does anyone find medical school "conceptually" hard

[patel2]

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most people on here are always saying med school is not hard, its just the volumes and volumes of information that gets you.

But Im curious what medical students consider as the definition of conceptually hard. Obviously something like quantum mechanics or advanced P-chem is tougher conceptually, but did you find orgo/physics/gen chem (the general prereqs) to be conceptually hard? Or also, like med school, just time consuming and high volume of info?

 

[the duck]

most people on here are always saying med school is not hard, its just the volumes and volumes of information that gets you.

But Im curious what medical students consider as the definition of conceptually hard. Obviously something like quantum mechanics or advanced P-chem is tougher conceptually, but did you find orgo/physics/gen chem (the general prereqs) to be conceptually hard? Or also, like med school, just time consuming and high volume of info?

Seriously? What is with all these threads lately asking very particular questions about medical school? Is anyone's application process going to change based on whether or not medical school is "conceptually hard" or if there is a "culture of skipping class" ?

 

[sideways]

Everything I've stumbled across so far (I'm a 2nd year) has been conceptually easier than what you may run across in o-chem, g-chem, or physics.

Before you get too excited though, the problem is, that while things are conceptually easier, you have such a greater quantity of things to learn that even things that aren't conceptually very difficult to learn may still be difficult to learn simply because you don't have the time to learn them, even though they're not hard to learn. Hell, even things that are downright EASY to learn are hard to learn because you have SO MANY of them to learn.

What this translates to for some concepts is a pretty shallow understanding of a process and a series of crossed-fingers that the test doesn't allocate a huge amount of questions to that one concept.

Final Verdict: it sucks more than undergrad by orders of magnitude. We're talking Renee Zellweger sucking on a lemon sucks...

 

[patel2]

Seriously? What is with all these threads lately asking very particular questions about medical school? Is anyone's application process going to change based on whether or not medical school is "conceptually hard" or if there is a "culture of skipping class" ?

The latter can be a very legitimate question for deciding to attend a particular school. Some schools have mandatory attendance, which for many people, is a huge waste of time and gets in the way of efficient studying and having a balanced life outside of school. So I would say that is a very important question to ask depending on an individual's personality.

 

[FIREitUP]

That's a lot of suck.

Everything I've stumbled across so far (I'm a 2nd year) has been conceptually easier than what you may run across in o-chem, g-chem, or physics.

Before you get too excited though, the problem is, that while things are conceptually easier, you have such a greater quantity of things to learn that even things that aren't conceptually very difficult to learn may still be difficult to learn simply because you don't have the time to learn them, even though they're not hard to learn. Hell, even things that are downright EASY to learn are hard to learn because you have SO MANY of them to learn.

What this translates to for some concepts is a pretty shallow understanding of a process and a series of crossed-fingers that the test doesn't allocate a huge amount of questions to that one concept.

Final Verdict: it sucks more than undergrad by orders of magnitude. We're talking Renee Zellweger sucking on a lemon sucks...

 

[DoctwoB]

most people on here are always saying med school is not hard, its just the volumes and volumes of information that gets you.

But Im curious what medical students consider as the definition of conceptually hard. Obviously something like quantum mechanics or advanced P-chem is tougher conceptually, but did you find orgo/physics/gen chem (the general prereqs) to be conceptually hard? Or also, like med school, just time consuming and high volume of info?

Based on what I've gotten so far this year (~95% anatomy), its definitely the pace, not the concepts that are tough. Its not difficult to understand what the names for various structures are, where they start and end, where they are in relation to one another, and a rough idea of what their function is (more of that in physio) if you put in the time. Its pure memorization. 8 hours a day in lecture/lab, and then another 3-4 in the library.

Just look at med school as a full time job and you'll be just fine.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

Concepts are easy. MD = Doctor of Memorization. 😉 Get that skill down and you'll be fine.

 

[Ilvcurst]

Yes the concepts are not that difficult to grasp but it's just so many things to memorize it can be overwhelming....

I find the amount of information on each midterm (we get 4) is probably the same as a final in undergrad except they give you a month to learn it. And you take 2 finals at a time.

Like my friend said, you always feel behind when you are in medical school. I have 6-8 hours of class everyday followed by 5-8 hours of studying. 10-14 hours of studying on the weekends. So basically studying all the time...

 

[ronaldo23]

Based on what I've gotten so far this year (~95% anatomy), its definitely the pace, not the concepts that are tough. Its not difficult to understand what the names for various structures are, where they start and end, where they are in relation to one another, and a rough idea of what their function is (more of that in physio) if you put in the time. Its pure memorization. 8 hours a day in lecture/lab, and then another 3-4 in the library.

Just look at med school as a full time job and you'll be just fine.

how about the lab portion? I always hear of people really struggling to pass the lab practical b/c it can be trickier to work with an actual body than a 2d textbook

 

[JonathanMD]

*deleted*

 

[thedoctor8706]

Conceptually just as easy, amount of content is way more, blah blah, fire hose analogy, yada yada...

 

[thedoctor8706]

how about the lab portion? I always hear of people really struggling to pass the lab practical b/c it can be trickier to work with an actual body than a 2d textbook

Depends on how visual of a learner you are. Also depends on your lab group. Mine is really smart and we haven't had too many problems working together and correlating our body with pictures in a Netter's Atlas. That being said, it is prudent to spend time on your own if you are having trouble in the given lab time. I also had a cadavar lab anatomy course in undergrad, so maybe it doesn't seem as bad as it could be, but I dunno, it's still early in the game.

 

[mmmcdowe]

Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. I'm not that great at spatial reasoning myself, so I personally struggled a little with using connections to deduce movement or vice versa. I ended up just straight memorizing because it was faster for me. Once in a while there will be something in lecture that doesn't click, usually it's some random ass research experiment that has only a small amount to do with the testable material where I don't quite follow the method or conclusion.

 

[MeRLin443]

I'm not really refuting what anyone else is saying- the stuff you have to know in medical school is relatively straightforward, especially compared to something like OCHEM. But the stuff they are teaching us COULD be incredibly conceptually difficult (as evidenced by every lecture given by a PhD).

 

[Pedsbro]

Everything I've stumbled across so far (I'm a 2nd year) has been conceptually easier than what you may run across in o-chem, g-chem, or physics.

Before you get too excited though, the problem is, that while things are conceptually easier, you have such a greater quantity of things to learn that even things that aren't conceptually very difficult to learn may still be difficult to learn simply because you don't have the time to learn them, even though they're not hard to learn. Hell, even things that are downright EASY to learn are hard to learn because you have SO MANY of them to learn.

What this translates to for some concepts is a pretty shallow understanding of a process and a series of crossed-fingers that the test doesn't allocate a huge amount of questions to that one concept.

👍👍👍
Don't underestimate the volume and the integration of concepts in the limited amount of time you're given in med school! Easy concepts or not, people drown in the amount of them you're given at once. People do flunk out of med school, even on their second try..

 

[gravitywave]

i've been most impressed so far (MS-I) by how much the PhD lecturers are bringing their material down for us.... if i could count the number of times i've heard, "well, if it were a hall full of graduate students, i would have you memorize this..."

so: if you love to really know things, and think you can study them hard enough, and for long enough, to know them perfectly, then NO medical school isn't for you. it's a new world: the ultimate survey course

 

[Disinence2]

I disagree with most of the posters above.

Although the first 2 years of medical school do favor simple memorization, seeing patients in a clinical setting requires a great deal of problem solving ability.

You'll find that NONE of the real world patients fit into the box that you memorized during first and second year. Understanding relationships between lab values and physiology, and being able to predict what will happen next isn't memorization.

Treating some patients will require a great deal of tact, that cannot be memorized.

In general I think its important to realize that its during your clinical years when you truly learn to be a doctor.

In summary, Yes treating very complex medical patients is significantly more "conceptually" difficult than O-Chem in my opinion.

 

[kevster2001]

I disagree with most of the posters above.

Although the first 2 years of medical school do favor simple memorization, seeing patients in a clinical setting requires a great deal of problem solving ability.

You'll find that NONE of the real world patients fit into the box that you memorized during first and second year. Understanding relationships between lab values and physiology, and being able to predict what will happen next isn't memorization.

Treating some patients will require a great deal of tact, that cannot be memorized.

In general I think its important to realize that its during your clinical years when you truly learn to be a doctor.

In summary, Yes treating very complex medical patients is significantly more "conceptually" difficult than O-Chem in my opinion.

Not really. Third and fourth year is all about pattern recognition and following diagnostic/treatment algorithms. If anything, you dont have to memorize that much, just get a sense that something is odd, look it up on uptodate and you're good to go.

 

[TriagePreMed]

Maybe it's just me, but nothing is conceptually hard if: a) someone explains it to you properly, and b) you put attention and ask for clarification along the way.

 

[Hifey]

based on the past six weeks of anatomy and the last test we've had, I'm going to have to agree with the former posters. It's not about the concepts, it's about the volume. That, plus building relationships and memorizing names and functions all the same time can be overwhelming. However, its not conceptually difficult to grasp. Just to connect/problem solve because you might not have memorized every specific thing.

 

[metallica81788]

based on the past six weeks of anatomy and the last test we've had, I'm going to have to agree with the former posters. It's not about the concepts, it's about the volume. That, plus building relationships and memorizing names and functions all the same time can be overwhelming. However, its not conceptually difficult to grasp. Just to connect/problem solve because you might not have memorized every specific thing.

I completely agree with this statement. I've felt like I didn't understand a concept only to review it again after memorizing some more stuff that makes it much clearer. For me, it's lots of memorizing before I try the concepts.

 

[jvesco22]

Maybe it's just me, but nothing is conceptually hard if: a) someone explains it to you properly, and b) you put attention and ask for clarification along the way.