Creative/Abstract Thinker- Looking for Similar

[bostonhud]

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Hello all. I've appreciated reading the forums the past couple days, and am excited to gain more knowledge about possibly becoming a med student, and hopefully, MD. What I'm looking for are some responses based on my personality type, and how they might mesh with med school studying/being an MD. I'm a creative, abstract type thinker...rote memory is not my friend. I'm good with concepts and "big ideas". I realize that being an med student involves learning details and rote memory, and that I should never rule a career choice out because of the learning set up. Are any of you more big idea, conceptual learners, compared to detail oriented, and if so, how do deal with learning the minor details? Do you have any tricks? And how do you use creativity, if at all, during your studies or as an MD?

 

[sgtbrushes]

MS1 and MS2 involve a lot of rote memorization of vast quantities of information. I am under the impression that after that, it gets a little better. You work more with people, you apply your knowledge, etc. How much do you dislike rote memorization? Could you do it for 2-12 hours a day for two straight years of your life?

 

[sindadel]

Look for a pass/fail school with a clinically oriented curriculum. Enough repetition, and the details will fall into place as long as you do thoroughly understand the big picture.

 

[riverjib]

Great advice. I was once an engineering major who got into the field because I liked problem-solving. In fact, I had no interest in biology, but took AP chem, calc, and physics. 13 years later, I am thoroughly annoyed by classes that require pure memorization, but that's what I have to deal with throughout medical school. My problem-solving skills will become important again when I learn to diagnose patients, and start practicing, but the pre-med and early medical school program relies heavily on rote memorization.

 

[riverjib]

Great advice. I was once an engineering major who got into the field because I liked problem-solving. In fact, I had no interest in biology, but took AP chem, calc, and physics. 13 years later, I am thoroughly annoyed by classes that require pure memorization, but that's what I have to deal with throughout medical school. My problem-solving skills will become important again when I learn to diagnose patients, and start practicing, but the pre-med and early medical school program relies heavily on rote memorization.

 

[beckhunter116]

The first thing I though of when I saw the title to this thread was a personal ad!

Anyways, yes medical school will have a lot of memorization, but I think to do well on the USMLE and as a practicing physician you need to be able to integrate the details into a big picture.

Have you taken your pre-med prereqs? That is the first taste of memorizing, yet again you need to be able to intergrate those details into the big picture to really understand what is going on----just on a smaller (much smaller) degree than medical school.

 

[NTF]

M1 and M2 will be rough. Lots of memorization. Very little time to process and mull over big picture things except in passing and on the fly. Creativity is restricted to mostly free time outside of studying.

M3's tell me that all the volumes of material eventually coalesce into big pictures and you start to really get impressed with how much you actually know and can apply.

As far as advice. I try to make several passes at the material before the exam (like three - during the week, once a week review, right before the exam)
I do still try to think about the big picture because I tend to remember things better that way, but it's on the fly and in fleeting cuz you just don't have time to mull things over leisurely.
I had a nightmare recently where my house was on fire and the only way I could put the blaze out is to run to a nearby lake and fill buckets of water and run back to the fire. But the buckets are leaky. If I try to slow down the water all leaks out. If I try to spend too much time thinking about how best to put the blaze out the fire spreads. So in the dream I just end up running like a spaz back and forth between my house and the lake, leaking all the way, just tossing the water at the fire frantically. That pretty much sums up how M1 feels to me.
I have to say that the rare times that we've actually gotten to interact with patients (real ones, not standardized ones) are like oases in a desert of power-studying. Shadowing on the units or at the clinics, getting to interview patients, and do physical exams...it's all like throwing a starving man a cracker. I soak it up. No wonder med students are such eager beavers when they're on the units.
As far as creativity. It's pretty much restricted to the free time that YOU MAKE TIME FOR. I play the guitar and paint when I can. Trying to figure out ways to make a 6month old laugh uses all my creativity. But unless you consider triaging material for an exam creativity ("I'm not gonna study X cuz I'd rather miss the 2-3 questions on it so I can spend more time studying for the 15 questions I know they'll ask on Y"), there ain't much to be had at school.

If there's a silver lining to M1 and M2 it's that:
1)generally (not always) the tests don't end up being as bad as you thought.
2)Some of the knowledge you accumulate is actually pretty cool. It's cool once you've learned it, but memorizing it in the first place can be tortuous.
3)Every and I mean every M3 I've talked to when asked if M3 is better than M1 & M2 says, "Oh GOD yes."

Good luck. You'll do fine.