couple of questions....

[deleted647690]

My first question is, does it matter when you do shadowing? I know I have asked this before, but I met with my pre med advisor today, and he told me that I should try to shadow/(also get volunteer experiences) during the school year as opposed to just over the summers. I have about 20 hours of shadowing so far. would just shadowing over my breaks not show enough of a commitment?


Another question: I'm not sure if I should try doing research or not. Recently, I have been concerned about my GPA. I have like a 3.5 or so right now, but this semester is not going well. I feel like I will end up with 2 C's in pre med coursework. I'm pretty worried. Would it be bad to do research if I get myself in that kind of position? Would I not be able to focus on my GPA enough?


Final question, in regards to my grades: I'm feeling so depressed about my grades. I'm pretty sure I just bombed a bio exam today, but I studied so hard for it. I know I studied terribly though. I basically just looked over old exams because I thought he would pull lots of questions from those (he pulled a few). I just feel like I still haven't learned how to study/ be an effective college student. I feel like I'm doing terribly in everything, and I just feel like I can't do anything right. I feel so alone in my inability to do well; I see everyone around me excelling and crushing everything, it's so annoying. I can't help but compare myself. I'm just sick of not getting things correct.

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[Hospitalized]

Doesn't matter when you shadow. Just make sure you have enough hours, about 50 is optimal.

I think research is good, but your GPA is the #1 indicator for your compatibility at medical schools. 2/3 of all applicants get screened out because of GPA (per an adcom I met).

In regards to studying habits, identify what you did wrong and fix it. You mentioned that you studied terribly, so there must be a strategy to improve your study methodology. Visit office hours, go to your professor, express your concern, and ask him how you can do better. I would also consult your classmates who are having success and ask them for help or study strategies. I am empathetic to your situation, I have a lot of trouble with biology as well.

 

[ski89]

My first question is, does it matter when you do shadowing? I know I have asked this before, but I met with my pre med advisor today, and he told me that I should try to shadow/(also get volunteer experiences) during the school year as opposed to just over the summers. I have about 20 hours of shadowing so far. would just shadowing over my breaks not show enough of a commitment?


Another question: I'm not sure if I should try doing research or not. Recently, I have been concerned about my GPA. I have like a 3.5 or so right now, but this semester is not going well. I feel like I will end up with 2 C's in pre med coursework. I'm pretty worried. Would it be bad to do research if I get myself in that kind of position? Would I not be able to focus on my GPA enough?


Final question, in regards to my grades: I'm feeling so depressed about my grades. I'm pretty sure I just bombed a bio exam today, but I studied so hard for it. I know I studied terribly though. I basically just looked over old exams because I thought he would pull lots of questions from those (he pulled a few). I just feel like I still haven't learned how to study/ be an effective college student. I feel like I'm doing terribly in everything, and I just feel like I can't do anything right. I feel so alone in my inability to do well; I see everyone around me excelling and crushing everything, it's so annoying. I can't help but compare myself. I'm just sick of not getting things correct.

1. Shooting for 50+ hours across multiple specialties is a good goal.
2. Definitely get your GPA under control before you start doing research. GPA >> research
3. How many hours/day do you study? Let's start there..

 

[deleted647690]

1. Shooting for 50+ hours across multiple specialties is a good goal.
2. Definitely get your GPA under control before you start doing research. GPA >> research

1) Shadowing over breaks is fine - you don't need more than 50 hours or so, so you're well on your way. Your adviser is right that longer-term volunteer work (i.e. throughout an entire semester/year) will look better on your applications, and more importantly, be a more meaningful and educational experience for you. If you can just do 3-4 hours a week, that's 50 hours in a semester.
2) Only you can answer that. It sounds like you need to adjust your study habits - doing so could affect how much free time you have to commit to research. Is research required to get into med school? No. Will it be an asset to your application and a valuable learning experience? Absolutely. If you're worried about not having time during the school year, see if there's a summer research program you can do for a year or two.
3) Does your school have an academic success/study skills/learning center or anything similar? Does your biology department offer group or one-on-one tutoring? Have you talked with your professors about how they recommend studying, or older students who have done well in the classes in which you're struggling? You have lots of opportunities to find ways of studying that work best for you - take advantage of them. The transition from high school studying to college studying is tough, and lots of people need help retooling their study skills. Don't hesitate to ask for it.

Doesn't matter when you shadow. Just make sure you have enough hours, about 50 is optimal.

I think research is good, but your GPA is the #1 indicator for your compatibility at medical schools. 2/3 of all applicants get screened out because of GPA (per an adcom I met).

In regards to studying habits, identify what you did wrong and fix it. You mentioned that you studied terribly, so there must be a strategy to improve your study methodology. Visit office hours, go to your professor, express your concern, and ask him how you can do better. I would also consult your classmates who are having success and ask them for help or study strategies. I am empathetic to your situation, I have a lot of trouble with biology as well.

3. How many hours/day do you study? Let's start there..

Yes, there are plenty of opportunities for study help. I have tried the free tutors the school offers for various subjects, and I found them to be pretty useless. They didn't help me at all. There are study sessions held every week that are helpful, but that is only for certain courses, and not this biology course I'm currently in. I study too much, and I study ineffectively. I sit in the library for many hours, but I often find myself distracted by things online. I cannot focus for long periods of time. I always find myself just memorizing stuff, and I feel like that is a problem. Sure, sometimes that works and I do well on the test, but am I really learning it? No.
I don't like this professor's teaching style. He's not very systematic at all. He knows what he's talking about, but he just goes on and talks about things during lecture, and it's just hard to follow him. I feel like nobody reads the textbook, all the review online say to just memorize every single word in every powerpoint because he tests on random small details......I knew that he recycled questions, so that's why I focused on the exams this past time. That was not a good choice.

 

[deleted647690]

I feel like all through high school, we were just taught to memorize. How do you properly learn????? Does anyone actually do that? I feel like everyone memorizes things.

 

[deleted647690]

I feel like all through high school, we were just taught to memorize. How do you properly learn????? Does anyone actually do that? I feel like everyone memorizes things.

And I thought that was of thinking would not be encouraged by college level professors; however, sure enough, lots of my professors say "Yeah, memorize this for the test. Make sure you know this. Put this in your brain."

 

[deleted647690]

And I thought that was of thinking would not be encouraged by college level professors; however, sure enough, lots of my professors say "Yeah, memorize this for the test. Make sure you know this. Put this in your brain."

How should actual learning be facilitated? I feel like the way professors teach just promotes memorization. The only class I can think of where you might have to think would be math, but you could memorize for that too.

 

[ski89]

Have you been evaluated for ADHD? I'm asking in all seriousness, you jump from one idea to the next and keep quoting yourself.

 

[deleted647690]

Have you been evaluated for ADHD? I'm asking in all seriousness, you jump from one idea to the next and keep quoting yourself.

Lol, no. I didn't mean to quote myself. And I wasn't jumping ideas, I just kept forgetting to finish my thought.

 

[tortelliniboy]

Biology is a mixture of memorization and conceptual learning; it sounds like instead of trying to learn the concept you opted to memorize old questions. This is a recipe for failure. If you learn the concepts you will do better.

 

[djsbaseball2014]

@acetylmandarin hey man i am a first year in college right now and I have found that explaining things to other people and teaching them the material has reinforced it into my brain and i feel like if i can teach and explain it to someone then i really have a good grasp on everything. I have done that for biology and chemistry so far and it has gotten me A's and just constant practice problems for chemistry and reading the textbook in biology

 

[candbgirl]

How can you be a junior and you are just now discovering this problem? You need to get your studying/distractibility/etc under control before you do anything else! If you are studying inefficiently now you'll drown in med school! Go to the learning resource center or the office for students with special needs and ask for help! They should be able to direct you to some evaluative help! This should be done soon! I assume you aren't applying this June? If you are planning to apply this year rethink those plans. And plan in a gap year or two. There is no hurry and you have to get everything in line to make your application the best it can be to first time you apply! You can easily do shadowing during school breaks but you do need long term volunteering and clinical experience! How are your other ECs? I mean the non clinical ones! But first get your studying under control!

 

[cactus8910]

How should actual learning be facilitated? I feel like the way professors teach just promotes memorization. The only class I can think of where you might have to think would be math, but you could memorize for that too.

Learning should be a combination of memorization and conceptual understanding. Certain classes just have so much information that memorization becomes necessary, but that memorization becomes a lot easier if you can manage to understand to reasoning behind the information. From what I've heard, med school will be very similar. It sounds like you need to adjust your study method, at least for this class. When you went over past exams, were you actually answering the questions or just reading them? If the class seems to require more memorization, maybe you should transfer the info from the lectures to notecards and review those.

I wouldn't do research if I were you. Focus on your grades.