How hard was it?

Started by DPTinthemaking15
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DPTinthemaking15

DPTinthemaking15

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Okay, if you haven’t glanced at my recent post I am in the transition from Physical Therapy school to medical school. I’ve had the opportunity to shadow Physicians and understand what they do, but my biggest question is how different/difficult is medical school? I’ve read post after post about how strenuous medical school is. I believe one post stated “It is like drinking from a fire hydrant, while running after the fire truck.” Can someone that attended a program before medical school shine light on this?
 
Not sure what you are asking, by "Can someone that attended a program before medical school shine light on this?"

Medical school is challenging. Not only is it challenging academically, it is challenging to balance school/life. It will affect your social life. This will also apply to when working as a physician. The fire hose analogy is fairly accurate.

I've been in several different careers with different training. I have done a program that was physically/mentally demanding (the training program starts with, "Look to your left and look to your right. by the completion of this program, one of you will not be here.").

Medical school has been one of the most challenging academic programs I have done. Believe it or not, we got the same speech at the beginning at my medical school (ie. "look to your left and look to your right, but the completion of this program, one of you will not be here.") and I almost burst out laughing.

However, if it is something that you really want to do, then you will make it work.


Thanks.


Wook
 
wook said:
Not sure what you are asking, by "Can someone that attended a program before medical school shine light on this?"

Medical school is challenging. Not only is it challenging academically, it is challenging to balance school/life. It will affect your social life. This will also apply to when working as a physician. The fire hose analogy is fairly accurate.

I've been in several different careers with different training. I have done a program that was physically/mentally demanding (the training program starts with, "Look to your left and look to your right. by the completion of this program, one of you will not be here.").

Medical school has been one of the most challenging academic programs I have done. Believe it or not, we got the same speech at the beginning at my medical school (ie. "look to your left and look to your right, but the completion of this program, one of you will not be here.") and I almost burst out laughing.

However, if it is something that you really want to do, then you will make it work.


Thanks.


Wook
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When I went to dive school they told us at the beginning that at least half of us wouldn't make it through. Started with 28, only 11 graduated.

As long as they don't try to drown me in med school, I think I'll be fine.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
When I went to dive school they told us at the beginning that at least half of us wouldn't make it through. Started with 28, only 11 graduated.

As long as they don't try to drown me in med school, I think I'll be fine.
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LOL! You should be fine.

I figured your previous/current employer based on the comment.

Thank you for your service on this veterans day.


Wook
 
wook said:
LOL! You should be fine.

I figured your previous/current employer based on the comment.

Thank you for your service on this veterans day.


Wook
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I'm actually on duty today. I have been underway or on duty for every Veterans Day that I've been in for except for the first one, because I took leave for my honeymoon. And we went underway the next day and promptly got hit by a missile. Needless to say, Veterans Day has not been such a great day for me.

My wife is getting me some BOGO chipotle that I can eat when I get home tomorrow though.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
My wife is getting me some BOGO chipotle that I can eat when I get home tomorrow though.
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Safe travels until tomorrow, then eat like a tick!

there are some lurkers here who are in process or finished as MD/DOs that are prior service or currently in.

Stay safe!



Wook
 
2 out of 3 of the people I started Kilo school with failed out; when I was on active duty it had the highest attrition rate of any school including special forces. PT was 0430 - 0530, class formation was 0700 and we marched up the hill to begin classes at 0730. We went to class for 10 hrs with a 30 minute lunch, came back down the hill and ate dinner, then did another hr of PT then studied until ~ 1 am. I did this for 26 weeks until the clinical rotation started, which was another 26 weeks of 12 - 16 hr days in the lab, 6 days per week. The consequence of failing out of kilo school was a free trip to Bosnia, re-classed as a combat medic if you were lucky.
 
I apologize guys! I should have specified and said "anyone that attended a graduate program."

Thank you @sb247. My tour guide told me that she was in school from 7 a.m to 11 p.m. So I guess I should prepare to have no life during Med school.
 
esob said:
2 out of 3 of the people I started Kilo school with failed out; when I was on active duty it had the highest attrition rate of any school including special forces. PT was 0430 - 0530, class formation was 0700 and we marched up the hill to begin classes at 0730. We went to class for 10 hrs with a 30 minute lunch, came back down the hill and ate dinner, then did another hr of PT then studied until ~ 1 am. I did this for 26 weeks until the clinical rotation started, which was another 26 weeks of 12 - 16 hr days in the lab, 6 days per week. The consequence of failing out of kilo school was a free trip to Bosnia, re-classed as a combat medic if you were lucky.
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Ugh. nothing like a little pressure to perform well!
 
DPTinthemaking15 said:
Okay, if you haven’t glanced at my recent post I am in the transition from Physical Therapy school to medical school. I’ve had the opportunity to shadow Physicians and understand what they do, but my biggest question is how different/difficult is medical school? I’ve read post after post about how strenuous medical school is. I believe one post stated “It is like drinking from a fire hydrant, while running after the fire truck.” Can someone that attended a program before medical school shine light on this?
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I remember that comparison, I think that is an exaggeration by students who've never worked a full day (anatomy is the only class that can be challenging if you haven't taken many bio classes). If you've worked full time, you know how to dedicate yourself to a task, and if you've been an A student in college, then I'd say it is not that difficult. It is demanding in terms of needing to spend time studying every day (just like one would go to work every day) but it is not super human and certainly not miserable if you truly like it and want to do it. Just choose a school that limits classes to mornings and doesn't compress the curriculum to 1.5 years. The only exception is if you've struggled with classes in undergrad from being unable to handle the material, in that case you'd need to work hard and make sure to not fall behind.
 
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Dare2Dream said:
I remember that comparison, I think that is an exaggeration by students who've never worked a full day (anatomy is the only class that can be challenging if you haven't taken many bio classes). If you've worked full time, you know how to dedicate yourself to a task, and if you've been an A student in college, then I'd say it is not that difficult. It is demanding in terms of needing to spend time studying every day (just like one would go to work every day) but it is not super human and certainly not miserable if you truly like it and want to do it. Just choose a school that limits classes to mornings and doesn't compress the curriculum to 1.5 years. The only exception is if you've struggled with classes in undergrad from being able to handle the material, in that case you'd need to work hard and make sure to not fall behind.
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Good! I know i'll be challenged more in the next four years than I could ever imagine, but I know most of the work I will enjoy. When I began Physical Therapy school I thought I would have no life. But after the first few weeks of Gross Anatomy and other "rigorous" courses I learned it wasn't so bad. I guess that is when I realized I could at least keep my head above water in Med school lol.
 
Dare2Dream said:
I remember that comparison, I think that is an exaggeration by students who've never worked a full day (anatomy is the only class that can be challenging if you haven't taken many bio classes). If you've worked full time, you know how to dedicate yourself to a task, and if you've been an A student in college, then I'd say it is not that difficult. It is demanding in terms of needing to spend time studying every day (just like one would go to work every day) but it is not super human and certainly not miserable if you truly like it and want to do it. Just choose a school that limits classes to mornings and doesn't compress the curriculum to 1.5 years. The only exception is if you've struggled with classes in undergrad from being able to handle the material, in that case you'd need to work hard and make sure to not fall behind.
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just to clarify....you aren't actually in medical school, right?
 
One of my best friends did PT school before med school. He said that the material isn't harder, but it just comes at you so much faster. One example is that at my school, which has a PT school as well, the anatomy classes were taken together and almost identical. He said it is the same anatomy class but in PT school he to worry about anatomy alone while in med school, it was anatomy, clinical skills, the tail end of biochem, cell biology, some immunology, ethics, fundamentals of physician practice, and more.

Now not all of these classes crossover and at any given time you are only worried about 3-4 of them, and some of them are relatively minor, but it gives an idea what the firehose comparison is like.
 
sb247 said:
just to clarify....you aren't actually in medical school, right?
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I am an MS2 (just updated my profile to show that accurately). That question makes me wonder if my experience is not shared by you? Feel free to share your experience.
 
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DPTinthemaking15 said:
Good! I know i'll be challenged more in the next four years than I could ever imagine, but I know most of the work I will enjoy. When I began Physical Therapy school I thought I would have no life. But after the first few weeks of Gross Anatomy and other "rigorous" courses I learned it wasn't so bad. I guess that is when I realized I could at least keep my head above water in Med school lol.
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That's good, I should add that I did well in Biochem, Genetics and other premed courses at a competitive school so I was also well prepared for it. It is quite doable if you put the time in, I always get plenty of sleep and time for research and other activities.
 
I agree with Dare2Dream - if you've had a career in a competitive field in the past you'll be fine. It's all relative. Often those who complain the loudest, are those who have the least experience with "real life" outside of being a student. My classmates who rolled straight from undergrad into med school seem overwhelmed, or maybe just more vocal about it. Let's be honest, undergraduate programs are not all that taxing when you think about the number of hours actually required in a week to do well. Not to mention, many undergrads nowadays have never had to work while in school so they aren't as skilled with time management. Those of us who are non-trads and worked in careers ranging from teaching to business to military, med school is just another job. Treat it as such and it isn't overwhelming, just less monetarily rewarding ;-P
 
groodles said:
I agree with Dare2Dream - if you've had a career in a competitive field in the past you'll be fine. It's all relative. Often those who complain the loudest, are those who have the least experience with "real life" outside of being a student. My classmates who rolled straight from undergrad into med school seem overwhelmed, or maybe just more vocal about it. Let's be honest, undergraduate programs are not all that taxing when you think about the number of hours actually required in a week to do well. Not to mention, many undergrads nowadays have never had to work while in school so they aren't as skilled with time management. Those of us who are non-trads and worked in careers ranging from teaching to business to military, med school is just another job. Treat it as such and it isn't overwhelming, just less monetarily rewarding ;-P
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I'm glad it isn't as bad as everyone talks about. I spoke with a vascular surgeon today and he explained how different medical school is nowadays (Mainly saying I should be able to make it through). Anyways, I know this is off subject, but we got on the topic of residency. I asked him how many hours he worked during residency, and I was floored when he said his max was 130 hours in a week. In my eyes, if someone can work that many hours in a week I can make it through med school lol.
 
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