? for current med students

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medic170

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To those of you in med school....As a medic and a recent addition to the premends out here... I love my job, and the shadowing I have done tells me I would love to be a physician. I am older, have a wife, and i am not too fond of the science classes although I do well in them. What is med school like, really, as far as time spent and subject studied? Is it more fun when it is related to medicine? Any input or opinions would be appreciated. How do you like med school?

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I'm not in med school but have been there.

The basic science classes do drag on you a little bit but it does get better as you get more clinical exposure.

At times I hated medical school and at times I loved it. It is what you make of it really. Enjoy the times in basic science when you realize you are not on call, your test isn't until 4 weeks away, you've studied for the past week every day, and you could take 1 day off of studying and hang out on the beach or something... if you break it up enough, spend time in study groups, laugh a little, it can be enjoyable.

Be darn sure you're willing to spend two years studying the basic sciences, though! No getting around USMLE step 1.

Basic science in medical school is a combination of memorization and clinical correlation. The correlation can be challenging and fun. It's not as math-intensive as undergrad science, it's a different kind of difficulty.

Ramble ramble anyway... I'll stop. Hope it helps a bit.

Jim
 
I'm currently an older first-year. I can tell you from experience that most days it doesn't occur to me that I'm really in medical school as I sit through yet one more lecture packed with what seems to be useless trivia. Even with the clinical correlations, most days it really feels like an extension of my post-bacc classes just more so. The problem partly is that I don't know yet what is really important and what is really trivia. On the rare occasion when I have contact with actual patients, it does help remind me why I am shoving more information into my head when it was full 3 days ago... Some of it is actually interesting, though and each time a friend or family member asks me some health related question I realize I know more (and yet somehow less) than I did 6 months ago. I am more enthusiastic about the coming quarter since we are taking some more clinically oriented classes and at the very least, it's a 10 week countdown to summer... Med school is more difficult than I wanted to believe, but do-able.
 
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Well, as one about ready to graduate. First and second years I didn't think was much different than college. A little more study, a little longer hours, more interesting material. Anatomy lab was probably hardest thing first year, but just memorization. Third and Fourth year. Things get going, long hours, lots of patients, on call, up all night, and the next day....etc... But, lots of fun. Finally feel like you are doing something. USMLE step 1 & 2 along the way. Hard but you have been living this stuff for years.

As for being older, my class had lots of us old geezers. All the old ones made it. Not all the youngsters. Hope this helps.

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Rob
4th year med student at MCV/VCU in Virginia. Matched to Pathology at MCV.
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by gp:
I realize I know more (and yet somehow less) than I did 6 months ago.

I laughed when I read this. You would not believe how often we moan and complain about knowing "all about" a topic, but not being able to recall it at will due to the immense collection of facts floating around.

A perfect example for occurred to me the other night while watching Millionaire (we are on spring break, after all..). The question involved naming the depression above the lips and below the nose. My wife looked at me for the answer, and I couldn't remember the name. I told her I would recognize it, and I said I think it starts with a "P" or "F". I did recognize the correct answer, but I sure didn't feel knowledgable.
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by gp:
[BI realize I know more (and yet somehow less) than I did 6 months ago[/B]•

Very true, very true. I have been caught on many occassions asking for some instrument, "ya know, the thingy...the scooper-outer thing" or "the purple package".

In response to the posters original question, some days I was really frustrated with medicine and other days I just loved it. Frankly, as I often say, my worst day in medical school was almost always better than my best days at work (as a researcher).

I DID enjoy medicine more when the clinical relevance was apparent. And it was exciting to see stuff you've learned put to use. All in all, I think I'm gonna really miss it and the relative free time, next year!

 
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