How important are year 1 & 2 grades?

[bigneonglitter]

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How important are year 1 & 2 grades? (Sorry in advance for the long post.)

I just finished up my 1st year. Can someone please give me an honest answer and not just a bunch of wishy-washy meaningless bull****? I'm not talking about derm. or rad. onc. or anything, just a moderately competitve residency program at a moderately competitive school.

One week our class hears about the absolute importance of years 1 & 2, and the next week someone will tell us not to worry b/c Board scores and years 3 & 4 are way more important. One week, someone will tell a failing student to just concentrate on passing and then tell them that lame-ass joke "What do you call a med student who graduates last in his/her class..." and the next week people are gossiping about grades and trying to sabatoge one another.

If grades and class rank are indeed so important, how could one ever recover from failing a class or being at the bottom? If year 1 & 2 grades aren't so important, then why don't schools and students focus more on LEARNING the material for the patient's sake and less on percentages and class rank and competition?

The most frustrating thing about med school for me thus far is all of the contradictory verbal diarrhea I get from profs, physicians, older students, fellow classmates, etc. about applying to residency. So often I hear form physicians, "Don't let grades or lack of self-confidence prevent you form going into a specialty you love," and this makes me really angry b/c I don't think this advice is realistic, unless maybe your dad or mom is already a dermatologist or radiologist.

 

[omarsaleh66]

Grades are important and I will tell u why. Most medical students have about 4-5 weeks to prepare for the USMLE. If u really learned your biochem and aced it or mastered it from your first year class, then u will only need maybe 1-2 days to review and most of it will come back.

I just took step 1 about a week ago. And realized that i wasted precious time in my few weeks learning biochem and other first year subjects that I didnt get A's in. In most medical schools, gettins A's means u know ur stuff. So motivate yourself to get As or high Bs in your classes so u can rock the USMLE.

Im sorry but its very hard to slack off your first 2 years of medical school and kill step 1. I got very bad advice when i was a first year from upperclassmen, and I had learned to "right" way after taking anatomy, biochem and histo. So these 3 classes wasted preciuos time that I didnt have when it came to the USMLE.

So grades are important cuz if u get good grades and truly understand the material u will rock Step 1. And those 5-6 weeks u get will be a review instead of trying to learn first year stuff. That will give u time to do more questions and u will retain a lot more.

later

 

[Mumpu]

The grades can help you. They will not hurt you.

The physicians are right, don't let grades or lack of self-confidence prevent you from going into a specialty you love. Let the residency directors do that.

 

[thackl]

Grades are important and I will tell u why. Most medical students have about 4-5 weeks to prepare for the USMLE. If u really learned your biochem and aced it or mastered it from your first year class, then u will only need maybe 1-2 days to review and most of it will come back.

I just took step 1 about a week ago. And realized that i wasted precious time in my few weeks learning biochem and other first year subjects that I didnt get A's in. In most medical schools, gettins A's means u know ur stuff. So motivate yourself to get As or high Bs in your classes so u can rock the USMLE.

Im sorry but its very hard to slack off your first 2 years of medical school and kill step 1. I got very bad advice when i was a first year from upperclassmen, and I had learned to "right" way after taking anatomy, biochem and histo. So these 3 classes wasted preciuos time that I didnt have when it came to the USMLE.

So grades are important cuz if u get good grades and truly understand the material u will rock Step 1. And those 5-6 weeks u get will be a review instead of trying to learn first year stuff. That will give u time to do more questions and u will retain a lot more.

later

Dude, much diff advice than you gave me first yr. Regardless, I finished the yr with a 4.0 and still don't remember anything 😡

BTW, how did the MLE go?

 

[omarsaleh66]

Dude, much diff advice than you gave me first yr. Regardless, I finished the yr with a 4.0 and still don't remember anything 😡

BTW, how did the MLE go?

Congratulations on kickin ass on first year man!

I had to change alot in 2nd year. For example, first year i went to class, 2nd year i totally stopped cuz more volume. Other than that i dont remember what we talked about, but my advice is stop listening to my advice, and start giving me some advice 😉

Man I think your 4.0 will help u alot when u study for the MLE. I totally underestimated that test man. I put in alot of work, but man, it requires alot more than I thought. U think u dont remember anyhting but trust me, in that short time after the 2nd year ends. U will be reviewing instead of learning, and it should pay off big time.

I was told that the USMLE is all path phys and pharm but man, its a pretty balanced test. Study hard in every subject, even biostats will get u some points 😡

later dude

 

[YouDontKnowJack]

yeah. a lot of middle aged doctors tell you not to worry about grades, cuz they got screwed too. then again, i've only spoken to hospitalists.

my philosophy is to study for the boards, not for class. if the professor wants to be an ass and ask about some obscure detail on an exam, i say f**k him and settle for whatever grade i get.

 

[Ryan]

How important are year 1 & 2 grades? (Sorry in advance for the long post.)

I just finished up my 1st year. Can someone please give me an honest answer and not just a bunch of wishy-washy meaningless bull****? I'm not talking about derm. or rad. onc. or anything, just a moderately competitve residency program at a moderately competitive school.

One week our class hears about the absolute importance of years 1 & 2, and the next week someone will tell us not to worry b/c Board scores and years 3 & 4 are way more important. One week, someone will tell a failing student to just concentrate on passing and then tell them that lame-ass joke "What do you call a med student who graduates last in his/her class..." and the next week people are gossiping about grades and trying to sabatoge one another.

If grades and class rank are indeed so important, how could one ever recover from failing a class or being at the bottom? If year 1 & 2 grades aren't so important, then why don't schools and students focus more on LEARNING the material for the patient's sake and less on percentages and class rank and competition?

The most frustrating thing about med school for me thus far is all of the contradictory verbal diarrhea I get from profs, physicians, older students, fellow classmates, etc. about applying to residency. So often I hear form physicians, "Don't let grades or lack of self-confidence prevent you form going into a specialty you love," and this makes me really angry b/c I don't think this advice is realistic, unless maybe your dad or mom is already a dermatologist or radiologist.

I had a similar question last year at the beginning of school. I simply emailed the directors of the residencies and several residents that I was interested in and asked them straight. Their replies are just as varied as the "contradictory verbal diarrhea" that you have received at your school. Just remember that good grades can't really hurt you and good board scores won't hurt you ether. Those who rank resident candidates are people too and if you look solid on paper (no matter what the combination of Basic Sci grades vs. Board Score vs. Rotation grades) there is probably several residencies that will interview you. Contacting your top 10 residency choices and see what they are looking at as their decisive factors... who is their ideal candidate? Just ask them what they give the most weight to when deciding who to interview.

-Ryan

 

[thackl]

my philosophy is to study for the boards, not for class. if the professor wants to be an ass and ask about some obscure detail on an exam, i say f**k him and settle for whatever grade i get.

I, too, am pretty picky about what I learn. Unless the prof comes right out and says somehting is going to be on the exam, I pick and choose what I think is important.

 

[thackl]

Congratulations on kickin ass on first year man!

I had to change alot in 2nd year. For example, first year i went to class, 2nd year i totally stopped cuz more volume. Other than that i dont remember what we talked about, but my advice is stop listening to my advice, and start giving me some advice 😉

Man I think your 4.0 will help u alot when u study for the MLE. I totally underestimated that test man. I put in alot of work, but man, it requires alot more than I thought. U think u dont remember anyhting but trust me, in that short time after the 2nd year ends. U will be reviewing instead of learning, and it should pay off big time.

I was told that the USMLE is all path phys and pharm but man, its a pretty balanced test. Study hard in every subject, even biostats will get u some points 😡

later dude

most of your advice was spot on actually 👍 I think you were given some poor advice and you were able to relate that to me. I felt that I (for the most part) got a lot out of the 'reasonable' amount of time I gave the first yr.

I was a home-schooler for the last block and plan to keep doing it next yr.

 

[domukin]

most of your advice was spot on actually 👍 I think you were given some poor advice and you were able to relate that to me. I felt that I (for the most part) got a lot out of the 'reasonable' amount of time I gave the first yr.

I was a home-schooler for the last block and plan to keep doing it next yr.

Could you repeat some of this good advice to a fellow pre-M1?

 

[thackl]

Could you repeat some of this good advice to a fellow pre-M1?

That's kind of broad. Omar and I spoke quite a few times (he volunteered to be my big sib even though he transferred after M1). I'm now an M2 and would be happy to answer specific questions (especially after you start).

 

[greets fr. nyc]

first year grades ?

for what it's worth (i.e., just had a class meeting with the deans relating to residency apps last night)...
the formula here is:

1) When calculating the "summary word"** in the last sentence of your dean's letter: 3rd/4th year grades are worth 2x's your 1st or 2nd year grades.

**The last sentence of the dean's letter summarizes your academic scores as either "outstanding" vs. "excellent" vs. "very good" vs. "good."

It is a formulaic sentence that gives the residency committee an immediate sense of your academic past at medical school. for example, it might say, "In summary, XY is an excellent medical student, based on his previous academic and clinical achievement at BBBB School of Medicine."

likewise, as you are applying for a clinical job (i.e., residency) thus residency directors are looking more at your 3rd year clinical grades for how you will fair as a primary care giver to the hospital's patients. again, 3rd year grades are twice the value of basic science year grades, roughly.

**The summary word is NOT an exact numerical ranking (thus it could be argued by people that a school does not rank; 50 people could do almost equally well and be grouped in the exact SAME category WITHOUT difference; so it depends more so on your own grades vs. how you exactly compare with others. maybe you can call it a very rough "non-splitting-hair" kind of ranking system. whatever. )

again, take this info as a general overall rule. each program has it's own idiosyncracies but the main idea is basically the same.


but heck, if you are at a school that absolutely does not rank or have grades of any kind (which i think is superb), then on the flip side however, your board scores for step 1 become even more important to residency directors.... (a double edged sword, i guess)

 

[Minion677]

That's kind of broad. Omar and I spoke quite a few times (he volunteered to be my big sib even though he transferred after M1). I'm now an M2 and would be happy to answer specific questions (especially after you start).

I think the main advice I would like refers to how to study: grades vs. USMLE scores and attending class vs. not. Should you be studying material needed for the tests given in years 1 and 2, or should you be studying more high yield material for the boards and not worrying about the minute detail they want you to know for tests? And is lecture really worth going to, or should you spend lecture time studying on your own and just get lecture notes from someone else? Roughly what % of lecture should you be going to? I know it differs for each person and school, but in your experience what have you found?

 

[PrincetonRocks]

The one advice I got from upperclassmen and my older brother is that grades in med school matters to some extent. That's why they keep track of your grades in the first place and establish rankings for you. However, I was also told that you just have to try your best and if your best is a Pass or C (at some schools), that's alright too. For the most part, I heard that it boils down to your board scores for residencies. My brother got into Dermatology without being in AOA. Don't worry, be happy.