]

Right now we're at 26 hrs/week. We jump to 30 in November.
Add on to that the 2-3 hours of studying I do for most hr-long lectures and you're looking at a pretty full week!

 

[carrigallen]

What's really frustrating is how you'll find out that only about 20% of what you learn in your Microbio course is actually tested on the shelf exam and the Step 1/2/etc. Kinda makes it all seem like a waste of time

It's too bad that you can't really predict the 20% of it that will be tested though...

 

[shaq786]

Looks like I Need to improve my memorization skills then lol

 

[ndi_amaka]

It's alot of work but don't let it frighten you. It's not nearly as bad as it sounds....

 

[shaq786]

I got a new question....Why do they make science classes in med school so high in hours???

For example anatomy is 8 hours in med school!!!! Is this the same exact anatomy that I would take in college?????

 

[efex101]

Heck no! most anatomy classes in college (although at some it may be more intense) are nowhere as in depth...

 

[care bear]

It's alot of work but don't let it frighten you. It's not nearly as bad as it sounds....

speak for yourself!

 

[efex101]

Ha ha ha...that was good carebear I hear you girrrl!