Giving Up

[americanangel]

Okay, I know a bunch of you had to be in my shoes at one time or another!
Did you ever just feel like giving up? Or not so much giving up but just wanting to move on to bigger and better things? I'm a sophmore and I hate my school and well after three exams this week I can't tell you how fustrated I am...I don't know what any of the professors are looking for and I don't understand why everything is so basic (come on people this is college not high school....why not explain the structure of a microtubule instead of saying yellow and green dots) I really can't take it any more. The only class I like is o-chem and I am so fustrated with everything I can't even think straight.
Any advice? What happened to all of you?

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[americanangel]

Okay reading that it just doesn't really say what I thought it would...All I want more then anything is to go to med school and really make a difference (its the only thing I could ever do with my life) I guess what I'm really fustrated with is school and the academic level there...I'm learning things in the book one way on one level and then in lecture nothing important is covered...and the exams the profs are just pulling out of thin air (like come on multiple choice from A to ZZ)
I dunno any ideas? How does transferring look?

 

[brats800]

everyone gets frusterated now and then. probably everyone has at least one class that made them want to drop out and work an easy, stress-free job instead. but if medicine is what you really want to do, you'll get thru the hard times and enjoy the good ones. savor the classes you enjoy and work hard in the classes you dislike, knowing that it'll help you get into medschool hopefully.

 

[greubins]

do you go to a big university or a small college? I would suggest going to office hours, talk to the TA, email the profs if you can't make the office hours, set up a time to meet with them (if you haven't done all those things already). show that you really interested in what they are teaching but let them know that you are a bit lost as to how to study for their exams. even if you aren't interested in the subject, pretend you are excited about it, you want to learn it. If they can't give you any support, talk to you dean. if you are really desperate, look into transfering to a school where there is more attention paid to the students and learning (this is a last last resort).
As for wanting to go to med school, let that propel you foward as an undergrad and give you the strength to excel in the courses that you need to ace in order to get into med school. the truth is- there is no way to go now so there is not point dwelling on something that can't happen. you have two and a half more years left! that might sound like a long time now but BELIEVE ME it goes by SO fast.
Also- volunteer, do medically related things, teach kids how to read, do community service, that might quench you appite for "making a difference" while keeping your head leveled for studying.
if you want it bad enough (as you will read on this forum time and time again) you will do it, but it isn't easy.
good luck!!

 

[MizzouDrWannabe]

I transferred for that reason but found that it's the same everywhere. I would suggest sticking it out. If you don't feel challenged, speak the professors personally. If you are absolute 100 percent unhappy with your school and every aspect of it, only then would I recommend transferring. but as someone who did transfer for the reasons you've mentioned I really have to say it didn't make much of a difference. Feel free to pm me if you want any advice or anything, good luck!

 

[FlushingNemo]

I'm in the same boat. Sometimes college does feel like high school all over again. I loved high school, but not enough to go through it a second time around. If classes aren't challenging enough for you, then do some extra reading on the side or find an activity that you really enjoy and throw your energy into that. By the time you get to med school, you'll wish you had this kind of free time. Two and a half years are going to fly by. Enjoy it while it lasts. I wouldn't suggest transferring because by the time you transfer out, you'll be a junior and then nine months later you'll be applying to med school and if your new school does a composite letter, you won't have any profs who know you really well at your new school to fill out those evaluations for the committee.

As other people have said, go talk to your profs about those random questions on exams. A lot of profs actually even give hints about questions on upcoming exams if you talk to them.

 

[fielight]

that's generally how it is in the first years of undergrad... but once you get into your junior/senior year, you'll take some tougher courses (e.g., physiology, anatomy, histo, biochem, etc.), and then it won't be like that anymore. i'd also suggest taking a grad-level course or two, because they tend to be very much reading/written oriented and have a different perspective. as for now, i would suggest continue doing what you're doing: read the book and learn it at a more advanced level. the truth is, if you learn it now (e.g., structure of microtubules), you will see it again in physiology, biochem, histology in the next 2 years (not to mention again in med school). and if you can learn and truly understand the concept (not just memorize the minutia), then the test shouldn't be difficult, regardless of how they are written.

also, take it easy for now. you won't believe how quickly, and how much more difficult, things can be. we just finished a week's worth of lectures on nutrition, about 150pg of syllabus material filled with minutia on vitamins, minerals, metabolism (of these substances), deficiencies, etc. with a week left before the exam, all of us med students are freaking out -- because there's just too much detail, the professor's incoherent, and the lectures are based on his "reading" to us the syllabus material (which we could all read well enough for ourselves). as you can see, i'd kill to be in your position...

 

[NYCDesi]

hey firelight,
just curious, where do you got to med school?

 

[americanangel]

I just wanted to say thank you for all the advice....I go to a really small college...So they really don't have the resources of a large college. I guess it wasn't really something I thought about when I decided which college to go to. I went to a really hard high school and I think what is fustrating, is that all of my biology labs are the same labs from high school and that everything we are doing, I've done already. I took a biochem class in high school along with an anatomy and phys course, so I do have an idea about most of the classes that are left. I think what else is so fustrating is that everything is so slow in college. My profs will go over things again and again. Nothing for nothing but I usually pick up on things once and all my profs, espeically in biology are so young, they offensive if you start wanting to know more.
I guess it just comes with the territory. I guess I really am just making my life more complicated then it has to be...
But once again everybody, thanks so much for all the advice!!!