Being an ESL makes med school harder?

[hsk013]

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Just wondering if being an ESL makes things harder. I am an ESL and barely passing all my classes. My friends seem to be doing well in their classes and don't need to review their notes as much as I do. Any ESL students out there care to comment on their experiences and how they pulled through med school? Getting Cs on all my classes makes wonder whether I can even pass the board down the line...

 

[cbrons]

Do you have trouble reading and understanding written English?

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[Goro]

It depends. If you have trouble with standardized exams, especially in reading and interpreting written info, then language skills may be an issue.

Just wondering if being an ESL makes things harder. I am an ESL and barely passing all my classes. My friends seem to be doing well in their classes and don't need to review their notes as much as I do. Any ESL students out there care to comment on their experiences and how they pulled through med school? Getting Cs on all my classes makes wonder whether I can even pass the board down the line...

 

[Postictal Raiden]

If you were able to score on the MCAT verbal well enough to get you in medical school, then language shouldn't be a barrier.

 

[hsk013]

Thanks, everyone. I mean I understand everything that professors say during the lecture. It's just that when I review their handouts and exam questions, I sometimes have to spend extra time to interpret what is being written. And even then, I wouldn't fully understand what is being said. The language probably isn't the biggest barrier when it comes to my performance, but I feel like it plays a role regardless (whether small or not).

 

[.hematoma.]

Try pre-reading the content in the morning so that you understand what the basics are and then can ask questions to professors when they lecture to clarify things. Saves time, and should resolve your concern of spending extra time interpreting what's being written since you are learning on your own first and verifying in class!

 

[musicalfeet]

Kind of understand, since English tends to be a bit of a weak spot for me too (both writing and reading) and it also technically wasn't my first language since I don't speak it at home. And yes, it does mean that I don't catch a lot of stuff on the first go when I read lecture notes, and I have to look up quite a bit of stuff while studying. But it shouldn't be that much harder, at least in M1 because you should be vaguely familiar with some of the terms they use already.

I would read over the notes before the "due" date and let it marinate. A lot of the times, I don't understand things in the moment and then the next day it somehow clicks.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

I go to a DO school but I imagine it's the same. I'm also ESL. It wasn't a problem in undergrad because I had the time to read and re read everything at a reasonable pace but it became apparent very quickly in med school that my reading skills were going to take hours away from actual studying. I had 2 options: improve reading or learn a different way. I chose path 2 because, again, no time. I know write outlines for all my classes and when I read a text. My grades got better within 1 month. My school also has a learning specialist who helped me walk through the transition. Good luck.

 

[mohamedi]

Being an ESL is really frustrating. My sGPA is 3.90 and cGPA is 3.6. My GPA took a hard hit when I got a D+ in one of them English intensive classes. MCAT 130 CP, 130 BB, 126 PS, 121 CARS (pretty bad, effing HATE it). I read, write, and understand english pretty well, but when it comes to English literature (music, shakespear, drama, fiction, novels, ...you name it), I am almost blank.

 

[7331poas]

Being an ESL is really frustrating. My sGPA is 3.90 and cGPA is 3.6. My GPA took a hard hit when I got a D+ in one of them English intensive classes. MCAT 130 CP, 130 BB, 126 PS, 121 CARS (pretty bad, effing HATE it). I read, write, and understand english pretty well, but when it comes to English literature (music, shakespear, drama, fiction, novels, ...you name it), I am almost blank.

Damn, u got admitted with a 121?

 

[mohamedi]

Not yet. I applied to 30+ schools this June. Will see where my fate will take me.

 

[mohamedi]

Any of you ESL guys applying this year?

 

[7331poas]

Any of you ESL guys applying this year?

you probably would have better luck in the pre-med forum