Not stressed in medical school

miniagent007 said:

I'm just wondering if I'm the only one! I realize there may be differences among medical schools and that I'm only a 1st year, but so far I've found that medical school is MUCH less stressful than undergrad. There's a lot of information to absorb, but it's doable and I don't spend all my time studying. I even have time to work with kids from my church, play my musical instrument, watch TV, and maintain a long-distance relationship.

I'm not posting this to rub it in anybody's face - I'm just wondering if anybody else is having a similar experience, especially past 1st year! I realize this feeling may not last, but at least I'm getting off to a good start

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Come back and read this in a year or two.

ummmm...undergrad....stressful? Idk about you, but I'd cut multiple classes everyday, not study whatsoever, and still pull off an A in just about every course. I can't say I do the same in med school lol

What did you major in?

miniagent007 said:

I'm just wondering if I'm the only one! I realize there may be differences among medical schools and that I'm only a 1st year, but so far I've found that medical school is MUCH less stressful than undergrad. There's a lot of information to absorb, but it's doable and I don't spend all my time studying. I even have time to work with kids from my church, play my musical instrument, watch TV, and maintain a long-distance relationship.

I'm not posting this to rub it in anybody's face - I'm just wondering if anybody else is having a similar experience, especially past 1st year! I realize this feeling may not last, but at least I'm getting off to a good start

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Im not stressed...but i do work all the time. 2nd year is a good deal more work, but you just get better at it.

Undergrad was waaaaay less stressful. Putting off studying for days and days without reaping any consequences. Those were the days...

Med school is def easier information, there is no really thinking involved. At least compared to undergrad. I mean volume is way different, but that doesnt matter when your baseline resets i think.

Medical school is alot more stressful for people who want to do competitive residency programs

I too thought med school was far easier than undergrad for 1st year... then 2nd year came around. I don't think its actually possible to read the texts AND go to class here and you begin despising anything that takes time away from studying until you realize you must start dropping things (like ignoring the notes and not going to class) to stay sane and have real relationships. This sort of day limiting time crunch is something I've never experienced before.

celkon said:

Medical school is alot more stressful for people who want to do competitive residency programs

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This. If I knew I wanted FP/Psych etc. Medical school would be a joke.

DrBowtie said:

This. If I knew I wanted FP/Psych etc. Medical school would be a joke.

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I can kinda understand that but grades 1st and 2nd year don't matter right? I'm siding with the OP on this one(at least 1st year), undergrad was stressful at times because you needed A's letters of rec, good mcat etc. Now, I need to pass - and they spoon feed u the information. Med school to me is like college but with finals week every 3-4 weeks when we have a block of exams. Def not nearly as fun, but 3 weeks into the 2nd semester and I haven't done nearly anything other than go to class and I feel fine... lots of drinking and hanging out

miniagent007 said:

I'm just wondering if I'm the only one! I realize there may be differences among medical schools and that I'm only a 1st year, but so far I've found that medical school is MUCH less stressful than undergrad. There's a lot of information to absorb, but it's doable and I don't spend all my time studying. I even have time to work with kids from my church, play my musical instrument, watch TV, and maintain a long-distance relationship.

I'm not posting this to rub it in anybody's face - I'm just wondering if anybody else is having a similar experience, especially past 1st year! I realize this feeling may not last, but at least I'm getting off to a good start

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You'll eat these words one day. ONE DAY!

Thus far med school has been WAY less stressful than what I did prior to.

I also just learned this from a doctor I was shadowing--first and second year grades DO MATTER. You will get ****ty recs if you just barely pass, even if you have a p/f curriculum. Wish our administration made this clear to us so I didn't have to learn it halfway through MS1!

bomgd3 said:

I also just learned this from a doctor I was shadowing--first and second year grades DO MATTER. You will get ****ty recs if you just barely pass, even if you have a p/f curriculum. Wish our administration made this clear to us so I didn't have to learn it halfway through MS1!

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You don't usually get recs from the first two years. But the grades do matter for rank and AOA as mentioned above.

LOL. God bless you, newbie.

Mile 1 of marathon, miniagent: "I don't know why people say running marathons is tough... jeez I'm not even out of breath."

miniagent007 said:

I'm just wondering if I'm the only one! I realize there may be differences among medical schools and that I'm only a 1st year, but so far I've found that medical school is MUCH less stressful than undergrad. There's a lot of information to absorb, but it's doable and I don't spend all my time studying. I even have time to work with kids from my church, play my musical instrument, watch TV, and maintain a long-distance relationship.

I'm not posting this to rub it in anybody's face - I'm just wondering if anybody else is having a similar experience, especially past 1st year! I realize this feeling may not last, but at least I'm getting off to a good start

Click to expand...

bomgd3 said:

I also just learned this from a doctor I was shadowing--first and second year grades DO MATTER. You will get ****ty recs if you just barely pass, even if you have a p/f curriculum. Wish our administration made this clear to us so I didn't have to learn it halfway through MS1!

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This must be school dependent, at my school pretty much everything is dependent on 3rd year.


To the OP..... I would agree. Med school doesnt have to be stressful. Its a lot of work, but if you stay on top of it, you can still have time for a life. I find that the people in my class get stressed b/c they procastinate just a liiiiiittle too long and then there is the feeling of "Effffff, I'm really behind." Thats streesful. And as otherss have said, I imagine it can be more stressful if your goal is one of the very competitive specialties b/c you will be trying to be the best at everything you do b/c it does actually matter. The good news is that MOST med students won't be going in to these specialties so for most people grades really dont matter. If you've decided that you aren't set on one of those said specialties, then thats that. Study hard to learn material you feel is important and enjoy your life! The same goes for the Step 1....something like 95% of students pass the test. Depending on what you want to go in to can sway the importance of your score heavily one way or another, but just like the rest of school if you put in the time and keep your head on straight, you are going to do fine. Its just a test, just a score. In the end, you are going to be a physician no matter what. So many more important things in life to worry about.

Agree with OP. Undergrad was brutal (major was physics), I was absolutely more stressed about getting into medical school, finishing up research, etc. Med school, including Step 1 and third year (just finished internal medicine and surgery) has been less stressful. And I want to go into a pretty competitive specialty (ENT).

I think the pressure came off when I actually got in. As far as I was concerned, it was all a matter of putting in the time after that.

My understanding is that our LOR's are based on class rank, which are partially based on MS1 and MS2 grades. So bad grades = bad rec.

I do agree that getting into med school was way harder than MS1 so far. I did biomedical engineering, worked a lot, and was in a pretty serious relationship--all of which took tons of time! I can't believe how stressed out I was during my senior year. It was tough getting used to anatomy, but it's pretty easy to remember all the relationships now.

miniagent007 said:

I'm just wondering if I'm the only one! I realize there may be differences among medical schools and that I'm only a 1st year, but so far I've found that medical school is MUCH less stressful than undergrad. There's a lot of information to absorb, but it's doable and I don't spend all my time studying. I even have time to work with kids from my church, play my musical instrument, watch TV, and maintain a long-distance relationship.

I'm not posting this to rub it in anybody's face - I'm just wondering if anybody else is having a similar experience, especially past 1st year! I realize this feeling may not last, but at least I'm getting off to a good start

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1st year is the easiest year outside of 4th year. I definitely had a decent amount of free time.

It doesn't compare to undergrad but then again my UG GPA wasn't great so maybe I should have been a little more stressed back then

I wanted to keep my options open and get back home for residency (Cali) so med school has been stressful but not as bad as thought it would be. After adjusting at the beginning of each year it's not too bad. The most stressful time was probably post-Step waiting for my score.

Wait till you hit third year It's more fun, but you're much, much more fatigued, you have to show up and perform every day, and the automatic assumption is that you are an idiot.

And yes, fourth year is a cakewalk. I haven't seen a patient in 3 months!

miniagent007 said:

5) I have a fluffy orange cat who thinks I'm Jesus.

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Best. Reason. Ever!

thedoctor8706 said:

Undergrad was waaaaay less stressful. Putting off studying for days and days without reaping any consequences. Those were the days...

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hit the nail on the head there...

miniagent007 said:

1) In undergrad I was a bio major with chemistry, music, and religion minors; section leader in the wind ensemble; nursing home volunteer; and holding down two jobs.

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Ok, so you went to school full time with a triple minor, had time to be a band leader, and worked essentially three jobs (two jobs + volunteering)? You should probably qualify your statement a little more than that. For example, I went to school full time and held down ONLY one job, that I worked at for 40-50 hrs a week (which is a lot different than working 3 hours 1 day a wk at two different jobs, plus serving soup for an hour on sunday, which I wouldn't exactly call "holding down two jobs and volunteering").

On topic, the only thing I found stressful was studying for the step 1 (and soon step 2...lame).

bomgd3 said:

My understanding is that our LOR's are based on class rank, which are partially based on MS1 and MS2 grades. So bad grades = bad rec.

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Probably want to talk to your dean about this so you understand how it works.

First off, LORs are from docs you work with and they write about whatever they want. Yes your step 1/2 and work on rotations will matter to them but NONE of my 5 letter writers asked about my first and second year grades (my schools is H/P/F)

There is a DEANs LETTER which goes to every residency you apply to. This will often depend on class rank. But less than you may think. Our school it breaks down to a single word in the letter which is a code for (top 10%, 10-25%, 25-80%, below 80%) certainly nothing worth killing myself over.

As mentioned above, if you want something competitive then AOA starts to matter and then MS1 and MS2 come into play. But for most people first and second year is about getting a basis for clinical years and doing well on step 1.

alwaysaangel said:

Probably want to talk to your dean about this so you understand how it works.

First off, LORs are from docs you work with and they write about whatever they want. Yes your step 1/2 and work on rotations will matter to them but NONE of my 5 letter writers asked about my first and second year grades (my schools is H/P/F)

There is a DEANs LETTER which goes to every residency you apply to. This will often depend on class rank. But less than you may think. Our school it breaks down to a single word in the letter which is a code for (top 10%, 10-25%, 25-80%, below 80%) certainly nothing worth killing myself over.

As mentioned above, if you want something competitive then AOA starts to matter and then MS1 and MS2 come into play. But for most people first and second year is about getting a basis for clinical years and doing well on step 1.

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Our dean's letter works basically the same, if you don't fail anything the difference between passing everything above 90% and passing everything is only a couple words. If you fail a class even if you remediate the letter doesn't look as nice Then AOA is based on 3rd year grades and your step 1 score, with a look at first two years but basically only to see if you passed everything. And letters do not come from the basic science profs, unless I guess maybe you do research with them?

ruiner said:

Our dean's letter works basically the same, if you don't fail anything the difference between passing everything above 90% and passing everything is only a couple words. If you fail a class even if you remediate the letter doesn't look as nice Then AOA is based on 3rd year grades and your step 1 score, with a look at first two years but basically only to see if you passed everything. And letters do not come from the basic science profs, unless I guess maybe you do research with them?

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The difference may be a couple of words, but heres the kicker. Most PDs will see many, many applicants from the same school. When a few top students are described as "exceptional," some very good candidates are "great," most applicants are "very good" and the bottom few are "solid," the PD can very easily figure out what the code means.

Right, sorry, Dean's letter is what I meant.

How many of you guys strongly factored this in to your medical school decisions before you matriculated? The scariest thing about one of my acceptances was the students who gave us tours of the school were talking about how they didn't have time to do anything else but study.

The sanity of the medical students I met while interviewing was a pretty big indicator to me of what it will take to be successful among my peers in school... and I think I'm heavily leaning towards the school which had minimal class-time and minimal student stress.

DoctwoB said:

The difference may be a couple of words, but heres the kicker. Most PDs will see many, many applicants from the same school. When a few top students are described as "exceptional," some very good candidates are "great," most applicants are "very good" and the bottom few are "solid," the PD can very easily figure out what the code means.

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Of course they can figure it out.

I mean for your third year grades most schools show them exactly how many people honor/pass/fail so they know where you stand for the most part.

With the exception of very few specialties...no one cares.

Undergrad - 3 hours of lecture, max 5 hours per week of studying/homework even on exam weeks

First 2 years of med school - 4 hours of lecture, 2 hours per weekday of studying, plus 6-8 hours of studying the day before a block exam

3rd year - 8-16 hours per day in hospital/clinics/lectures/grand rounds, call every other week, 1-2 hours of studying per night

The hospital will eat you alive on med, surg, and ob/gyn.

ruiner said:

Our dean's letter works basically the same, if you don't fail anything the difference between passing everything above 90% and passing everything is only a couple words. If you fail a class even if you remediate the letter doesn't look as nice Then AOA is based on 3rd year grades and your step 1 score, with a look at first two years but basically only to see if you passed everything. And letters do not come from the basic science profs, unless I guess maybe you do research with them?

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Guess I'm screwed. I managed to fail neuroscience in MS1 and had to remediate over the summer. As if that's not bad enough, I've only passed (instead of high-pass or honor) just about every course first year...and second year isn't looking any better. **** **** ****.

I'm not looking to do anything crazy competitive, but I'm afraid I won't be able to match into a decent program closer to my partner. I know it sounds stupid to want to match into a hospital in a certain state/region because of love, but I'm pretty miserable right now doing long distance....don't think I could keep doing it during residency.
Why did I choose this career? Why???

medstudent87 said:

Guess I'm screwed. I managed to fail neuroscience in MS1 and had to remediate over the summer. As if that's not bad enough, I've only passed (instead of high-pass or honor) just about every course first year...and second year isn't looking any better. **** **** ****.

I'm not looking to do anything crazy competitive, but I'm afraid I won't be able to match into a decent program closer to my partner. I know it sounds stupid to want to match into a hospital in a certain state/region because of love, but I'm pretty miserable right now doing long distance....don't think I could keep doing it during residency.
Why did I choose this career? Why???

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You won't reach your goals with that attitude. Buck up! You've got a lot of time left before the match to improve your chances. If you really want to work in a certain geographical area, I'm sure you can make it happen.

buckeye12 said:

Undergrad - 3 hours of lecture, max 5 hours per week of studying/homework even on exam weeks

First 2 years of med school - 4 hours of lecture, 2 hours per weekday of studying, plus 6-8 hours of studying the day before a block exam

3rd year - 8-16 hours per day in hospital/clinics/lectures/grand rounds, call every other week, 1-2 hours of studying per night

The hospital will eat you alive on med, surg, and ob/gyn.

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Okay, maybe you're just a genius, but I don't know a single person who studies just 2 hours per weekday plus 6-8 hours before an exam.

BloodnGuts said:

You won't reach your goals with that attitude. Buck up! You've got a lot of time left before the match to improve your chances. If you really want to work in a certain geographical area, I'm sure you can make it happen.

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oh, premeds...how innocent, and cute

medstudent87 said:

oh, premeds...how innocent, and cute

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Ha, I'm a med student who sort of agrees with the pre-med. It depends on what specialty and what region really

Different stress for me. Not being a science major, first year was pretty rough at first since I never really took a heavy science load before. Second year is just exhausting because it is a daily grind. Other people can blow off a few days, but I can't. I am also interested in competitive specialities. I do feel my senior year of college was much more stressful overall, but I also think I've just adjusted to the stress level now. I don't really think much about having several hundred slides of powerpoint to cover and then a random reflection paper to write followed by some practice questions to polish things off.

So, "stressful" maybe on test week but monotonous....absolutely. It really is just a test to see who can give a damn the longest it seems.

miniagent007 said:

I'm just wondering if I'm the only one! I realize there may be differences among medical schools and that I'm only a 1st year, but so far I've found that medical school is MUCH less stressful than undergrad. There's a lot of information to absorb, but it's doable and I don't spend all my time studying. I even have time to work with kids from my church, play my musical instrument, watch TV, and maintain a long-distance relationship.

I'm not posting this to rub it in anybody's face - I'm just wondering if anybody else is having a similar experience, especially past 1st year! I realize this feeling may not last, but at least I'm getting off to a good start

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Good for you man. No need to feel ashamed about feeling good about life. It's good to have a life outside of medical school, and it's awesome that you do some service. I think that helps your mental health, because you feel like you did more than just read stuff in a given day.

I've had both stressful and non-stressful times. It's kind of a cycle, but then again I've always been a stress-wad. Wish I wasn't, but it is what it is. Overall, I definitely have more control over my life in medical school. I worked full time during undergrad so I rarely had a spare second, and in medical school I have demanding course work but more autonomy with my routine.

bomgd3 said:

Okay, maybe you're just a genius, but I don't know a single person who studies just 2 hours per weekday plus 6-8 hours before an exam.

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It's not that unusual depending on your study habits. I'm a second year who studies just a couple hours a weekday plus more in the couple days before an exam, and it's still enough to get at least above average in every theme. Frankly, it's harder for me to believe that people can study for more than a couple hours at a time without dramatically losing efficiency and concentration.

medstudent87 said:

Guess I'm screwed. I managed to fail neuroscience in MS1 and had to remediate over the summer. As if that's not bad enough, I've only passed (instead of high-pass or honor) just about every course first year...and second year isn't looking any better. **** **** ****.

I'm not looking to do anything crazy competitive, but I'm afraid I won't be able to match into a decent program closer to my partner. I know it sounds stupid to want to match into a hospital in a certain state/region because of love, but I'm pretty miserable right now doing long distance....don't think I could keep doing it during residency.
Why did I choose this career? Why???

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Hey I'm the last guy to be throwing stones, I was just telling you how ours worked. There is still a long way to go, maybe you won't get some ROADE residency at a big fancy university but theres nothing to say that you wont be able to match into something near your partner.