How many hours in class?

[oldladypremed]

Hi all,

I'm trying to figure out how this medical school thing might work for a family and I can't seem to get a handle on how many in class/lab hours are required during the first two years? Some students say class is generally 8-12 each day and others say 8-5!

Does this differ by school? Is it different for the DO schools? I would especially love to hear about the NYC area schools, including NYMC, Einstein and the Sunys.

THanks everyone!

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[kutastha]

UVM, second semester is like this for now:

M: 8-3
T: 8-3
W: 8-12 every other week; 8-4 otherwise
Th: 8-12
F: 8-12 every other week; 8-7 otherwise

So somewhere between 24-33 hours per week.

 

[Brewster]

Time spent in the classroom is entirely dependent on the school. Also, keep in mind that while there are some things you will likely be required to attend (labs, small groups, PBL), lectures can be skipped if you schedule does not allow you to be there.

Regardless of the school you attend, third year will be time consuming. Fourth year depends on the rotations you choose (for the schools where fourth year is mostly/entirely electives).

 

[md_student10021]

You'll need to manage your time effectively.

Figure between classes, labs, and studying, you'll need to commit about 8 hours per day to school work. you'll go to lecture (or skip lecture), PBL, labs, small groups, etc. generally, the only thing you can skip is lecture, but everyone who skips lecture ends up spending this time studying.

You should be able to spend a few hours per day with the family. Just think of medical school as a regular job, with slightly longer hours.

 

[hotbovie1]

At my school, some days were 8-5, some were 10-12, and many combinations in between. Its a school with a very traditional lecutre based curriculum, and the vast majority of students skipped most of the lectures. It does tend to vary greatly by school, and the type of curriculum will imact the number of things with requried attendance

Basically, I'd say that med school would have the same impact on a family as having a full time, professional job. (in fact, several of us older folks here kind of adopted that attitude). There are days you're not required to be there 8-5, but I think you should put in those hours to study. Then you can be with your family in the evenings. (in other words, treat it like a job) There will be times when the hours are longer, like as exams approach (professional job analogy would be working late for a big project, or taking a business trip)

HOurs in 3rd and some of 4th year mimic the hours of residency, which are more like having a full time job +moonlighting (or even 2 full time jobs, depending on the specialty)

Lots of people have managed med school and family...you really aren't all that unique. Check out oldpremeds.com if you haven't already.

 

[drchris33]

Since you mentioned DO schools, I will put in our typical day.....

Lecture from 8-12 Monday through Friday. Every Monday afternoon you are in Path lab for an hour and OPP (Manipulation) lab for generally two hours. Then depending on the section you may be in the anatomy lab for three hours one to two days a week. Also we have a clinical skills lab once a week for usually two hours on Thursday. Friday were are generally done by noon. Occasionally we will have a biochem or micro lab as well. I would say that we are usually at school from 8-5 but not straight through. Lectures can be skipped (we have notepool!) but labs and OPP are required.

Hope that helps

Chris

 

[Amit1]

Originally posted by drchris33
Since you mentioned DO schools, I will put in our typical day.....

Lecture from 8-12 Monday through Friday. Every Monday afternoon you are in Path lab for an hour and OPP (Manipulation) lab for generally two hours. Then depending on the section you may be in the anatomy lab for three hours one to two days a week. Also we have a clinical skills lab once a week for usually two hours on Thursday. Friday were are generally done by noon. Occasionally we will have a biochem or micro lab as well. I would say that we are usually at school from 8-5 but not straight through. Lectures can be skipped (we have notepool!) but labs and OPP are required.

Hope that helps

Chris

Hey Chris, do you know my brother Amish Patel who goes to UHS???

 

[souljah1]

time requirements differ vastly depending on what year of medical school you are speaking about.

i'm a first year and our curriculum has roughly 10 hours a week of lecture, 10 hours a week of small group, problem based learning, pathology lab, etc, and anywhere from 2-4 hours a week of foundations of patient care.

typically, we have monday, wednesday, and friday afternoons off (except sometimes we go 10-12,1-3 on some mondays and fridays). we also usually have fpc on either a tuesday or a thursday (depends on what group you are in) and this generally goes 1 to 5 (preceptor), 2-5 (examination skills and interviewing sessions).

this gives us plenty of time to take really interesting electives, work-out, spend time with family, study, shadow physicians, partake in additional precepting, etc. usually a week before our exam i tend to study a lot and i cut down on the exercising, shadowing stuff. all in all, i'd say i go to about 15-17 hours of school and study and additional 15-20 hours a week. sounds like a 40 hour work week to me.

when third year comes along, well, that is another story.

 

[Doctor&Geek]

This block we have 9-3 or 10-3 or 10-4 lectures and small groups everyday, and an elective from 4-6 weekly and biweekly clinical medicine from 3-5.

Yours,

 

[Resident Alien]

22 hours of lecture a week here. (8-12 MWTh and 8-1 T,F), This includes small group sessions, labs, all the official stuff. rest of the time spent doing pretty much the same as what souljah has for ucsf. I choose to waste all that opportunity and sleep in the afternoons (which i dont mind a bit ).

 

[GoodMonkey]

does anyone know what the daily breakdown is going to be like at umich next year? i know that right now the days are kinda full for class time, but with the new curriculum being implemented in fall '03... is this going to be changing?