how hard is med school

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B23

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I'm deciding between med school and PA school and I was wondering if med students can give me some advice. I'm a history major and I'll have to take a year after I graduate to catch up on my science courses. Were there some times that you just wanted to drop out? Was there some material that you felt was just impossible? Was it interesting? I always hear that medical school is demanding, but I was wondering if anyone can give me more specifics.
Thanks!
 
oh good, that's comforting.
 
are you interested in medicine?
if you are..medical school will be no problem..your interest will take you through the rigors of it and you'll still come up a winner 😀
 
B23 said:
I'm deciding between med school and PA school and I was wondering if med students can give me some advice. I'm a history major and I'll have to take a year after I graduate to catch up on my science courses. Were there some times that you just wanted to drop out? Was there some material that you felt was just impossible? Was it interesting? I always hear that medical school is demanding, but I was wondering if anyone can give me more specifics.
Thanks!
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Medical school is not that hard as long as you study. Even if you feel like you are not learning the material you'll be suprised how much you can recall on a test. The hardest part about medical school is deciding if a manual disimpaction is the kind of thing you want to do every now and then.
 
short and sweet...

1st year was alot of info in what seemed like not alot of time. went by super fast.

definitely doable.

we'll see about years 2-4.
 
About an 8.
 
There's only one word for medical school .... PASSION ... tat's all it takes not juz to survive med school ... but to also become a good doctor.

If you finally decide that med school's the place for you ... always remember this ... Medicine is not a career ... Medicine is a Calling!!

😀
 
There's been many times (especially this year) that I've questioned my decision and wondered why exactly I'm doing this to myself. But at the end of the day, I can't see myself being happy doing anything else (well, except being a bum). Medical school is difficult but in a different way than I think a lot of us are used to.

The material itself isn't too hard to understand. Not like advanced physics where if you don't get it, man you're never gonna get it. And in that way, medical school isn't that hard. You study, you'll understand the stuff. But it's hard in the sheer volume of things you'll have to remember because there's no shortcuts. You have to know it all. A lot of memorization. Especially stuff like pharmacology where you have to know categorizations of drugs, interactions, side effects, mechanisms, not to mention the weird names they all have. Lot of potential for crossing of info and confusion.
 
The transition to medical school is like the transition from high school to college. A year long course in college is covered in about a few months of medical school, and the whole thing is cumulative - you may not see it for a while, but boy did I feel the pain when I hit surgery third year and found out how much anatomy I'd forgotten! First year is not too bad - it's like a slightly tough year in college, but second year is a step up on first year - more material, throw in clinical skills, and you darn well better remember all the information in first year! (which is actually not true - I forgot tons from first year but it will come back to haunt you). Medical school is hard, but put in the time, and you'll only be saying, "Why the hell did I go in?" about a quarter of the time! 🙂
 
I applied to PA school right out of grad school in '96 and worked as an athletic trainer for 6 years before going back to school. (Didn't get into PA school.) I agree with the above posters that medicine is a calling, not a career. Med school is difficult, but when I step back and see what I'm doing, it's twice as hard & twice as good as I thought it'd be. VERY demanding, but VERY satisfying. When I get grumpy, my Dad keeps telling me, "hey, keep studying, we don't want doctors who don't know their stuff, right!?" 🙂 I would choose medical school over any allied health profession - BUT you have to be ready for it, I think. Good luck!!!!
 
I've been researching, soul-searching, and otherwise getting ready to take the plunge for about a year now, and I considered both PA school and med school. So, I say it thusly: Decide what career you want to pursue, and then apply yourself to the school for that career... not the other way around.

Which fork in the road is harder will depend as much on which med school or which PA school as anything else. The one big advantage, if you should be someone who hates and/or has a hard time with the classes, is that PA school is shorter. But in the scheme of things, it's not that much shorter. And it's been argued that the courses are easier in PA school (though again, that really depends on the school), but in the scheme of things, they're not orders of magnitude easier, if at all. There are PA schools out there that are easier to get into than many med schools, but there are also med schools that are easier to get into than some PA schools. Enough research and sweat should turn up a few places where you'd be happy and do well, no matter which route you take.

My attitude is, I'm a liberal arts major, I was great at science the last time I did it seriously -- in NINTH GRADE -- and I'm going to hate life for stretches of time as I study hard science and methodology. But I could be a kick-ass physician someday, and they don't let you do that until you do the school. So, bring on the pain.

And to answer your question -- most docs I've spoken with admit that at some point in Year 1 or Year 2, they would have chucked it all if someone offered them the chance to walk away debt-free. But all of them were glad they saw it through, because once you're out of school, life is beautiful. Or so I'm told.
 
IMHO it seems that PA schools have more prerequisites to fulfill than the basic medical school requirements.

From a post-bac's standpoint, it would be "easier" to apply to medical school in regards to maintaining a reasonable timeframe and finances.
 
From what I here, the content isn't necessarily that much more difficult than undergrad, but the volume of the work. I guess it would help if you have a sharp memory with great retention. But my friend in med school said that he still finds time to work-out, visit parents, and relax with friends.
 
Im with Leorl on this one.... So many times over the course of 2nd yr ive looked up from a book and wondered how much more of this I can take, and why Im doing it. and the end, I just cant see myself doing ANYTHING else. Questioning yourself is good from time to time 😉 Im sure im going to be doing alot of it in my surgery rotation starting monday.
 
thanks for the responses so far. so it seems like the actual medical information that you have to memorize is not difficult or hard. what makes it challenging is the volume of it all? thanks again.
 
make sure the medicine is for you...
shadow docs alot and see how it is...
i saw many peers of mine regreting their decision after they put many yrs in medicine...too late to go back start all over for a new stuff...

not to be discouraging...but being realistic...
 
The information really IS understandable and not very difficult to learn - but you're right, it's the sheer volume that you need to hold in your head AND integrate that makes it challenging. But more than that you throw in paying $40K for the sheer privilege of working ~100 hours a week in third year, getting crapped on by everyone, and dealing with noncompliant patients who have been educated on their needed lifestyle changes and medicines by generations of residents, attendings, and bewildered medical students, and then turn around and blame the docs because they're not "cured". Your social life can take a hit because non-medical people have no idea what it's like having 5-7 day work weeks, working more hours in a few days than they work all week. And boy, there's nothing like putting in a twelve hour day and then motivating yourself to study for that crucial shelf coming up on you in a month or so.

That aside, it's all transient. You won't be getting crapped on all your life, and while noncompliant patients will always be there to keep us in business, there are patients out there that are "good as gold" (as one of my friends puts it) who appreciate you, take an active part in their health, and understand you may make mistakes because you're tired, or a clueless medical student. 😀 And if this is indeed what you want to do, there's a very rewarding feeling, even at the end of a 36 hour call. We're doing a lot of good, and it feels great - you just need to weather the random a**kickings during third year and intern year and the idiotic law suits on your way through life.

P.S. And boy, if anyone is in it for the money they're sure in the wrong field because my stinking friend went into computers and now owns his own multi-million dollar business. Anyone out there have more than 100K in debt? Hands?
 
Hi there,

Medical school is not especially difficult but the volume of material that you have to learn makes it a challenge. Rather than sheer intelligence, you need good study habits. I don't think that PA school is going to be any easier but you are done faster. Medical school is very long term with few assured rewards on the other end except a very, very interesting job.

Good luck on your decision!
njbmd 😎
 
Ive heard several people say that med school isnt that difficult. You wont be working, just studying, and having a good time. A lot of people dont even go to class, just study on their own. You just have to figure out what kind of study habits best suits you to learn all the material. But overall, its definitely not more difficult than undergrad science coursework.
 
My cousin went to medical school. She said that it isn't any more difficult than advanced classes as an undergrad. The main differences comes in the expectations ( more students are going to do well ), the pace ( especially the 1st year is very intense ) and the fact that you really have to learn this stuff, not just for the boards, but to retain enough knowledge to be of any help for the sick for which we are trying to help. True, doctors often collaborate and most use a book to diagnose, but you still need to retain a lot of knowledge. PHD and the like are less intense but they are as difficult in terms of material. Most students stay in med school but the few that drop out do so for such things as money, lack of interest and courseload. My cousin said people started at 8 am in biochem and the class was literally half there and most that did make it were asleep. Mostly med school is individual and / or study time. You will only have time to relax every so often. Hard earned breaks will feel much more worthwhile.

Some say it isn't worth it, much more pressure than any other field worse-load wise. I see people mumbling or laughing to themselves on the street or children with bald heads and 6 months left to live and I say it's definitely worth it.

😉
 
Ditto to what Alphaki and Febrifuge said...

In addition to medical school, don't forget about the internship/residency training you will have to do if you want to be a board-certified, practicing physician. That period of training can be more physically demanding than your medical school education (call nights, long 12-14 hours days depending on what specialty you're in).

You have to have a high tolerance for delayed gratification to survive the almost decade-long training it takes from start of med school to completion of residency/fellowship training. While the training is not easy, if you have the fire and the passion to be a healer, then you will enjoy the path. It's not always been easy but I can't imagine doing another profession at this point.
 
Ditto leorl and Febrifuge. The material in med school isn't difficult...the literally give you all the information, say "learn this", and so you learn it. There were very few times when I had problems grasping a concept. The hard part is the sheer volume of it all; everything I learned in my semester of biochem in undergrad was covered in the first month of med school. You really do feel like you're studying for finals all the time. Even if you're really passionate about what you're learning (and let's face it...it's hard to be passionate about amino acid degredation), it is easy to become discouraged by the volume. I spent as much time this past year learning how to study, and learning how to pick out what was important as I did actually studying.

I debated between PA school and med school, too. There are definite advantages to both programs, and like Febrifuge said, you should decide what kind of career you want and then find the school to fit it. In the end, I chose to apply to med school because I wanted the basic science background. I like knowing why and how things work, and I wanted that in my training, and I didn't want to limit myself in how far I could specialize if I found I really liked a particular area. I really feel like I've made the right choice for me.
 
Q: Is med school difficult?
A: Yes. At our school, the proffessors say, "If it was easy, everyone would do it."

A very simple thought though...there is nothing worth doing that is easy.

I like a line from this Bob Marley song: "...every man things his burden is the heaviest..." There's no life that is without pain, there's no path that is without its trials. So I don't think that difficulty should really be a criterion for the original poster as to whether or not to do medicine or PA school or whatever. So long as you won't be facing the impossible type of difficulty that one does when they want to be a world famous physicist or something but they totally don't have the capacity to do so, I don't think level of difficulty should ever be a criterion for choosing a field, because in any and every field making something of yourself is going to involve facing trials that are among the hardest things you will have ever had to do.

Peace!
 
I'm six months into PA school now, and finding that it's doable. I was a 4.0 student before I came into PA school, and now I'm getting a mix of A's and B's, but working harder than I ever have in school. Like others have said, there's a wagonload of material to learn. It's not rocket science, but it's a ton of material... feels like every day we cover over a week's worth of material. You have to be disciplined and not fall behind. You can't pull all-nighters, because you can't afford to be tired in class the next few days.

Still, unlike many of my classmates, I take every Saturday off and try not to even think about school. My opinion is that it's healthy and keeps my mind ready for the rest of the week's marathon.

The "advantage" of PA school over medical school is obviously the time. The extra pre-requisites and healthcare experience needed to apply will take you longer, and getting in to PA school is tougher, but at least when you're done with PA school you won't have three to eight years of residency left to do. (I'm a widower with three kids, and while I'm willing to sacrifice a couple of years of their childhood for this journey, I'm not willing to give up a decade... they would be all grown up by the time I got out of residency.)

But be careful before you choose PA. It's not for everyone, and it's really a different profession, not "just like" an MD. Spend some time with PA's or visit www dot physician associate dot com, if you'd like to know more.
 
It's harder that PA school, but it's been said that being a PA is harder than being a doctor.
 
I think medical school is really difficult, but even if at the end you decide medicine is not for you there are a lot of other options besides practicing medicine. If you go to PA school you don't have that many options.
 
its a volume thing for sure. not much of the info is extremely difficult to understand in and of itself. just a lot of info all at once. but once you get in, you cannot fail out unless you try to. good luck. 😱
 
raekelly said:
Phd is not less stressful. It is extremely intense and a great deal of work. The physical sciences are even more difficult. Many med students/doctors can't even do the math to get in to these programs.

People forget that a phd requires coursework, oral and comp exams, a dissertation proposal, paper, and defense. Also, being a researcher and many programs require students to teach. 😀
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Umm...graduate school simply does not require near the effort that medical school demands as far as class time + studying. The subject matter may be more difficult in graduate school, but the amount of information for which you are responsible pails in comparison. Graduate school is demanding, but in medical school you dont have the luxioury (nor the time) to sit in a lab and ponder over protocol or obscure methods half the day. And as far as time actually spent in class, the comparison is laughable.

Tooth
 
leorl said:
There's been many times (especially this year) that I've questioned my decision and wondered why exactly I'm doing this to myself. But at the end of the day, I can't see myself being happy doing anything else (well, except being a bum). Medical school is difficult but in a different way than I think a lot of us are used to.

The material itself isn't too hard to understand. Not like advanced physics where if you don't get it, man you're never gonna get it. And in that way, medical school isn't that hard. You study, you'll understand the stuff. But it's hard in the sheer volume of things you'll have to remember because there's no shortcuts. You have to know it all. A lot of memorization. Especially stuff like pharmacology where you have to know categorizations of drugs, interactions, side effects, mechanisms, not to mention the weird names they all have. Lot of potential for crossing of info and confusion.
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This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say. The material's not difficult to understand, there's just so much stuff they want you to remember. What's really frustrating is that a lot of it, like meds, change every single year, so it seems pretty pointless to memorize stuff when you're just going to have to look it up in real life because it'll be different. I actually studied physics and I loved the fact that you had to understand the material for the tests, but you could look up the formulas instead of memorizing them. The key was knowing how to apply them and being able to do so in a reasonable amount of time. Which really seems like a better way to do medicine as well, but that's hardly going to change any time soon.
 
leorl said:
There's been many times (especially this year) that I've questioned my decision and wondered why exactly I'm doing this to myself. But at the end of the day, I can't see myself being happy doing anything else (well, except being a bum). Medical school is difficult but in a different way than I think a lot of us are used to.

The material itself isn't too hard to understand. Not like advanced physics where if you don't get it, man you're never gonna get it. And in that way, medical school isn't that hard. You study, you'll understand the stuff. But it's hard in the sheer volume of things you'll have to remember because there's no shortcuts. You have to know it all. A lot of memorization. Especially stuff like pharmacology where you have to know categorizations of drugs, interactions, side effects, mechanisms, not to mention the weird names they all have. Lot of potential for crossing of info and confusion.
Click to expand...

I couldn't have said it better. Many, many times I've questioned my decision to go into medicine. I STILL do. But at the end of the day (even when that end is many hours coming) I can't imagine doing anything else. And that's what keeps me going.

Here's my take on med school, in my experience:

1st year--At the time, it feels like the hardest thing you've ever done, and the transition from undergrad can be pretty hard, mostly b/c you no longer have the free time you've grown used to (sleeping in till noon, taking all afternoon classes, things like that), and the amount of material you need to learn can be overwhelming

2nd--For me, this year was easier than 1st year. You're used to the pace, the material is more interesting and clinically-relevant, you have more time in the hospitals/clinics, and so on. And at my school, we had more free time than in 1st year. Gets stressful towards the end when you start studying for step 1.

3rd--Probably the hardest yr in med school. You start to wonder why you thought 1st year was so hard and why you felt like you had no free time during 1st year...cause now you REALLY don't have any free time. Many rotations leave you wondering why you wanted to go to med school in the first place. Switching rotations (and specialties, hospitals, expectations, hours, pager #s, residents, etc, etc) every month is HARD. But you get used to it.

4th--Probably the best yr of med school. If you plan your schedule right (i.e., do all your call rotations during 3rd year), it can be a pretty easy year. Residency apps and interviews add a new level of stress, though. And I got sick of doing rotations, even electives. By midway through I was so ready to be DONE.

So that's my take on it.
 
raekelly said:
Phd is not less stressful. It is extremely intense and a great deal of work. The physical sciences are even more difficult.
Click to expand...

Some people would disagree with you. 🙂

www.phdcomics.com
 
raekelly said:
Many people would not. 🙂 😀 😎
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Does Ph.D. stand for Doctor of Philosophy or Doctor of Purplehandwriting?
 
1st year = All scores in the 70s on exams, a boatload of skipped classes, and a whole lot of romance with my now finacee. All and all one of the best years of my life 👍 I worked my ass off for five years before this one, both to afford to go to undergrad and to get into a MD/PhD program. I'm sick of busting my ass. My average weekday here is maybe 5 - 8 hours/day of med school and studying. Then there's some studying on the weekend depending on how close an exam is. Maybe I just go to an easy med school?

I did finally manage to get exactly a 70 on my last exam of the year. The average was an 89 :laugh: You think I wanna compete with the gunners here? Nope.
 
Neuronix said:
1st year = All scores in the 70s on exams, a boatload of skipped classes, and a whole lot of romance with my now finacee. All and all one of the best years of my life 👍 I worked my ass off for five years before this one, both to afford to go to undergrad and to get into a MD/PhD program. I'm sick of busting my ass. My average weekday here is maybe 5 - 8 hours/day of med school and studying. Then there's some studying on the weekend depending on how close an exam is. Maybe I just go to an easy med school?

I did finally manage to get exactly a 70 on my last exam of the year. The average was an 89 :laugh: You think I wanna compete with the gunners here? Nope.
Click to expand...

Yeah...me too! I got a 70 on my last exam of the year as well. Oh well! 👍
 
How hard is it?? Read until your eyes bleed!
 
TiggidyTooth said:
Umm...graduate school simply does not require near the effort that medical school demands as far as class time + studying.
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Yeah, but medical school isn't really filled with that soul-crushing sense of dread and doom that is so pervasive in graduate school. Sure, some days in med school are like getting hit in the face with a belt, but 5+ years of a PhD program feels like having your skull caved in, your ribcage crushed, your spine severed, and then being left to marinate in a puddle of your own waste.

Good times, good times...
 
The best analogy I can think of is: Med school is like drinking water from a fire hydrant. The amount of info comes at you 100mph and you just have to try and retain as much as possible. The work itself is not that bad. I actually think if you can manage a B in bio 101 you can understand any concept taught in med school. But having a million of those concepts thrown at you and remembering it all and applying the information, that is the hard part. Also if you are the type of student who does not procrastinate, sleep in class, and can take neat notes ( none of this applies to me), then med school isn't THAT hard.
 
The actual material is not hard, it's the volume that's the nature of the beast.
 
Havarti666 said:
Yeah, but medical school isn't really filled with that soul-crushing sense of dread and doom that is so pervasive in graduate school. Sure, some days in med school are like getting hit in the face with a belt, but 5+ years of a PhD program feels like having your skull caved in, your ribcage crushed, your spine severed, and then being left to marinate in a puddle of your own waste.

Good times, good times...
Click to expand...

I agree, a lot of people here are claiming that med school is more work than a PhD, and I can guarantee they've never done such a program, nor have they been close with someone doing on. A PhD is hard in the sense that there is never any clear end in sight, your project could end up being a dead end forcing back to square one, and having to blindly depend on research results while teaching and taking VERY advanced and difficult high level courses.

Med school and doctorate programs are no walk in the park any way you look at it, and they're certainly very close in terms of difficulty and time put in.
 
Is it me or those it just seem weird to compare medical school and pHD programs. Its like apples and oranges. And saying that one is harder than the other is regressing us back to third grade. we might as well start arguing who is stronger superman or spiderman. It just seems kinda, weird, childish, and pointless to me.
but that is just my two cents.
 
raekelly said:
Grad school takes up a lot of time. Once more you have to teach and hold office hours for students. You must do research, take comp exams, if the exams are passed, come up with a dissertation committee and proposal, write it. In addition, people in clinical psych programs must also see patients in addition to all of the above. The dissertation must also be defended.

You know if the work is very difficult it would take much longer to accomplish.

You have no idea of what you are talking about. I stand by what I say.
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raekelly, why are you on here? are you interested in medicine or just in listing the many ways you think doctors aren't awesome?
this is sdn, not sphdn.
 
McP said:
raekelly, why are you on here? are you interested in medicine or just in listing the many ways you think doctors aren't awesome?
this is sdn, not sphdn.
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Uh, yeah, since Ph.D.'s aren't doctors. This is SDN, not SMDN.
 
I'd agree with Raekelley. PHD can be equally as long as med school with no end in sight. Sure u can do part-time but writing up a dissertation? That could take years. I have a friend in a PHD program and who knows when he'll be finished. As for the whether one is harder than the other? I can't say unless u are majoring in like nuclear physics or chemistry then yeah thats rocket science! and that's hard.
But med school is doable, after having cousins and friends go thru it. The main thing u need to get thru school is the desire and passion....how else could u put up with 8-10 yrs of schooling and working???
 
Mac O. Phage said:
The best analogy I can think of is: Med school is like drinking water from a fire hydrant. The amount of info comes at you 100mph and you just have to try and retain as much as possible. The work itself is not that bad. I actually think if you can manage a B in bio 101 you can understand any concept taught in med school. But having a million of those concepts thrown at you and remembering it all and applying the information, that is the hard part. Also if you are the type of student who does not procrastinate, sleep in class, and can take neat notes ( none of this applies to me), then med school isn't THAT hard.
Click to expand...
We were told on the first day of class last year that we would be learning 15,000 new words in first year. Or at the very least coming across that many. This don't even count how they all fit together.

The vast majority make it through, and you will too. Just hang tough. 😉
 
after finishing my first year....

med school, hard? not at all 🙂
med school, boring? incredibly 😴

There's nothing I have learned since I've been here that can't be explained to and grasped by the average college freshman biology major. Its just lots of material, learning senseless jargon and a bunch of words that all sound and look the same on paper.

After working last year and taking grad school classes at the same time, I can say confidently that I was substantially less busy my first year of med school. I'm sure 2nd and 3rd year will be different, but if you budget your time wisely its not bad at all. and dont go to a school with letter grading...thats just stupid 😛
 
I've been in grad school (microelectronic engineering..... one of the toughest), so I hope this holds true DW.
 
Here is the best answer to this question and I'm suprised no one has offered this explanation before.

If you are one of those types of people that can understand a concept quickly and can apply it without any real preparation then you will hate medical school. Conceptual people hate medical school because they can't utilize their brains to avoid less work like they could in undergrad. This isn't like physics or math where you can learn a few concepts and then party the rest of the week and then show up for test day unlike your classmates who did tons of homework and hired a tutor just to understand physics and o-chem.

But if you are someone who is great at memorizing lists of random facts and definitions and doesn't mind this brute work, you will love medical school because there is nothing conceptually difficult in medical school. There is no physics, o-chem, calculus etc. The most conceptual subject you will have will be in physiology but everything else is pure memorization. I fit this latter category. I hated conceptual courses but I can remember biology and random facts without much preparation. I love medical school because of this. Medical school has been easier for me than undergrad.

The conceptual geniuses hate medical school because they actually have to read everyday because there is no gimic or angle they memorize to understand the overall big picture. They have to sludge through minutae just like the rest of us and thus they hate medical school. For me, it's not problem. Yes, I put in my 6-8 hours a day but it was all biology so it didn't bother me a bit. I hated physics and o-chem and was terrible at it in undergrad. There is nothing in medical remotely that conceptual.

Another thing that makes medical school hard is that memorization is required. You can't procrastinate in medical school. Okay, you can procrastinate but not like you could in undergrad. Some reading is required nearly everyday. Some people have a problem with that and think they can cram for 12 hours before a test. Most of these people end up passing but they get pissed when they don't finish in the top because in undergrad they could still get a 90% with only a night of cramming. That doesn't happen in medical school and thus they will say it's so much harder.
 
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