do you go to class?

[Arctic Char]

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i'm sure this dicussion has a clone somewhere deep in the archives of this forum, but . . . here goes again:

who goes to class? i wouldn't know . . . i'm never there.

i learned to read in 1st grade, and books don't pause to ask the class cute little questions, books don't take ego trips, they don't have bad accents, they don't st. . . st. . . studder, and when books tell jokes - they're editted several times to ensure only the good ones make the cut. oh, and that annoying classmate who always asks the most ******ed questions . . . not in my room at home.

so, just to get an idea, who relies on class these days? with so many great, standardized study aides for the topics we all have to know about (First Aide, BRS, etc), do we even really need to bother with lectures anymore (labs are a different story)?

 

[SoCuteMD]

Class? There's class associated with medical school?

I must have missed that memo.

I try to go to the lecturers who have good reputations (I think there have been 2 so far this year). Other than that, I'm all self-study. We get transcripts and slides, so I study from those with some textbooks (minimal) and review books (almost every class) for clarification.

 

[Arctic Char]

now that i think of it, i never went to class in high school or college either. i missed class so many times in high school, the school just stopped bothering to call my folks.

i love learning 😍

hate desks 👎 😴

 

[PoorMD]

now that i think of it, i never went to class in high school or college either. i missed class so many times in high school, the school just stopped bothering to call my folks.

i love learning 😍

hate desks 👎 😴

skipping class has always had a stigma like "smoking in the bathroom"
as if people who skip are up to no good, sleeping in, whatever...

what people dont realize is that we are at home with a pot of coffee studying for Step 1 in a very controlled environment..
Our classmates who attend class religiously are subject to all sorts of variability, hot or cold lecture hall, snickering classmates, bad professors with stuttering like you said.. All of that, and I haven't even mentioned the wasted time traveling to and from class and the energy expenditure (lost) from sitting in class... Furthermore, if you are like me you get very little out of having someone read you a bed time story (especially when the story involves very precise words that must be used correctly, i.e. the professor mistakes the word PRE ganglionic for POST ganglionic...)

labs and PBL are required for obvious reasons.

-PoorMD

 

[Paws]

Yes! Yes! Yes! I agree whole heartedly, and from the comfort of my living room and my nice comfy desk. Outside my window right now I can hear the soft sounds of kids playing on the street, it's warm and sunny, and I feel at peace.

I can't stand the weirdness of class sometimes, especially when as you say it's like someone reading you a very dull bedtime story. For this I got dressed and had a shower? I don't think so; I would much rather fluff around in my scrubby clothes at home and know that I can take a nice break in my garden. Fresh coffee, all my books and board review stuff - heaven.

 

[SoCuteMD]

skipping class has always had a stigma like "smoking in the bathroom"
as if people who skip are up to no good, sleeping in, whatever...

I think it has this stigma because people see you skip (or don't see you skip!) and wonder, "Could I do that instead?" But they are too afraid to find out. What they don't realize is that they are WASTING THEIR TIME.

As soon as I stopped going my stress level went through the floor and my grades went WAY up.

 

[BDiesel]

..

 

[SoCuteMD]

The only thing that I never understood about skipping class is how much money you're theoretically wasting. I went to every frickin' lecture in undergrad b/c I was paying the profs' salaries and I was going to get something out of it!

If you want to look at it as a $100,000 (M1/M2) toll on the road to becoming a doctor, that's cool too. 👍

Can't wait to see the tune you are singing after your first week 🙂.

 

[Ypo.]

i'm sure this dicussion has a clone somewhere deep in the archives of this forum, but . . . here goes again:

who goes to class? i wouldn't know . . . i'm never there.

i learned to read in 1st grade, and books don't pause to ask the class cute little questions, books don't take ego trips, they don't have bad accents, they don't st. . . st. . . studder, and when books tell jokes - they're editted several times to ensure only the good ones make the cut. oh, and that annoying classmate who always asks the most ******ed questions . . . not in my room at home.

so, just to get an idea, who relies on class these days? with so many great, standardized study aides for the topics we all have to know about (First Aide, BRS, etc), do we even really need to bother with lectures anymore (labs are a different story)?

Class is my idea of hell. Actually listening to lectures is pretty hellish for me if I have to do it for more than 2 hours a day (seriously, that is my limit! after that it becomes very unpleasant and stifling.)

I was afraid to not go to class for the first couple months. Then I realized that i got more out of it when I watched the online lectures, because I could pause the lecture, and I could listen to it when I was at my peak, or when I got sick of reading notes. I am NOT at my peak in the morning. 😀

So, in short, the best thing in the world are online lectures. And may I say another thing? The second best thing is the double speed option! Some professors are utterly worthless as lecturers, but if their coursepack is crap, you need to listen to it to make sure you are getting all the info. I love professors that talk slow because I can listen to the same amount of lecture in half the time!

 

[Ypo.]

The only thing that I never understood about skipping class is how much money you're theoretically wasting. I went to every frickin' lecture in undergrad b/c I was paying the profs' salaries and I was going to get something out of it!

If you want to look at it as a $100,000 (M1/M2) toll on the road to becoming a doctor, that's cool too. 👍

Ahh yes, but undergrad is a different story. In medical school they introduce something once and move on. In undergrad they drill it into your head over and over again, so going to class actually helps. (sometimes).

 

[OnMyWayThere]

We have an audio uploaded as soon as a lecture is over (on the hour, every hour) and that was becoming a drag too. So 10 of us are now transcribing the lectures verbatim so we can just look at the powerpoints and read what the teacher said. And we bold what they said " I would know this" or something of nature. It's been working out ! (less hours of listening, rewinding, taking notes, etc.). More time for naps, talking with friends, sleeping in, all the "bad' stuff 👍

 

[omgwtfbbq?]

i agree, classes are hell. I remember the first time i realized that my 7:40 o-chem class could be better translated into a 12:30 o-chem book date 🙂

my school changed the currirulum for Fall though, and there's only 9 hours of lecture a week. the rest of the 25 hrs scheduled time is PBL group learning and labs you HAVE to go to. so there really isn't much wiggle room to not go.

 

[OddNath]

I think it has this stigma because people see you skip (or don't see you skip!) and wonder, "Could I do that instead?" But they are too afraid to find out. What they don't realize is that they are WASTING THEIR TIME.

Ok, I'm gonna speak from the other side-- I actually like going to class. For me, if I have 4-5 lecture videos every day to watch on my computer, I'll bum around with my email/SDN/dishes/eyebrow plucking before I actually get around to watching anything. Even then, I'll pause it randomly to get a snack. It ends up taking me most of the day just to keep up, don't even mention reviewing. So yes, I've tried it.

Basically, I'm not disciplined enough to get through all the material on my own! Instead, sitting in class forces me to get through that lecture in the hour-- and if the prof sucks, I just read the syllabus. As for the classroom environment..only about 20-25% of our class is there, so it's pretty quiet!

As for stigmas..I have great respect for people who can learn all the material, get through those videos, and do well without heading to school. If anything, there's probably more stigmas about people like me for being stupid enough to need to show up 🙄

 

[doctoresse]

I will be starting med school this year and was wondering whether students actually go to class. Would you guys go to class if you did not have lectures videotaped? The school I'll probably attend unfortunately doesn't have that cool system and I'm afraid I'll be stuck having to go to every lecture. It's nice to have the luxury to watch the videos at home especially when there is a snow storm outside. 😀 any of you doesn't have the viodeotaped lectures system and don't go to class and doing fine at exams? (please someone make my day, anyone)

 

[tupac_don]

i'm sure this dicussion has a clone somewhere deep in the archives of this forum, but . . . here goes again:

who goes to class? i wouldn't know . . . i'm never there.

i learned to read in 1st grade, and books don't pause to ask the class cute little questions, books don't take ego trips, they don't have bad accents, they don't st. . . st. . . studder, and when books tell jokes - they're editted several times to ensure only the good ones make the cut. oh, and that annoying classmate who always asks the most ******ed questions . . . not in my room at home.

so, just to get an idea, who relies on class these days? with so many great, standardized study aides for the topics we all have to know about (First Aide, BRS, etc), do we even really need to bother with lectures anymore (labs are a different story)?

Lectures are great to do, if you can do it, or you can listen to them on mp3 or via video. Then you can stop pause, see what the prof says, and really they save you a ton of time, b/c they tell you what stuff to focus on. When you are reading at home, you are just reading everything. You can do it, just might take you little more time.

 

[SoCuteMD]

Ok, I'm gonna speak from the other side-- I actually like going to class. For me, if I have 4-5 lecture videos every day to watch on my computer, I'll bum around with my email/SDN/dishes/eyebrow plucking before I actually get around to watching anything. Even then, I'll pause it randomly to get a snack. It ends up taking me most of the day just to keep up, don't even mention reviewing. So yes, I've tried it.

Basically, I'm not disciplined enough to get through all the material on my own! Instead, sitting in class forces me to get through that lecture in the hour-- and if the prof sucks, I just read the syllabus. As for the classroom environment..only about 20-25% of our class is there, so it's pretty quiet!

As for stigmas..I have great respect for people who can learn all the material, get through those videos, and do well without heading to school. If anything, there's probably more stigmas about people like me for being stupid enough to need to show up 🙄

Don't get me wrong - people should do what works for them. I just get irritated when the lecture-goers get this "holier than thou" attitude. One girl actually said, "I feel like I'm behind because I go to lecture and nobody else does, so I am the one that's suffering." Yeah.

 

[logos]

It took me half the year to realize that i spent my time browsing CNN.com and SDN instead of listening to the lectures. Our lectures arent all bad, but you can only make a lecture that is fundamentally a list of things to memorize so interesting. I've found that, unlike undergrad, I can no longer learn the material in class as the professor explains it. There is just too much material to learn it that way. Now I just go if I know the lecturer is good or the topic seems interesting. Interestingly, as i've started skipping my grades have gone up a bit.

 

[Ypo.]

Don't get me wrong - people should do what works for them. I just get irritated when the lecture-goers get this "holier than thou" attitude. One girl actually said, "I feel like I'm behind because I go to lecture and nobody else does, so I am the one that's suffering." Yeah.

😕 How is that a "holier than thou" attitude?

Now, I completely agree about the students who act like I'm a lazy bum since I don't go to class. Look at my grades if you want proof that I work hard, not at whether I'm a morning or evening person. Besides, when those "lazy morning people" are snoozing away at 3 in the morning, I'm cranking away on lecture material. 😀 😛

 

[bubbles!]

I will be starting med school this year and was wondering whether students actually go to class. Would you guys go to class if you did not have lectures videotaped? The school I'll probably attend unfortunately doesn't have that cool system and I'm afraid I'll be stuck having to go to every lecture. It's nice to have the luxury to watch the videos at home especially when there is a snow storm outside. 😀 any of you doesn't have the viodeotaped lectures system and don't go to class and doing fine at exams? (please someone make my day, anyone)

My school does not have video lectures, and I don't go to class at all unless it's mandatory and my grades are very good (so far- we'll see what happens after finals). I haven't been to a lecture this entire semester and I'm actually doing better on quizzes than I did last semester. I just prefer to learn from books at my own pace in a comfortable environment. And I like having the luxury of choosing what I feel like studying on a given day. When I go to class I tend to lose focus after the first 40 minutes or so and after that I'm just wasting my own time.

 

[Paws]

My school has no on line lectures or videos and they sort of try and force us to go. Most people surprisingly, do go which I find strange. As for the quality of the lectures? I wish I had stopped going last year during first year. 🙁

Such a collassal (colostrum?) waste of time, I always felt way behind because I had no time to study. My grades suffered big time because my a$$ was in the lecture hall and not in front of my lecture notes/reference books/computer, etc. Plus, I suffer from a real case of low-grade autism (self-diagnosed 🙂 ) where I feel actually disoriented when I am in front of 100+ people everyday, day in and day out. Too many people in my face!! it takes me a few hours to decompress from the experience. So right there, on top of the comute, that's like a ton of good solid hours wasted on nothing. Every frickin' day! I figure I gained about 35 hours a week by staying home.

I feel like I do much better now that I am away from school. I actually have time to learn the material and I can do it in a way that makes sense for me.

 

[OrnotMajestic]

Basically, I go to my morning class from 8-10. No, not because it helps me learn, but because it gets me up. I go, I struggle to pay attention, then I leave and head to the gym. After gym, I eat lunch, then I head to the library/Barnes & Noble/Panera/etc where I study till bed-time. It works for me. The difference between my grades of going to class and not is...well, there is no difference. So why go when I can study on my own and do just as well? I hate going to lectures. Blech.

 

[SoCuteMD]

😕 How is that a "holier than thou" attitude?

Now, I completely agree about the students who act like I'm a lazy bum since I don't go to class. Look at my grades if you want proof that I work hard, not at whether I'm a morning or evening person. Besides, when those "lazy morning people" are snoozing away at 3 in the morning, I'm cranking away on lecture material. 😀 😛

Ummm...because she was acting as if she were a martyr for going to class?

 

[Psycho Doctor]

skipping class has always had a stigma like "smoking in the bathroom"
as if people who skip are up to no good, sleeping in, whatever...

what people dont realize is that we are at home with a pot of coffee studying for Step 1 in a very controlled environment..
Our classmates who attend class religiously are subject to all sorts of variability, hot or cold lecture hall, snickering classmates, bad professors with stuttering like you said.. All of that, and I haven't even mentioned the wasted time traveling to and from class and the energy expenditure (lost) from sitting in class... Furthermore, if you are like me you get very little out of having someone read you a bed time story (especially when the story involves very precise words that must be used correctly, i.e. the professor mistakes the word PRE ganglionic for POST ganglionic...)

labs and PBL are required for obvious reasons.

-PoorMD

the thing is if you don't go to class you have to be motivated, organized and have your priorities straight. i can always find a million reasons to waste time or prolong opening the books. 🙁

 

[Arctic Char]

". . . you have to be motivated, organized and have your priorities straight. . . "

gee, what a concept

 

[Ypo.]

Ummm...because she was acting as if she were a martyr for going to class?

Yeah...I still don't get it. I have never heard anyone act like they were a 'martyr' for going to class. I mean, we're all martyrs if you look at it that way; we are all sacrificing our youth to the cult of medicine. but i do see a lot of students who have an attitude against people who don't go to class. Although at our school, the class-goers are the minority.

heh. I actually went to class this morning (have a test tommorrow and didn't want to wait for them to post the online lecture). It was so funny. Out of 300 students, there were like 50 people there. This one girl laughed at a stupid joke the professor made for like 5 minutes (seriously). He said that at a conference he went to, someone had made a poster with giardia as a kite (it is kite shaped under the microscope) and this girl was laughing like she had consumed 6 beers while watching saturday night live. I mean, come on. She needs something a little more exciting in her life, i think.

 

[OSUdoc08]

i'm sure this dicussion has a clone somewhere deep in the archives of this forum, but . . . here goes again:

who goes to class? i wouldn't know . . . i'm never there.

i learned to read in 1st grade, and books don't pause to ask the class cute little questions, books don't take ego trips, they don't have bad accents, they don't st. . . st. . . studder, and when books tell jokes - they're editted several times to ensure only the good ones make the cut. oh, and that annoying classmate who always asks the most ******ed questions . . . not in my room at home.

so, just to get an idea, who relies on class these days? with so many great, standardized study aides for the topics we all have to know about (First Aide, BRS, etc), do we even really need to bother with lectures anymore (labs are a different story)?

I have never attended a lecture this semester (other than a specific lecturer in Path.) I have all A's.

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
I was very selective about the classes that I attended. Some like Pathology, were great to attend but others like Epidemiology/Biostats were downright boring. My grades were excellent (AOA) and I saved loads of time by staying home and learning the material on my own. We had an excellent note service so I was always covered.
njbmd 🙂

 

[Arctic Char]

Yeah...I still don't get it. I have never heard anyone act like they were a 'martyr' for going to class. I mean, we're all martyrs if you look at it that way; we are all sacrificing our youth to the cult of medicine. but i do see a lot of students who have an attitude against people who don't go to class. Although at our school, the class-goers are the minority.

heh. I actually went to class this morning (have a test tommorrow and didn't want to wait for them to post the online lecture). It was so funny. Out of 300 students, there were like 50 people there. This one girl laughed at a stupid joke the professor made for like 5 minutes (seriously). He said that at a conference he went to, someone had made a poster with giardia as a kite (it is kite shaped under the microscope) and this girl was laughing like she had consumed 6 beers while watching saturday night live. I mean, come on. She needs something a little more exciting in her life, i think.

man, they act like martyrs all-the-time . . . and to tell the truth, it makes me spitefully annoyed.

for example, a note i recently recieved:

i find the whole people-who-don't-attend-class thing slightly annoying as well, when i'm *usually* one of the seven who goes. and therefore, when the professors stand in front of the class OBVIOUSLY hurt and disheartened i'm also one of the seven who watches that and suffers for them. knowing, at the same time, that there's absolutly nothing that i can do because our freaking class is SO self-righteous.

WTF?!?! i don't know what to tell this person first: grow up or get a life?