First Year of Medical School?

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Dr. Stalker

Dr. Stalker

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I know a lot of people may just tell me "each school is totally different," but what is the first year of medical school generally like? What classes do MS1 take, how long are they, do you get to pick them or are there electives? Do you ever even step into the hospital in your first year?

I remember when I was in high school I was wondering how the freshman year of college would go, considering my high school was a traditional 8am-3pm type with different periods for different classes, so analogously so I'm curious how med school freshman year goes! Any and all opinions valued, thanks peepz!
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I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone say that the first year is different. All schools have to teach the same stuff in the pre clinical years to get you ready for the same test.
 
ridethecliche said:
I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone say that the first year is different. All schools have to teach the same stuff in the pre clinical years to get you ready for the same test.
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Nope, first year can be very different between schools. This is mostly dependent on curriculum type (1 year, 1.5, 2), but also dependent on what subjects the faculty of your school think should be emphasized. My school had almost 3 months of biochem, while JHU will have like 2 weeks of biochem. Another variable is how much the different schools teach to STEP 1 (unfortunately in the case of my school not at all).

As for OP's question, you generally start off with anatomy and some basic sciences and progress into path/pharm/micro (although as I said earlier this will vary by school). Pretty much all of your curriculum is set out for you and everybody else. There are electives but they generally aren't graded beyond pass/fail and really aren't important (I see them as more of a kind of club than an actual class). You won't be in the hospital much in the 1st year unless you go out of your way to.

In general Med school is more like high school than college.
 
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It does vary. I'm at a school with a 1.5 year preclinical curriculum, and we have an integrated curriculum where we start learning pathology right off the bat, along with whatever systems/other stuff we're doing, so I can't speak to traditional class content. We have lectures most days, which aren't mandatory; it's a decently even split as far as people who go vs. people who don't. We have PBL twice a week and some other small group stuff for histology, radiology, and general other stuff most weeks. We don't get to pick them - everyone takes the same ones. There are non-credit electives offered (e.g. medical Spanish, medical Haitian Creole, medical Chinese, art and anatomy, clay and anatomy, global health, etc.) that you can take for fun, to learn something, which I've really enjoyed. They don't really "count" for anything; they'll maybe be mentioned for a sentence in our dean's letter, but it's really just for if you're interested. At my school, we see patients with a preceptor every other week for a few hours during MS1, with the idea being to practice history-taking and physical exam skills. I think a lot of schools are doing similar things now, so you get to start learning to see/talk to patients before you're thrown into MS3.

I'd say it used to be the same pretty much everywhere, but with more shortened preclinical programs/more integrated programs/more PBL & other learning modalities, there are gonna be some differences. And also grading-wise - I'm at a P/F school, so I don't know what it's like elsewhere.

Hope this helps!
 
What you need to do is go to med school sites and look up "Academic schedule" or their calendar.


Dr. Stalker said:
I know a lot of people may just tell me "each school is totally different," but what is the first year of medical school generally like? What classes do MS1 take, how long are they, do you get to pick them or are there electives? Do you ever even step into the hospital in your first year?

I remember when I was in high school I was wondering how the freshman year of college would go, considering my high school was a traditional 8am-3pm type with different periods for different classes, so analogously so I'm curious how med school freshman year goes! Any and all opinions valued, thanks peepz!
Click to expand...
 
Dr. Stalker said:
I know a lot of people may just tell me "each school is totally different," but what is the first year of medical school generally like? What classes do MS1 take, how long are they, do you get to pick them or are there electives? Do you ever even step into the hospital in your first year?

I remember when I was in high school I was wondering how the freshman year of college would go, considering my high school was a traditional 8am-3pm type with different periods for different classes, so analogously so I'm curious how med school freshman year goes! Any and all opinions valued, thanks peepz!
Click to expand...

Schedules vary, classes are covered in different orders, some places do straight lecture while others use PBL. That being said the range of experiences within US allo schools is pretty finite. You will not have electives -- there really isn't time to give you electives in the first couple of years and still cover all the USMLE relevant courses. In later years, especially fourth year, you'll have opportunity to do electives.

You will work harder than in college. you will be expected to spend the bulk of your time evenings and weekends studying. You will likely dissect a dead person. You might learn to interview a patient in the hospital but otherwise you won't be doing much in the hospital.
 
Alright thanks this helps out a lot.

What's the workload like? I know its more intense than UG but are the classes hard or just at a faster pace (which makes it hard)? Also whats the biggest difficulty in making the transition from UG to med school?
 
It generally involves learning stuff from a ppt or book about the body. It occasionally involves play acting w a bunch of fake patients about baloney complaints and showing "emotions" but in an appropriate way.

But in reality, it was about checking out your classmates and going out a lot and wasting your student loan money.
 
Dr. Stalker said:
Alright thanks this helps out a lot.

What's the workload like? I know its more intense than UG but are the classes hard or just at a faster pace (which makes it hard)? Also whats the biggest difficulty in making the transition from UG to med school?
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I think it's definitely the speed of material, rather than the content, that makes it difficult. There's nothing conceptually difficult about biochem; learning it all in 2 weeks is a little rough.
 
Dr. Stalker said:
Alright thanks this helps out a lot.

What's the workload like? I know its more intense than UG but are the classes hard or just at a faster pace (which makes it hard)? Also whats the biggest difficulty in making the transition from UG to med school?
Click to expand...

The issue is mostly the volume. And the related fact that lot of the study approaches you cultivated in college won't work as well when you don't have the luxury of time. And the fact that the average person in your med school class is no longer the undergrad stoner who tailgates all weekend and pulls down the curve for you.
 
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RedPhys said:
! Are you in Miami? 😵
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No, I'm at Downstate. Enormous Haitian population here. I speak Spanish fluently, but Creole would be muuuuch more helpful here, so I'm planning to work on it over the summer.
 
What would be your suggestions for pre-meds who are going to med school? I'm applying this cycle and fingers crossed hoping to get in--any tips on what to do to prepare for med school?
 
Dr. Stalker said:
What would be your suggestions for pre-meds who are going to med school? I'm applying this cycle and fingers crossed hoping to get in--any tips on what to do to prepare for med school?
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Relax, learn to cook, and do something fun. You'll learn what you need to learn for medical school in medical school. Don't worry about it til then.
 
Dr. Stalker said:
What would be your suggestions for pre-meds who are going to med school? I'm applying this cycle and fingers crossed hoping to get in--any tips on what to do to prepare for med school?
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buy a slow cooker and a durable coffee maker. Also, a costco membership can be pretty valuable.
 
ewax said:
buy a slow cooker and a durable coffee maker. Also, a costco membership can be pretty valuable.
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but! I don't drink coffeeeee! 😛 Hope I can keep it this way through med school/residency/rest of my life too!
 
Thanks for the responses everyone! Great to have some insight from medical students for us pre-meds!
 
Dr. Stalker said:
but! I don't drink coffeeeee! 😛 Hope I can keep it this way through med school/residency/rest of my life too!
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I've yet to meet a general surgery resident who wasn't at least mildly addicted to some amount of caffeine
 
caffeinemia said:
I've yet to meet a general surgery resident who wasn't at least mildly addicted to some amount of caffeine
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well maybe in a number of years (and assuming I do surgery) I'll be the first 🙂!
 
caffeinemia said:
I've yet to meet a general surgery resident who wasn't at least mildly addicted to some amount of caffeine
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There are certainly a few Mormon surgeons out there, and I know more than a few surgeons who quit caffeine because they felt it made them too jittery in the OR or required too mny bathroom breaks. but at least in the early years of residency, the long hours make it tough to get by without always having a Starbucks cup in your hand.
 
It has its difficult moments, but first year hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be.

Once you adjust to learning a ton of stuff, it becomes easier.

Before medical school, I did not like coffee. During test weeks, I need it to get enough energy to leave the library.
 
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