Essay writing in medical school

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ReggieNoble22

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Hi all,

So I'm preparing myself to matriculant next month and finish up one of the prereq classes I need, and it turns out it's just a ton of 2 pages essays. Single handedly, this course reminded me how much I hate these types of courses so my question is:

How much essay writing will I need to do in med school? Classes involving ethics and policy will be a marathon of essay writing? What about lab reports (I'm assuming most labs will just be practical based, but is there BS lab report fluff)?

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So I'm preparing myself to matriculant next month and finish up one of the prereq classes I need, and it turns out it's just a ton of 2 pages essays. Single handedly, this course reminded me how much I hate these types of courses so my question is:

How much essay writing will I need to do in med school? Classes involving ethics and policy will be a marathon of essay writing? What about lab reports (I'm assuming most labs will just be practical based, but is there BS lab report fluff)?
Adding to your list: you didn't mention patient writeups or science papers. Various types of writing will be required. And some types will be required for the rest of your professional life. Get used to it.
 
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Adding to your list: you didn't mention patient writeups or science papers. Various types of writing will be required. And some types will be required for the rest of your professional life. Get used to it.

I'm well aware of writing SOAPs and other clinical papers, I was more so talking about the verbose flowery writing required in some undergraduate courses (and the lengthy lab reports too).

I was really looking for anecdotal info from people currently or not far removed from med school to just give me an idea what 'papers' have been like come med school time.
 
Some schools will ask you to self-reflect and assess your strengths and weaknesses and to develop a plan to work on areas in which you are weak. You will also be asked to assess your classmates and as you move up the ladder you'll be assessing your underlings in writing.
 
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TBH I have no problem with professional writing. It is the introspective sorta bs writing that I hate...
Self reflection is among the most important skills we learn in medicine.
Often, the things we dislike are what we need the most.
 
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So yeah, the reflective writing is worthless, but omnipresent. Just bear with it and eat the shiet. Some HIGHLY PREJUDICED thoughts below.

1. The self reflection essaying/blogging bs in med school was a complete waste of time. I have always known when I am doing good or bad, suffering or not, doing things against my conscience/better judgment. It was simply not necessary to share it with other med students. Worse yet, it was even harder to sit through sessions where students would read their drivel to audience. If I needed to reflect to an audience, I'd go to a damn therapist.

2. Notes should never be considered formal writing. It's discipline specific shorthand at best, indecipherable acronyms/scribbles at worst. Furthermore, evaluation of notes is not for their technical nor their stylistic merits - it's simply about brevity and accuracy of findings/assessment/plan.

3. Research writing is probably the most akin to formal academic essaying. That said, you could skate through medical school without ever having to engage in true research manuscript writing, but forget about competitive specialities if that's the case.
 
I think i'm good at self reflection... I just hate putting my thoughts to paper because I am worried how it will be interpreted or be read by others. I guess I just have to get over that though.
Review and evaluation is the way we show students that we value something.
Do you think we read this stuff for our own pleasure!
Merely telling them to practice self reflection goes exactly nowhere unless it is evaluated. Sad, but true.
 
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So yeah, the reflective writing is worthless, but omnipresent. Just bear with it and eat the shiet. Some HIGHLY PREJUDICED thoughts below.

1. The self reflection essaying/blogging bs in med school was a complete waste of time. I have always known when I am doing good or bad, suffering or not, doing things against my conscience/better judgment. It was simply not necessary to share it with other med students. Worse yet, it was even harder to sit through sessions where students would read their drivel to audience. If I needed to reflect to an audience, I'd go to a damn therapist.

2. Notes should never be considered formal writing. It's discipline specific shorthand at best, indecipherable acronyms/scribbles at worst. Furthermore, evaluation of notes is not for their technical nor their stylistic merits - it's simply about brevity and accuracy of findings/assessment/plan.

3. Research writing is probably the most akin to formal academic essaying. That said, you could skate through medical school without ever having to engage in true research manuscript writing, but forget about competitive specialities if that's the case.

Thanks for this input, can't wait for dear diary time :horns:
 
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My school does a lot of writing. We have a narrative medicine component for about a month and a half that has a variable level of writing depending on which particular program you do, and we also have an online writing portfolio that we are assigned to write in frequently and are encouraged to write in on our own. We also have writing assignments for parts of our "how to be a doctor class" on various topics (not too much - I would say probably ~ 1 essay every 2 months or so, not counting the narrative medicine part).

And that's in addition to things like patient write ups and notes that you have to do a lot more frequently (since it's integral to practicing medicine).

However, I think my school is one of the most extreme in terms of the amount of writing we do, so if you're okay with the amount I've talked about here, you're likely going to be totally fine at any other school.
 
I think it depends on the school since each school has a different curriculum.
 
I think it depends on the school since each school has a different curriculum.

Following up on that, can everyone comment on which schools have writing intensive v.s. low writing requirements ? And the advantages of each school's curriculum with respect to writing ?


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1. When I was in med school I think we did only a few true writing assignments.
2. You will go through the whole essay/personal statement thing again when applying for residency, fellowship.
3. If you go into academics you'll be expected to write papers throughout your career.
4. If you do research in your career all grant applications involve extensive writing.
5. You may be involved in research for or during residency/fellowship where you will be expected to write up research or cases.

So yes, writing is a big part of medicine and not being facile with it narrows your professional options.
 
Following up on that, can everyone comment on which schools have writing intensive v.s. low writing requirements ? And the advantages of each school's curriculum with respect to writing ?


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I remember case western's curriculum being particularly writing-intensive. You had to write a lot of reflection papers and such.
 
From the 2 different medical school curriculums that I've experienced, writing has been minimal. Maybe 1 or 2 papers per year. Almost everything is multiple choice tests.
 
I'm well aware of writing SOAPs and other clinical papers, I was more so talking about the verbose flowery writing required in some undergraduate courses (and the lengthy lab reports too).

Verbose and flowery writing is painful for everyone, particularly readers who have to wade through meters of BS to see if you're actually saying anything, and if so, what... Aim first for coherence in thought, then for coherence in expression.
 
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