If I study 30 minutes a day for 4 months, how much would that help in medical school? I'm not that competitive type who wants to get way ahead of everyone, but I know that studying a little each day is better compared to studying everything right before the test. I want to get involved with research with health care policy at my medical school, so I'm wondering if I spend just a little time studying anatomy and whatnot during my policy internship this summer, I'll have a bit more freetime during the first part of medical school (my med school has pass/fail, so they encourage students to do other things besides medicine). Thoughts anyone? I know people will be inclined to say "enjoy life as much as you can now, study later," but I will be enjoying it a *bunch* this summer anyways, and just want to know from current med students, how much 30 minutes a day for 4 months would help?
How much would "limited advanced studying" help before med school?
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somewhere around 0%
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Not at all.
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I think you'd be hurting yourself... go live your life.
I'm not in medical school yet so I really can't give authority on this, but I have to wonder that studying a subject like anatomy in advance would help even just a little? I assume it's complicated by the fact that it's too much information to learn (so you guys must be studying 10-14 hours a day for 4 months during a semester, so 30 minutes might not mean much). In any case I'll definitely consider everyone's advice and probably just wait..
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How would you study anatomy? Go buy Rohen's and start reading? Ha. Good luck. The main problem is you'd have no idea what in the hell you were doing. I guess you could start memorizing the names of bones or something?
Total wasted effort.
I mean, I know people in the medical school I'm about to go to, and I could easily get their study materials if I wanted to and have an idea of where to start (rather than just making my own starting point). But I probably won't..How would you study anatomy? Go buy Rohen's and start reading? Ha. Good luck. The main problem is you'd have no idea what in the hell you were doing. I guess you could start memorizing the names of bones or something?
Total wasted effort.
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Med school studying is something you do not yet know how to do. You will not even make a dent. Enjoy your final months of not being a med student.
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Studying anatomy, for example, for 30 min a day over the course of 4 months is bordering on ******ed. What you have yet to taste is the PACE of the studying. So you'll be reading the anatomy syllabus like a Hemingway novel, when in reality you should be reading it like a freeway sign as you pass it on the interstate.
Best thing to do in your free time is get your **** together. Exercise, work on personal development, get some hobbies in place. If you don't have good life habits going into med school, you'll have a long road ahead of you. Well you have a long road ahead of you either way, it'll just be a much crappier road (which is saying a lot considering how jacked up the road is even under the best of circumstances).
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Alright, if you really want to do some studying, I suggest looking over some basic biochemistry. But I'd avoid anatomy for now.
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Study if it makes you feel better but it isn't going to help you more than 20 minutes into the first lecture.
Think of it this way...med school is like a full time job for 4 years. How in the world will your 30 minutes study sessions make much of a dent in thousands of hours over the next 4 years?
Think of it this way...med school is like a full time job for 4 years. How in the world will your 30 minutes study sessions make much of a dent in thousands of hours over the next 4 years?
D
deleted128562
+100 to the general consensus here.
I will also add: By the end of 2nd year and Step 1, I was so burned out from studying that there aren't even words, and I know that a large number of my classmates felt the same. My point being that you have a marathon in front of you, and the last thing you'd want to do before running a marathon is run 5 "warm-up" miles. Know what I mean?
This summer should be the laziest, most relaxing and enjoyable summer you have ever had. Because this will truly be the last chance you ever get. (Odds are you'll find some school/ research related thing to do summer between M1/M2).
Summary: Don't run right before a marathon, and don't study right before med school.
I will also add: By the end of 2nd year and Step 1, I was so burned out from studying that there aren't even words, and I know that a large number of my classmates felt the same. My point being that you have a marathon in front of you, and the last thing you'd want to do before running a marathon is run 5 "warm-up" miles. Know what I mean?
This summer should be the laziest, most relaxing and enjoyable summer you have ever had. Because this will truly be the last chance you ever get. (Odds are you'll find some school/ research related thing to do summer between M1/M2).
Summary: Don't run right before a marathon, and don't study right before med school.
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OP made a joke. I lol'd.
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Please don't study before medical school. You will not understand how valuable your free time is until you lose it. Cherish it while you can. You will get to study medicine for the rest of your career. This is coming from a 4th year student preparing for the monster that is residency.
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But it serves no use or purpose either, it's a waste of time.
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Moving to PA as OP is still a premed.
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You must have been hit in the head alot if you needed an all nighter for ethics.
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enjoy the time you have left [aka when you have a life]
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So many med students say this.. Then they turn around and say you can have a life during med school.
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It just depends on whether or not it's a med school interview day.
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It just depends on whether or not it's a med school interview day.
Yet you still pursue it. Funny how someone can diminish 10 years of their youth with such casual abandon. I know, I know, you want to help people. Well enjoy. Maybe you'll get your wish.
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I was just reading your downer party over in the allo student forum. Considering the amount of work it takes to get in the first place, while I see what you are getting at I don't think "casual abandon" would be an accurate way to put it. Naive perhaps, but most of us have sought out some amount of shadowing and clinical exposure; beyond that there isn't much more you can do to figure out if medicine will be "right" (whatever that means) for you unless you give it a shot.
While it's valuable to have the sometimes sobering input of others with more experience, I have met/know plenty of people who enjoyed med school/residency/practice. As is the case with people reporting their experience about anything on the internet, there is a selection bias for people having a bad enough time that they want to talk about it on the internet. Just because you dislike medicine and doctors now doesn't mean the rest of us can't potentially find it rewarding/worthwhile/whatever. Anyway I hope in the end we both find some corner of medicine we enjoy. You're an MS4, no? What are you matching?
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Selection bias?! LOL. You've chosen to see disdainful opinions and place them to the side - diminish them - because they don't fit the paradigm you want to see. Then you cherry-pick positive descriptions of medicine and use those as the beacons of truth - because they do fit the paradigm you want to see. Maybe you'll love it. How would I know. But be aware that those that proclaim roses and cream aren't always being genuine - most likely with themselves.
You're not unique. Every year before you, and I include myself in this, we see the negative comments and diminish them as some bitter a-hole, and see the positive comments and picture that person as the true guide-bearer, the one who really "gets it", just like "I" will.
I guess you'll find out which camp you fall. I certainly did.
I'm going into psychiatry, and without that field, I'd sooner mow lawns than practice medicine. Psych is the only field that stimulated me, inspired me, motivated me. The fact that it's not competitive was also such a breath of fresh air. I came in wanting a more competitive field (for typical pre-med reasons) and I grew so despised with the culture that I just wanted to run. I should also say I was entirely unimpressed with the intellectual component of the other specialties - psych was different in that it actually inspired thought in me. The problem is I now wonder if psych will even fulfill those naive MED STUDENT thoughts. As I progress I realize the whole business of medicine is so fundamentally flawed that I really want no part of it. But I no longer have a choice. I'm locked in.
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Eh, not trying to diminish the negative, but all of my in-person conversations with physicians, residents, and med students have been overwhelmingly positive. The only place I see people telling students to avoid medicine is on SDN, and I choose to put more stock in what people I know in real life have told me. It's entirely possible that I've just gotten a very unrealistic and optimistic slice of people in the medical world, but I'll just have to wait and find out in August. I will admit that nearly all of my clinical mentors have been urologists, who I believe are a lot happier than people in some other areas of medicine.
