Fully Online M1 - Is it worth it?

[throw_away7989]

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My medical school (US MD program) just announced that all fall classes will be fully online until at least January, however, with the pandemic continuing to worsen into the winter it seems likely that the entire year, and possibly even the entire pre-clinical curriculum (18 months) , will be fully online. I was wondering how much of an impact this will have on our residency and future career chances? Like given that we wont be able to learn any clinical skills or anatomy will PD's even consider us?, or is it better to try and take a deferral, or find some other school at this point?

 

[libertyyne]

all of preclinical education is essentially online anyway. No one will care.

 

[deleted1005514]

My medical school (US MD program) just announced that all fall classes will be fully online until at least January, however, with the pandemic continuing to worsen into the winter it seems likely that the entire year, and possibly even the entire pre-clinical curriculum (18 months) , will be fully online. I was wondering how much of an impact this will have on our residency and future career chances? Like given that we wont be able to learn any clinical skills or anatomy will PD's even consider us?, or is it better to try and take a deferral, or find some other school at this point?

Honestly low key praying our school makes the same announcement for us. We do gross anatomy in block 2 and doing online quizzes with prosections sounds so much better than spending 20+ hours a week in lab doing dissections. All the rest of lecture stuff you can do online anyway.

 

[slowthai]

My medical school (US MD program) just announced that all fall classes will be fully online until at least January, however, with the pandemic continuing to worsen into the winter it seems likely that the entire year, and possibly even the entire pre-clinical curriculum (18 months) , will be fully online. I was wondering how much of an impact this will have on our residency and future career chances? Like given that we wont be able to learn any clinical skills or anatomy will PD's even consider us?, or is it better to try and take a deferral, or find some other school at this point?

They do not give a crap about clinical skills or anatomy. It's a complete non-issue. What is your step 1/2 saying? That will be what opens or closes doors.

Personally, anatomy lab is a complete waste of time and those clinical skills things are low yield. You learn real clinical skills in third year.

 

[Frogger27]

Yeah this would have been awesome, so jealous

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

If you go back in January, you’ll be wishing the whole year was online.

 

[ciestar]

Nobody cares about preclinical years. My school had in person things when i was an m1/2 and i didnt attend hardly any of them. Your step 1 will likely be P/F, and that is all any PD will actually care about. Not the setting in which you did your preclinical curriculum.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Worth it? Bro I would have paid an extra 10k in tuition/year just to do everything online and never go to campus for random crap all the time.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I really think pt interview skills and physical exam skills would be better if crammed into the month before rotations anyway. This sounds way better.

 

[FutureInternist]

My study group skipped almost all our classes and learned on our own timetable.

If you don’t learn well by yourself then this may be an issue but since any learning, for the rest of your life, will essentially be on your own, now’s as good a time as any to get used to it.

 

[Lucca]

Like others have said, it’s nothing to get worked up about. That said, it’s definitely a bummer to not have in person clinical skills or the camaraderie of the med school class to lean on. It’ll be ok but hopefully you can stay somewhere near a support system / friends so it doesn’t feel isolating.

 

[raiderette]

No PBL, able to stay near friends and family a little longer, virtual anatomy. Win, win.
The only downside is not meeting friends from school.

 

[throw_away7989]

Thanks everyone for your help! I agree that being online has many positive aspects, and I actually enjoy studying alone: I've heard, however, that the medical profession has a strong bias against online degree programs. Is this something that could limit my long-term job prospects, or otherwise harm my future career?

 

[ciestar]

Thanks everyone for your help! I agree that being online has many positive aspects, and I actually enjoy studying alone: I've heard, however, that the medical profession has a strong bias against online degree programs. Is this something that could limit my long-term job prospects, or otherwise harm my future career?

No

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Thanks everyone for your help! I agree that being online has many positive aspects, and I actually enjoy studying alone: I've heard, however, that the medical profession has a strong bias against online degree programs. Is this something that could limit my long-term job prospects, or otherwise harm my future career?

No. 0% chance of that.

Doing preclinical online =/ online degree program. Preclinicals are mainly done online anyway. Most of us only showed up to campus when we were forced to.

 

[deleted1005514]

No one is going to care if your school followed CDC guidelines during a once in a century pandemic and you had to do your first two years online. PDs will look at your Step scores and clinical grades mostly anyway.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Thanks everyone for your help! I agree that being online has many positive aspects, and I actually enjoy studying alone: I've heard, however, that the medical profession has a strong bias against online degree programs. Is this something that could limit my long-term job prospects, or otherwise harm my future career?

Those aren’t the same thing. Everyone should be doing preclerkship stuff online right now. There is no reason to have them come in except for very few circumstances.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Thanks everyone for your help! I agree that being online has many positive aspects, and I actually enjoy studying alone: I've heard, however, that the medical profession has a strong bias against online degree programs. Is this something that could limit my long-term job prospects, or otherwise harm my future career?

There’s a bias against online NP programs bc, among other curriculum problems, they give untimed, unproctored, open book, open notes, and google searchable tests. This has nothing to do with delaying clinical skills assessments until there’s no longer a risk to your life.

 

[Osteosaur]

My M1 and M2 were almost 'fully online'. Most people prefer to do anki and watch lectures at 2x speed and pausing as needed.

I am not even close to having perfected the exam skills I learned during M1 and M2. I won't get to use them until i start rotations. Program directors care about whether the doctors you work with think you can do the job. This happens during M3. I don't think they care if I got an honors in doctoring because I showed up and some random FM doc let me poke my friend in the stomach a few times.

I learned a lot in anatomy but the high yield points I really remember came from lecture moreso than anatomy lab.

 

[CaffineDoc24]

Like others have said, it’s nothing to get worked up about. That said, it’s definitely a bummer to not have in person clinical skills or the camaraderie of the med school class to lean on. It’ll be ok but hopefully you can stay somewhere near a support system / friends so it doesn’t feel isolating.

This is what I’m really worried about. I have heard the first weeks are critical in making friends. Moving to a city I have never been to(because if zoom interviews) and don’t know a single person there, like at all.

 

[deleted1005514]

This is what I’m really worried about. I have heard the first weeks are critical in making friends. Moving to a city I have never been to(because if zoom interviews) and don’t know a single person there, like at all.

I would agree, but it’s not like you’re going to be sitting at home alone while your classmates are mingling and making friends. You’re all in the same boat, so that friend making “critical zone” will just be moved to your first few weeks back after things go back to in-person instruction.

Our school is breaking us up into small groups for zoom sessions, zoom study groups, etc. You’ll have chances to make friends, it’ll just look different from before.

 

[Lucca]

I appreciate where all the comments about med school already being mostly online cuz of Anki and 2X video lectures / BnB etc. are coming from, but lets get a grip. What is happening right now, what incoming students are supposed to expect is NOTHING like being at home and doing anki and video lectures.

I did that stuff too...with friends...on campus. Went camping. Went out to bars to celebrate birthdays, exams. Went over to peoples places for dinner, cooking, watching movies. Went into the hospital and clinics regularly to volunteer or shadow. Went to skills workshops. Had a million free lunches at seminars about random cool things going on in medicine. Med School is hard and can be isolating under normal circumstances. Again, not a reason to defer because school-wise you can do what you need to do but we should acknowledge and expect that the people who will be looking to us for advice and support as current students this Fall will have a very, very different experience than us and new challenges.

 

[libertyyne]

I appreciate where all the comments about med school already being mostly online cuz of Anki and 2X video lectures / BnB etc. are coming from, but lets get a grip. What is happening right now, what incoming students are supposed to expect is NOTHING like being at home and doing anki and video lectures.

I did that stuff too...with friends...on campus. Went camping. Went out to bars to celebrate birthdays, exams. Went over to peoples places for dinner, cooking, watching movies. Went into the hospital and clinics regularly to volunteer or shadow. Went to skills workshops. Had a million free lunches at seminars about random cool things going on in medicine. Med School is hard and can be isolating under normal circumstances. Again, not a reason to defer because school-wise you can do what you need to do but we should acknowledge and expect that the people who will be looking to us for advice and support as current students this Fall will have a very, very different experience than us and new challenges.

I appreciate the social aspect of medical school that OP is losing . But that was not OPs question. OPs initial post only asked about career impact and influence on future residency. The resounding answer to those questions is that it will not matter one iota.

 

[DrStephennmnm]

Which school was this, when did they tell you, and when's their first day of class? I hope they're not just telling you this at the last minute...

 

[jurassicpark]

My medical school (US MD program) just announced that all fall classes will be fully online until at least January, however, with the pandemic continuing to worsen into the winter it seems likely that the entire year, and possibly even the entire pre-clinical curriculum (18 months) , will be fully online. I was wondering how much of an impact this will have on our residency and future career chances? Like given that we wont be able to learn any clinical skills or anatomy will PD's even consider us?, or is it better to try and take a deferral, or find some other school at this point?

Not one bit. I think I just showed up for tests or if we had an online battle going in the back of the lecture hall. No one will know, no one will care. You don't learn ANY clinical skills in your first year, and by mistake if you do you'll forget it and re-learn it your third year. Then forget it again and learn as an intern.

The only thing this MAY effect is anatomy. Hands on at least for me was the best way to learn.

 

[COMMANDER CLOWN]

If a med student didn't study any of their medical school lectures but exclusively did zanki in their room, they would probably perform better on Step 1 than a med student who did the opposite.

 

[M&L]

ok, it depends on the school and on who you are as a person. My school has pretty good lectures, and historically we have pretty high step score (they sort of tailor lectures a lot to step prep). Plus our doctors (practicing physicians who teach a specific course) provide great insight.

as far as online vs not online, - the last two months of spring semester were online, and i can tell you honestly, - those 2 months were the best months in my whole academic career. hahahha. i've never been happier, my grades were the highest from the whole M1 year, i had A BLAST. BUT - 1) i am an introvert, 2) our school posted pre-recorded lectures from last year, 3) we had all sorts of zoom stuff going on, so we were involved a lot. 4) i did feel like i was missing out on our ultrasound training (we have ultrasound integrated into curriculum, so by the time our students get to 3rd and 4th year, we are usually really good in ultrasound, So now we are dropping the ball on that one and i am upset about it).

 

[Premed2295]

Thanks everyone for your help! I agree that being online has many positive aspects, and I actually enjoy studying alone: I've heard, however, that the medical profession has a strong bias against online degree programs. Is this something that could limit my long-term job prospects, or otherwise harm my future career?

This is not an online degree. This is a pandemic.
Online learning may be harder because you wont have your classmates to lean on, and personally I just find it harder to focus that way. But it is the same degree.
Is it worth it? That depends. Depending how you learn you may want to DEFER. If its give up the acceptance or do online, defo 1000% do the online. You won't get an A after turning down an A. But keep in mind, a lot of learning would be online anyway given the board resources are almost all online based. I think it may be worthwhile to move into town and meet friends through whatever social network your class has for in person study groups. This will keep you honest, help you make friends, and feel more connected to your new hometown.

 

[M&L]

Honestly the whole “is it worth it?” Premise is freaking me out . There is a world crisis ... ppl dying every day ... and medical schools Are doing impossible job in training future physicians and ensuring security for everyone involved . So , maybe I will sound a bit idealistic , but nonetheless : times like this should INSPIRE you to become a doctor . Not sway your mind to “possible online degree” mode .

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Honestly the whole “is it worth it?” Premise is freaking me out . There is a world crisis ... ppl dying every day ... and medical schools Are doing impossible job in training future physicians and ensuring security for everyone involved . So , maybe I will sound a bit idealistic , but nonetheless : times like this should INSPIRE you to become a doctor . Not sway your mind to “possible online degree” mode .

Let’s not marginalize someone’s concerns and imply things about their motivations that haven’t been said. Residency can be competitive depending on the field (and even in less competitive fields, top institutions are competitive). Wanting to know if something you may have some control over will affect that is normal and doesn’t imply anything other than they are thinking about their future.

 

[Firkin]

Thanks everyone for your help! I agree that being online has many positive aspects, and I actually enjoy studying alone: I've heard, however, that the medical profession has a strong bias against online degree programs. Is this something that could limit my long-term job prospects, or otherwise harm my future career?

Your entire premise seems built on a faulty foundation. There are no online medical schools. No online MD degrees. No online DO degrees (although it's possible or even likely that any MD/DO program might deliver at least some portion of the content online). I think perhaps you are taking the fact that some medical schools require/prefer undergraduate classes to be in-person, and conflating that with residency program preferences? No matter what medical school you are attending in the US, it is not an "online degree program", and it will not be looked at as such.