Can med-school change your personality?

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daughmis

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I shadowed an orthopedic surgeon not too long ago and he told me about how when he was in med-school he became "weird" from all the studying and isolation. Recently, I studied for the MCAT and I felt like I became more neurotic and anal-retentive. I was wondering if anyone else has felt a shift in their personality while attending med-school?

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I shadowed an orthopedic surgeon not too long ago and he told me about how when he was in med-school he became "weird" from all the studying and isolation. Recently, I studied for the MCAT and I felt like I became more neurotic and anal-retentive. I was wondering if anyone else has felt a shift in their personality while attending med-school?

haha... studying for the MCAT is nothing compared to med school.
 
gotta love premeds... yes, med school changes you.. for some people in terms of amounts of hair follicles and for others their personalities... everyone is different...
 
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I wouldn't call it change. From my experience, medical school tends to bring out and amplify certain parts of people's personalities that they already possess. For some it is for better and for others it is for the worse.

As a personal experience, med school did make me more cynical than I was before. Now that it is almost over for me, I am really trying to get back to my baseline :laugh:.
 
Based on having a practicing EM doc tell me that in no uncertain terms, yeah, I'd say it can change you.

Whether or not it actually does is a different story entirely.
 
Weren't you changed by high school? Undergrad?

Why would medical school be different?

I don't know about you but I'm exactly the same as I was when I was 14! :D
 
gotta love premeds... yes, med school changes you.. for some people in terms of amounts of hair follicles and for others their personalities... everyone is different...

And every school is different!

I know several people who went away to different schools...all changed in different ways and its understandable because there are different stresses depending on where you're at...pass/fail or A-F, living in city vs country, PBL or just lecture, are the fellow students nice or neurotic, etc...all the factors contribute
 
I shadowed an orthopedic surgeon not too long ago and he told me about how when he was in med-school he became "weird" from all the studying and isolation. Recently, I studied for the MCAT and I felt like I became more neurotic and anal-retentive. I was wondering if anyone else has felt a shift in their personality while attending med-school?

The only real change I've noticed is that because so many of the folks who make it into med school represent the nerdiest percent of college, folks who were probably not considered very cool in college get their turn to be BMOC now that all the average grade folks have been truncated away. That plus the fact that studying long hours daily tends to bring out everyone's neurosis.
 
I shadowed an orthopedic surgeon not too long ago and he told me about how when he was in med-school he became "weird" from all the studying and isolation. Recently, I studied for the MCAT and I felt like I became more neurotic and anal-retentive. I was wondering if anyone else has felt a shift in their personality while attending med-school?

I'm hoping it will change you somewhat. You're learning a lot of new stuff that will change your outlook and perceptions and these will inevitably impact your personality to a degree.
 
I wouldn't call it a personality change b/c if that's the case, then you need to see a psychologist/psychiatrist (multiple personality disorder comes to mind). Med school is stressful in that you are required to master some pretty difficult concepts in a very limited amount of time. It really changes you in turns of how you handle that kind of stress. Some people learn to handle it well so they don't become neurotic or isolated. Some people mal-adapt to the point that they are ultra-competitive and paranoid. Personality is a very stable trait. It's the interaction between your intrinsic personality and extrinsic stressors that determine how you act in certain situations.

All right, that's it for all the psycho-analysis.
 
See I found that most of my old friends from highschool and before are very different people then they were at 14. I'd hope not everyone is completely the same as they were at 14. Surely youve learned life lessons a long the way that have matured you and made you more experienced with life, you've had a chance to meet with different types of people that have broadened your view of the world, and so forth. That's what people mean when they say change.

I was being completely facetious. Of course no one is the same as they were when they were 14. For one thing, I can grow facial hair now.
 
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Of course not, it's genetic! Are you kidding me? Personality is a pretty multifaceted thing, driven by what you think is important, what rewards you, etc. Med school will completely change what you think is important. So M2 resumes in two weeks. Do I care that Nicole Ritchie is going to jail, no, but I will read about it. In two weeks will I? Aw He$$ no. Your will simultaneously mature and devolve in med school (pudendal? heh, heh! Anal Fossa, heh heh heh!).
 
i m a2nd yr student.i think the biggest change in medical life is the increased tension due to extremely excessive burden.i hv seen not big changes in my personality except that i hv become more prone to git related disorders esp. near the exams n thats everybody knows purely result of tension.
other changes are becoming more mature thats i think every proffessional study brings.
i hv seen lot of people before n after becoming medical students the major change is mostly coz of TENSION......otherwise they are same.
the only thing that u hv to concentrate in this context is "TO LEARN HOW TO COPE WITH TENSION" that ll both benefit ur study n personaslity.
so concluding in one word to remain same
:cool::cool::cool: "LEARN TO BE COOL":cool::cool::cool:
 
HOW MANY OF U AGREE WITH ME?????????:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
You really need to write with vowels and withot those IM abbreviations - your post is extremely hard to understand. If you have time to post on SDN you have time to write out the whole word "you" or "have" or "and".

I was reading that this is turning into an epidemic at the grade school level. Kids are starting to turn in written schoolwork assignments using common IM/text message abbreviations... and they seriously think this is OK.

Talk about a generational gap.

Could you imagine it as pervasive in medicine? You go on NIH's website and all you see are studies for Volume-outcome relation 4 coronary intervntns n dly clinical practice: Is it lmtd 2 hi risk ppl? or L8r efkts of breastfdng (lol) practice: evidence
 
I was reading that this is turning into an epidemic at the grade school level. Kids are starting to turn in written schoolwork assignments using common IM/text message abbreviations... and they seriously think this is OK.

Talk about a generational gap.
well chaps i am sorry its really become a trend to use IM abreveations.next time i will be careful about that...its not a genration gap i am of the same generation that you belong to.......its "following an easy trend" sort of thing......haha...:laugh:
any comments about my original post will be appreciated........
(i did my best not to use abreviations,is that ok)
 
I was reading that this is turning into an epidemic at the grade school level. Kids are starting to turn in written schoolwork assignments using common IM/text message abbreviations... and they seriously think this is OK.

Talk about a generational gap.

When I was a teacher, I lowered kids' grades for doing this.


Could you imagine it as pervasive in medicine? You go on NIH's website and all you see are studies for Volume-outcome relation 4 coronary intervntns n dly clinical practice: Is it lmtd 2 hi risk ppl? or L8r efkts of breastfdng (lol) practice: evidence

That's the day that I retire from medicine. Hopefully it won't occur before I finish my residency! :eek:
 
I was reading that this is turning into an epidemic at the grade school level.

Most of SDN is pretty good about not doing this. Now and then you can pick out the high school kids (or younger) who wander onto this site this way.

It would never be tolerated in med school and professional life (physicians have a handful of accepted abbreviations but get visibly annoyed if you try to create additional ones) and so is a very dangerous habit to get into. (If I sent an email like that while working at a lawfirm I would probably get a stern lecture about communication skills.) Teachers should be failing kids who use this because it is truly setting them up for future embarrassment.
 
I was reading that this is turning into an epidemic at the grade school level. Kids are starting to turn in written schoolwork assignments using common IM/text message abbreviations... and they seriously think this is OK.

Talk about a generational gap.

Could you imagine it as pervasive in medicine? You go on NIH's website and all you see are studies for Volume-outcome relation 4 coronary intervntns n dly clinical practice: Is it lmtd 2 hi risk ppl? or L8r efkts of breastfdng (lol) practice: evidence

:laugh:
 
it seems as if i had changed the topic of this thread..........really embarassed:oops:....but one thing i must thank you people i have started a positive effort not to use abreveations.......hope you people no more mind it.......
it is the sms culture that has spoiled the generation and i must admire your efforts to point out such a grave mistake for medical student......
 
Being in med school made me more assertive and less afraid of conflict. I feel more like a leader now. Also I drive faster now, go figure.
 
I think I'm actually more laid back since medschool, I came to the stunning realization that I can't possibly know everything and that its ok. I still study and work hard but I'm not all tense about it, and if I have a bad day and get a bad grade its really not the end of the world anymore. Having to face mediocrity was good for my soul.
 
I came to the stunning realization that I can't possibly know everything and that its ok.

That's just the initial indoctrination. The next phase is having residents/attendings show you that you know nothing you are supposed to know, and that it's not ok, and that you need to go home and look it up ASAP. :laugh:
 
That's just the initial indoctrination. The next phase is having residents/attendings show you that you know nothing you are supposed to know, and that it's not ok, and that you need to go home and look it up ASAP. :laugh:

Lol, can't wait for the joy of 3rd year! At least I'll have grown to love my mediocrity by the time I am reminded of it on a daily basis!
 
I think I noticed the biggest change the more clinical exposure I get. There's the "professional" me who is me doing my best to play a "doctor". That's the me that can talk with a straight face about a swollen scrotom or diarrhea. It's the version of me who can talk to people about scary topics like prognosis for life threatening conditions without being nervous.

But that part of me disappears as soon as I'm hanging around other medical students, and especially around my nonmedical friends. I still feel I'm still me, I can just summon up an additional aspect of myself to do my work.
 
That's just the initial indoctrination. The next phase is having residents/attendings show you that you know nothing you are supposed to know, and that it's not ok, and that you need to go home and look it up ASAP. :laugh:
well i hv developed a delusion that i know enough about my subject keeping in mind that it is never possible to make a professor happy out of your knowledge......that might go life long
being a part of this profession it seems that we can never satisfy our own souls neither our professor's soul.......
 
haha... studying for the MCAT is nothing compared to med school.

Well, I'm sure that's true relative to Step I. But, the MCAT freaked me out cause I felt like SO much was on the line. If you don't do at least reasonably well, you'll never get to med school. While, once you're in med school, just work hard and take tests. I can't speak for Step I though as I'm not there yet. I know it's harder, but if you don't "have" to do Ortho to be happy, perhaps it's not so stressful as if one wants to match in IM.
 
Well, I'm sure that's true relative to Step I. But, the MCAT freaked me out cause I felt like SO much was on the line. If you don't do at least reasonably well, you'll never get to med school. While, once you're in med school, just work hard and take tests. I can't speak for Step I though as I'm not there yet. I know it's harder, but if you don't "have" to do Ortho to be happy, perhaps it's not so stressful as if one wants to match in IM.

If you freaked out about the MCAT then Step 1 will be worse. With the MCAT you can theoretically fix a bad score with a solid retake. A Step 1 is more permanent - you get one shot. Even for IM, there are more competitive programs and less competitive.
 
Well, I'm sure that's true relative to Step I. But, the MCAT freaked me out cause I felt like SO much was on the line. If you don't do at least reasonably well, you'll never get to med school. While, once you're in med school, just work hard and take tests. I can't speak for Step I though as I'm not there yet. I know it's harder, but if you don't "have" to do Ortho to be happy, perhaps it's not so stressful as if one wants to match in IM.

I felt the exact same way before I took step 1. With the logic you mentioned aside, after having taken step 1, I feel like the MCAT was quite easy in comparison. Perhaps, this is just because my memory of step 1 is more recent in my mind... but I think most people are going to give step 1 their "all" regardless of what specialty they want to do. This means they will study 8+ hrs /day for 3-6 weeks- much more intense studying than for the MCAT... and you will feel like your whole career depends on the test.
 
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