I hate labs.

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IndieMed

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One thing I dread about all science classes is labs! I love the lecture part and studying my a** off for the exams- thats the fun part! Even though being an A student, I still strongly dislike the lab portion of each science class. My grades are always lower in lab than in lecture. I'm not really a hands on person/ active learner. Instead, I like to study straight through with my head in a textbook for hours. What I'd like to know is, are there any lab classses in med school? As much or not as much as the pre-med requirement ones? Is there any advice you can give me about this issue I'm having? Will I be forced to take lab classes until I graduate med school? Thank you all.
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IndieMed said:
One thing I dread about all science classes is labs! I love the lecture part and studying my a** off for the exams- thats the fun part! Even though being an A student, I still strongly dislike the lab portion of each science class. My grades are always lower in lab than in lecture. I'm not really a hands on person/ active learner. Instead, I like to study straight through with my head in a textbook for hours. What I'd like to know is, are there any lab classses in med school? As much or not as much as the pre-med requirement ones? Is there any advice you can give me about this issue I'm having? Will I be forced to take lab classes until I graduate med school? Thank you all.
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You do know that the practice of medicine isn't studying a textbook and regurgitating information right?
 
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Have fun in anatomy lab. It was cool for about a week, then it was no longer fun. And this is coming from someone who enjoyed most of her bio labs in college (except for Bio 1. Waste of time. Take of points for one eying the microscope *grumble*)
And in practice. Where it definitely isn't reading all the time.
 
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I HATED labs for the basic science classes. They're terrible, but nothing like anatomy lab or the practice of medicine, really. Seriously, if I wanted to run titrations or PCR all day I would pursue a PhD. Anatomy lab was much better for me and my work in clinical research has been my favorite thing so far.
 
My labs were always my grade buffer, so I'm kind of the opposite in that respect. While most of what labs are are awkwardly incorporated, poorly structured busy work with the worst TAs on the planet, I do feel as if I've developed fairly decent basic lab skills over the years, which I'm confident prepare me well enough for lab work in med school. Don't write off the value of labs just because they're annoying.
 
labrador-retriever.jpg

Personally I find labs to be adorable. They're kind of dumb, but super friendly.

Seriously though, I HATED undergrad basic science labs, they're ****ing terrible.
 
J Senpai said:
My labs were always my grade buffer, so I'm kind of the opposite in that respect. While most of what labs are are awkwardly incorporated, poorly structured busy work with the worst TAs on the planet, I do feel as if I've developed fairly decent basic lab skills over the years, which I'm confident prepare me well enough for lab work in med school. Don't write off the value of labs just because they're annoying.
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Lol what lab work in undergrad prepares you for lab work in medical school? Unless you're talking about gross anatomy lab through a medical school, every other lab is just about useless.
 
Affiche said:
Lol what lab work in undergrad prepares you for lab work in medical school? Unless you're talking about gross anatomy lab through a medical school, every other lab is just about useless.
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Familiarity with equipment, safety protocols, handling of various pieces of labware, etc.
 
J Senpai said:
Familiarity with equipment, safety protocols, handling of various pieces of labware, etc.
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Specifically...what equipment do you think we'll be using in medical school that was used in basic science labs?
Safety protocols you learn on the first day...so I'm not convinced that I needed to suffer through all those awful labs for any real purpose lol.
 
Affiche said:
Specifically...what equipment do you think we'll be using in medical school that was used in basic science labs?
Safety protocols you learn on the first day...so I'm not convinced that I needed to suffer through all those awful labs for any real purpose lol.
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...

Fuq UG labs, then.
 
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IndieMed said:
One thing I dread about all science classes is labs! I love the lecture part and studying my a** off for the exams- thats the fun part! Even though being an A student, I still strongly dislike the lab portion of each science class. My grades are always lower in lab than in lecture. I'm not really a hands on person/ active learner. Instead, I like to study straight through with my head in a textbook for hours. What I'd like to know is, are there any lab classses in med school? As much or not as much as the pre-med requirement ones? Is there any advice you can give me about this issue I'm having? Will I be forced to take lab classes until I graduate med school? Thank you all.
Click to expand...

Undergrad lab courses can be absolutely aweful and are often the farthest thing from real lab work. Medical school labs will not resemble your gen chem lab. Hating these labs says nothing about your med school aptitude.

Advice? Survive these labs and spend some time in a real lab.
 
I must be weird because I love labs. Dissecting the fetal pig and doing the practical exams on its anatomy were like my favorite part of UG. It's just fun. I'd always, always rather do hands-on stuff than sit in a lecture hall.
 
There's something fundamentally unlikable about UG lab courses. I'm not sure what it is. I work in a research lab, and I don't notice the time even when I'm working late, but I remember counting each and every minute when I was in those prereq labs courses.

If you don't love it, it's great practice for Gross Anatomy, which is a really miserable part of med school for a lot of people (even those who love Anatomy). You'll feel gross, smell like formaldehyde and body juices all day erryday, and be stuck in a room with a cadaver many a late night because it'll be the best way to learn the info. And at a lot of places, you have to take Anatomy in the dead of winter when it's freezing and dark outside by the time you head home, so that's fun.
 
Cotterpin said:
I must be weird because I love labs. Dissecting the fetal pig and doing the practical exams on its anatomy were like my favorite part of UG. It's just fun. I'd always, always rather do hands-on stuff than sit in a lecture hall.
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You did this in college? Did you go to a small school?
We did fetal pig, cow's heart, lamb's eye dissection in elementary school, jr high and high school. When I got to college it was all about gel electrophoresis and crap I'll never use again.
 
Affiche said:
You did this in college? Did you go to a small school?
We did fetal pig, cow's heart, lamb's eye dissection in elementary school, jr high and high school. When I got to college it was all about gel electrophoresis and crap I'll never use again.
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I went to an Ivy. I did gel electrophoresis in high school. And again in college. I also got to dissect a sheep's brain, which was awesome.
 
Labs may not be needed for medical school but the majority of people that are basic science majors do not end up in medical school, and those skills like gel electrophoresis and titrations are needed in many jobs avaliable for people with bachelors in a basic science.

But OP don't worry if you don't like them... Even people that love scientific bench work research hated them (like me!)
 
Cotterpin said:
I went to an Ivy. I did gel electrophoresis in high school. And again in college. I also got to dissect a sheep's brain, which was awesome.
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Soooo does that mean you went to a small college? They all have different class sizes lol.

We didn't do any dissections in college, probably because my school was huge and it wasn't worth it to have dissect fetal pigs again. Dissections and all that good stuff stopped after high school, which is why I loved bio labs in high school but loathed them in college.

Didn't mean to sound condescending or imply that your lab material was high school level, I just meant to make the point that that stuff is generally more interesting but isn't offered in most college-level bio labs.
 
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Story of my life. My adviser keeps telling me a semester full of labs is not feasible, I need to start lol.

But who the heck wants to take biochem lab when the whole class of 40 perform One experiment, with everyone on the sidelines texting and chatting. This would drive me insane. Thank god they are combining labs into one class, someone is getting the right idea.
 
Affiche said:
Huh. Yeah, we didn't do any dissections in college. That all stopped after high school, which is why I loved bio labs in high school but loathed them in college. Sorry, didn't mean to sound condescending or imply that your lab material was high school level, I just meant to make the point that that stuff is generally more interesting but isn't offered in most college-level bio labs.
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I dunno. I only took college-level bio lab at the one school so I don't know what most people have to put up with. I loved it, though.
 
I always hated labs in class, mainly because I was inefficient and clumsy... But Orgo lab is actually pretty fun, and I think a big part of it is (paradoxically, I guess) that they force us to do long pre-labs. They make us write out the entire procedure in our own words, and give us a pre-lab quiz so we need to really know everything backwards and forwards before going in. I find that I'm 10x more efficient now, I don't make as many stupid mistakes, and everything is more enjoyable as a result.

At least for me, actually preparing thoroughly and not just mindlessly following the steps in the manual seems to have made it much less painful.
 
Yeah, I don't know that I would have ever gotten the hang of orgo if it weren't for the labs.
 
Gurby said:
I always hated labs in class, mainly because I was inefficient and clumsy... But Orgo lab is actually pretty fun, and I think a big part of it is (paradoxically, I guess) that they force us to do long pre-labs. They make us write out the entire procedure in our own words, and give us a pre-lab quiz so we need to really know everything backwards and forwards before going in. I find that I'm 10x more efficient now, I don't make as many stupid mistakes, and everything is more enjoyable as a result.

At least for me, actually preparing thoroughly and not just mindlessly following the steps in the manual seems to have made it much less painful.
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the orgo labs really help with congealing the information - but across the board the Labs of all classes are a hit or miss with your TA. This is the only terrible part. Who you get is hard to anticipate sometimes, and can make a 1 credit class 😕
 
Anatomy, Pathology, Micro, Clinical Medicine, for starters.

IndieMed said:
One thing I dread about all science classes is labs! I love the lecture part and studying my a** off for the exams- thats the fun part! Even though being an A student, I still strongly dislike the lab portion of each science class. My grades are always lower in lab than in lecture. I'm not really a hands on person/ active learner. Instead, I like to study straight through with my head in a textbook for hours. What I'd like to know is, are there any lab classses in med school? As much or not as much as the pre-med requirement ones? Is there any advice you can give me about this issue I'm having? Will I be forced to take lab classes until I graduate med school? Thank you all.
Click to expand...
 
I've never had an affinity for labs, but soon as I get to work I start to enjoy myself.

Med school lab is very different from undergrad.
 
When I saw the title, I instantly thought this is the post of a graduate student! "I HATE LAB". Lol
 
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