Dropping out of Medical School

[chipwhitley]

I support you dropping out. In fact, I wish I had dropped out early on myself. The further you go the harder it gets. Now I'm pretty much miserable. My life would probably have been much more tolerable now if I had dropped out where you are and found another way to make a living. I struggled with issues similar to yours and kept going because everyone kept encouraging me to. That is probably one of the biggest mistakes I ever made - letting their advice overpower my own intuition.

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[spicysoup55]

I support you dropping out. In fact, I wish I had dropped out early on myself. The further you go the harder it gets. Now I'm pretty much miserable. My life would probably have been much more tolerable now if I had dropped out where you are and found another way to make a living. I struggled with issues similar to yours and kept going because everyone kept encouraging me to. That is probably one of the biggest mistakes I ever made - letting their advice overpower my own intuition.

Better late than never?

Maybe the people here who had thought about dropping out sometime ago can evaluate their decision for us in hindsight as a learning experience for the rest of us?

 

[charmiedermie]

I think you're misunderstanding what depression is. A trigger for a depressive episode is not a cause of depression. Depression is much more complex than that, unfortunately.

Edit: eek! After reading through more of the recent posts I think a few ppl might misunderstand what depression is. You don't become depressed because you don't like med school; you become unhappy with your decision/experience. Depression is much more multifaceted than that and is a real mental illness, not a fleeting emotion.

Your lecturing to me aside, I know what depression is. Take another example. If a woman is raped, and then goes thru depression, is her rape a "trigger" for hidden depressive feelings she always had or is it the cause of her depression? Take several seats. You just saying automatically that it isn't because he doesn't like med school is dismissive and wrong.

You don't know what you can handle until you push yourself to your limits. First year nearly broke me- hell, it did break me. Kept going, and now I'm a much stronger person for having suffered through it. You don't know your limits until you're at them, and sometimes not even until you are past them.

This exact advice of just pushing thru it can also result in the opposite effect of a dead student who pushed himself/herself to the limit. Right now he is just at 100 K debt. Not optimal but still manageable, but you think adding another 100 K more will fix things? Oh, and first year is hardly a breaking point. It's an ego and pride buster for sure when it comes to grades, but it is not even close to the type of resilience you'll need to have in third year.

 

[Mad Jack]

Your lecturing to me aside, I know what depression is. Take another example. If a woman is raped, and then goes thru depression, is her rape a "trigger" for hidden depressive feelings she always had or is it the cause of her depression? Take several seats. You just saying automatically that it isn't because he doesn't like med school is dismissive and wrong.

First year is hardly a breaking point. It's an ego and pride buster for sure, and you bounced back, but it is not even close to the type of resilience you'll need in third year. This exact advice of just pushing thru it can also result in the opposite effect of a dead student who pushed himself/herself to the limit. Right now he is just at 100 K debt. Not optimal but still manageable, but you think adding another 100 K more will fix things?

We'll see how I feel third year. Everyone said second year would be way worse than first, and it honestly hasn't been bad. I largely blame that on the way my school structures first and second year though- first year is very much a weed out year where they pile it on, while second year they kind of ease back and are more focused on the boards and things that matter. Third year will probably be fine (aside from surg and ob), given that I've worked 60-80 hour weeks in the hospital before voluntarily doing actual work rather than being a student that's just getting pimped or whatever most of the time. I'll get back to everyone and let 'em know, but this is my official notice that second year was a cakewalk compared to first, at least for me.

 

[jl lin]

Why can't everyone on SDN just love one another ? No wonder you're all depressed.

I feel the love. I feel the unicorns and rainbows all around me.

 

[jl lin]

I was beginning to worry about you, I thought of you this morning and wondered what happened

 

[charmiedermie]

We'll see how I feel third year. Everyone said second year would be way worse than first, and it honestly hasn't been bad. I largely blame that on the way my school structures first and second year though- first year is very much a weed out year where they pile it on, while second year they kind of ease back and are more focused on the boards and things that matter. Third year will probably be fine (aside from surg and ob), given that I've worked 60-80 hour weeks in the hospital before voluntarily doing actual work rather than being a student that's just getting pimped or whatever most of the time. I'll get back to everyone and let 'em know, but this is my official notice that second year was a cakewalk compared to first, at least for me.

Please do it by clerkship.

 

[jl lin]

Your lecturing to me aside, I know what depression is. Take another example. If a woman is raped, and then goes thru depression, is her rape a "trigger" for hidden depressive feelings she always had or is it the cause of her depression? Take several seats. You just saying automatically that it isn't because he doesn't like med school is dismissive and wrong.

This exact advice of just pushing thru it can also result in the opposite effect of a dead student who pushed himself/herself to the limit. Right now he is just at 100 K debt. Not optimal but still manageable, but you think adding another 100 K more will fix things? Oh, and first year is hardly a breaking point. It's an ego and pride buster for sure when it comes to grades, but it is not even close to the type of resilience you'll need to have in third year.

Well that example is quite a severe trauma. The thing is, with that situation, given the right time and support, the raped person will not have to live in a chronic state of major depression. She will be depressed, b/c she has been traumatized and grossly violated, but as she goes through the stages of grieving and coping with the trauma, if she doesn't have 1st degree depression, she will not necessarily continue in a stage of chronic, first degree depression. The latter is something that is totally screwy in the brain. Yes you can do the whole chicken and egg thing; but I have seen this consistently. Those w/ first degree major depression could have everything going incredibly well in their lives--win the lottery, relationships are good, normal stress, and many great things going on, and still the struggle with the daily dread of walking through an endless, dark tunnel, while feeling like you are forced to wear an the lead overcoat of chronic, major depression, for which they must comply w/ medicine and treatment and push through, it indeed becomes a lot like DM or cardiac disease. It can be a very difficult thing to explain or understand, but the obvious factor is that something is screwy w/ neurotransmission. Sometimes it can be an endocrine issue, which when balanced out, takes care of things. Other times, it's even more complex. I mean look at bipolar disorders.

Again the OP should follow the good advice here and work on taking care of himself/herself and what the deal is w/ the depression. If it is circumstance related, it processing over time, it will abate. If after a year or more w/ it persisting, no matter what they do or their situation, Ey, it's a good idea to get down to the brain organics on this. Either way, it should help and not hurt to see a reputable professional. If you are too caught up in the disorder, you will not be able to see clear the forrest for the trees....so, first things first.

 

[Affiche]

Your lecturing to me aside, I know what depression is. Take another example. If a woman is raped, and then goes thru depression, is her rape a "trigger" for hidden depressive feelings she always had or is it the cause of her depression? Take several seats. You just saying automatically that it isn't because he doesn't like med school is dismissive and wrong.

Lol, no. I'm not sure why you're trying so hard to have an "I gotcha!" moment. In addition to the stressor, lack of support and/or sufficient coping mechanisms also contribute.

@jl lin not everyone who experiences a trauma experiences a depression; some respond quite differently. Ergo, there are other factors contributing.

 

[Mad Jack]

Please do it by clerkship.

What, get back to you about second year? lol, I doubt my feels are gonna change, board studying is going more than fine. More worried about all the weddings this summer than anything school related.

 

[sliceofbread136]

We'll see how I feel third year. Everyone said second year would be way worse than first, and it honestly hasn't been bad. I largely blame that on the way my school structures first and second year though- first year is very much a weed out year where they pile it on, while second year they kind of ease back and are more focused on the boards and things that matter. Third year will probably be fine (aside from surg and ob), given that I've worked 60-80 hour weeks in the hospital before voluntarily doing actual work rather than being a student that's just getting pimped or whatever most of the time. I'll get back to everyone and let 'em know, but this is my official notice that second year was a cakewalk compared to first, at least for me.

Third year is difficult and frustrating in a different way. You are often times working ungodly hours AND have to learn everything for your shelves at the same time. What's worse is your grade is no longer based on objective data but arbitrary bullcrap, like did the attending you see 5 min a day like the tie you are wearing. It's ridiculous to the point where you can get 99th percentile on your shelf and still get B+ in the course. I didn't think 2nd year was bad but I HATE third year, can't wait to leave this stupid crap behind next year

 

[Mad Jack]

Third year is difficult and frustrating in a different way. You are often times working ungodly hours AND have to learn everything for your shelves at the same time. What's worse is your grade is no longer based on objective data but arbitrary bullcrap, like did the attending you see 5 min a day like the tie you are wearing. It's ridiculous to the point where you can get 99th percentile on your shelf and still get B+ in the course. I didn't think 2nd year was bad but I HATE third year, can't wait to leave this stupid crap behind next year

Yeah, I have a feeling third year is going to be annoying, but not awful. Probably MS1>MS3>MS2>MS4 in regard to how much I loathe each year, but we'll see if my predictions hold out. I've heard nothing but good things form the third years at my rotation site though, so who knows, maybe it'll be alright.

 

[zeppelinpage4]

Yeah, I have a feeling third year is going to be annoying, but not awful. Probably MS1>MS3>MS2>MS4 in regard to how much I loathe each year, but we'll see if my predictions hold out. I've heard nothing but good things form the third years at my rotation site though, so who knows, maybe it'll be alright.

N=1, and having untreated depression m1 probably didn't help.
But for me M1 was without a doubt the toughest year. Moving to a new place, not knowing anyone, getting used to med school level studying.
M2 was definitely better. Material felt more relevant, and I had some background from M1 and was more used to the workload. I also had made some good freinds in my class by then, which made a big difference.
M3 def has it's share of difficulties and frustrations. But overall, it has been even better, and I'll def take it over M1/M2. There's a lot of scut work and shelf exams were tough, but I was happy to see patients and learn some practicals usable info. I hated being in lecture halls the first two years and never wanna go back to that. Plus, I finally got to see my knowledge from the past two years to come to use, and a lot of the knowledge from M1/M2 started to come together for me this year. And though some attendings abs residents were tough to adjust to, most have been nice. I also finally got treatment for my mental health, and have more supportive environment here, which helped a lot.

Not sure how M4 will be, and experiences vary for everyone, but def for me M3>M2>M1.

 

[Stagg737]

Yeah, I have a feeling third year is going to be annoying, but not awful. Probably MS1>MS3>MS2>MS4 in regard to how much I loathe each year, but we'll see if my predictions hold out. I've heard nothing but good things form the third years at my rotation site though, so who knows, maybe it'll be alright.

I think this is pretty school dependent. I haven't heard one person at my school say second year (or first year for that matter), was better than 3rd year. That may partially because our clinical grades are 100% dependent on our shelf scores and preceptors have no say in them unless we do something unprofessional enough to warrant a failure. Almost everyone in our class also agrees that 2nd year is FAR worse than first year (due to our curriculum). General consensus I've heard at my school is M4, M3, M1, M2 from best to worst.

 

[W19]

Not sure how M4 will be, and experiences vary for everyone, but def for me M3>M2>M1.

From I heard from a few friends at other med schools, and what I also have seen at my school, M4 is pretty much residency interviews and vacations... I know people that were completely done by early February..

 

[TxsMed14]

I support you dropping out. In fact, I wish I had dropped out early on myself. The further you go the harder it gets. Now I'm pretty much miserable. My life would probably have been much more tolerable now if I had dropped out where you are and found another way to make a living. I struggled with issues similar to yours and kept going because everyone kept encouraging me to. That is probably one of the biggest mistakes I ever made - letting their advice overpower my own intuition.

Can I ask how far along you got? A lot of people are encouraging me to finish, and just not go onto residency because an MD would give a career/salary boost regardless. There's a website called the "Drop Out Club" that helps physicians to connect with non-medical jobs in which a MD is useful. I've contacted them, and will post what I find out. If you look into it let me know https://www.dropoutclub.org

 

[pre med 2014]

In medicine it will always get better next year and every year is worse than the year before


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[chipwhitley]

Can I ask how far along you got? A lot of people are encouraging me to finish, and just not go onto residency because an MD would give a career/salary boost regardless. There's a website called the "Drop Out Club" that helps physicians to connect with non-medical jobs in which a MD is useful. I've contacted them, and will post what I find out. If you look into it let me know https://www.dropoutclub.org

I actually finished, and let me tell you, unless you have another degree or skillset, having an MD alone is really hard to find a decent job, if not impossible. I've been looking at drop out club and most jobs either require someone who completed a residency, or prefer someone who did. The ones that don't require a residency are looking for people with finance or business experience in addition to an MD. I haven't really found a single one that would take an MD with no other background. If you do, please let me know. Most of these people encouraging you to finish have literally no idea what the actual job market is like. In their head, having an MD makes you some sort of demi-god and you should be able to push past everyone else and get any job you want, but that's not at all the case. It's tough.

Edit: Drop Out Club is misleading, it sounds like it's meant for people dropping out of the medical training process, but in reality it's more for people who have been practicing for a while and want to drop out of clinical practice.

 

[235009]

In their head, having an MD makes you some sort of demi-god and you should be able to push past everyone else and get any job you want, but that's not at all the case. It's tough.

If you are a traditional or fairly traditional med student (i.e. don't have another marketable degree, significant work experience or a prior career), the only thing an MD trains/qualifies you for is to enter residency.

 

[DKMA]

I'm a junior in high school and I've wanted to become an anesthesiologist since I was knee high to a grass hopper. Next year I'm going to shadow an anesthesiologist during my senior year of high school. There's a slight problem I wasn't very smart about my ninth and tenth grade year. My GPA is 2.89 and I was wondering if there is even a chance of me becoming one. I've straightened up and my junior year I've got all A's and B's and I'm very determined to become an anesthesiologist can anyone help? I'm also 16 years old

Become a CRNA

 

[chipwhitley]

If you are a traditional or fairly traditional med student (i.e. don't have another marketable degree, significant work experience or a prior career), the only thing an MD trains/qualifies you for is to enter residency.

Exactly, which is why the conventional advice to just "finish the MD" is bad advice. If you're sure you want out, cut your losses and get started on another degree or job. If I had quit halfway through, I could have paid for an entire degree with less than the tuition I would have saved.

 

[chipwhitley]

Another piece of advice for the OP and anyone else thinking of dropping out - all the advice you get will suck. People outside medicine only see the money and prestige of being a doctor and can't understand why you wouldn't want to do it. People inside medicine have sold themselves on the field and don't understand why it might not be for everyone - which is why they keep telling you to push onwards. My mistake was assuming that both sets of people couldn't be wrong. Well, they are. You have to do what's right for you.

 

[235009]

Exactly, which is why the conventional advice to just "finish the MD" is bad advice. If you're sure you want out, cut your losses and get started on another degree or job. If I had quit halfway through, I could have paid for an entire degree with less than the tuition I would have saved.

Another piece of advice for the OP and anyone else thinking of dropping out - all the advice you get will suck. People outside medicine only see the money and prestige of being a doctor and can't understand why you wouldn't want to do it. People inside medicine have sold themselves on the field and don't understand why it might not be for everyone - which is why they keep telling you to push onwards. My mistake was assuming that both sets of people couldn't be wrong. Well, they are. You have to do what's right for you.

Bad advice on SDN? No way!

I think the bigger reason is that for most of the people in medicine this has been their only endeavor and they don't understand the difficulty/complexity of other things that are out there. You'll routinely see on SDN people assuming that since someone got into or finished med school that their alternative career path had they not decided to pursue medicine would have been multi-millionaire (fill in the blank) because they were so smart and can achieve anything

 

[W19]

We had a student that left at the beginning of 2nd year (last September), and last week I was told by one of his friends that he will re-matriculate again this year. My point is that people should think hard before quitting because you don't want to make a major decision that might 'negatively' affect the rest of your life.

 

[chipwhitley]

Bad advice on SDN? No way!

I think the bigger reason is that for most of the people in medicine this has been their only endeavor and they don't understand the difficulty/complexity of other things that are out there. You'll routinely see on SDN people assuming that since someone got into or finished med school that their alternative career path had they not decided to pursue medicine would have been multi-millionaire (fill in the blank) because they were so smart and can achieve anything

I think if you're lukewarm about medicine, you should try another career first. Medical school will still be there waiting for you a couple years later if you realize you hate your other job, and you'll be better equipped to handle it mentally.

I don't think most people in medicine would be multimillionaires otherwise, but I also refuse to believe that they would be totally unemployed and on the street, as many people on SDN believe. I'm certain most, if not all, people in medical school could find success in another career if they chose to do it over and not go to med school. They are by and large more intelligent and driven than the average person. It's not medicine vs dead end job.

If medicine really is the best career in every aspect as people on SDN believe, then every rational person should try to get into med school first, and failing that, pursue any other career. Obviously that's not the case.

 

[EventualMD]

As someone who was too prideful to seek help for what was a recurring case of depression that severely impacted my school performance, I can't more highly recommend going to a psychiatrist or at least a GP and getting help via antidepressants. You may just have an episode of depression, you may have a susceptibility to depression that was triggered by the stress of medical school or you may have a permanent imbalance of brain chemistry that needs constant attending to, like a diabetic would. Getting on antidepressants was the best thing I did and I only wish that I had done it sooner.

A diabetic takes insulin to counteract high sugar levels and as a result we see improvement in their health. A chronically depressed person takes SSRIs for chemicals in a particular organ, the brain, and sees improvement in their life.

 

[TxsMed14]

As someone who was too prideful to seek help for what was a recurring case of depression that severely impacted my school performance, I can't more highly recommend going to a psychiatrist or at least a GP and getting help via antidepressants. You may just have an episode of depression, you may have a susceptibility to depression that was triggered by the stress of medical school or you may have a permanent imbalance of brain chemistry that needs constant attending to, like a diabetic would. Getting on antidepressants was the best thing I did and I only wish that I had done it sooner.

A diabetic takes insulin to counteract high sugar levels and as a result we see improvement in their health. A chronically depressed person takes SSRIs for chemicals in a particular organ, the brain, and sees improvement in their life.

I definitely have done both. I was treated at an inpatient facility called the Menninger Clinic that specifically treats medical professionals and students. If the issue was burn out vs. brain chemistry, that may be why antidepressants weren't as helpful as CBT has been.

This thread has been very helpful in figuring out why I personally struggled. I wrote my burn out list here; curious if anyone else had similar/other difficulties?

https://medschooldropout.com/2016/04/15/burnout-in-5-easy-steps/

 

[Ray D. Ayshun]

I definitely have done both. I was treated at an inpatient facility called the Menninger Clinic that specifically treats medical professionals and students. If the issue was burn out vs. brain chemistry, that may be why antidepressants weren't as helpful as CBT has been.

This thread has been very helpful in figuring out why I personally struggled. I wrote my burn out list here; curious if anyone else had similar/other difficulties?

https://medschooldropout.com/2016/04/15/burnout-in-5-easy-steps/

In reading your blog, though there are only three posts, I do feel like I'm reading what will eventually be a post mortem on your possible career in medicine. I could be wrong. Its too bad, as it seems like you might have a lot to offer patients. While it's worthwhile to define the hurdles facing med students wrt the bell curve, which may be amplified at a top 10, they become less of a burden if your goal is always kept in mind. Should that goal be being the top 1% of the top 1%, then you might succeed and then find yourself wanting to be the top 0.1%. On the other hand, if med school is a path to getting a job that will make you happy, your position on the bell curve is more about "good enough?" This is a long-winded way of asking, "why medicine?"

 

[PhillyMed777]

We'll see how I feel third year. Everyone said second year would be way worse than first, and it honestly hasn't been bad. I largely blame that on the way my school structures first and second year though- first year is very much a weed out year where they pile it on, while second year they kind of ease back and are more focused on the boards and things that matter. Third year will probably be fine (aside from surg and ob), given that I've worked 60-80 hour weeks in the hospital before voluntarily doing actual work rather than being a student that's just getting pimped or whatever most of the time. I'll get back to everyone and let 'em know, but this is my official notice that second year was a cakewalk compared to first, at least for me.

I wouldn't underestimate 3rd year
I feel like my every move and every word is being judged; like they are just waiting for me to do something wrong so they can say "AHA i knew you were a lousy, lazy, no good medical student."
Not to mention, I've never had less time.
It's a bit of a shock, to say the least

 

[Psai]

I wouldn't underestimate 3rd year
I feel like my every move and every word is being judged; like they are just waiting for me to do something wrong so they can say "AHA i knew you were a lousy, lazy, no good medical student."
Not to mention, I've never had less time.
It's a bit of a shock, to say the least

Yeah it really sucks. Especially if they do end up writing an evaluation that says something like that

 

[spicysoup55]

I definitely have done both. I was treated at an inpatient facility called the Menninger Clinic that specifically treats medical professionals and students. If the issue was burn out vs. brain chemistry, that may be why antidepressants weren't as helpful as CBT has been.

This thread has been very helpful in figuring out why I personally struggled. I wrote my burn out list here; curious if anyone else had similar/other difficulties?

https://medschooldropout.com/2016/04/15/burnout-in-5-easy-steps/

So when you are burned out, how do you know if you should push through it or call it quits?

 

[Dredge]

Missed ya buddy! Also I'm glad things are picking up a little.
To the OP: I'm so sorry for the rough time you've been having and I'm really glad that you're feeling a little better. The rest of SDN and myself unfortunately can't help you with what you need to do regarding your career, but sharing these feelings is a huge deal. It takes a lot of guts that other people (myself included probably) just don't have.

 

[Mad Jack]

No, what you were saying was that you knew what depression was and how it alters your response to things because you've been depressed and you have a mopey family. Which is BS, because 1. nobody knows those things and 2. being depressed doesnt make you an expert on depression. That's all. You are lecturing med students and residents about not understanding depression.

I honestly don't think medical school, or medicine in general, has a very good grasp on depression. You can drop a few random theories and facts in a curriculum, but they really don't capture the experience of depression at all. It's kind of like how you can probably name all of the side effects of chemo, but if someone asked you what a day of chemotherapy felt like, or what the worst things about it are, or what things in your day it made the most miserable, you'd be completely unable to do so, because you haven't been there. You can be an expert in treating something without having a clue what it means to live with or survive it.

 

[Mad Jack]

Don't you have professionalism course and other interdisciplinary BS at your school so doctors can learn how to interact with ancillary staff?

We had 30+ hours of professionalism, but we only spent 6 hours in biostats... You gotta love med school priority!

Preclinical can be done in 18 months and the other 18 months can be used for clerkship...

Aside from a couple four hour visits to see what dentists, PTs, pharmacists, etc do in their day-to-day, we don't have any true "interpersonal education" or professionalism courses. We have some voluntary IPE events that are pretty fun though. Does your school trust you that little to act professionally and play well with others?

 

[fancymylotus]

Aside from a couple four hour visits to see what dentists, PTs, pharmacists, etc do in their day-to-day, we don't have any true "interpersonal education" or professionalism courses. We have some voluntary IPE events that are pretty fun though. Does your school trust you that little to act professionally and play well with others?

Dentists as ancillary staff? Oh really


*bows down to the high and mighty DO*


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[Mad Jack]

Dentists as ancillary staff? Oh really


*bows down to the high and mighty DO*


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

Where in my post did I call dentists ancillary staff? Interprofessional=mutual education between professions, not superiors and ancillary staff lol. They like us to have an idea of what other people in health care are doing, so we've got an idea of how the whole system works together.

 

[Wordead]

I honestly don't think medical school, or medicine in general, has a very good grasp on depression. You can drop a few random theories and facts in a curriculum, but they really don't capture the experience of depression at all. It's kind of like how you can probably name all of the side effects of chemo, but if someone asked you what a day of chemotherapy felt like, or what the worst things about it are, or what things in your day it made the most miserable, you'd be completely unable to do so, because you haven't been there. You can be an expert in treating something without having a clue what it means to live with or survive it.

Thats my whole point. Medicine doesnt have a good grasp on it. At all. But some premed thinks he understands it.

 

[W19]

Aside from a couple four hour visits to see what dentists, PTs, pharmacists, etc do in their day-to-day, we don't have any true "interpersonal education" or professionalism courses. We have some voluntary IPE events that are pretty fun though. Does your school trust you that little to act professionally and play well with others?

Apparently they don't since we sometimes had to watch documentaries in which doctors were unprofessional to ancillary staffs so they can tell us 'these are the stuffs you should not do'.

 

[Mad Jack]

Thats my whole point. Medicine doesnt have a good grasp on it. At all. But some premed thinks he understands it.

Ah, that makes more sense.

He understands his experience of it, which may or may not help the OP. Depression isn't the same for everyone, so who knows, maybe their subjective experience is close enough to OP's for it to be worthwhile, maybe it's worthless. Only OP can tell.

 

[Affiche]

Thats my whole point. Medicine doesnt have a good grasp on it. At all. But some premed thinks he understands it.

She*

And I don't think I understand it completely, no, I'm just hypersensitive to the oversimplification of the factors contributing to the experience. I'm not just ''some premed'' either, I'm a nontrad premed with a career in clinic research with a focus on depression. In our hospital it's taboo to say something is a direct cause of a bout of depression because it grossly oversimplifies treatment.

 

[PhillyMed777]

All pre-meds think they are special
In my class, it wasn't until anatomy hit in the late fall that my peers came down from their high horses

 

[Affiche]

Lol come on now, you don't get to pull the ''I'm a med student/resident/attending'' card to qualify your point and then be dismissive of someone else's professional background when it's directly relevant to the topic. Quit being salty.

 

[PhillyMed777]

Lol come on now, you don't get to pull the ''I'm a med student/resident/attending'' card to qualify your point and then be dismissive of someone else's professional background when it's directly relevant to the topic. Quit being salty.

I don't recall ever pulling any card to talk about myself. I don't recall arguing about the topic at hand.

I simply talked about how your idea that you arnt "just any pre med" is funny bc that's what everyone in my class thought and walked around the hallways boasting about. You'll learn, as they did. From your high horse you will descend, like they all do.

On a slightly comical note, here are some of the ideas I've heard:
I was an EMT/ER scribe for 5 years therefore I am the best in the class currently at EM.
I did Harvard research on plastic surgery, therefore i understand plastic surgery well.
I tutored anatomy for 5 years, I will ace anatomy (actually this person was ridiculously average in the end, which i thought was hilarious)
I was a physics/engineer, I will school all of ya'll in physiology. med school is nothin'
etc, etc.

 

[Affiche]

I don't recall ever pulling any card to talk about myself. I don't recall arguing about the topic at hand.

I simply talked about how your idea that you arnt "just any pre med" is funny bc that's what everyone in my class thought and walked around the hallways boasting about. You'll learn, as they did. From your high horse you will descend, like they all do.

On a slightly comical note, here are some of the ideas I've heard:
I was an EMT/ER scribe for 5 years therefore I am the best in the class currently at EM.
I did Harvard research on plastic surgery, therefore i understand plastic surgery well.
I tutored anatomy for 5 years, I will ace anatomy (actually this person was ridiculously average in the end, which i thought was hilarious)
I was a physics/engineer, I will school all of ya'll in physiology. med school is nothin'
etc, etc.

Yes, because those are so similar to what's going on here. The comparisons in this thread leave a lot to be desired.

I'm not predicting how I'll do in medical school or extrapolating my experiences to something unrelated; I'm weighing in as someone who's suffered from this illness and has a career dedicated to alleviating the suffering of patients who have it (albeit in a very specific population).

Look, this thread has devolved into an argument about titles, which isn't relevant or helpful to the OP. OP, I really do hope you get this managed so you can make a clear-eyed decision. That's all.

 

[Wordead]

Ah, that makes more sense.

He understands his experience of it, which may or may not help the OP. Depression isn't the same for everyone, so who knows, maybe their subjective experience is close enough to OP's for it to be worthwhile, maybe it's worthless. Only OP can tell.

If she were just explaining her experience with depression I would never be snarky about it. She at no time was speaking from the perspective of someone who experienced depression and her altered response, she was speaking as an expert on depression:

Having been depressed before and being in a family (non-biological) where depression runs rampant, I can tell you that I am not confused about what depression is or how it alters your response to things. Sure, a lot of the hard science is unknown, but I think it's a stretch to say that a perfectly healthy person enters medical school, decides they don't like it, and then all of a sudden has developed depression because of medical school. To me, that sounds like a serious misunderstanding of how complex depression actually is, which I think we actually agree on.

Which makes perfect sense now with her "depression research" background. I'm sorry, "professional" background. What a ****ing joke.

 

[Affiche]

If she were just explaining her experience with depression I would never be snarky about it. She at no time was speaking from the perspective of someone who experienced depression and her altered response, she was speaking as an expert on depression:



Which makes perfect sense now with her "depression research" background. I'm sorry, "professional" background. What a ****ing joke.

What is your deal? You haven't been "snarky" about anything, you've been hostile and unprofessional. You've called a family with a history of depression "mopey", pulled rank as if that validates your argument and then dismissed someone's career (because it's different than yours) as "a ****ing joke". If you reread the thread, you'll notice that others who have experienced depression have agreed with me, yet you continue to make inflammatory posts because you've been rubbed the wrong way. Move on already.

 

[W19]

A thread about someone who is asking for help about his/her mental illness has turned into a dick or clitoris measuring contest. You gotta love SDN!

 

[Mad Jack]

What is your deal? You haven't been "snarky" about anything, you've been hostile and unprofessional. You've called a family with a history of depression "mopey", pulled rank as if that validates your argument and then dismissed someone's career (because it's different than yours) as "a ****ing joke". If you reread the thread, you'll notice that others who have experienced depression have agreed with me, yet you continue to make inflammatory posts because you've been rubbed the wrong way. Move on already.

You clearly don't know Wordead that well. This is pretty much his MO.

 

[Affiche]

You clearly don't know Wordead that well. This is pretty much his MO.

Moving on....

 

[zeppelinpage4]

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. Affiche's posts seemed quite reasonable to me. And whether or not anyone agrees or disagrees, the salty responses seem completely unnecessary. Also, it doesn't matter if she's a pre-med or med student or attending or anything. If someone has background in a subject, I'd like to hear their opinions and thoughts on it. She's not any less qualified to talk about it than the rest of us, just as long as she doesn't state everything as facts, which I didn't think she did.