Don't you hate it when med students say one lecture in med school is the equivalent

[Username555]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Of an entire semester in undergrad?

It makes me wanna laugh so hard that some people honestly think this about their med school experience. So you're telling me that every single day in med school you cover 2 years of undergrad?

 

[FlatIsJustice]

Of an entire semester in undergrad?

It makes me wanna laugh so hard that some people honestly think this about their med school experience. So you're telling me that every single day in med school you cover 2 years of undergrad?

It makes me wanna laugh so hard that some people honestly think like this as pre-meds. No med student says 1 lecture is an entire semester; it may be true that 1 months of classes is equal to a semester in undergrad.

Sorry for the cringy first sentence. Just trying to copy OP's sentence structure.

 

[67552931811]

I've heard this exactly 0 times..

.. Actually, now once.

 

[Lexicon0]

Of an entire semester in undergrad?

It makes me wanna laugh so hard that some people honestly think this about their med school experience. So you're telling me that every single day in med school you cover 2 years of undergrad?

Four years of med school... Not even once..

 

[Foot Fetish]

I think what they typically say is that one block is equivalent to an undergrad semester, which is arguably true.

 

[eteshoe]

Who cares?

 

[bananafish94]

I've never heard anybody say anything that comes remotely close to resembling this statement.

 

[Winged Scapula]

That sort of statement is also news to me.

 

[Giovanotto]

I'd easily say that the amount of information I covered in a subject over ~1-1.5 weeks in medical school was the equivalent of a 16 week semester in community college/university. EASILY.

 

[Ioannes Paulus]

I studied more for my last anatomy test than for my MCAT

 

[Taco Time]

I was a biochemistry major in undergrad, graduated with a 3.9+ GPA, and all of my upper division biochem courses combined barely glanced over maybe 25% of the biochem in FA alone while only engraining a couple of the major pathways (e.g., glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, Krebs). Granted I learned about photosynthesis and the p450 system ad nauseam, which I have gladly dumped from my memory bank since, but outside of a few extra factoids in FA, I didn't really cover a ton of material.

It's not that undergrad woefully under prepares students, but the difference in volume and depth of knowledge for most classes in med school is stark in contrast when compared to undergrad courses. Regardless, I don't think there's anyone out there doing a crash course review of biochemistry in 1 hour that could cover all of an undergrad semester. That might be a bit of hyperbole, but med school forces students to become adept with intaking a boatload of information and integrating it. I feel that not trying to memorize every lecture, which was a lot more manageable for undergrad courses while nearly impossible for med school, but instead trying to conceptualize/integrate material first and then clump the minutia together is a far more efficient way of learning.

From what I've seen, most med students don't start out like this but many adopt this sort of approach the more they progress through med school. So while students say that med school covers a lot more material relative than undergrad by an incredibly wide margin, I completely agree but also believe that the type of learning required in med school to do well comes much more easily once a student gets in the groove than what an undergrad conjures in their mind of what taking 75 credits a semester must be like.

 

[username456789]

OP is an absolute embarrassment to usernames everywhere.

 

[Username555]

Hmm, maybe it's a complaint exclusive to the students at the school I go to. In undergrad we would have opportunities to go to Q and A sessions hosted by med students, and a majority of them would tell us the exact thing I said. Something along the lines of "whatever you learn in one whole semester of undergrad, you finish that in one hour in med school."

Personally I think one day in med school is the equivalent of 1 to 2 weeks in undergrad, so I've been amused when students have exaggerated so much.

 

[JamaicanHerb]

I have made this comment before.

 

[Luka75]

I was a biochemistry major in undergrad, graduated with a 3.9+ GPA, and all of my upper division biochem courses combined barely glanced over maybe 25% of the biochem in FA alone while only engraining a couple of the major pathways (e.g., glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, Krebs). Granted I learned about photosynthesis and the p450 system ad nauseam, which I have gladly dumped from my memory bank since, but outside of a few extra factoids in FA, I didn't really cover a ton of material.

Ehh... I think it depends. Most college Biochem courses don't require to learn as much info as in Med school to do well but that info is for the most part available (in the textbook) for those who are interested. I was also a Biochem Major and I always studied exponentially more than I had to simply because it gave me a better understanding of the material. That allowed me to discriminate between answers that seemed similar much more easily. I looked at Med school Biochem textbooks and by and large, I can't find much that I have not been exposed to yet.

 

[piii]

I think OP is making this up to generate drama in his life

 

[Pepe18]

.

 

[Sea Otter]

Never heard anyone say this even once.

 

[DrDarce]

I do remember my first couple biochem lectures of M1 covered most of what I learned in undergrad biochem.. it wasn't too bad though

 

[68PGunner]

Of an entire semester in undergrad?

It makes me wanna laugh so hard that some people honestly think this about their med school experience. So you're telling me that every single day in med school you cover 2 years of undergrad?

We covered 2 semesters of undergrad for one class in 4-6 weeks.

BTW, nice status premed.

 

[ChrisMack390]

 

[Taco Time]

Ehh... I think it depends. Most college Biochem courses don't require to learn as much info as in Med school to do well but that info is for the most part available (in the textbook) for those who are interested. I was also a Biochem Major and I always studied exponentially more than I had to simply because it gave me a better understanding of the material. That allowed me to discriminate between answers that seemed similar much more easily. I looked at Med school Biochem textbooks and by and large, I can't find much that I have not been exposed to yet.

Very few people actually find it worthwhile to parooze through all of Lippincott's in either med school or undergrad. Practically, it's way overkill. I didn't have either the time or drive to do so while I was in undergrad because I was always juggling 18ish credits with at least two science classes and all the typical ECs along with a life outside of school. Having read through Lippincott's would have barely put a dent in getting me more prepared for med school. To preface, I took the MCAT once back when biochem wasn't directly tested, but regardless, people even now can teach themselves the subject from review material. Kudos to you though for doing well and getting into med school. Just continue to work hard but don't expect that walking into biochem day 1 of med school will be a seamless transition. While you'll start out with some helpful patchwork relative to your peers, med school focuses on the pathology and treatment of conditions, and you'll most likely have to work just as hard as your other classmates that aren't biochem majors to score well. I took a joke of a physiology class in undergrad for one semester, and come med school, I was clueless with what was going on in physio lectures. I read Costanzo from day one, and have scored better on physio questions than several students that majored in physiology for UG. The advantage you have now is like a 15 second head start in a marathon--not that big of an advantage at the end of the day.

What I meant to say with my original post is that the amount and type of learning required to be a successful med student is far different from what it takes to cut it in undergrad. Personally, I feel that I've become a better student. A couple quotes I heard about med school before I started that I agree with now is that 1) med school is where you will learn how to learn, and 2) you'll be surprised at how quickly you forget things, but you'll be amazed at how quickly they come back after a cursory review. Both of these emphasize knowing material conceptually.

Undergrad likes to focus in on one tree in the woods at a time and memorize weird quirks about said tree for 16 weeks whereas med school forces you to appreciate the forrest first and then gives you the tools to differentiate the trees.

 

[Stagg737]

Never heard any say anything close to that. There've been a few times when one lecture was 1-2 weeks of undergrad material like some anatomy lectures or our 2 hour biochem lecture that covered glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, Krebs cycle, and glycogenolysis. I'd also say that our 2 weeks of immuno probably covered more than my semester of undergrad immuno did. I've never heard anyone exaggerate as badly as OP is claiming students have though...

 

[Goro]

Maybe a week of med school?
😉

Seriously, there are bigger things to get upset about, so chill.

Of an entire semester in undergrad?

It makes me wanna laugh so hard that some people honestly think this about their med school experience. So you're telling me that every single day in med school you cover 2 years of undergrad?

 

[Spectre of Ockham]

Of an entire semester in undergrad?

It makes me wanna laugh so hard that some people honestly think this about their med school experience. So you're telling me that every single day in med school you cover 2 years of undergrad?

Had a physiophatology lecture of almost 400 slides , it took three hours and made me wish I could bolt out the windows. That's half a semester for most courses in non-med. So it's pretty darn close.

 

[Username555]

We covered 2 semesters of undergrad for one class in 4-6 weeks.

BTW, nice status premed.

I made this account when I was a premed, never changed the status. Currently an M1

 

[jw3600]

I made this account when I was a premed, never changed the status. Currently an M1

Nice thread, clueless M1.

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

I made this account when I was a premed, never changed the status. Currently an M1

I've personally never heard somebody say 1 med school lecture = 2 weeks undergrad. I would say 1 day of med school = 1 week of undergrad, in other words the material covered on each med school test is an entire undergrad semester (~15 days for med school test, ~15 weeks for undergrad semester). When you get to M2, it is 1.5-2.0x the material of M1. All of this varies by school.

 

[Redpancreas]

Of an entire semester in undergrad?

It makes me wanna laugh so hard that some people honestly think this about their med school experience. So you're telling me that every single day in med school you cover 2 years of undergrad?

To be fair I'm sure we've all heard this and yeah, it's bull**** said usually by first year med students to glorify their new experience in medical school.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[Stagg737]

I've personally never heard somebody say 1 med school lecture = 2 weeks undergrad. I would say 1 day of med school = 1 week of undergrad, in other words the material covered on each med school test is an entire undergrad semester (~15 days for med school test, ~15 weeks for undergrad semester). When you get to M2, it is 1.5-2.0x the material of M1. All of this varies by school.

I've had a few lectures that were, we also have some extremely condensed blocks at my school (biochem was 2.5 weeks, immuno was 2 weeks, etc) so we covered a ton in those lectures.

Part of it is timelines too though. You get 4 years to learn the material in undergrad. You get 2 years to learn the material more in depth in med school. So it makes sense that one hour of med school lecture would be like 3-5 hours of undergrad lecture (at least),

 

[coldcase331]

Not going to lie, we covered my entire undergrad biochem course in about a week, and the block is ~12 weeks. I think the point is that the speed at which we go through material is astronomically higher than in college

 

[PhillyMed777]

I did feel like my 4 days of immunology in med school covered about 85% of a semester undergrad course in immunology

 

[Willfrye027]

Honestly undergrad was tougher for me at this point. It was almost exclusively free response with lots of application questions and analyzing complicated experiments. Now, its all multiple choice, way more interesting, and so far mostly recall and buzzwords. I spend more time studying now but its doable.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

I've never heard of anyone saying a lecture is a semester, but I do think a class in Med school (3 weeks) is the equivalent to a full time 15 unit semester.

 

[neoevolution]

I think this is very school dependent. Are you comparing A's at a top undergrad to passing in a P/F med school for example? I think the overall pre-clinical material probably does cover more than what the entire 4 yr UG degree does for most people, but that also includes a lot of fluff classes. The social science and biostats courses were fluff for us too and slow down the overall pace