How hard is medical school?

[ElJamo17]

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[Chelseadagger]

I'm an M1 with 2 months of experience under my belt so take my experience with a grain of salt. I think med school is challenging, but not impossible. I treat it like its a regular full time job and I'm doing fine. It also depends on what school you go to. Most are pass/fail including the one I go to and that has done wonders for keeping me low-stressed where I can function at a high level. That's how I do best, at least. You seem like you're a perfectionist from worrying about an A- so just know that you will not be getting A's in the traditional sense. you will have to become comfortable not being perfect. do what you need to do and work as hard as you can while not going overboard and you'll be fine.

Can't speak to what clinical years are gonna be like or what step exams are like. hopefully someone older will chime in for ya.

 

[altblue]

Med school is generally very time-consuming, but how much time it requires depends on you, your biology background and your goals. We have bio students from state schools who kill these exams, and engineering students from Berkeley, WashU etc. who struggle a bit more. Beyond a basic threshold you really can't tell based on past performance.

If you can clear a 500+ and get a 3.5+ in your postbacc though, you can definitely make it through. You just have to study hard.

That said I was worried about burnout as well, since I don't enjoy memorizing and am in medical school for clinic not basic science etc., but I've been pretty satisfied with my performance so far.

 

[ElJamo17]

I'm an M1 with 2 months of experience under my belt so take my experience with a grain of salt. I think med school is challenging, but not impossible. I treat it like its a regular full time job and I'm doing fine. It also depends on what school you go to. Most are pass/fail including the one I go to and that has done wonders for keeping me low-stressed where I can function at a high level. That's how I do best, at least. You seem like you're a perfectionist from worrying about an A- so just know that you will not be getting A's in the traditional sense. you will have to become comfortable not being perfect. do what you need to do and work as hard as you can while not going overboard and you'll be fine.

Can't speak to what clinical years are gonna be like or what step exams are like. hopefully someone older will chime in for ya.

thank you, I appreciate the response

 

[altblue]

I had above a 3.5 in the post bacc but I haven't taken the MCAT yet

Good to hear! It's always smart to know what you're getting into, but I'd focus more on doing well on the MCAT. If you can do well, that'll be especially promising for med school

 

[Kracin]

I'm pushing research and grinding my materials for class. It's more time studying than when I had an 18-credit semester, but not as stressful (P/F baby)

Also - I work significantly longer hours and more weekends than my business friends who are pulling in >$100K/yr out of undergrad

Simply: Med school is not inherently 'hard (stressful)' as much as it is time-consuming. But man it's a ton of time and effort.

 

[jmtbekm]

I’ll give you an example from my school. I took biochem 1 & 2 in undergrad my junior year. Combined it was 32 weeks over two semesters, and covered 96 hours of lecture material.

We covered those 96 hours in two weeks of my foundations block, and spent roughly 30 lecture hours total on them, at a comparable depth as my undergrad courses. The exam was worth 1/3 of the total for that block. During these two weeks we also had 20 hours of lectures and labs in Ethics, Patient-Centered Medicine and OMM, because I’m at a DO school. This is a typical 2-week schedule for us, and we add roughly 5 hours a week of anatomy lab on top of this schedule when necessary.

 

[Goro]

Hi everyone,
I was pre-med and have been thinking about getting my **** together in order to apply to med school but I do struggle with stress a bit. So, I wanted to ask, how hard is medical school anyways?
I didn't study much in college, but I did study for 5-6 hours a day 5-6 times a week in my post-bacc and I did well, got all A's. I think I did get one A- but that's a long story that I don't want to get into here. I didn't study much for a genetics exam and that is why I got an A- in that class.
How much of a jump is it from college if you are taking like 13-15 credits/semester at a state school? Honestly, my post-bacc was challenging. I'm not sure if I could go at a much higher pace for very long without burning out.
Please help because I am considering a couple of other careers and would like to know people's experience with med school.
Thanks!

"It's like drinking from a fire hose while running after the fire truck".
One of my former students.

"Med school took me to my intellectual limits".
Dr. JF, MD, an old friend of mine.

If you found your post bac challenging, medical school will be approximately three to five times harder in terms of content.

 

[RangerBob]

I personally found med school to be either the same or perhaps even easier than my post bac. I took bio/ochem/physics with labs together at the same time and did a lot of volunteering/work as well at the same time. Once I was in med school all I really did was med school. For me, was simpler to focus on one thing at a time. The content was much more difficult, the pace much faster, with less hand-holding, but for me the simplicity of not having to juggle so many different things at a time helped. (Note, that is also why I didn’t go into EM!)

A big caveat is I’m more of an anxious personality. Once you’re in medical school the overwhelming odds are that you will graduate and become a physician, have a decent life, etc. As a post-bac there was so much uncertainty and I felt I had so little control of the course of my life. Perhaps shedding that stress is why I found med school to be simpler.

Which is not to say the stress goes away-it’s just different. But for me, the most difficult stress is the uncertainty of where I fit in in the world, and what my purpose is. So that colored my post-bac life quite a bit.

 

[ElJamo17]

I’ll give you an example from my school. I took biochem 1 & 2 in undergrad my junior year. Combined it was 32 weeks over two semesters, and covered 96 hours of lecture material.

We covered those 96 hours in two weeks of my foundations block, and spent roughly 30 lecture hours total on them, at a comparable depth as my undergrad courses. The exam was worth 1/3 of the total for that block. During these two weeks we also had 20 hours of lectures and labs in Ethics, Patient-Centered Medicine and OMM, because I’m at a DO school. This is a typical 2-week schedule for us, and we add roughly 5 hours a week of anatomy lab on top of this schedule when necessary.

Wow, that is a frightening amount of material. I'm honestly not sure that I could do that.

 

[ElJamo17]

"It's like drinking from a fire hose while running after the fire truck".
One of my former students.

"Med school took me to my intellectual limits".
Dr. JF, MD, an old friend of mine.

If you found your post bac challenging, medical school will be approximately three to five times harder in terms of content.

Goro, I appreciate the response but it is not really helpful at all. I'm wondering about how many hours a week are people studying, how many hours in lecture, etc. This is, assuming, a good MCAT score displaying a good background in the relevant material

 

[jmtbekm]

Wow, that is a frightening amount of material. I'm honestly not sure that I could do that.

Before you panic and assume you can’t do it, remember that I’m not working, doing research (yet), or spending the time that pre-meds are spending shadowing, volunteering, leading clubs, etc.

I watch the non-mandatory lectures at 1.5-2x speed, taking those 30 hours down to 15-20. Add in the extra 20 hours of mandatory stuff over two weeks and you’re at 17-20 hours a week of “class time”. Because this was biochem, I spent most of my study time drawing out pathways from memory, correcting myself, watching videos (ninja nerd, boards & beyond), and doing anki cards and practice questions where needed to reinforce the material.

This is so far the heaviest material we’ve had, but we’ve got cardio and Neuro coming so I’m sure there’s more out there. It was difficult in terms of volume, but it was completely manageable, and I’m married with children too, so don’t let my description scare you away. I was simply trying to give a realistic picture of an exam’s worth of work at my school. I still have time to workout, go out with my spouse at least once a week, spend time with friends, and go to church on sundays. Becoming good at time management is a huge key to success in medical school.

 

[ciestar]

Goro, I appreciate the response but it is not really helpful at all. I'm wondering about how many hours a week are people studying, how many hours in lecture, etc. This is, assuming, a good MCAT score displaying a good background in the relevant material

The hard part about this question is that it is soo variable amongst all students and even schools. Some schools (mine) have no lecture at all. Some people legit need to study 80 hours a week, some only 40. It really depends on you.

No, med school wasn’t easy at all. I will say it took me to my limits. Id never done anything that challenging before. Im honestly shocked by how much I know these days lol

 

[ciestar]

Before you panic and assume you can’t do it, remember that I’m not working, doing research (yet), or spending the time that pre-meds are spending shadowing, volunteering, leading clubs, etc.

I watch the non-mandatory lectures at 1.5-2x speed, taking those 30 hours down to 15-20. Add in the extra 20 hours of mandatory stuff over two weeks and you’re at 17-20 hours a week of “class time”. Because this was biochem, I spent most of my study time drawing out pathways from memory, correcting myself, watching videos (ninja nerd, boards & beyond), and doing anki cards and practice questions where needed to reinforce the material.

This is so far the heaviest material we’ve had, but we’ve got cardio and Neuro coming so I’m sure there’s more out there. It was difficult in terms of volume, but it was completely manageable, and I’m married with children too, so don’t let my description scare you away. I was simply trying to give a realistic picture of an exam’s worth of work at my school.

This is super important.

 

[Goro]

Goro, I appreciate the response but it is not really helpful at all. I'm wondering about how many hours a week are people studying, how many hours in lecture, etc. This is, assuming, a good MCAT score displaying a good background in the relevant material

This will be 100% student specific.

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

Hi everyone,
I was pre-med and have been thinking about getting my **** together in order to apply to med school but I do struggle with stress a bit. So, I wanted to ask, how hard is medical school anyways?
I didn't study much in college, but I did study for 5-6 hours a day 5-6 times a week in my post-bacc and I did well, got all A's. I think I did get one A- but that's a long story that I don't want to get into here. I didn't study much for a genetics exam and that is why I got an A- in that class.
How much of a jump is it from college if you are taking like 13-15 credits/semester at a state school? Honestly, my post-bacc was challenging. I'm not sure if I could go at a much higher pace for very long without burning out.
Please help because I am considering a couple of other careers and would like to know people's experience with med school.
Thanks!

Do people just take post-bac years without being sure about medical school? Aren't post-bacs like $20-50K nowadays?

Still...I suppose backing out now would be better than committing half-angus-ly.

To answer your question from the perspective of an MS3 who busted his angus M1/M2...you will work extremely hard if you want to be successful. End of story. The hours needed to achieve your desired level of success are not easily predictable.

Do you have no debt load and want to coast into an IM program in corn country? Could be done with 30-40hrs/week. Maybe.

 

[Yhwach]

It's just time consuming. If you get into med school especially with a decent gpa and MCAT you'll be fine. It's like studying for the MCAT-lite every 3 to 4 weeks.

 

[NicMouse64]

I did really well on the MCAT, your mileage will vary. MCAT is a critical reasoning test, not a rote memorization test. Medical school is all memorization. My memory sucks but my reasoning is really good. So MCAT does not equal success in medical school. Get that out of your head now. I had above a 95% on the MCAT and am stuck in the bottom half of my class. Now there are a good portion who are both really smart and really good memory. There are so many factors that go into how much people in my class study. What specialty do you want to do? For me its nothing competitive, but for others its something competitive. How much are you willing to sacrifice your personal wellbeing and balance to be the best? for me it's a hard no, for others medicine is their life. Can you live with being a low performer on exams? I could. Do you learn to ignore lectures and find efficiency in your study? some learn this quicker than others. Do you want a 250 on STEP? y/n?

Long story short:
You can study anywhere from 3-13 hours per day depending on these factors. Most people will be around 5-7 as a mean/median. I was closer to 3-4 because my level of giving a sh** was super low and I just did the minimal to get by. Which was still a lot, and there was other random BS that stressed me out, but overall the first two years of medical school is stressful but can also be a time where you can chill.

 

[IMG69]

First two years will destroy you mentally, third year will destroy you physically and 4th year is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Discipline is more important than motivation.

 

[NicMouse64]

First two years will destroy you mentally, third year will destroy you physically and 4th year is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Discipline is more important than motivation.

My best advice for this is to come in already cynical, that way it can't destroy you.

 

[Tenk]

“You will never learn so much in so little amount of time.”

 

[jamaica jan sun princess]

Jesus, what are your friends doing who are pulling that kind of money? That's impressive. I am only pulling like $50k/yr and it sucks

Any business major pulling >$100,000 right out of college is almost certainly working 60-80 hours per week if not more.

 

[Tangerine123]

Academically not hard, but it's exhausting AF. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

Tip: Prioritize your mental and physical health over good grades and don't compare yourself with others.

 

[stickgirl390]

In the moment, med school seems extremely stressful, difficult, and never ending. At the end of each year though, looking back it wasn’t that bad. (Current M3)

all in all, it’s very student specific

 

[ElJamo17]

My best advice for this is to come in already cynical, that way it can't destroy you.

Very helpful... not

 

[ElJamo17]

First two years will destroy you mentally, third year will destroy you physically and 4th year is the light at the end of the tunnel.

Discipline is more important than motivation.

,.

 

[wanderingorion]

Looking back, now that I'm almost halfway through my 4th year, I'd say the most important thing about medical school is time management and planning. As someone who also struggles with stress/anxiety, I found that finding the most efficient study strategy and STICKING to it consistently throughout makes like loads easier, especially as you add rotations/research/ECs/etc.

Before you worry about the academic load (which you can and will adapt to) or standing on your feet for hours during 3rd year, I think it's more important to really nail down your "Why." What is it and is it enough to pull you through MCAT studying, application season, pre-clinical years, STEP studying, clinicals, and so on. So far from your work ethic and discipline during your post-bacc, I'm confident you can weather the academic storm, but medical school is an arduous process and you would be remiss to not be rock solid in your motivation.

 

[IMG69]

Why does 3rd year destroy you physically? I have a back problem, so I can't spend a ton of time on my feet. So, I'm not sure if medicine is a good fit or not. I mean psychiatry is an option and maybe internal medicine or family medicine, but I'm not sure what else

Long hours of nothing basically. I've had chronic back pain for 11 years, just keep pain killers with you at all times.

 

[Tangerine123]

Why does 3rd year destroy you physically? I have a back problem, so I can't spend a ton of time on my feet. So, I'm not sure if medicine is a good fit or not. I mean psychiatry is an option and maybe internal medicine or family medicine, but I'm not sure what else

In my case, I gained 40 pounds. My reflux got so severe that I developed Barretts Esophagus. Developed sleep apnea, and then had surgery for that. Also developed hypertension (would go up to 170/110 in night shifts)

 

[Ho0v-man]

It’s entirely student dependent. I think we have good metrics for determining who will pass medical school, but nothing for how well people will do.

I know someone with a perfect premed app and gpa/mcat so high she got a full ride to med school. And she barely got through.

I know people at my lowly DO school who barely got in who absolutely crushed it the whole way through and murdered boards.

I will say with so many schools being in ranked p/f and now with step 1 going p/f, the first two years are not going to be nearly as busy as for you as it was for all of us.

 

[slowthai]

It’s entirely student dependent. I think we have good metrics for determining who will pass medical school, but nothing for how well people will do.

I know someone with a perfect premed app and gpa/mcat so high she got a full ride to med school. And she barely got through.

I know people at my lowly DO school who barely got in who absolutely crushed it the whole way through and murdered boards.

I will say with so many schools being in ranked p/f and now with step 1 going p/f, the first two years are not going to be nearly as busy as for you as it was for all of us.

I am 100% confident schools will just fill up all that "free time" with more BS. Med school will suck even more for these upcoming classes.

 

[Goro]

Do people just take post-bac years without being sure about medical school?

To answer your question from the perspective of an MS3 who busted his angus M1/M2...you will work extremely hard if you want to be successful. End of story. The hours needed to achieve your desired level of success are not easily predictable.

From my personal experience of some students who crash and burn in our special master's program, there are people who enter the program and still think that they are in undergraduate school, and treat the program accordingly.

 

[ciestar]

Why does 3rd year destroy you physically? I have a back problem, so I can't spend a ton of time on my feet. So, I'm not sure if medicine is a good fit or not. I mean psychiatry is an option and maybe internal medicine or family medicine, but I'm not sure what else

Some rotations you just spend a lot of time on your feet. Sleep deprivation can also be a real thing depending on the rotation.

 

[kepler16b]

I'm at a pass/fail school. I find it substantially easier than undergrad.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

“You will never learn so much in so little amount of time.”

This. The material isn't intellectually difficult but there is just a mind-boggling amount of it.

 

[altblue]

This. The material isn't intellectually difficult but there is just a mind-boggling amount of it.

Definitely, but I still feel there are still aspects of medical school that can be challenging. Like, I felt wrapping my head around sodium/water balance and their Tx were as challenging as some aspects of organic chemistry. Heart physiology can be hard to grasp for some if they don't have a solid physio or physics background too

 

[drducky.]

You can spend your time grasping the concepts (which is helpful for a lot of the pathophys)

Or you can simply bypass mechanisms and memorize the answers. Inevitably medicine is a mix of the two, but the people who accept that they won't understand everything about each disease end up doing better in school.

I don't have a great background in physics, but I nailed the cardio block because I kept it simple and understood basic core concepts + memorized a few details for each disease

Totally this. Undergrad was moreso understanding why each thing happens, whereas in med school there’s so much info that you ignore the why and just memorize.

I remember I spent half a day trying to understand mechanisms of anti arrhythmic drugs hoping it’d help me memorize it easier, but that time wouldve been better spent on just pure memorization.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

Definitely, but I still feel there are still aspects of medical school that can be challenging. Like, I felt wrapping my head around sodium/water balance and their Tx were as challenging as some aspects of organic chemistry. Heart physiology can be hard to grasp for some if they don't have a solid physio or physics background too

Sure, and I didn't mean to imply that comprehension is always super easy. But I think compared to the undergrad classes most of us took, med school wasn't nearly as intellectually difficult.

 

[slowthai]

Definitely, but I still feel there are still aspects of medical school that can be challenging. Like, I felt wrapping my head around sodium/water balance and their Tx were as challenging as some aspects of organic chemistry. Heart physiology can be hard to grasp for some if they don't have a solid physio or physics background too

Heart phys is deceptively difficult. You're thinking, "Oh it's the heart, it's easy" only to get rocked on those murmur qs.

 

[frenchyn]

My personal experience: med school is not difficult to just pass...but if you aim for competitive specialties (neurosurgery, integrated...etc) or to rank among the top 10 of your class...it is hard.

 

[altblue]

Heart phys is deceptively difficult. You're thinking, "Oh it's the heart, it's easy" only to get rocked on those murmur qs.

Yeah I told myself, oh, it's fluids and physics, that's one of my stronger subjects. But then you find out it's weird physics lol

The fact that I learned physics well in UG still helped though

 

[altblue]

My personal experience: med school is not difficult to just pass...but if you aim for competitive specialties (neurosurgery, integrated...etc) or to rank among the top 10 of your class...it is hard.

Yup. Being top 10 in my class isn't worth it for me. If it's between having a very solid but unremarkable exam score and having a life versus destroying exams and having no life at all, I'll take the former every time. There are a few people who destroy exams with only modest effort - that's their gift, and I'm happy for them. I just run my own race and focus on the results that I achieve.

 

[xffan624]

Some rotations you just spend a lot of time on your feet. Sleep deprivation can also be a real thing depending on the rotation.

I already had chronic knee pain entering medical school, but it got much worse and I wasn't able to run anymore even sporadically as I was doing. After entering a residency that allowed me the flexibility to sit down when I needed to, knee pain improved and I run 4 days a week and have even done a couple half marathons.

 

[ElJamo17]

Definitely, but I still feel there are still aspects of medical school that can be challenging. Like, I felt wrapping my head around sodium/water balance and their Tx were as challenging as some aspects of organic chemistry. Heart physiology can be hard to grasp for some if they don't have a solid physio or physics background too

what does, "Tx" mean?

 

[ElJamo17]

I already had chronic knee pain entering medical school, but it got much worse and I wasn't able to run anymore even sporadically as I was doing. After entering a residency that allowed me the flexibility to sit down when I needed to, knee pain improved and I run 4 days a week and have even done a couple half marathons.

 

[ElJamo17]

My personal experience: med school is not difficult to just pass...but if you aim for competitive specialties (neurosurgery, integrated...etc) or to rank among the top 10 of your class...it is hard.

what's integrated?

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

what does, "Tx" mean?

Treatment.

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

what's integrated?

Integrated residency programs (vascular, plastics, I6 cardiothoracic)

Basically less gen surg training and no board certification in gen surg in exchange for shorter training and more focus on what you want. Very attractive with GS programs having 1-2 lab years.

Remember every year you delay attending-hood is $300-500K less life-time earnings if you have a fixed retirement age.

 

[ElJamo17]

Thanks for everyone's posts. I think my only concern is about my back. I have a severe degenerative lumbar spinal condition so I'm not sure that any specialties but pathology, radiology, or psychiatry are doable for me. I'm only 27 but I do have a fair degree of discomfort and pain from time to time already. Certainly nothing surgical is in the cards for me. Eventually, I may need to have a spinal fusion surgery but I don't know to what degree of disability I may have from that, if any at all. I think I'll ask my spine surgeon what he thinks as far as careers go. Would it be realistic to go into medicine even with my back problems? I think being a psychiatrist would be very rewarding especially as that's what inspired me to consider medicine in the first place. But... I know that residency spots for psychiatry are getting harder to get.

 

[ElJamo17]

Thanks for everyone's posts. I think my only concern is about my back. I have a severe degenerative lumbar spinal condition so I'm not sure that any specialties but pathology, radiology, or psychiatry are doable for me. I'm only 27 but I do have a fair degree of discomfort and pain from time to time already. Certainly nothing surgical is in the cards for me. Eventually, I may need to have a spinal fusion surgery but I don't know to what degree of disability I may have from that, if any at all. I think I'll ask my spine surgeon what he thinks as far as careers go. Would it be realistic to go into medicine even with my back problems? I think being a psychiatrist would be very rewarding especially as that's what inspired me to consider medicine in the first place. But... I know that residency spots for psychiatry are getting harder to get.

I guess my fear is that I go to medical school but would be unable to actually practice if I find out I hate the sedentary specialties or would be unable to match into them.