Do you actually enjoy medical school?

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

My point is that you should stop clogging up threads with your pseudo-intellectual nonsense

So you didn't actually read it, and you're just attacking me on a thread, pushing the thread off topic by attacking my posting habits. I'd suggest you just scroll past my posts to make your SDN experience a better one.

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[Neopolymath]

You realize that I literally told him his opinion is valid and totally legitimate, right? Did you actually read the post? The entirety of my post was saying that two people can have different opinions and have them both be valid--that we shouldn't be telling someone else they are "wrong" because they disagree.

I'm going to PM you later to continue when I'm less busy to stop derailing the thread

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

I'm going to PM you later to continue when I'm less busy to stop derailing the thread

Yes, let's do that! It's an interesting conversation.

 

[Lawpy]

Now where were we...

Ah yep. Reduce preclinicals to 1 year now! The point of med school is to spend as much time on the wards and clinical electives as possible to be the best possible intern. Not to waste time memorizing crappy lectures when UFAPS/B&B/Anki do a far better job

 

[Lawpy]

It's 100% justified to hate preclinicals. It's a complete waste of time to spend 2 years memorizing a flood of crap when 1 year is plenty. The other year can be used entirely for rotations. Subjectivity is unavoidable, just look at the residency forums where people complain about toxic attendings and coworkers. It's the reality of medicine whether you like it or not.

 

[Lawpy]

Also with Step 1 being P/F, it's even a much bigger reason to reduce preclinical to 1 year and focus extensively on wards and Step 2 prep.

I completely support everyone hating school because of long, boring and crappy preclinicals

 

[Maimonides1]

Now where were we...

Ah yep. Reduce preclinicals to 1 year now! The point of med school is to spend as much time on the wards and clinical electives as possible to be the best possible intern. Not to waste time memorizing crappy lectures when UFAPS/B&B/Anki do a far better job

After public and academic outcry to shorten the length of general medical education in light of impending physicians shortages complicated by heavy education debt.., this is compared to the fast track of mid-levels training that brings them close to the level of compensation/responsibility ratios of generalists and at much lower rate of liability..?

I tend to agree!

After watching Europe and other parts of the world, where physicians finish their medical education successfully in an integrated 6-8 years track,
I recommend:

- Moving subjects: Biochemistry 2, Physiology, Immunology and Microbiology to the the premed years and make it as mandatory prerequisites for further matriculation in the Med School years.

- Continue requiring MCAT reflecting added materials, ECs and other personality traits and attributes as requirements for Med school acceptance.

- Advocate for shorter Pre-Med track "3 years" and eliminate unrelated courses unless students are interested in gaining BS with Major/Minor, GAPS.

- Offer Anatomy, Embryology, Histology, General Pathology, Genetics, Pharmacology and Behavioral Sciences in one Pre-clinical year MS1.

- USMLE STEP 1 at the end of MS1 with P/F Grading.

- Clinical years with core subjects clerkships in MS2-MS4 integrated with Special Pathology and Patho-Physiology and other electives .

- USMLE STEP 2 at the end of MS3 including clinical skills assessment "Graded".

- Eliminate USMLE STEP 2 CS permanently.

- MS4 students will have more autonomy to work with the GME teams and it will serves as a general internship for all future residencies.

- Extend graduate school years appropriately for combined programs like; MPH, MBA, PhD.

- Maintain same Residency training lengths and expand specialized training to hone clinical skills and acumen.., especially highly specialized surgical specialties that require significant surgical volume to achieve high level of competence.

- USMLE STEP 3 during PGY1 P/F Grading.

- Initial certifying Board exams Written and Oral/Practical P/F Grading within the first 5 years of practice.

- Eliminate MOC and re-certifying board exams and emphasize the Lifelong Education Programs for maintaining boards certifications with CMEs

 

[emergentmd]

Med school is essentially what you make of it and what reference point you have. But this is essentially what everything in life is but magnified 10x.

You have the group of people who wants to pass/accept being middle of the class and leave time to enjoy things outside of school.
You have the group that will do whatever it takes to score that extra 2-3 points.

The 2nd group tend to be miserable and high strung. Maybe its worth it, only they can tell but man its pretty painful to watch.

I will never understand anyone truly believing that Med school is fun. Subject may be interesting, but in no way is Med school Fun. What is fun about taking 2-3x the college load?

The people I truly admire are the ones able to have a good career, then going back to medical school. We had engineers probably making 6 figures to give it up for 7+ years of living like a pauper. That is something I could never do.

 

[painballer27]

I have learned some interesting things in med school, I have gotten to do some cool things, but med school overall has been in no way fun.

 

[NicMouse64]

I have no responsibilities outside of school--which during preclinical I could get by with around 3-5 hours per day. That left a lot of time for other stuff: videogames, dating, exercise, travel, etc. I wouldn't say the experience itself was without stress, but it has been an enjoyable time of my life. Clinicals are more time obviously but there is a certain aspect of clinical medicine that I enjoy so I don't hate it so far. The worst part is coming home from a long day of work and trying to grind uworld.

 

[CorgiJedi]

Maybe a little recency bias as I'm an M4 (fourth year is amazing!), but looking back I definitely enjoyed medical school. I made some great friends and honestly had a blast.

Time commitment wise, the first 2 years actually aren't bad at all. If you have good time management skills and consistently stay on top of your studying, you can pass and easily have lots of free time. Of course, if you want to be top of your class or do a ton of research and match a competitive specialty/top-tier residency that's a different story.

Dedicated is terrible, that was the hardest I've studied in my life and I don't think I'd be able to do it again. Fortunately you get to avoid that as step 1 will be P/F by the time you take it! Third year also sucks because you're essentially working full time hours (unpaid) and still have to go home and study for shelves after. But overall, we med students are really lucky — we get to chill and hang out in school for an extra 4 years while our peers are out working "real jobs". I've always loved school so naturally I loved medical school.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

It's 100% justified to hate preclinicals. It's a complete waste of time to spend 2 years memorizing a flood of crap when 1 year is plenty. The other year can be used entirely for rotations. Subjectivity is unavoidable, just look at the residency forums where people complain about toxic attendings and coworkers. It's the reality of medicine whether you like it or not.

I enjoyed preclinical overall, but I TOTALLY see why some people hate it. And 1.5 years was enough. I was over it completely during the last block. A year would have been awesome.