Do instructors care that many medical students do not regularly attend class?

[cephalexinRX]

I'm kinda non-trad (26, current medical related career) and hoping to start medical school 2014.
I have three friends in medical school (2 MD, 1 DO) and from what I understand many medical students do not attend lecture.

So, what do the instructors think about this? There lectures are available for download later and not that many people go to class. Are they even upset that many students don't go to class?

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[Ugen]

They don't care. Most of the time they will be surprised if more than half the class shows up.

 

[Rippy087]

Really depends on the class and the professor. I did a SMP last year (medical school classes with medical students) and most of the classes were optional, but we were required to go to labs and discussions.

 

[DancinSarah]

One of our professors doesn't allow us to e-mail him questions if we didn't attend the lecture. But since they don't take roll, I doubt he knows who was there or not...

 

[mauberley]

I'm kinda non-trad (26, current medical related career) and hoping to start medical school 2014.
I have three friends in medical school (2 MD, 1 DO) and from what I understand many medical students do not attend lecture.

So, what do the instructors think about this? There lectures are available for download later and not that many people go to class. Are they even upset that many students don't go to class?

Some might care, most don't. The number of students attending lecture is also going to vary from institution to institution -- at mine, a majority of my class go to lecture.

 

[gettheleadout]

Short of asking each professor I don't know that there would be a safe way to generalize, as some definitely do care and feel disappointed that students don't share the perspective they do on what is to be gained from being presented with material as opposed to simply reading a textbook.

My source is a med school professor who feels this way.

 

[Law2Doc]

I'm kinda non-trad (26, current medical related career) and hoping to start medical school 2014.
I have three friends in medical school (2 MD, 1 DO) and from what I understand many medical students do not attend lecture.

So, what do the instructors think about this? There lectures are available for download later and not that many people go to class. Are they even upset that many students don't go to class?

Most don't care, some find it disrespectful. One guy used to give a few helpful tips for the exams off camera just for the folks nice enough to attend, but these tips usually got circulated through the class by word of mouth anyhow. Basically the goal in med school us to learn the material, and everyone learns a little differently. Some people learn better reading a book for three hours rather then sitting through 4 hours of lecture, while many others have momentum issues, and unless they get their butts into a lecture hall set by 8 am, they will waste the day. More than a few people like the idea of not going to lecture but after a few mediocre tests give up on the self teaching. Others never go and it works for them. Personally since med school learning is about repetition, I thought that lecture was a good additional run through the material. A good way to learn is to preread, attend lecture, and then review after each lecture. Then as you get closer to the exam, you review again and again. 4-5 passes through the material and enough of it usually sticks. It's time consuming, but that's med school.

 

[tryp]

At my school, if attendance drops below a certain percentage (I think maybe 75%) we lose access to the online lecture recordings. There are a few people who don't go, but for the most part, most of us have to.

 

[Law2Doc]

At my school, if attendance drops below a certain percentage (I think maybe 75%) we lose access to the online lecture recordings. There are a few people who don't go, but for the most part, most of us have to.

Just like the NFL blackout rule. You could always hire seat fillers, like they do at the oscars, to keep the audience looking full.

 

[cabinbuilder]

LECOM takes attendence. They have three pathways plus the accelerated three year. They expect you to pick the learning style that suits you best and show up when you are supposed to. Not all schools are the same so don't apply thinking you won't have to show if it's required.

 

[sirenomelia]

We do care and get irritated and low attendance is frequently discussed in curriculum/ course meetings. Granted, this problem is more common in schools with too many didatic contact hours and/or with lecturers that are substandard/bad. I feel, personally, since everything is digitally recorded anyway usually that the individual needs to be an adult and decide how to best manage their time and shouldnt be treated like children with attendance written in. I know I had alot to balance and made priorities of many things including going to class. If people are just slackers and want to sleep in until 1 and then study from 2-10 thats just ridiculous though.

 

[Law2Doc]

We do care and get irritated and low attendance is frequently discussed in curriculum/ course meetings. Granted, this problem is more common in schools with too many didatic contact hours and/or with lecturers that are substandard/bad. I feel, personally, since everything is digitally recorded anyway usually that the individual needs to be an adult and decide how to best manage their time and shouldnt be treated like children with attendance written in. ....

actually attendance isn't a more common problem at places with substandard lecturers so much as it is more common at places with better digital recording. If you can speed up recordings, and watch an hours worth of lecture in 40 minutes, you have 20 minutes more to work with, or you can watch half the lecture a second time and really hammer it in. Most people can listen a bit faster than lecturers will talk. So unless you are using the lecture itself as motivation to get up and out of bed (which, BTW a lot if people need, whether they appreciate that fact or not), you are better off watching the online lecture version. Plus you can watch in your underwear, something generally frowned upon in the lecture hall.

 

[cephalexinRX]

actually attendance isn't a more common problem at places with substandard lecturers so much as it is more common at places with better digital recording. If you can speed up recordings, and watch an hours worth of lecture in 40 minutes, you have 20 minutes more to work with, or you can watch half the lecture a second time and really hammer it in. Most people can listen a bit faster than lecturers will talk. So unless you are using the lecture itself as motivation to get up and out of bed (which, BTW a lot if people need, whether they appreciate that fact or not), you are better off watching the online lecture version. Plus you can watch in your underwear, something generally frowned upon in the lecture hall.

But some people concentrate better when they get up, get reasonably dressed for school, go to campus to study/work, etc.

I'm not a medical student but just saying that for some people, studying at home in PJs without proper shower/teeth brushing doesn't work.

In undergrad, whenever I didn't attend lecture I still preferred to get up, get reasonably dressed (ie, not sweats, etc) and go to campus to do whatever i needed to do.

Different strokes for different folks.

 

[medhope4]

So I'm guessing they don't cold call you in class. I ask because they do this in law school and it sucks

 

[NuttyEngDude]

In undergrad, whenever I didn't attend lecture I still preferred to get up, get reasonably dressed (ie, not sweats, etc) and go to campus to do whatever i needed to do.

Different strokes for different folks.

I prefer this too, though sometimes I enjoy a change of pace.

So I'm guessing they don't cold call you in class. I ask because they do this in law school and it sucks

ahh the illustrious socratic "middle finger"

I think that is also called "pimping"

 

[PharMed2016]

It depends on the topic for me. If its dry... repetitive stuff then I might actually benefit from not going but if its more application then going definitely. However, I think podcasting sorta nullifies my argument because I usually record and not do anything in lecture unless I find it interesting.

 

[jasin]

Attendance is mandatory for Deaf students at all colleges. If you are absent and do not notify disability services and/or the interpreter directly the interpreter can quit you. He or she can just up and leave and not ever return.

 

[vc7777]

Attendance is mandatory at my medical school. There is also a dress code. However, there are no lectures, grades, rankings, or even exams. And there are only 32 of us enrolled in the school each year. It is super nontrad friendly because most afternoons are actually free. In fact, I would say it is the hippie medical school AND at the same time the med school that most treats you like a professional from Day
One. See, in return for a higher expectations, we basically have the same privileges as the resident doctors, down to our long white coats. And the automatic full tuition scholarship doesn't hurt either.

Ironically, many kiddies over in the pre allo forum get really hung up on the mandatory dress code and attendance. I readily admit this isn't for everyone, but they seem to think it is a horrible idea when it comes up in discussion.

sent from my phone

 

[dmf2682]

Attendance is mandatory at my medical school. There is also a dress code. However, there are no lectures, grades, rankings, or even exams. And there are only 32 of us enrolled in the school each year. It is super nontrad friendly because most afternoons are actually free. In fact, I would say it is the hippie medical school AND at the same time the med school that most treats you like a professional from Day
One. See, in return for a higher expectations, we basically have the same privileges as the resident doctors, down to our long white coats. And the automatic full tuition scholarship doesn't hurt either.

Ironically, many kiddies over in the pre allo forum get really hung up on the mandatory dress code and attendance. I readily admit this isn't for everyone, but they seem to think it is a horrible idea when it comes up in discussion.

sent from my phone

Man. Sound like Mayo, only with the attendance requirement. Everything you say makes me really want to go to case. The dual ms MD doesn't hurt either.

Also. ..welcome back jasin

 

[natorx]

Vc7777 what school do you go to? I def need to apply I could careless about a dress code, I'm treating school like work anyway. I'm the type that always goes to lecture I need the fire under me, and the early start to be productive.

 

[vc7777]

Man. Sound like Mayo, only with the attendance requirement. Everything you say makes me really want to go to case. The dual ms MD doesn't hurt either.

Whoa...Mayo is way too big for me...I'd get lost in a class of 50 people. No thank you!

Vc7777 what school do you go to? I def need to apply I could careless about a dress code, I'm treating school like work anyway. I'm the type that always goes to lecture I need the fire under me, and the early start to be productive.

Ah...my bad...I go to CCLCM of CWRU - we are a 5-year MD/research program with an optional MS degree. I personally am doing a masters in clinical research. It's great if you want to do research, but the 5th year would turn many people off. You can click my MDapps link on the left for more info about my journey.

 

[montessori2md]

At my school attendance is not mandatory and lectures are recorded, but some faculty opt out of being recorded b/c they think people should show up if they want to hear what they have to say. The vast majority allow recording, but attendance concerns are discussed by faculty regularly, like sirenmelia said about his/her school.

My class once purposefully chose to not attend a lecture by a faculty member we felt was performing subpar (maybe 20 students were there of 200, our norm attendance was around 100). He noticed and was mad, which you actually heard in the lecture recording if you bothered to listen to it. He also no longer lectures for the SOM.

Pimping lectures were better attended by our class. Maybe we're gluttons. They call it "active learning" here.

I do understand why a lecturer would be unhappy to speak to small(er) audience, but with cell phones and laptops, I personally would rather have 20 people who are paying attention and care than 200 who are texting, reading, playing while they happen to be in the same room as you. We've had plenty of lecturers confess to reading the sports pages, sleeping, or skipping class back in the day, and say they have no regrets. It's not new, we just don't have to resort to textbooks to get the info we didn't get in live lecture.