everyone so smart

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plsfoldthx

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me so dumb 🙁

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It just feels that way trust me. I have found many people to be insecure about their own intelligence at med school. I think it is because they are thrown in a room with people who work as hard and are as smart as them. As a result they advertise the random details and facts they know about a topic to prove how smart they are. When you have 10 people in a room doing this and all knowing slightly different things, it can feel like everyone knows everything except you.
 
Someone knowing more than you doesn't make you dumb or them smart. It just makes you ignorant. Study more and in a few years you'll get to where you need to be.
 
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Honestly, I don't think most med students are that smart. There are a few smart ones. However, most of them are just hard workers.
 
Honestly, I don't think most med students are that smart. There are a few smart ones. However, most of them are just hard workers.

I go to a "well-regarded" school and all are pretty sharp, while the work ethic varies. My limited experience working with students from "lesser-known" schools is similar as well, with most being bright.
 
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You got into med school. That should say *something* about you.
 
Welcome to da club! At some point during med school almost every med student goes through this. You are just as good as they are, or even better. Cheer up!
 
Honestly, I don't think most med students are that smart. There are a few smart ones. However, most of them are just hard workers.

Well what do you mean by that smart?

Who are you comparing med students to? The general pop? Law/dental/business school students? PhD students?
 
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It's my opinion at some point in med school (and hopfully in first year), everyone needs to be able to care less about what other people are doing. Just because of the basic nature of class composition by premeds, a lot of your classmates are going to be highly neurotic, easily panicked, type A trainees.

It's very easy to get swallowed up by the craziness and competition, instead of doing whatever actually works for you, and gets you good results. Learning not to worry about what other people are doing or how smart they appear is much less stressful and makes med school more fun, I've found.
 
I got a state school, and everyone else is pretty smart. Or maybe I'm too dumb that I feel like anyone in med school would be bright. Very possible.
 
I'd say that most of my classmates are pretty intelligent. Intelligence + hard work = P.
I think "intelligent" is a matter or perspective here. I think being super intelligent = Einstein level. I haven't met many of those in my class. Every one is of at least average (average among those with college degrees) intelligence if not a bit more.
 
I'd say that most of my classmates are pretty intelligent. Intelligence + hard work = P.

agreed here. Differentiating is pretty difficult, most everyone is smart (compared to a general population of people or even a population of college students).
 
This is easily the most annoying part about medical school. There really are too many smart peope



- from a top 15 school
 
Instead of trying to be smart, work hard at being good-looking. 🙂
 
This is easily the most annoying part about medical school. There really are too many smart peope



- from a top 15 school

Also at a top 15 and totally agree.

Just grinded out 2 solid weeks of hardcore gunner studying in an attempt to demolish my biochem exam. The test was really difficult, but I knew I did well. I figured I'd be smashing the curve, just like the good ol' days in undergrad. Just got the grades back today back:

My grade: 89.9
Class average: 89.0
STD: 5.2

I'm so glad we're pass/fail. I'd hate to compete with these savages.
 
Also at a top 15 and totally agree.

Just grinded out 2 solid weeks of hardcore gunner studying in an attempt to demolish my biochem exam. The test was really difficult, but I knew I did well. I figured I'd be smashing the curve, just like the good ol' days in undergrad. Just got the grades back today back:

My grade: 89.9
Class average: 89.0
STD: 5.2

I'm so glad we're pass/fail. I'd hate to compete with these savages.

If the average was 89 obviously the test wasn't that difficult.
 
A classmate of mine came from Stanford, and I expected her to be super smart. It's not so much that she's dumb but more like she barely tries and is on the cusp of barely passing for every class. This is surprising because isn't Stanford breeding ground for the gunners? She also happens to be very good-looking, which is not at all relevant. My mom did warn me about the girls who go to med school looking for a husband though, lol
 
Also at a top 15 and totally agree.

Just grinded out 2 solid weeks of hardcore gunner studying in an attempt to demolish my biochem exam. The test was really difficult, but I knew I did well. I figured I'd be smashing the curve, just like the good ol' days in undergrad. Just got the grades back today back:

My grade: 89.9
Class average: 89.0
STD: 5.2

I'm so glad we're pass/fail. I'd hate to compete with these savages.

I'm also glad I'm at a P/F school. I study pretty hard, but I definitely feel relaxed enough to be able to take a night off every few days and do nothing since we don't have to compete.
 
A classmate of mine came from Stanford, and I expected her to be super smart. It's not so much that she's dumb but more like she barely tries and is on the cusp of barely passing for every class. This is surprising because isn't Stanford breeding ground for the gunners? She also happens to be very good-looking, which is not at all relevant. My mom did warn me about the girls who go to med school looking for a husband though, lol

Is there a problem with girls who go to med school looking for a husband?
 
Some of you are vastly over-rating the intelligence of the average person.

Everyone is medical school is well above average; the vast majority are extremely intelligent. Only a handful are on the Einstein/genius level, which is to what some of you may be referring when you say "intelligent".

And in case you're wondering if you've ever met a genius, then you haven't. When you do, you'll know it. It tends to be a very humbling experience.
 
Is there a problem with girls who go to med school looking for a husband?

No, I know quite a few doctors who married someone they met in school. But the ones I'm scared of are those that joke around about dropping out as soon as they land a husband. They're joking, but who knows if there are girls that think like that :scared: ...especially during test week when everyone's all "wtf did i get myself into?"
 
I'm also glad I'm at a P/F school. I study pretty hard, but I definitely feel relaxed enough to be able to take a night off every few days and do nothing since we don't have to compete.

Wishing I was at P/F.
 
If the average was 89 obviously the test wasn't that difficult.

Could have been as hard as any other med school exam... (I.e. at another school could have been a 70% average).

There can be huge differences in student body skill levels / effort. Hardly any slackers right now at my school, everyone still gunning for H's right now.
 
You can't tell much of the difficulty of a test by just a single number.

That's because

-Difficulty is relative.
-Average score is also relative.

Smart students taking a hard test can provide the same absolute % score as dumb students taking an easy test.

😛
 
Wishing I was at P/F.

The only difference is that you will not know your rank and instead of a real grade you will get an adjective (in the dean's letter) describing your performance relative the rest of the class (ie student excelled/was satisfactory/passed preclinical coursework).
 
i'm an idiot who has a memory of a pig. admitting this has made med school so much easier. when i do better than my classmates, they have to live under the title of being worse than a person worse than a pig. which makes me happy inside.
 
Could have been as hard as any other med school exam... (I.e. at another school could have been a 70% average).

There can be huge differences in student body skill levels / effort. Hardly anyi th slackers right now at my school, everyone still gunning for H's right now.

I think you vastly overestimate the differences in intelligence between students at top ranked med schools and no name ones. Much more variation within classes than between them.

If the 3rd quartile of the class is averaging 84 - 89 on an exam then I have a very hard time believing that was a hard exam.
 
I think you vastly overestimate the differences in intelligence between students at top ranked med schools and no name ones. Much more variation within classes than between them.

If the 3rd quartile of the class is averaging 84 - 89 on an exam then I have a very hard time believing that was a hard exam.

I'm just saying that in comparison to all of the other exams I've taken in my life, it was legitimately difficult. There were hardly any gimme questions, the average question integrated multiple concepts, and the amount of material covered on the exam was daunting, at least to me as an M1.

I gunned for 2 solid weeks, performed well on test day, and still only landed at the class average. In other student populations (like my undergrad), I would've set the curve, no doubt. But in my med school class, the average student was just as on top of the material as I was, and that was eye-opening to me. It's just weird to be in an environment where the typical student is busting their ass and/or really on top of ALL the material.
 
My mom did warn me about the girls who go to med school looking for a husband though, lol

That's an awful lot of work to get an MRS majoring in MD degree. I believe all those looking for a doctor/husband were the elementary ed majors who showed up to pre med meetings half naked.
 
Yeah, we have one genius in our class. It was blatantly obvious. I think this is the first time I've met a genius. His brain works much better but, it seems, also very differently from everyone else's. He basically masters material really quickly, so he thinks med school is slow and has been pre-reading ahead to the next exams 😱
 
I think you vastly overestimate the differences in intelligence between students at top ranked med schools and no name ones. Much more variation within classes than between them.

If the 3rd quartile of the class is averaging 84 - 89 on an exam then I have a very hard time believing that was a hard exam.

Well, you have more experience than me, so I certainly won't argue this point.
 
Could have been as hard as any other med school exam... (I.e. at another school could have been a 70% average).

I doubt that an exam with an 89% average at one U.S. med school would have a 70% average at another. That just wouldn't make any sense unless we're talking Harvard versus Jack's Medical College on some island somewhere.
 
Coming from a top 20 med school. I'm really not trying to be arrogant, but I've always done extremely well in school, from elementary to undergrad. I scored extremely well on the MCAT, probably one of the highest scorers at my school, which already has a particularly high MCAT score. I set curves in undergrad without trying particularly hard (not med school hard at least).

I have scored well below average on the exams at my school. Med school is insane. I also admit that I could be entirely wrong here, but I truthfully cannot believe that the average med school is as competitive as a top 20 med school (P/F or not, my school is P/F). I might get flamed for that comment, but it's what I truly believe.

Let me know if you think I am wrong, I would like to hear opposing views.
 
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I doubt that an exam with an 89% average at one U.S. med school would have a 70% average at another. That just wouldn't make any sense unless we're talking Harvard versus Jack's Medical College on some island somewhere.


Why?

There's this exam called the MCAT where the average at some medical schools is 35 and at others 30

/sarcasm
 
Coming from a top 20 med school. I'm really not trying to be arrogant, but I've always done extremely well in school, from elementary to undergrad. I scored extremely well on the MCAT, probably one of the highest scorers at my school, which already has a particularly high MCAT score. I set curves in undergrad without trying particularly hard (not med school hard at least).

I have scored well below average on the exams at my school. Med school is insane. I also admit that I could be entirely wrong here, but I truthfully cannot believe that the average med school is as competitive as a top 20 med school (P/F or not, my school is P/F). I might get flamed for that comment, but it's what I truly believe.

Let me know if you think I am wrong, I would like to hear opposing views.
I find it hard to believe that a top 20 is significantly more competitive. To an extent, yes, but it doesn't take a genius to get through this material, just hard work.

I got a 39 on my MCAT, go to a bottom 50 school, and I'm only slightly above the class average.

Schools wouldn't be accredited if they didn't produce competent doctors--one school getting more research money than another doesn't affect the material that must be learned. The brachial plexus is the brachial plexus whether you're at Harvard or Hawaii.
 
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I find it hard to believe that a top 20 is significantly more competitive. To an extent, yes, but it doesn't take a genius to get through this material, just hard work.

I got a 39 on my MCAT, go to a bottom 50 school, and I'm only slightly above the class average.

Schools wouldn't be accredited if they didn't produce competent doctors--one school getting more research money than another doesn't affect the material that must be learned. The brachial plexus is the brachial plexus whether you're at Harvard or Hawaii.

I agree with you on every point except the competitiveness. I got roughly the same score as you on the MCAT but I am well below the average. This could certainly be because I haven't studied enough but I have still studied way more than I did in undergrad. But yes, people study an insane amount here, so I still agree that med school is more about hard work than intelligence. Unfortunately at a top
20 people are way more intense about getting into a "good" residency than elsewhere.
 
I know how you feel. Just remember a lot of people in your class have already had classes like anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and whatever at the undergrad level. It makes learning it for them a lot easier and faster. Getting good class grades doesn't make a good physician, being good in the clinic does.
 
I know how you feel. Just remember a lot of people in your class have already had classes like anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, and whatever at the undergrad level. It makes learning it for them a lot easier and faster. Getting good class grades doesn't make a good physician, being good in the clinic does.

Sometimes the difference between a 89% and a 95% (which is NOT honors vs. honors) is some stupid research question that the nerdy phd thought was cool.

After taking a few exams I can see why people don't always stress honors. Sometimes both individuals understand the topic very well, but one guy remembered a sentence from slide #331, which gives those few % boosts on exams. I guess getting Hs is different at every school though...
 
My class (not top 10, but pushing that) ranges from intelligent (the average med student in my opinion) to genius (several of us started college at 14 or 15). We're in a population that is statistically different from the normal population (minimal level of intelligence needed for college and medical school+anyone higher than that). I doubt your average person from high school/lower tier college could pass exams in the time given for us to study...

Don't worry about where you are in the class, unless you're failing or close to it. If you go to a good medical school, you'll get into a good residency passing and doing well on Step 1 (mine sends a lot of people to top residencies--even the bottom quartile gets into decent residencies).
 
Sometimes the difference between a 89% and a 95% (which is NOT honors vs. honors) is some stupid research question that the nerdy phd thought was cool.

After taking a few exams I can see why people don't always stress honors. Sometimes both individuals understand the topic very well, but one guy remembered a sentence from slide #331, which gives those few % boosts on exams. I guess getting Hs is different at every school though...

This is exactly why I don't get too worried about my grades beyond passing. I know the material generally; any additional points beyond passing really is, more or less, a measure of how many random details you memorized or were able to recall on the test. Whether or not they're actually relevant to anything, who knows. I'm hoping they aren't (come Step 1 and clinic time).
 
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