Hard Work v. Natural Intelligence

[DukeDevils9192]

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Just something that I started thinking about...

How many of you, through college, were the students who very few things came naturally to? Did you have to work your butt of for every grade you got? Or were most of you the kind who can pick up anything and do pretty well at it, with minimal effort needed to excell?

I just wondered because while I have my strengths in school, namely writing, I also have my weaknesses, namely math, and I just felt like it'd be nice to be reassured that I could overcome these obstacles and still score well enough in school that I get into med school.

 

[smuwillobrien]

In high school I was the kind of student who could pay minimal attention, and still get a 90% average. In my final year I had some trouble with my girlfriend, and we broke up. I started dedicating all my spare time to school work.

In the last year of high school I graduated with a 94.5% average with the majority of my marks being 97% or higher. I would study for about two weeks (2 to 3 hours a day per class) for each test, etc.

The hard work pushes me beyond the point where I retain the information for a week and lose it. I will remember the material. I can still remember everything about high school biology, and all of the other classes.

Hard work ensures that you know the material because you find a certain process of learning that perhaps you haven't used before.

That's my two cents whether it is right, wrong or differing from someone elses.

 

[ForensicPath]

I did no work in high school and was still in the top 10% of my class. College is a different story. I could do no work or studying and maintain an average gpa, but if I want A's and B's I need to work hard.

 

[Amit1]

I did absolutely no work at all in high school and I was valedictorian. My first year of college was pretty much all goofing off, but then I had to start working harder and harder as my education progressed. Yet still I don't really study that much.

I like to think I am saving myself for med school. I will really bust my balls there.

 

[bella_dottoressa]

Hard work! I do not believe medicine is full of geniuses...I do believe it is full of hard workers. I work my butt off for all of the grades I get, at least in the sciences. Of course you need to be an intelligent person to make it in med but I don't think you need to be an extraordinary, exceptional individual. It is widely regarded that qualities such as determination, persistance and dedication will get you further than high intelligence once you are at the college level.

 

[Sophie]

I didn't work hard in college. Basically I just went to class, did the minimal required homeworks and some of the required readings, and then studied for around 2 hours the day before each midterm or final. This got me mostly A's with some B's. I seriously wish I could study (I've tried in the past but it never works) like you do, smu; I'm pretty sure if I had I'd now have almost all, if not all, A's and be a lot prouder of myself.

 

[superk0725]

i worked harder in high school than college but somehow have done better in college.....go figure

 

[mosfet]

I think hard working and studius people belong to medicine 'cause that's what med school is all about. I would save the naturally intelligent ppl for Ph.Ds in areas such as theory math, quantum mechanics, and some other specialized engineering fields, etc (you get my point). I say that because Ph.D in these areas requires you to think and be creative outside of books. Whereas in med school, all you have to do is read and comprehend voluminous amounts of info from books which can be easily achieved by hard work and dedication.

Let me know what you guys think. Please don't flame me though.

 

[Nutmeg]

I'm definitely in the "it comes naturally" category. It's great for test, but when you have a course where there's no way around doing many long, tedious HW problems, or spending hours at the computer or in the library, I'm definitely worse off. Hard work can always get a person through. If you don't find a subject easy, hardwork can make up for that fact. If you get into a lazy lull because it has always worked for you, but suddenly have a mess of tedious work thrown in your face, your f***ed. I'd agree with crystal18mc and mosfet on this one. Hard work conquers all.

 

[climberchick]

Hard Work does conquer all!!!! You guys are right. I graduated high school with the highest marks on very little work. I carried my bad study habits into university and was totally screwed over. I got a few A's but mostly B's and 1C and 1F... I looked around at alot of the people in my classes studying their butts off and I thought I was doing alright because I was still doing better than them.... But if I'd actually studied like they did I would have gotten all A's and wouldn't be faced with another two years of school just to raise my GPA.

WORK HARD.... YOU"LL NEED TO IN MED SCHOOL SO LEARN HOW TO NOW!!!!!!!!

 

[PianoGirl04]

Natural talent for academics is nice, but not necessary. Hard work IS necessary. I agree with a lot of the people here...my GPA is pretty much the same as it was in high school, but in HS I hardly ever studied, and in college you have to study if you want decent grades. It's not too difficult to get a B or C here, but if you want the A/A+, you have to work for it.

One place where the natural talent comes in handy is standardized testing. Some people are just good test-takers and others arent. Of course, lacking talent in the test-taking arena can be overcome by a little (all together now!) HARD WORK!😀

 

[basupran]

I fall into the natural category, tho I am kinda dumb when it comes to certain things. Classes people say are very difficult, ie mol bio, mamm phys, anat, etc., I find rather easy and require minimal studying. Classes people find ridiculously easy, ie intro to music, art, etc, I find near impossible.

About the med thing being hard work, I agree, but without some natural intelligence, all the studying in the world wont allow you to comprehend the vast quantity of information. There is a big diff between memorizing and understanding, where memorization will allow you to apply info to one situation (the situation you have memorized), where understanding (easier if you are naturally intelligent) will allow you to apply that information to broader situations.

 

[PianoGirl04]

Originally posted by basupran
About the med thing being hard work, I agree, but without some natural intelligence, all the studying in the world wont allow you to comprehend the vast quantity of information. There is a big diff between memorizing and understanding, where memorization will allow you to apply info to one situation (the situation you have memorized), where understanding (easier if you are naturally intelligent) will allow you to apply that information to broader situations.

True...I guess the point is that you don't have to be a super-genius to succeed in medical school. I think it was Thomas Edison or someone like that who said "genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration" - that really applies here!

 

[aphistis]

Definitely natural. Since starting dental school I've begun studying an hour per night for the 3 nights leading up to a test, and I'm sitting at the 85-90th percentile in my class. It's largely a matter of how effectively you retain information after a single exposure, and it doesn't work for everybody, but if you can get away with it, it makes school a lot less onerous.

 

[jenni4476]

I agree with basically all of what basopran said-I'm the same way (anatomy is proving ridiculously simple so far). Tho math is difficult unless I go really slowly and take it babysteps at a time....

Someone on another thread said what he did for physics was to not just memorize the equations, but he also memorized when to use them. That way he knew what he was doing without working tons of problems-he only had to do a few to get it down and then he could think his way through the rest....that requires some intelligence above normal.

All in all, hard work is definitely necessary, but having some extra intelligence certainly makes it easier! And it depends in what area too-I'm very much a visual-spatial kind of person so that's why anatomy is so easy. To each his own...

 

[kmnfive]

i must say i didnt work very hard in high school and still managed good scores, however college was different and it still is -- unless youre just taking generals and anything of the sort.

however, intellegence has nothing to do with good grades when it comes to medicine. because medicine is allot of information. hard work and dedication will get you through med school. college is .. i suppose 50/50 as far as intellegence and hard work... hmm... but........... i think being "smart" are those who can double major in Electrical engineering, and Mechanical engineering then land a job at like JPL (the NASA research lab for those of you non science people ) or Honeywell, Lockheed martin, TRW, etcc (defense companies, guidance systems.. aka rocket science) without breaking a sweat. or those who are really good at programming languages on the computer -- who have a nack for it natrually. i think that signifies the modern term of intellegence. but its debatable. there are different types of intellegence. and this is, in and of itself, another issue.

whatever.

 

[mosfet]

kmnfive,
I completely agree with you on that!

 

[Febrifuge]

Devils, it's like you're reading my mind!

I found in college that, even though I had no particular idea of my mission in life, any subject that i was interested in was one where I could do pretty well. I got B's without breaking a sweat. A C meant I was hopelessly bored, or really hung over a lot of the time. 😉

The weird thing is, in order to get an A I need to work my butt off. Doesn't matter if it's a favorite subject or not-- in fact, it's usually better if it's a subject I like but don't love. Stoopid fine arts major.

 

[Hethera]

I have the somewhat unique experience of being naturally intelligent AND having to work hard, because I have ADD. I can make an A in almost any class just by doing the work and studying the day before (not something I do very often, though, because I am trying to really KNOW my material), but in certain subjects, such as algebra and business courses, I feel like I have to study 5 times as long as the rest of the class in order to retain any knowledge at all!

If I were picking out my own doctor, I'd choose someone who was average but dedicated over a brilliant slacker. (Ideally, of course, I would find someone dedicated and brilliant! 🙂 )

 

[Sophie]

Why'd you take away the option to PM you, Hethera? I went to press the little button to send you a message and wound up totally confused because it wasn't there. 😛

 

[indo]

My sister's high school valedictorian was like 8 months pregnant at the graduation. Obviously, hard work paid off for her.

 

[DrSal]

You know, i'm not really sure where i fall. I wouldn't say i'm a natural, i don't get things easily or anything, i work hard, and really try, but hard worker doesn't really fit me, i could probably work harder.

My friend tho, SHE's a NATURAL to the nth degree. When she explains things to me, it's like the thought process flows so smoothly from her brain to the paper and into my brain, i wish my professors were half as good as she is. It's all in the thought process, that the difference between pikcing the right and wrong answer for a Q.

 

[Ando]

I'm definitely a "natural" compared to most people, but I've kind of screwed myself over by thinking it was everything. No matter how good you are at taking tests, you're not going to figure out Calculus II during the test, when you haven't studied or showed up to class in two weeks. Yeah, I was dumb enough to try to do that. There are other classes that I didn't exactly bomb, but I think I could have done a lot better with just a minimal amount of effort.

Also, sometimes I can get by on tests (and therefore get good grades) without studying, but two months later I've forgotten everything.

BTW, this is my first post. Hi!

 

[kmnfive]

haha yeah Ando, ive tried that **** too ... hehe. doesnt work.

 

[Sophie]

Originally posted by Ando
Also, sometimes I can get by on tests (and therefore get good grades) without studying, but two months later I've forgotten everything.

BTW, this is my first post. Hi!

Hi Ando. 🙂

I've done that in pretty much every class I've taken, and it's all gone.. 🙁 I just graduated last year with my BS in Psych and quite honestly I can tell you about Pavlov's dogs, about Little Albert, a fair amount about memory (ironic), that Jung was involved in psych somehow, and that's about it.

Definitely got to change that before med school. I don't think that'd go over too well with patients. "Yes, sir, there's something wrong with your heart although I don't remember the name of it or what it does. I seem to remember it being fatal, though."

 

[Hethera]

Sophie -- I have no idea why (or how!) I turned the PM option off. It's back on again, so message away!

 

[Cerberus]

Depends on the subject. Math comes very easily to me - which is why I am a math major - but other things I need lots of work to do. Well actually most things come very easy to me (asise from french which is the bane of my existence) but still without hard work I wont do spectacular.

 

[darkwalk1980]

Originally posted by Cerberus
Depends on the subject. Math comes very easily to me - which is why I am a math major - but other things I need lots of work to do. Well actually most things come very easy to me (asise from french which is the bane of my existence) but still without hard work I wont do spectacular.

Agreed. My problem is that I slack off too much and get bad grades. Motivation is the key. So this year, I disabled my TV after I moved at the end of August. I've been tempted many times to turn it on again, but I stayed strong as for now. Its amazing how much more I accomplish. Highly recommend it even to the geniuses out there! What do you guys do for motivation?

Btw, this is my first post! 🙂

~Darkwalk~

 

[premedi-kid]

I'm trying to figure where I belong too! Sometimes I feel that I'm a natural in some classes and really bad in others, even in classes that I'm interested in. Weird. Classes like orgo, phys, biochem are fairly difficult but if I study, i could usually get away with a good grade. Does it mean I'm intelligent or hard working???😕

 

[jlee9531]

in highschool it was basically natural. i did no work and although that wasnt good in preparing me for berkeley haha......i was more of a conceptual learner than a detail oriented guy at cal.

so i didnt really study as hard as others because i emphasized my studying by concepts and not knowing every single detail...i think thats why i did so well in my ochem classes but not so well in my biochem classes where they ask you the steps of this cycle and that process and crap haha...

i dunno even for the mcat i only studied for it a couple days because i had other midterms to worry about but still scored double digits across on all the sections...i guess if i had studied a lot more like my friends i would have scored better but oh well..

whats done is done...

but yeah.

but studying your ass off has its benefits and i should have done more of it in hindsight.