attendance

[dmprice2]

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How many of you actually go to class everyday? If you do go then how many of your fellow classmates dont go? Seems like it would be more productive to stay at home and study 8-10 hours a day than sit in class from 8 - 5 and then go home and study 5 hr (with the exception of anatomy and some of the other lab intensive courses).

 

[MrBurns10]

I was a much happier person when I stopped going to class. You figure out what works for you, and for some (about 30% of my class by the end of the year) going to class works; that wasn't me, however. I would suggest going at first and seeing how that goes, then changing things up if necessary.

 

[Chemguync]

Starting 2nd year, I made an attempt to go to the first lecture of each block.. then I'd realize I was too bored, and just stay home.. Some blocks I didn't know what the course director looked like till exam day.

3rd year you gotta at least show up in the mornings, but find a good nap area to sneak away to for a few hours while the residents are doing their busy work

 

[kypdurron5]

Starting 2nd year, I made an attempt to go to the first lecture of each block.. then I'd realize I was too bored, and just stay home.. Some blocks I didn't know what the course director looked like till exam day.

3rd year you gotta at least show up in the mornings, but find a good nap area to sneak away to for a few hours while the residents are doing their busy work

Wow, that seems astonishingly laid back >). Would you say, on average, you still put in class time equivalent hours studying at home? Plus or minus?

 

[JC Denton]

Damn, so I'm guessing most schools don't check for attendance?
My school still feels like junior high, where 5 minutes of every hour's wasted on taking roll, and a single tardy takes off a couple percentages off your total grade.
Also, 4 absences = an instant F. 🙁

That's why I pull all-nighters and sleep in class now.
I'd actually pay attention to the lectures if the profs actually had anything meaningful to say, but listening to some monotonous voice reading from the textbook for 40 hours a week is NOT my idea of efficient learning... 😴

 

[Its_MurDAH]

Class is an utter waste of time in my opinion - atleast at my med school. I tried going to some in the beginning of m1 year but I just couldn't get past how some of the teachers talked down to us like we were in 4th grade or something. I even stopped going to anatomy lab. However, instead of staying home and studying during that time I usually ended up sleeping in till like 1pm and just lounging around till around 4pm (right after jeopardy). I played a lot of video games, watched a sh1tload of movies, and spent hours on the internet each day when I stayed home last year. Then I would go work out later in the night. M1 year was cake compared to second year in the sense that I had a ton of free time last year. This year I do need to study a lot more, but I still keep up the same routine only I will start studying later on in the night and go till 3 am or so. I also try to work out every other day.

Sometimes, my classmates will be talking about a particular professor or a workshop and I will be completely clueless. Like a poster said above me, there were times when I rolled into quizzes and exams and I would have no idea who the teacher addressing the class was. In the past 12 weeks or so, I would say I have attended class maybe 12 times and those were all ******ed mandatory attendance sessions. Thank god most of my classes don't have required attendance - that would definitely be a deal-breaker for me in choosing what med school I wanted to attend. How can any medical school justify taking roll-call? I can't even comprehend it.

The downside to not going into class is that half my class thinks I am the laziest guy in school and the other half thinks I am the biggest gunner in school. Bottom line is: I just really love sleep and I need atleast 10-11 hours a night to feel rested the next day so it's tough for me to make 9 am class.
Yeah yeah I know next year is gonna kick my *** blah blah blah.

 

[Law2Doc]

How many of you actually go to class everyday? If you do go then how many of your fellow classmates dont go? Seems like it would be more productive to stay at home and study 8-10 hours a day than sit in class from 8 - 5 and then go home and study 5 hr (with the exception of anatomy and some of the other lab intensive courses).

I'd say about 50-60% of my first two years' classes attended regularly. As for more productive it actually cuts both ways. I know people who tried studying on their own, but due to lack of motivation and focus, and a tendency to sleep in, fell drastically behind and nearly failed courses. Instead of the 8-10 hours per day of studying you suggest, they at best really just increased their goof off time and still only were able to force themselves to hit the library for the 5 hours of studying, but without the lecture to reinforce it. For them it was a bad idea.

Conversely, I know others who saw their GPAs improve a bit with the extra study time; these were self motivated folks who logged a ton of time with material, and merely changed format from lecture to book learning. So you have to know what kind of student you are. If by not attending class at 8am that means you will sleep in each day, then work out, have a relaxing lunch and still only start studying in the late afternoon, then it's a bad idea for you. You are better off getting the early start that lecture creates. If, however, you are going to be in the books at 7am regardless, it probably works out fine either way.

 

[Chemguync]

Wow, that seems astonishingly laid back >). Would you say, on average, you still put in class time equivalent hours studying at home? Plus or minus?

I studied more hours at home than I would have spent in class, but my overall study time per day was less than going to class + independent study. So I figure I got more effective studying in, in fewer hours my way.

 

[TXSurgResident]

3rd year you gotta at least show up in the mornings, but find a good nap area to sneak away to for a few hours while the residents are doing their busy work

= pass

Miss rounds/late for rounds/not doing the work you are asked to = fail

Trying to keep up with residents and helping them with whatever you can of their busy work = honours

A good resident should also know when studs cannot help or aren't needed- that means study/sleep time.

 

[dmprice2]

Thanks, sounds good so far. Anyone else?

 

[njbmd]

How many of you actually go to class everyday? If you do go then how many of your fellow classmates dont go? Seems like it would be more productive to stay at home and study 8-10 hours a day than sit in class from 8 - 5 and then go home and study 5 hr (with the exception of anatomy and some of the other lab intensive courses).

You have to do what works for you and what is within the regulations of your school. Some schools have mandatory class attendance (a little juvenile) and some don't. Wait until you actually start attending class before you start making decision on NOT to attend class. In general, what worked in pre-med will work for you in medical school with adjustment for the volume.

 

[Law2Doc]

= pass

Miss rounds/late for rounds/not doing the work you are asked to = fail

Trying to keep up with residents and helping them with whatever you can of their busy work = honours

A good resident should also know when studs cannot help or aren't needed- that means study/sleep time.

Yeah, attendance isn't going to be optional in 3rd year. You can expect to have to have seen all your patients and maybe even completed your SOAP notes before the residents even show up daily, and won't be leaving in the evening until someone gives you the nod. To do otherwise risks nasty comments in your eval. Plan on your time not being your own come 3rd year. I don't know what school the prior poster who indicated an ability to sneak away for several hours daily but it definitely isn't the norm at the vast majority of med schools.

 

[DBR]

Yeah, attendance isn't going to be optional in 3rd year. You can expect to have to have seen all your patients and maybe even completed your SOAP notes before the residents even show up daily, and won't be leaving in the evening until someone gives you the nod. To do otherwise risks nasty comments in your eval. Plan on your time not being your own come 3rd year. I don't know what school the prior poster who indicated an ability to sneak away for several hours daily but it definitely isn't the norm at the vast majority of med schools.

Actually, according to my buddy who is a 4th year at Mid Western, in DO schools attendance is optional during clinical rotations. You are evaluated based on a self evaluation and peer evaluation there so just get your friends to give you a good eval and you are set.

 

[def jeff]

I think you know whether or not going to class benefits you or not. For me, I HAVE to go to class. The thing is, if I miss class and don't see the material, its like it isn't even there to me. I know this sounds childish, but even though I might not learn much in class, I usually get scared into studying once everything is over since I have now been exposed to all this material of which I have almost no understanding. Pretty bad, huh?

 

[kypdurron5]

I think you know whether or not going to class benefits you or not. For me, I HAVE to go to class. The thing is, if I miss class and don't see the material, its like it isn't even there to me. I know this sounds childish, but even though I might not learn much in class, I usually get scared into studying once everything is over since I have now been exposed to all this material of which I have almost no understanding. Pretty bad, huh?

This was my experience in undergrad. From what I've read, it seems a lot of medical school classes consist mainly of a professor going through Powerpoint slides without really adding anything. If this is true, I could certainly understand the preference for going through it yourself. I've never had classes like this though- almost all my undergrad classes consisted of professors teaching from their own notes. This is how I learned what I needed to know and what I didn't- with the exception of a few classes here and there I almost studied entirely from my class notes without even buying the textbook. If it's true that some medical schools (or just some classes) literally give you all the notes you would take anyway....then I might not end up going to class after all >).

 

[Law2Doc]

Actually, according to my buddy who is a 4th year at Mid Western, in DO schools attendance is optional during clinical rotations. You are evaluated based on a self evaluation and peer evaluation there so just get your friends to give you a good eval and you are set.

This thread is in the allo board -- I don't pretend to know what goes on at DO schools. 🙂 You will not usually have the flexibility you describe in the third year of a US allo school. You will find that life is not your own, and that the residents expect you to be in the team room, with patients, at your lectures, or following them at their heels throughout the day, unless they tell you otherwise.

 

[Haemulon]

For me, the vast majority of classes are even worse than a waste of time, they actually fatigue my mind so that any studying after classes is even more difficult. I went to about 50% of classes first year, maybe a third so far this year, but it is dropping (with the exception of clinical correlates and workshops). I am just so much more productive if I can hit the books first thing in the morning and slug through new material on my own while my mind is fresh. The evenings I use to review and go over older material and practice tests (obviously the study pattern has to be flexible though).

I really wish lectures were more focused on difficult concepts or were structured more as reviews and QandA's (or even better, more clinical correlates!). Fewer lectures, but more highlights or focus on particularly difficult concepts would be ideal for me. But some of my classmates simply would not know what to do with themselves if they didn't hear every single word of the syllabus read aloud by the professor in a wonderfully monotonous tone at half the pace one could read it. Different strokes for different folks I guess!

 

[Iquitos]

How many of you actually go to class everyday? If you do go then how many of your fellow classmates dont go? Seems like it would be more productive to stay at home and study 8-10 hours a day than sit in class from 8 - 5 and then go home and study 5 hr (with the exception of anatomy and some of the other lab intensive courses).

Very good observation. I took me a half of a semester to have to courage to break away from class.

I was a much happier person when I stopped going to class. You figure out what works for you, and for some (about 30% of my class by the end of the year) going to class works; that wasn't me, however. I would suggest going at first and seeing how that goes, then changing things up if necessary.

I am definitely happier now that I don't go to class. I wake up in the morning when I feel completely rested, have a leisurely breakfast with the wife, and stroll across the street to school by 9 or 10. I know this will definitely have to change 3rd year, but I am going to savor the cush life of pre-clinical years before they are over. Besides I get better grades now that I don't attend class and my stress levels have subsided tremendously.

I studied more hours at home than I would have spent in class, but my overall study time per day was less than going to class + independent study. So I figure I got more effective studying in, in fewer hours my way.

Very very true👍

 

[kypdurron5]

Very good observation. I took me a half of a semester to have to courage to break away from class.



I am definitely happier now that I don't go to class. I wake up in the morning when I feel completely rested, have a leisurely breakfast with the wife, and stroll across the street to school by 9 or 10. I know this will definitely have to change 3rd year, but I am going to savor the cush life of pre-clinical years before they are over. Besides I get better grades now that I don't attend class and my stress levels have subsided tremendously.




Very very true👍

Wow, you consider being at school at 9AM completely rested with a leisurely breakfast? For me it's more like noon or 1PM >). If you're not going to lectures, then what are you doing at school at this time? For the lectures you skip....do you just study the information on your own, or do you also listen to a recording of the lecture?

I never missed an undergrad lecture, and even went when I didn't have to. I guess I was just always afraid of missing something, and also felt like putting in face time with professors might make a difference. I did have a professor bump an 89 up to an A once. Anyway, I'm worried that I'll need to break away from lectures in med school to make better use of my time, but I'm also afraid I won't be able to do it, or won't be able to do it soon enough to make a difference. I'm also afraid that a professor is going to reward/punish based on class attendance and sneak in questions that were only mentioned, or strongly emphasized only in a lecture.

 

[HEADintheCLOUDS]

Well I have done both. I started the year not going to any class and my grades slowly but steadily started dropping until on system where I thought about just cramming the two weeks before a test. I failed that one.

Now I go to every single lecture, even if they just read their handouts/powerepoints. Last test I took I got a 96%.

It may not be a causation but it damn sure is a good correlation!

 

[lunaire]

I don't go to lectures... My school records them all anyway, and I can stream it over the internet if I need to (seldom the case). It's def. more efficient, but you really need to have some good self-motivation going, as Law2Doc said.