CRAZY CRAZY pre-med frosh

[dr_dre]

I'm an advisor for a 1st year biology course. I ran the first lab earlier this week. I just had to get a general sense of who is who and asked these nervous frosh what they wanted to do after college. Of course 99% said "doctor". I made the mistake of telling them that I was considering the health care profession - I didn't specifically say "doctor".

Anyway, about a day after this lab I started getting emails from frantic frosh who didn't know how to plan out the next 4 years of their lives to get to where I am today - the hot shot senior lab advisor; I must be a genius lol.
I just can't believe what these kids are taking on and it's only the 2nd week of school.

One kid in particular was freaking out because he was doing about 6 hours of volunteer work/week, picked up a lab b**** job for 10 hours/week, joined habitat for humanity, + was running for 1st year class represenative.
Most of these kids haven't even unpacked all their bags and already they're asking for assignment extensions because they have "red cross meetings", "volunteer work", "research" things to do all week.

I tell them to ease off a bit - especially in first year- and concentrate on the marks but they just freak out that they'll never get into med school.

When I said ease off to this group of frosh I was talking with, one actually freaked on me and said that I only tell that to people so that they will end up with less experiences and won't get into med school, which will open a spot for me.
LOL I'm 4 years ahead of you *****!

I love pre-med frosh

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[interstellar]

whoa and i thought the premeds at my school were bad..

lol haha they thought you trying to sabotage their chance at a medical career.

 

[gujuDoc]

Don't worry, by the time the semester is over it will probably be less then 50% of the class that is premed.

Remember if you have an intro chem or bio class that starts with 300-400 students, only a handful actually remain premed by the time year 3 comes around and applications begin.

 

[63768]

ahhh such optimistic freshmen. i remember those days.

 

[baylormed]

At my school (at least for my class it was like this) about only 10-20% of the original pre-med crowd make it as pre-med all the way into junior/senior year.

Freshman year, EVERYONE you meet says they're "pre-med" when you ask them what they're majoring in (as if it was a major), and of course, many want to be pediatric oncologists or cardiothoracic surgeons (these guys crack me up). It's quite amusing to keep track of them and see what majors they have switched into (facebook makes this easier nowadays ), many going into completely unrelated fields such as Journalism, Business, Art, Philosophy, etc.

Tell them to take a chill pill. Nobody "steals" anybody's spot in medical school.

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

Freshman year, EVERYONE you meet says they're "pre-med" when you ask them what they're majoring in (as if it was a major), and of course, many want to be pediatric oncologists or cardiothoracic surgeons (these guys crack me up).

ever have one of these?

"So, you're interested in medicine?"
"Yep."
"Ever thought about what field you're interested in?"
"Yes... aneth... anthesti.. you know what I'm saying?"
"Anesthesiology?"
"Yeah, that's it. That one."
"Really. Why?"
"Because I want to do surgery. I'm really good at using my hands. Like, I just made this collage for my best friend and she totally loved it."

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

ever have one of these?

"So, you're interested in medicine?"
"Yep."
"Ever thought about what field you're interested in?"
"Yes... aneth... anthesti.. you know what I'm saying?"
"Anesthesiology?"
"Yeah, that's it. That one."
"Really. Why?"
"Because I want to do surgery. I'm really good at using my hands. Like, I just made this collage for my best friend and she totally loved it."

I pretty much laugh any time someone has one specific answer to that question. I get a kick out of the super specific interests too. My favorite is when they say "pediatric oncology." I'm like, "Oh, so regular oncology just didn't do it for ya, eh?"

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

I'm an advisor for a 1st year biology course. I ran the first lab earlier this week. I just had to get a general sense of who is who and asked these nervous frosh what they wanted to do after college. Of course 99% said "doctor". I made the mistake of telling them that I was considering the health care profession - I didn't specifically say "doctor".

Anyway, about a day after this lab I started getting emails from frantic frosh who didn't know how to plan out the next 4 years of their lives to get to where I am today - the hot shot senior lab advisor; I must be a genius lol.
I just can't believe what these kids are taking on and it's only the 2nd week of school.

One kid in particular was freaking out because he was doing about 6 hours of volunteer work/week, picked up a lab b**** job for 10 hours/week, joined habitat for humanity, + was running for 1st year class represenative.
Most of these kids haven't even unpacked all their bags and already they're asking for assignment extensions because they have "red cross meetings", "volunteer work", "research" things to do all week.

I tell them to ease off a bit - especially in first year- and concentrate on the marks but they just freak out that they'll never get into med school.

When I said ease off to this group of frosh I was talking with, one actually freaked on me and said that I only tell that to people so that they will end up with less experiences and won't get into med school, which will open a spot for me.
LOL I'm 4 years ahead of you *****!

I love pre-med frosh

Its when I read stuff like that I wish corporal punishment is still existent in schools.

"Just take it easy and concentrate on grades."

"You only tell that to people so that they will end up with less experiences and won't get into med school, which will open a spot for you."

SMACK. WHACK.

"Who else wants to earn a b*tchslap? You eyeing me froshie? Boy you better turn that smile upsidedown or I will smack you back to high school motherf**ker!"

 

[MossPoh]

Don't worry, by the time the semester is over it will probably be less then 50% of the class that is premed.

Remember if you have an intro chem or bio class that starts with 300-400 students, only a handful actually remain premed by the time year 3 comes around and applications begin.

I was one....but for some unknown reason I have returned.

 

[Oculus Sinistra]

I pretty much laugh any time someone has one specific answer to that question. I get a kick out of the super specific interests too. My favorite is when they say "pediatric oncology." I'm like, "Oh, so regular oncology just didn't do it for ya, eh?"

"Pediatric oncology? ...really? ...why?"
"Because I think it's so sad when kids die."
"...right, but... wait, are you seriously considering going to med school for that reason?"

 

[sendwich]

"Pediatric oncology? ...really? ...why?"
"Because I think it's so sad when kids die."
"...right, but... wait, are you seriously considering going to med school for that reason?"

sadly, i can so see someone saying that

 

[GuzzyRon]

When I first entered college...every freshman I knew was "Premed." Fast forward 3 semesters to the middle of Orgo I (O'Chem), the class size had been reduced by more than half. By the end of Orgo II, less than a quarter of those freshmen "Premeds" remained premeds.

 

[polycon7]

Haha..at my college, everyone and their dog was pre-pharmacy. By the time senior year came around (when they all were pharm first years) we would still take the same classes like Biochem and they would complain about how hard it was ....bla bla bla. But all they needed to pass was a C-! Hello! The pre-meds should be the ones stressing because we're shooting for A's or high B's.

 

[dr_dre]

Ya they were pretty bad. Maybe I should tell them that I will be marking the midterm......lol lol.

 

[baylormed]

Ya they were pretty bad. Maybe I should tell them that I will be marking the midterm......lol lol.

You have the power, my friend.

 

[Orthonut]

ever have one of these?

"So, you're interested in medicine?"
"Yep."
"Ever thought about what field you're interested in?"
"Yes... aneth... anthesti.. you know what I'm saying?"
"Anesthesiology?"
"Yeah, that's it. That one."
"Really. Why?"
"Because I want to do surgery. I'm really good at using my hands. Like, I just made this collage for my best friend and she totally loved it."

ahhhh haaah aaaaa! Shhhh! I'm in the library. Studying my a** off, because I had to work the party last night.

Seriously, if I could tell these babes in the woods one thing, it would be RELAX, HAVE FUN, and ENJOY YOUR UNDERGRAD, cause honey, it's the last of your "own time" you're gonna have for a very long time. Especially freshman year, come on lol.
I tell them to take the first few weeks of the term just for studies-then add in one or two clubs or teams at a time and see how it goes-but studies come first. I tell them to use their one or two clubs/groups/volunteer projects as a "vacation" from schoolwork-get something out of it, but don't make it a chore, make sure it is fun for all involved or you'll end up resenting it.

If you can't keep up with the workload in freshman undergrad, dude, you *might* have trouble as an M1, I'm just sayin...

 

[Kardizzle]

I met some freshmen who said they wanted to be pediatric neurosurgeons also.

Regarding the hard-working frosh premeds: if getting into med school is that important to them, that's how it is. When I was a frosh, some of my classmates were gunners from the start and survived all the way through. Now they're at Harvard or Hopkins Med. They achieved what they wanted to do; why should anyone knock on that?

 

[NonTradMed]

When I was in undergrad, there were a ton of students that were premed. Most weren't superanal about it because many figured they would get into med student, but people stressed about exams, calculating everything down to the tenths of a point, begging for regrades, even if it's just a point or two. The biggest dropoff from premed track was freshmen year first semester when people realized there was a lot of science involved in becoming a doctor and found themselves switching careers.

 

[xylem29]

A lot of people I know just ended up switching into majors that they enjoyed and that they found easier, but still aimed for medicine, taking the B.A route instead. Others switched into other U's they thought were less competitive and easier, I should've done that too.

 

[bodhisattva]

When I said ease off to this group of frosh I was talking with, one actually freaked on me and said that I only tell that to people so that they will end up with less experiences and won't get into med school, which will open a spot for me.
LOL I'm 4 years ahead of you *****!

I love pre-med frosh

Now that's cause for a swift kick in the a**. But don't knock people for knowing what they want to do in life. My brother knew from his freshman year of college what specialty he wanted to go into, but that doesn't make him a tool. He actually ended up in that specialty and was voted as the med students' favorite resident teacher. It's been a few years since he finished his residency, and people at that hospital still tell my sister and brother-in-law who still work there what a nice guy he is. Now if he had pulled a stunt like the one you mentioned above, I would have personally slapped him to next Tuesday.

 

[FutureNeuroStud]

When I first entered college...every freshman I knew was "Premed." Fast forward 3 semesters to the middle of Orgo I (O'Chem), the class size had been reduced by more than half. By the end of Orgo II, less than a quarter of those freshmen "Premeds" remained premeds.

There were 3 people that dropped out of premed after the 3rd day of our freshman bio class (of a mere 36 students), because they couldn't take the workload. Premeds have been dropping like flies ever since. A few drop out after every stage. Now that I'm a senior, I laugh at most of the froshie premeds when they tell me their stories of how involved they plan on being. This freshman in my med ethics class said she took organic chemistry, college bio, and physics at a community college while she was in high school to "get ahead" because she really wanted to go to Harvard med and become a pediatric oncologist. When I asked her why she thought wanted to become a pediatric oncologist or even just a doctor, she replied, "Because it's academically challenging and I like science." A chemistry professor overheard, laughed, and said, "Why not go to grad school for science?" The girl said, "To be honest, I've never considered that." This is why all premeds should figure out why they want to be doctors, specifically, as early as they can, so they can make changes if they realize it's not what they really want.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

my favorite was a guy who lived in my dorm freshman year. he was taking remedial college algebra, english 101, and a bunch of other cake. threw bio 100 (for non-science majors) onto his schedule b/c he was "sure" he was going to be a doctor.

long story short, he failed bio 101 and remedial algebra. right up to the time he was expelled for academic underachievement he was telling people he was "pre-med."

 

[Rafa]

long story short, he failed bio 101 and remedial algebra. right up to the time he was expelled for academic underachievement he was telling people he was "pre-med."

I really shouldn't laugh, but this was funny...

 

[GuzzyRon]

I met some freshmen who said they wanted to be pediatric neurosurgeons also.

Regarding the hard-working frosh premeds: if getting into med school is that important to them, that's how it is. When I was a frosh, some of my classmates were gunners from the start and survived all the way through. Now they're at Harvard or Hopkins Med. They achieved what they wanted to do; why should anyone knock on that?

Sure you're posting on the right thread? We're not talking about these people. Nobody is knocking on genuinely hardworking premeds who have time for EC's but also know the importance of academics.

Obviously, this thread is addressing freshman 'premeds' who want to save all the world at the expense of their academics and still want to get into med school. I mean those who seem to have time for everything else but their school work. If your classmates who are now in "Harvard and Hopkins med" were in this category, they clearly won't be in those schools, would they?

 

[Gut Shot]

My favorite is when they say "pediatric oncology." I'm like, "Oh, so regular oncology just didn't do it for ya, eh?"

Oh, I don't know. As a colleague of mine once said, there's no sex like "I just saved your child from cancer" sex.

He's an MD/PhD pediatric oncology resident, by the way. Takes all kinds.

 

[_ian]

This is why I don't make it a point to tell people who I am and what I do unless they ask. I bet every kid in my orgo lab is either pre-med or ChemE, but it's not really relevant to me... I bet most of them just assume I'm a chemistry graduate student. Except I have a couple students older than me, even.

It's also why I don't give letter grades or numbers in their notebooks... I just write a boatload of comments that would get them an A if they followed them all, in the hopes that they're churning out great work by the last few weeks of lab. More work grading, less work dealing with people complaining that they got an 8/10 when they should have gotten a 9/10.

 

[killinsound]

I'm actually pretty sure I want to be a pediatric oncologist.
I was kind of sure before I had a research internship in the pediatric wing at a nationally known cancer hospital, but now i'm sure.

Anyways, my favorite is when they simply answer "pre-med" when you ask them what their major is, as if premed was a major.

 

[_ian]

Anyways, my favorite is when they simply answer "pre-med" when you ask them what their major is, as if premed was a major.

I worked orientation for honors students, and wow, there were so many kids who answered "pre-med" for their major, despite the fact that it doesn't exist. Most of 'em had no idea what medicine involves.

As an aside, there were also so many "pre-business" kids that you could have filled their entering class (they accept sophomore undergrads, so students spend a year outside the b-school) with honors students. The honors program, by the way, makes up 10% of the liberal arts/science college. Gonna be some stiff competition this summer...

 

[baylormed]

I worked orientation for honors students, and wow, there were so many kids who answered "pre-med" for their major, despite the fact that it doesn't exist. Most of 'em had no idea what medicine involves.

As an aside, there were also so many "pre-business" kids that you could have filled their entering class (they accept sophomore undergrads, so students spend a year outside the b-school) with honors students. The honors program, by the way, makes up 10% of the liberal arts/science college. Gonna be some stiff competition this summer...

The best of all was when someone asked me (a junior, about to apply for next year's entering class) this question:

We have to write an essay for the application?!?!

I didn't have the heart to tell this person she would also be getting secondary applications after that.

 

[alwaysaangel]

It's also why I don't give letter grades or numbers in their notebooks... I just write a boatload of comments that would get them an A if they followed them all, in the hopes that they're churning out great work by the last few weeks of lab. More work grading, less work dealing with people complaining that they got an 8/10 when they should have gotten a 9/10.

Haha but you probably still get a boatload of students asking what they got, don't you?

 

[45408]

When I said ease off to this group of frosh I was talking with, one actually freaked on me and said that I only tell that to people so that they will end up with less experiences and won't get into med school, which will open a spot for me.
LOL I'm 4 years ahead of you *****!

Wow. I think I'd go pro-wrestling on that clown.

I think I had ONE extracurricular activity my freshman year, and it was marginal. I just focused on getting straight A's and getting on the right track. After that, I joined research labs, moved up in student orgs, and became an EMT (that was all fall of sophomore year).

 

[GuzzyRon]

The best of all was when someone asked me (a junior, about to apply for next year's entering class) this question:

We have to write an essay for the application?!?!

I didn't have the heart to tell this person she would also be getting secondary applications after that.

Poor thing! Obviously didn't know what she is getting into.

 

[MasonPrehealth]

One thing you should do is tell your bright-eyed freshmen to find their institution's premed/health prof advisor. Please don't suggest that they schedule MONTHLY meetings (though I'm sure we advisors put on the "intimidator" persona for those situations).

There are many rumors and myths we've had to dispel among freshmen... sometimes perpetuated by spiteful undergraduate lab assistants .

 

[Erina]

I'm actually pretty sure I want to be a pediatric oncologist.
I was kind of sure before I had a research internship in the pediatric wing at a nationally known cancer hospital, but now i'm sure.

Anyways, my favorite is when they simply answer "pre-med" when you ask them what their major is, as if premed was a major.

penn state has a "premedicine" major. you actually get a bachelor of science degree in premedicine. so what do people do with that major if they don't go to medical school? seems like kind of a silly choice to me...

 

[Chuckwalla]

My college has a really good business school. Most pre-meds end up fleeing there, especially since you don't have to start their classes till sophomore year.

 

[MinnyGophers]

Meh, just wait until the first exam of ochem comes around and there will be a lot less pre meds out there....

Actually, gen chem does the trick as well

 

[astrife]

I'm an advisor for a 1st year biology course. I ran the first lab earlier this week. I just had to get a general sense of who is who and asked these nervous frosh what they wanted to do after college. Of course 99% said "doctor". I made the mistake of telling them that I was considering the health care profession - I didn't specifically say "doctor".

Anyway, about a day after this lab I started getting emails from frantic frosh who didn't know how to plan out the next 4 years of their lives to get to where I am today - the hot shot senior lab advisor; I must be a genius lol.
I just can't believe what these kids are taking on and it's only the 2nd week of school.

One kid in particular was freaking out because he was doing about 6 hours of volunteer work/week, picked up a lab b**** job for 10 hours/week, joined habitat for humanity, + was running for 1st year class represenative.
Most of these kids haven't even unpacked all their bags and already they're asking for assignment extensions because they have "red cross meetings", "volunteer work", "research" things to do all week.

I tell them to ease off a bit - especially in first year- and concentrate on the marks but they just freak out that they'll never get into med school.

When I said ease off to this group of frosh I was talking with, one actually freaked on me and said that I only tell that to people so that they will end up with less experiences and won't get into med school, which will open a spot for me.
LOL I'm 4 years ahead of you *****!

I love pre-med frosh

Did you ever stop to think that things are going to start getting more competitive for the younger kids? That is the trend with undergrad acceptance, why not medical school?

I say if they can maintain it, it's not your place to knock em. That story at the end is a little over the top though. I cannot imagine any kid seriously saying that though, so the story seems a little shady.

And you need to make a distinction between the gunner premeds and the whimisical I want to be premed because being a doctor sounds cool. There is a difference.

 

[dr_dre]

Did you ever stop to think that things are going to start getting more competitive for the younger kids? That is the trend with undergrad acceptance, why not medical school?

I say if they can maintain it, it's not your place to knock em. That story at the end is a little over the top though. I cannot imagine any kid seriously saying that though, so the story seems a little shady.

And you need to make a distinction between the gunner premeds and the whimisical I want to be premed because being a doctor sounds cool. There is a difference.

Ya I guess if I read that little story on here I would think it shady at first too.

It was actually a very rude encounter and caught me a bit off guard. I guess I should have said this was more outside of the large class. I was introducing a small group of kids (about 8) to the labs and they were all friends so I guess it was easier for this kid to shine his ego before me. It would never have happened with a larger group. Most of the time the frosh are shaking in their boots.

 

[gujuDoc]

Did you ever stop to think that things are going to start getting more competitive for the younger kids? That is the trend with undergrad acceptance, why not medical school?

I say if they can maintain it, it's not your place to knock em. That story at the end is a little over the top though. I cannot imagine any kid seriously saying that though, so the story seems a little shady.

And you need to make a distinction between the gunner premeds and the whimisical I want to be premed because being a doctor sounds cool. There is a difference.

Not necessarily shady. I've heard similar stories from someone. I won't go into details because the person is a SDN regular and I don't want to intrude on their privacy. But they were given accusations from younger students for something similar.

 

[dcolon_et06]

Haha reading this is all soo funny and true. Im a freshman this year and I couldn't believe that the whole thing where about soo many freshman calling themselves or their majors "pre-med".

A good example was on my first day of class in BIOL 1. The professor was a really nice guy and was just chit chatting the entire period being it was the first day and all. He came around to asking us what our majors were to get a feel for us and to try to relate how we could use biology in our majors. It was a class of about 40 and almost 20 answered "premed". 10 others answered "pre-" something else and the last 10 were either undecided or another major. Based on where I sat, I was the last one asked and it was funny how the professor seemed to "wake up" in an interested kind of way after all the pre-med answers when I was the only one who kept it simple and said "either Biochem or BME". He even made a joke and said "Wow so you're really gonna be paying attention in this class".

Another funny example was how I was actually on the waitlist for my Chem1A class. The class was packed the first day with about 30 students, 10 waitlist, and another 10 sitting in all in a small 30x40 room. I made it a habit to volunteer to answer questions to show the professor that I was serious about the class. It basically turns out that I didnt need to because by the second lecture/lab session (2 days later), we went from having the entire 50 students down to a cush 35 because nobody came back LOL. 1 month in and we're down to about 25. She was very funny because she came out saying that she has a PhD from Yale and "plans to weed out any suckers who think my class will be an easy pass" in her strong french accent. She also cracked me up by saying "and for any of you thinking about saying you are pre-med mumbo jumbo, ill make sure you'll be thinking twice if YOU EVEN MAKE IT to the end of the first semester because I want to make sure that my future doctors will know how to take care of me." You could easily tell that a couple people were shaken when they heard those words. Once again 1 month in, its a lot of hard work and when she says at least 20 hours a week for an A, she means it (75% is a B, 88% is an A which is good but NO curving). Now she's a real cool professor and she told us that she now feels comfertable joking with the students since she already weeded out the "suckers" haha.

 

[Avalanche21]

Ya. I remember how everyone was premed on day 1. What gets me the most is a few of my friends that "decided" that medical school wasn't the thing for them AFTER the MCAT because they didn't like blood...and then proceed to make fun of how much debt we'll get into and how much studying we'll have to do. It's interesting what the MCAT can do to you.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

I met some freshmen who said they wanted to be pediatric neurosurgeons also.

My theory (which probably holds true for many, many students entering the medical profession).

Q. "So what do you want to do?"

A.
pre-med freshman: "neurosurgeon," "pediatric oncologist"
pre-med senior: "get in."
M1/M2: "ER," "Ortho"
M2.5 (after Step1): "pass."
M3: "i have no idea anymore!"
M4: "internal medicine."

 

[hopeful_MD]

My theory (which probably holds true for many, many students entering the medical profession).

Q. "So what do you want to do?"

A.
pre-med freshman: "neurosurgeon," "pediatric oncologist"
pre-med senior: "get in."
M1/M2: "ER," "Ortho"
M2.5 (after Step1): "pass."
M3: "i have no idea anymore!"
M4: "internal medicine."

ehehehehe......so true.........i cannot stop laughing!!!!!!

 

[baylormed]

My theory (which probably holds true for many, many students entering the medical profession).

Q. "So what do you want to do?"

A.
pre-med freshman: "neurosurgeon," "pediatric oncologist"
pre-med senior: "get in."
M1/M2: "ER," "Ortho"
M2.5 (after Step1): "pass."
M3: "i have no idea anymore!"
M4: "internal medicine."

My answers are more like this:

What do you want to do?
A: Get in.

What school do you want to go to?
A: Wherever they take me.

But what is your top school?
A: Whatever school is interviewing me at that precise moment.

Why in the world would you want to stay in school for another 5-8 years?
A: Shut up.

 

[hopeful_MD]

My answers are more like this:

What do you want to do?
A: Get in.

What school do you want to go to?
A: Wherever they take me.

But what is your top school?
A: Whatever school is interviewing me at that precise moment.

Why in the world would you want to stay in school for another 5-8 years?
A: Shut up.

ahahahhaha..........i love the last one...thats what i feel like saying to everyone who asks (that arent premeds).........still laughing!!!!

 

[gujuDoc]

My theory (which probably holds true for many, many students entering the medical profession).

Q. "So what do you want to do?"

A.
pre-med freshman: "neurosurgeon," "pediatric oncologist"
pre-med senior: "get in."
M1/M2: "ER," "Ortho"
M2.5 (after Step1): "pass."
M3: "i have no idea anymore!"
M4: "internal medicine."

May I just say that this is the best post on the thread. At many schools this really does hold true!!!!!

My favorite was my freshmen year when this guy I used to know told me he wanted to be a neurologist/parapsychologist and wanted to get out of USF to go to a place like HMS. Fastforward 3 years later to when it was time to take he MCAT, he didn't even get near he average and was refusing to take a year off to get a better score. Where did he end up??? The carribbean!!! No joint PhD and definitely nothing close to HMS.

 

[up all night]

Hey, just letting you knwo that I am a pre-med also. Looks like your frosh is smoking some good ganja! LOL jk. I say ease of a little bit and take some time out. More opportunities will be ahead of you. Crazy kids I say.

 

[iliacus]

I'm an advisor for a 1st year biology course. I ran the first lab earlier this week. I just had to get a general sense of who is who and asked these nervous frosh what they wanted to do after college. Of course 99% said "doctor". I made the mistake of telling them that I was considering the health care profession - I didn't specifically say "doctor".

Anyway, about a day after this lab I started getting emails from frantic frosh who didn't know how to plan out the next 4 years of their lives to get to where I am today - the hot shot senior lab advisor; I must be a genius lol.
I just can't believe what these kids are taking on and it's only the 2nd week of school.

One kid in particular was freaking out because he was doing about 6 hours of volunteer work/week, picked up a lab b**** job for 10 hours/week, joined habitat for humanity, + was running for 1st year class represenative.
Most of these kids haven't even unpacked all their bags and already they're asking for assignment extensions because they have "red cross meetings", "volunteer work", "research" things to do all week.

I tell them to ease off a bit - especially in first year- and concentrate on the marks but they just freak out that they'll never get into med school.

When I said ease off to this group of frosh I was talking with, one actually freaked on me and said that I only tell that to people so that they will end up with less experiences and won't get into med school, which will open a spot for me.
LOL I'm 4 years ahead of you *****!

I love pre-med frosh

Funny thing is these same people do the same sh&t when they get to medical school. They run for club president (FM, IM, Surg) and get so involved in things other than studying..I'm not saying all of them do, but I call it the "pre-med" mentality. They just can't shake the idea that if they're not involved in a million extra things other than studying they'll end up on the street in a cardboard box. I was telling a first year at my school to take all the extra time she's using organizing community health fairs and clothing drives and study for the boards and your classes. In the end, residency programs look at your board scores before anything (at least competitive ones do) Same goes for medical school. If you don't have respectible numbers might as well forget it...no matter how many houses you build for the homeless.

 

[iliacus]

My theory (which probably holds true for many, many students entering the medical profession).

Q. "So what do you want to do?"

A.
pre-med freshman: "neurosurgeon," "pediatric oncologist"
pre-med senior: "get in."
M1/M2: "ER," "Ortho"
M2.5 (after Step1): "pass."
M3: "i have no idea anymore!"
M4: "internal medicine."

This is so money

 

[paranoid_eyes]

I'm an advisor for a 1st year biology course. I ran the first lab earlier this week. I just had to get a general sense of who is who and asked these nervous frosh what they wanted to do after college. Of course 99% said "doctor". I made the mistake of telling them that I was considering the health care profession - I didn't specifically say "doctor".

Anyway, about a day after this lab I started getting emails from frantic frosh who didn't know how to plan out the next 4 years of their lives to get to where I am today - the hot shot senior lab advisor; I must be a genius lol.
I just can't believe what these kids are taking on and it's only the 2nd week of school.

One kid in particular was freaking out because he was doing about 6 hours of volunteer work/week, picked up a lab b**** job for 10 hours/week, joined habitat for humanity, + was running for 1st year class represenative.
Most of these kids haven't even unpacked all their bags and already they're asking for assignment extensions because they have "red cross meetings", "volunteer work", "research" things to do all week.

I tell them to ease off a bit - especially in first year- and concentrate on the marks but they just freak out that they'll never get into med school.

When I said ease off to this group of frosh I was talking with, one actually freaked on me and said that I only tell that to people so that they will end up with less experiences and won't get into med school, which will open a spot for me.
LOL I'm 4 years ahead of you *****!

I love pre-med frosh

I go to UCLA, and from our incoming freshmen class there were like 2000 (not kidding) premeds who were just like you described.