Do medical schools have homework?

[Mkif586]

Hey there. Do medical schools have homework? Given the amount of information that one needs to consume in med school, spending whole bunch of time every week doing projects, essays, discussions on special forums (with the thing I hate the most which is “RePLy tO at LeAsT 2 oF yoUr ClasSMaTeS wItH aT lEasT 2 sEnTencEs”), masteringphysics/biology/math/chem, lab reports, quizzes, and a lot of other staff that is most of time either a simple useless fight with eternally lagging system (though I spent hundreds of $$$ to get access code for it) or a huge waste of time spent to properly select ms word font, Margin, scaling, footnotes and thinking how to stretch something that would take me 1 sentence to answer to make it at least 2 pages of text or I will not get my points. (Sorry for my rant this is my last year of college and I just hope to get over it). So I just realized that If medical school is something like that than I might think of another career. Because I spend 2-3 hours every day doing stuff that carries 0 practical value, consumes time that could be spent on studying and just makes me wanting to smash the monitor every time I get 0 because the correct answer is 1/5 instead of .2. So back to the question - how bad is medical school’s homework?

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[M&L]

ok... so
1) medical school doesnt have the type of homework that you describe, but there IS stuff you have to do. I am sure that the amount of things to do depend on the specific school. Some would have less load, some more. But it is not like in undergrad. That being said, we do have things we do every week, - at least in my school we do. First of all, we have weekly quizes, secondly there are small groups every two weeks roughly, - during those small groups we answer the questions together as a group. There is usually a small essay once a course, or some sort of project (but it is not like in undergrad). That being said, those assignments are there to help you think critically, apply knowledge, and overall, make you a more well rounded physician. In my school at least (of course i can only speak to my personal experience) the stuff that we are doing assignments on are the MOST IMPORTANT concepts and application, stuff that we REALLY need to remember. And it really helps us retain the information better. Plus there is clinical skills, there are suturing classes once a semester, and a few other things.
2) what bothers me is that you are saying "i just realized that if medical school is something like that than i might think of another career". This makes me worried. Why DO you want to go to medical school? seriously. If it is to take care of the patients, than so what is 4 years of your life? It is just part of the process, you know? Do you want to go to medical school to be a doctor after it, or to be a medical student?

 

[Goro]

Extremely little at my school, if any. Students are expected to do presentations or case reports, if that counts as homework. But these are uncommon.

Med school Faculty (myself included) don't have the time to waste grading homework assignments!

 

[M&L]

@Goro in our school we have small groups or cases once a week, but they do not required any prior preparation (just know your lecture materials), there is weekly quiz on blackboard (thats for your own benefit too, to see if you are absorbing the material), then there is a project of some sort maybe once a semester. Usually you choose something you like, and its not a big deal. Overall, our faculty is really great at assigning things that we really NEED to reinforce, (such as cases, diagnostics, clinical reasoning, etc).

Extremely little at my school, if any. Students are expected to do presentations or case reports, if that counts as homework. But these are uncommon.

Med school Faculty (myself included) don't have the time to waste grading homework assignments!

 

[Mkif586]

2) what bothers me is that you are saying "i just realized that if medical school is something like that than i might think of another career". This makes me worried. Why DO you want to go to medical school? seriously. If it is to take care of the patients, than so what is 4 years of your life? It is just part of the process, you know? Do you want to go to medical school to be a doctor after it, or to be a medical student?

it was emotional speech , of course if it was needed I would endure another 4 years of fighting with masteringbiology, forum discussions with at least 2 replies every week and thinking how to stretch the answer to get required amount of pages. I just really hope I will not have to do it...

 

[Mkif586]

Med school Faculty (myself included) don't have the time to waste grading homework assignments!

 

[Blueprint Med School]

My time outside of lecture on schoolwork is (no exaggeration) 99% studying for exams and 1% "homework." This usually includes stuff like readings for our ethics courses.

 

[sparkysparkyboomman]

Eh not really “homework” but just a constant stream of studying and making sure to keep up with Anki reviews for the day.

Some classes, like Clinical Medicine, you have to write up a SOAP note for, but I view these as a reprieve from the typical study grind, personally.


It seems to depend on the school, though.

 

[biobukowski]

Hey there. Do medical schools have homework? Given the amount of information that one needs to consume in med school, spending whole bunch of time every week doing projects, essays, discussions on special forums (with the thing I hate the most which is “RePLy tO at LeAsT 2 oF yoUr ClasSMaTeS wItH aT lEasT 2 sEnTencEs”), masteringphysics/biology/math/chem, lab reports, quizzes, and a lot of other staff that is most of time either a simple useless fight with eternally lagging system (though I spent hundreds of $$$ to get access code for it) or a huge waste of time spent to properly select ms word font, Margin, scaling, footnotes and thinking how to stretch something that would take me 1 sentence to answer to make it at least 2 pages of text or I will not get my points. (Sorry for my rant this is my last year of college and I just hope to get over it). So I just realized that If medical school is something like that than I might think of another career. Because I spend 2-3 hours every day doing stuff that carries 0 practical value, consumes time that could be spent on studying and just makes me wanting to smash the monitor every time I get 0 because the correct answer is 1/5 instead of .2. So back to the question - how bad is medical school’s homework?

Med school is not like college.

This is from someone who did undergrad engineering, and thought medical school would not be harder. It certainly is. The analogy of drinking from a water hose is real.

It’s a professional school so the onus is on you to learn. You may have to write some things here, or do pre-labs for anatomy, but what that means is “if you dont look over the anatomy, you won’t get anything out of the lab section. When an exam comes along, you won’t know to identify these things and you will fail.”
Fail is a real thing in med school. Most strive for the pass grade (70% correct) on exams, or fail.

 

[biobukowski]

Hey there. Do medical schools have homework? Given the amount of information that one needs to consume in med school, spending whole bunch of time every week doing projects, essays, discussions on special forums (with the thing I hate the most which is “RePLy tO at LeAsT 2 oF yoUr ClasSMaTeS wItH aT lEasT 2 sEnTencEs”), masteringphysics/biology/math/chem, lab reports, quizzes, and a lot of other staff that is most of time either a simple useless fight with eternally lagging system (though I spent hundreds of $$$ to get access code for it) or a huge waste of time spent to properly select ms word font, Margin, scaling, footnotes and thinking how to stretch something that would take me 1 sentence to answer to make it at least 2 pages of text or I will not get my points. (Sorry for my rant this is my last year of college and I just hope to get over it). So I just realized that If medical school is something like that than I might think of another career. Because I spend 2-3 hours every day doing stuff that carries 0 practical value, consumes time that could be spent on studying and just makes me wanting to smash the monitor every time I get 0 because the correct answer is 1/5 instead of .2. So back to the question - how bad is medical school’s homework?

Furthermore, I can guarantee that you won’t cut it with that frame of mind. Ok, I know it sounds extreme, but the basic science portion of medical school is like a 2 year boot camp. Like, you can’t quit boot camp or you’re out type of situation.

The person who can cut it would not think “how can I make the margins smaller and the font bigger so that my writing fits?”

They think “holy **** I better write this today so that I don’t have 20 things to study tomorrow on top of this!” and they just jump the hoop.

As someone who completed an MD/PhD, I like to compare the two degrees like this:

1. In MD, you are put in an obstacle course with rings on fire. The exit door is across the way. You are told to go through the rings. You are told to jump. You say how high. Halfway through, book smarts section ends, apprenticeship section starts. Your job remains the same: jump. Your mentality has to remain the same: how high.

2. In PhD, there is a small books smart section. It is dimly lit but you get through it quickly. Then, a group of scientists examine what you don’t know (qualifying exams), before opening a door. You are then dropped in the middle of a dark room and told, “hope you find the exit!” and you are left to wander until by mentoring, luck, perseverance, skill and reasoning you find the door and defend your right to get out to that group of scientists. Your thesis work is like a trail of breadcrumbs to the door that proves you found it.

In both settings, the exit just leads to another trial, called residency or postdoc.

If medicine is your passion, 1 is worth it. If science is your passion, 2 is worth it.

 

[jmtbekm]

I think the amount of “homework” is school dependent, but most schools have very little. Our school has weekly anatomy quizzes and case-based learning that requires pre-reading every two weeks, but the rest is studying for exams.

However, if you’re not an independent learner and actively pre-studying for anatomy labs and those case-based lectures, you’re just wasting that time because you’re going to gain zero from it. One of the biggest shocks for me adjusting to medical school was that lectures were just intros to a topic, and we had to go teach ourselves the rest and make sure we understood it on our own. In undergrad the professors often didn’t move off a topic until everyone at least said they understood it.

 

[Catalystik]

Do medical schools have homework?

Team projects, readings & reflection pieces, writing up patient reports, preparing a topic to teach others in your class, feedback surveys . . . . .

 

[Tennisgirl92]

You make your own homework. You have a test, what do you need to do to learn the material? Make charts, notes, Anki flash cards? You have to make a schedule and tasks. Work well in study groups? Do it. Don’t? Study alone. If lectures help you, listen. For a lot of people, they are too time consuming and superficial. Many lectures only touch on information that you need to know more fully and take precious time to listen to.
granted, there are a few required tasks outside of exams. You may have mandatory small group sessions for discussion or working through a case which you will need to prepare for. For ethics, you may have to work through a case and write up a report. For clinical practice, you may have to write a SOAP note (just like a doctor). So the tedious tasks are not as much as undergrad, but the responsibility is much more.

 

[Bloobury]

So I just realized that If medical school is something like that than I might think of another career. Because I spend 2-3 hours every day doing stuff that carries 0 practical value, consumes time that could be spent on studying and just makes me wanting to smash the monitor every time I get 0 because the correct answer is 1/5 instead of .2. So back to the question - how bad is medical school’s homework?

Oh boy. You should take some time (a few gap years) to try out the working world. You will soon realize that so much of any profession is going to carry "0 practical value" and will make you want to smash things. Medicine in particular can be this way. You'll be endlessly frustrated by electronic medical records that have stupid, inconvenient features that waste time and energy and only serve to fill the hospital executives' coffers and do nothing for patient care. You'll spend so much time in medical school, residency, and as an attending doing things that might feel "beneath you", given all the time energy and money you put into getting that fancy degree.

I think this frustration exists to some degree in most fields, but physicians seem to be especially hard hit by it given the sacrifices they've made in pursuit of their training. Taking some time to work will help you figure out in a far lower-stakes job/career will help you figure out if and how you can deal with the absurd amount of crap that will end up taking your time and energy along the way.