Anyone scared of flunking out of medical school?

[sindee1984]

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I haven't even applied and I am afraid of becoming the dummy of my class and possibly flunking out of med school. I'm doing well as an undergrad with a 3.75 GPA, but I find that I'm a little slow. For example, if I am learning new material in a science lecture, I usually record the lecture and listen to it later. I do this because I can't write down what the professor is saying fast enough, and because I tend to get confused and lost to the point I don't know what the heck the professor is talking about. When I go home and study the material at my own pace however, I understand, but I also go to office hours a lot to clarify things...I've noticed some people are able to follow along well during lecture (i.e. they ask the professor questions during lecture, while meanwhile I don't know what's going on...) So...

Is anyone who is reading this similar to me? Do you think I will struggle in medical school since the pace is sooooo fast? Btw, do office hours exist in medical school?

 

[Law2Doc]

I haven't even applied and I am afraid of becoming the dummy of my class and possibly flunking out of med school. I'm doing well as an undergrad with a 3.75 GPA, but I find that I'm a little slow. For example, if I am learning new material in a science lecture, I usually record the lecture and listen to it later. I do this because I can't write down what the professor is saying fast enough, and because I tend to get confused and lost to the point I don't know what the heck the professor is talking about. When I go home and study the material at my own pace however, I understand, but I also go to office hours a lot to clarify things...I've noticed some people are able to follow along well during lecture (i.e. they ask the professor questions during lecture, while meanwhile I don't know what's going on...) So...

Is anyone who is reading this similar to me? Do you think I will struggle in medical school since the pace is sooooo fast? Btw, do office hours exist in medical school?

If admissions accepts you, they believe you will do fine in med school. Only about 1.5% of all med students “fail out”, although at some schools, a not insignificant percentage may fail a course and have to repeat it. In med school the name of the game is repetition, so if you have to rewatch a lecture, that’s one of your secondary passes through the material.

 

[airshad8]

Dunno- I've heard from many that med school is a breeze compared to UG, especially if you are like me and continually took on more than you could handle through UG. But from what I've heard from medical students, though the pace is fast, you do get a lot of your own time to study for it (and not spend it on doing ECs to build an app) so it really works out. If you have the work ethic to study on your own, even when you don't get it (and it seems like you do), you should be fine. People like me, who bank on not studying and 'just getting it during lecture' are the ones in trouble, because that is one thing that no longer works in medical school.

 

[UIC Killa]

I haven't even applied and I am afraid of becoming the dummy of my class and possibly flunking out of med school. I'm doing well as an undergrad with a 3.75 GPA, but I find that I'm a little slow. For example, if I am learning new material in a science lecture, I usually record the lecture and listen to it later. I do this because I can't write down what the professor is saying fast enough, and because I tend to get confused and lost to the point I don't know what the heck the professor is talking about. When I go home and study the material at my own pace however, I understand, but I also go to office hours a lot to clarify things...I've noticed some people are able to follow along well during lecture (i.e. they ask the professor questions during lecture, while meanwhile I don't know what's going on...) So...

Is anyone who is reading this similar to me? Do you think I will struggle in medical school since the pace is sooooo fast? Btw, do office hours exist in medical school?

no you will not fail out of medical school if you put in the effort...ur method seems like a good method to me...everyone is different...those people in ur class that follow along have either read the material beforehand or they have been exposed to it before...imagine you studied the material beforehand at your own pace and then went to lecture...how much easier would everything be to pick up...anyone who tells you that they "just know it" are lying...they either studied it or had been exposed to it beforehand...keep doing what you are doing because it seems to working...good luck👍

P.S. There are office hours in medical school...plus not only is the pace faster but the volume of material is much much greater...however, the concepts are not ridicolous and they are easy to understand...there are just a lot of them to know...

 

[DoctorFunk]

Dunno- I've heard from many that med school is a breeze compared to UG...

Oops...there goes your credibility!

 

[Law2Doc]

Oops...there goes your credibility!

Agreed.
I think it's safe to say that you all will be working at full capacity in med school, and that you will find that what you previously thought was full capacity in undergrad wasn't even close.

 

[DoctorFunk]

Agreed.
I think it's safe to say that you all will be working at full capacity in med school, and that you will find that what you previously thought was full capacity in undergrad wasn't even close.

I would also like to add that for those of you who think the BS extracurriculars associated with getting into med school stop when you matriculate, you'll soon find out just how many extracurriculars there are in med school to waste your time with in the name of demonstrating "leadership" to residency programs.

Those of you who find yourselves hopelessly trying to multitask with classes and ECs now are probably those who will end up being a board member of 7 different clubs when you get to med school.

 

[Eric Lindros]

Dunno- I've heard from many that med school is a breeze compared to UG, especially if you are like me and continually took on more than you could handle through UG.

Joke of the year right here. You should go into comedy!

 

[airshad8]

I am serious guys! Medical school is SOO SIMMMPOOOOHH!! I could do it like with my eyes closedz!!

 

[Dookter]

I haven't even applied and I am afraid of becoming the dummy of my class and possibly flunking out of med school. I'm doing well as an undergrad with a 3.75 GPA, but I find that I'm a little slow. For example, if I am learning new material in a science lecture, I usually record the lecture and listen to it later. I do this because I can't write down what the professor is saying fast enough, and because I tend to get confused and lost to the point I don't know what the heck the professor is talking about. When I go home and study the material at my own pace however, I understand, but I also go to office hours a lot to clarify things...I've noticed some people are able to follow along well during lecture (i.e. they ask the professor questions during lecture, while meanwhile I don't know what's going on...) So...

Is anyone who is reading this similar to me? Do you think I will struggle in medical school since the pace is sooooo fast? Btw, do office hours exist in medical school?

I am exactly like you. I get NOTHING out of classes. I don't even go to gross anatomy lab either. So I basically sit at home and do medical school on my time. Why? B/c it works better that way. Let's face it, most teachers are not that great. I often find that lectures make sense after you already know what is going on. This is why the lecturer is like, "Yeah, this is a good lecture. They will understand the material." Obviously it makes sense to the lecturer who has been researching this stuff for like 20 years! So what do I do? I read the notes, etc., to learn the language. THEN I watch the lecture online. It makes a LOT more sense that way.

So don't feel like you're alone. I went to all my lectures/labs in undergrad and wasted an ENORMOUS amount of time doing so. Not everyone learns best in lecture. Fortunately for you, many medical schools have systems built in where if you learn better from home you can just stay at home. The biggest difference from undergrad is that now instead of having a book and no instruction if you skip class, you have the notes, the lecture videotaped online, etc.

 

[psipsina]

to the OP: I don't go to class in medschool either, and when I started doing this my grades shot up. You just have to be disciplined enough that you spend the time that would otherwise be spent in lecture studying, and then study a bit later on too like you would have if you had gone to class. It doesn't matter how you get it into your head in medschool, as long as you get it into your head.

to the guy who said medschool is easy: um no. first off the volume that we are talking about is something you can't really even comprehend until you're doing it. I had family recently come into town and the wanted to see what I was learning, when I showed them what two blocks worth of material looks like their eyes bulged out of their heads, and these aren't uneducated people, these were phds. second, if you are at all interested in matching into something competitive (and for most of us we just want to keep the option open incase the thing we fall in love with happens to be competitive) that whole ECs game will not stop when you start medschool, I'm on leadership for a club, I write for a newsletter, I volunteer in the ER, I visit with peds patients at a children's hospital, I'm helping plan a summer camp for disabled kids, and trying to figure out how to fit research and some connection making type shadowing into all this. yeah, its a friggin breeze.

 

[airshad8]

Don't shoot the messenger here. I was only reporting what some people I had talked to had said. I obviously don't know what it's like and am NOT credible as I am still in UG. However, I guess it just depends on the person. The people who told me this were surgical fellows out of schools like Duke, Cornell and Yale medical, maybe they were just super smart or something. They gave me the impression that medical school was less stressful, particularly because of the P/F deal, or in the case of Yale- no grades at all. I am sure it's a lot of work, and the material is much more intense as it should be. Apologies for seeming insensitive to all your hard work psipsina. I still think I could do it with my eyes closed, however.

 

[Law2Doc]

Don't shoot the messenger here. I was only reporting what some people I had talked to had said. I obviously don't know what it's like and am NOT credible as I am still in UG. However, I guess it just depends on the person. The people who told me this were surgical fellows out of schools like Duke, Cornell and Yale medical, maybe they were just super smart or something. They gave me the impression that medical school was less stressful, particularly because of the P/F deal, or in the case of Yale- no grades at all. I am sure it's a lot of work, and the material is much more intense as it should be. Apologies for seeming insensitive to all your hard work psipsina. I still think I could do it with my eyes closed, however.

It's not uncommon for folks years out to look back and say how easy it was. But I suspect they didn't think so at the time. Yale's gradeless rankless system is the exception, not the rule.

 

[DrMom]

Don't shoot the messenger here. I was only reporting what some people I had talked to had said. I obviously don't know what it's like and am NOT credible as I am still in UG. However, I guess it just depends on the person. The people who told me this were surgical fellows out of schools like Duke, Cornell and Yale medical, maybe they were just super smart or something. They gave me the impression that medical school was less stressful, particularly because of the P/F deal, or in the case of Yale- no grades at all. I am sure it's a lot of work, and the material is much more intense as it should be. Apologies for seeming insensitive to all your hard work psipsina. I still think I could do it with my eyes closed, however.

Well, in many ways med school is easier than residency--especially surgical--so maybe their recollection of med school and undergrad is skewed by their residency experiences.

 

[psipsina]

Don't shoot the messenger here. I was only reporting what some people I had talked to had said. I obviously don't know what it's like and am NOT credible as I am still in UG. However, I guess it just depends on the person. The people who told me this were surgical fellows out of schools like Duke, Cornell and Yale medical, maybe they were just super smart or something. They gave me the impression that medical school was less stressful, particularly because of the P/F deal, or in the case of Yale- no grades at all. I am sure it's a lot of work, and the material is much more intense as it should be. Apologies for seeming insensitive to all your hard work psipsina. I still think I could do it with my eyes closed, however.

no hurt feelings here (though assuming that you can do something "with your eyes closed" that you have never experienced before does come off as a bit arrogant), I was just trying to keep anyone from reading your post and walking into medschool blind to what it will really be like.

The volume is intense and you do not get to stop participating in ECs (as your post suggested), anyone entering medschool should be aware of this fact and come ready to work their tails off. If it turns out that you can in fact do it "with your eyes closed" then thats great for you, but to say that this is the common experience is untrue. I think the people you spoke to now think that medschool was a breeze compared to what comes after it, i.e. residency, which I'm sure is true, but saying that medschool is easy is just silly. I suggest you wander over to the allo forum and read some of what current medstudents are saying and you will see a different picture painted for you.

Though I am working alot harder, I do enjoy medschool alot more than undergrad, as all of my classes seem pertinent to my future and the things I have the opportunity to be involved in for ECs are much more rewarding. I'm not saying that medschool isn't something to look forward to, just that you shouldn't expect it to be a walk in the park.

 

[airshad8]

the eyes closed thing was a joke- mocking how people started gunning me for my original post. no arrogance here.

 

[psipsina]

the eyes closed thing was a joke- mocking how people started gunning me for my original post. no arrogance here.

sorry for the misunderstanding, too much histology early in the morning kills my attention to subtlety and humor aparently.

 

[dutchman]

You should be more concerned about flunking into the wrong specialty

 

[airshad8]

You should be more concerned about flunking into the wrong specialty

yeah i am so afraid of that. i know so many residents absolutely miserable for chosing the wrong one.

 

[baylormed]

yeah i am so afraid of that. i know so many residents absolutely miserable for chosing the wrong one.

Hey, the contract's not binding, you can always change your mind.

 

[Eric Lindros]

I'm more scared of mediocrity rather than failure. While I can say that I am prepared to deal with the fact that I might be getting C's in med school istead of As and Bs that I am used to, I'm still nervous about how it might affect my self esteem. I think this is a huge problem for many students.

As others have said, flat out failure is quite rare because most schools make sure the students do not get to that point.

 

[dutchman]

I'm more scared of mediocrity rather than failure. While I can say that I am prepared to deal with the fact that I might be getting C's in med school istead of As and Bs that I am used to, I'm still nervous about how it might affect my self esteem. I think this is a huge problem for many students.

As others have said, flat out failure is quite rare because most schools make sure the students do not get to that point.

Yeah, so don't go in thinking you are the the best. Just work hard and focus on your own personal progress. You can drain yourself mentally when you get into the cycle of comparison.

 

[Law2Doc]

I'm more scared of mediocrity rather than failure. While I can say that I am prepared to deal with the fact that I might be getting C's in med school istead of As and Bs that I am used to, I'm still nervous about how it might affect my self esteem. I think this is a huge problem for many students.

As others have said, flat out failure is quite rare because most schools make sure the students do not get to that point.

It's a legitimate worry, because half of your (and every) med school class is going to be below average. And you'd better believe many of those students got all or mostly A's in college. For many, med school is a great awakening, where you realize how much you really don't know, and how much more impressive some of your classmates are. For many, the humbling ends up being a necessary and positive thing, and they grow and learn from it.