Attitudes of students in University/Comm College vs Med School?

[Tsukiyo]

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I was wondering about students' attitudes in school towards academics in your undergrad schools versus medical school. Here's what I mean:

I went to a comm. college and no one cared about school where dropping out was the expected norm, and I'm a student very concerned about academics. School is my life! 🙂

However, I transferred to a university with average 25 ACT scores and 3.4+ GPAs thinking kids would care about school there.

It then surprised me when I heard kids in organic chemistry saying they were going to "BS" their results to get a better grade, and didn't really care about what they were doing in class. They study more than the CC kids, but are still way behind what I expected.

So when some of you met medical school students or went to medical school yourselves, did kids care about school? Do they party near as much? How about you? Were you a partier that changed into a study-a-holic?

I'm wondering because I've been expecting to enter a "professional" environment with students concerned about learning, and hope medical school is finally going to be that place.

 

[pianola]

I was wondering about students' attitudes in school towards academics in your undergrad schools versus medical school. Here's what I mean:

I went to a comm. college and no one cared about school where dropping out was the expected norm, and I'm a student very concerned about academics. School is my life! 🙂

However, I transferred to a university with average 25 ACT scores and 3.4+ GPAs thinking kids would care about school there.

It then surprised me when I heard kids in organic chemistry saying they were going to "BS" their results to get a better grade, and didn't really care about what they were doing in class. They study more than the CC kids, but are still way behind what I expected.

So when some of you met medical school students or went to medical school yourselves, did kids care about school? Do they party near as much? How about you? Were you a partier that changed into a study-a-holic?

I'm wondering because I've been expecting to enter a "professional" environment with students concerned about learning, and hope medical school is finally going to be that place.

Pretty much every place I've been to school (high school, undergrad, master's, and med school) *most* of the people cared about school *most* of the time. So I guess my experience may be somewhat different than yours.

There are only ~130 medical schools in the country, and, while I am only familiar with my own, my guess is that my experience is similar to those of other med students in that we tend to care about doing well.

Getting in to medical school is hard work, and most people aren't ready to just give up once they've gotten here.

Partying and taking school seriously are two different matters. Some people party, and some people don't, but most people still care about doing well in school.

 

[just one]

I was surprised just how "unprofessional" most are in my med school class. But then again, most have never been in a professional environment before. I am 31 and just a couple of years from being the oldest in my class. I obviously look at things differently than the 22 year olds. Being professional and caring about grades is entirely two separate things.

 

[pianola]

I was surprised just how "unprofessional" most are in my med school class. But then again, most have never been in a professional environment before. I am 31 and just a couple of years from being the oldest in my class. I obviously look at things differently than the 22 year olds. Being professional and caring about grades is entirely two separate things.

Probably also a good point.

Professionalism is not the same thing as [not] partying, which is not the same thing as caring about school. Those are three different topics entirely.

I guess my experience is a little different than just one's experience. At 25 (almost 26!) years old, I'd say *most* of my classmates are reasonably professional, at least in public situations, although periodically there's a certain lack of common sense...

 

[QuizzicalApe]

My classmates are professional in professional settings; the rest of the time they are themselves.

A reasonably healthy approach, I'd say.

As for attitudes toward academics, it is taken seriously but people tend to have a very well-honed sense for fluff and bull****.