I know med school is difficult... but what 'kind' of difficult?

[ill be a doc soon]

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Just a lowly premed here. I have heard people say that med school is difficult because theres a buttload of information to memorize. Is medical school hard because its a lot of information... or is it hard because theres alot of mind bending critical thinking involved? Or both? And how is it possible to retain all of it for the entire 4 years?

 

[68PGunner]

Just a lowly premed here. I have heard people say that med school is difficult because theres a buttload of information to memorize. Is medical school hard because its a lot of information... or is it hard because theres alot of mind bending critical thinking involved? Or both? And how is it possible to retain all of it for the entire 4 years?

It's overwhelming bc of the # of info being dumped into your brain on a regular basis. The critical thinking portion is actually very simplistic.

 

[W19]

Just a lowly premed here. I have heard people say that med school is difficult because theres a buttload of information to memorize. Is medical school hard because its a lot of information... or is it hard because theres alot of mind bending critical thinking involved? Or both? And how is it possible to retain all of it for the entire 4 years?

There is some critical thinking because you are dealing with the human body, which is very complex. You also have to memorize a bunch of stuff in a short amount of time. All these things are possible if you put in the time. It's no longer undergrad where one can study 2-3 days before an exam and still manage to get A/B...

 

[bashwell]

Med school is "difficult" because:

1) Like you said, there's tons of new information coming at you, which you're expected to incorporate into your knowledge and understanding in a relatively short amount of time. It's hard to describe. A lot of it is memorization (e.g., most of anatomy, lots of microbiology, lots of pharmacology). A lot of it is understanding concepts (e.g., physiology, pathophysiology). But there's plenty of crossover between the two. It depends on how you learn too.

2) You're competing against many others who were at the top of their class. It's not like undergrad where you could much more easily shine. Now imagine the majority are as smart as you are if not smarter.

3) For most of your clinical years, you have to read and study (as well as do everything else including have a social life and do chores like go shopping for groceries or your dirty laundry) in addition to seeing patients, rounding on patients, attending morning rounds for whatever rotation you're on, attending grand rounds, attending whatever other activities are required of you (e.g., bedside tutorials by physicians), interacting with attendings and residents and other hospital staff, often with little sleep, etc. It's not like you just go to lectures, go home, chill a bit, then have time to study (that's more true in the first half of med school). You're essentially working or apprenticing at the same time as you're studying except you're paying for it rather than getting paid for it.

4) A lot of the interactions with attendings, residents, nurses, other hospital staff and of course patients takes a certain maturity that isn't learned solely by studying books and videos. Many med students lack this maturity despite being intelligent and knowledgeable. This can reflect on you (such as in your evaluations by attendings, although evaluations can often be unfair too).

5) As for"retaining" all the information, it just comes with practice over time. You could also actively and intentionally do things like spaced repetition (e.g., Anki). But don't worry about this for now. You'll learn as you go. It might seem like you're flailing at first, but it's amazing when you start putting things together, start making correct diagnoses, etc. Don't worry, we were all there once, you'll make it too. 🙂

 

[ill be a doc soon]

@bashwell any tips on getting mentally prepared? Im applying this summer so I still have a year (maybe more if I dont get in).

 

[bashwell]

@bashwell any tips on getting mentally prepared? Im applying this summer so I still have a year (maybe more if I dont get in).

I don't know if there's a more specific question in mind, but here's what I'd say in general. Personally I prefer being prepared to being mentally prepared. What I mean is that in my opinion is if you're simply prepared, then it can help you mentally too. Adequate preparation helps put you in the right mindset. So I'd say things like make sure you are on a regular schedule (e.g., getting up at the same time every day even on weekends), make sure you have a good breakfast which will help drive the rest of your day, make sure you get rid of distractions in your life so you can have significant chunks of time devoted to accomplishing your goals, when you are studying study and when you are having fun have fun but don't mix the two, make sure you are working out regularly as physical activity can help keep you mentally sharp as well, make sure you are eating healthy, etc. I think if you discipline yourself by doing these sorts of things, then it will help you mentally too. Just my opinion. Hope it helps! 🙂

 

[weasel23]

it's really hard because a lot of the info is so annoying to keep in your head. often i'll understand concepts fine, but to really do well you need to memorize minutia, which can be incredibly hard to force yourself to do. and as stated above, you'll have a lot on your plate as far as other requirements that often just feel like a waste of time, unfortunately.

pretty much anyone could make it through med school, just takes effort. so it's hard in that sense, not the critical thinking part.

 

[Hakuna Matata]

It's the amount of info. You'll get an undergrad semester's worth of material in just a couple lectures. Continue that everyday for your first 2 years. It's just an overwhelming amount of info. Combined with the fact that putting in long hours on a regular basis gets exhausting. My short study days were ~8 hours of studying outside of lecture. My long days were up to 17 hours of studying in a day (week leading up to each exam). Plus the level of stress you have on you constantly (if I fail this test I may fail the entire class... then they could kick me out of med school after 1 failed class). It all just sucks. But it's obviously doable.
Oh, and there's nothing you can do to prepare. Try to relax and sleep as much as possible before starting. That's the best advice I was given.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[intubesteak]

I would add that you hardly ever get to rest/recover. First semester we did not have an off weekend until thanksgiving break. I think doing one week of intense med school studying is not that bad, its the constant onslaught that can wear you down mentally. Those with stamina tend to do well, and those with stamina who actually enjoy what we're learning do great.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Moving to Pre Allo

 

[guytakingboards]

Just a lowly premed here. I have heard people say that med school is difficult because theres a buttload of information to memorize. Is medical school hard because its a lot of information... or is it hard because theres alot of mind bending critical thinking involved? Or both? And how is it possible to retain all of it for the entire 4 years?

Med school is difficult for any number of reasons:
-High volume of material which, contrary to popular belief, may be useful down the line for the board exams or in general your career.
-Adult learning: learning to manage your time effectively given the high volume of material as well as really cementing your personal learning style.
-Learning to act like a professional.
-"competing" with your classmates for grade, most of whom were as good or better than you scholastically.
-Transitioning from student to student doctor to actual doctor. Learning material and taking tests is something we've been doing all our lives. Actually applying that knowledge in the clinical arena to real patients can be extremely difficult for people. Clinical skills classes are something we joked about as MS1's but being able to elicit the proper physical exam finding or suture a hole shut becomes your actual job.

Honestly, I think med school is overall difficult because we put people through it before they're fully emotionally formed adults. It's a crazy stressful time and people are still developing their coping mechanisms.

 

[Goro]

Just a lowly premed here. I have heard people say that med school is difficult because theres a buttload of information to memorize. Is medical school hard because its a lot of information... or is it hard because theres alot of mind bending critical thinking involved? Or both? And how is it possible to retain all of it for the entire 4 years?

How difficult? Like this:

More accurately [quoting one of my students]: "like drinking from a fire hose while running after the fire truck."

 

[P0ke]

Med school is difficult for any number of reasons:
-High volume of material which, contrary to popular belief, may be useful down the line for the board exams or in general your career.
-Adult learning: learning to manage your time effectively given the high volume of material as well as really cementing your personal learning style.
-Learning to act like a professional.
-"competing" with your classmates for grade, most of whom were as good or better than you scholastically.
-Transitioning from student to student doctor to actual doctor. Learning material and taking tests is something we've been doing all our lives. Actually applying that knowledge in the clinical arena to real patients can be extremely difficult for people. Clinical skills classes are something we joked about as MS1's but being able to elicit the proper physical exam finding or suture a hole shut becomes your actual job.

Honestly, I think med school is overall difficult because we put people through it before they're fully emotionally formed adults. It's a crazy stressful time and people are still developing their coping mechanisms.

S***, I still don't know how to suture and I'm starting 3rd year soon. I skipped all those optional workshops during the first 2 years.

 

[Pasmal]

Imagine if right now I told you to look up 200 things and have a decent enough grasp of them to explain them to me. Each issue alone is not overly complex, and though some are obviously less intuitive than others it would probably take you anywhere between 1-15 min each (examples: what is the normal blood pressure range in children, what is an S3 heart sound, what muscles are involved in swallowing, explain the pathway cranial nerve II, etc). But you need to do them all essentially back-to-back with some breaks in-between for food/hygiene/sanity. Now imagine doing that day in and day out, and you need to try and keep as much of it in your brain as possible. That's MS1-MS2.

S***, I still don't know how to suture and I'm starting 3rd year soon. I skipped all those optional workshops during the first 2 years.

If you develop some basic tying and tissue manipulation skills early on, you will have many more chances to practice as residents and attendings will know it won't take you 20 mins with direct observation to close a wound. When I was finishing EM/trauma the residents pretty much left every lac to me and the 4th year, often unsupervised. Once we had two traumas back to back and as they were leaving they said "finish that head lac in 10 minutes or less and then go do the arm lac in bay 2. They just checked in at the end to make sure everything looked good.

Get some yarn or suture (if you have access) and start practicing one hand ties, two hand ties and instrument ties as much as possible. If you can practice the basic sutures with practice kits (big ones for MS3 are simple interrupted, simple continuous, deep dermal, running subcuticular, vertical mattress) that would be very helpful. You can pick up practice kits on Amazon for like $20-$30.

 

[mistafab]

Basically, there is just such a massive amount of information in medical school - it kind of blows my mind. How on earth have I survived so far? It is just amazing how much crazy stuff I've packed into my head, and how applicable it is.

I can easily say that going to medical school with my first year almost finished that my life and thinking is different. Maybe others will downplay this, but being able to drink from the metaphorical fire hose just changes your life. I just think differently now. I'm not sure how to describe it, but everything is just more... I dunno.

Is it difficult? I don't know. It has been a blast though. I think the same phenom occurs between you in highschool vs you in college.

 

[caramelbear]

S***, I still don't know how to suture and I'm starting 3rd year soon. I skipped all those optional workshops during the first 2 years.

My school didn't even have optional workshops. 🙁

 

[P0ke]

My school didn't even have optional workshops. 🙁

Well they were more workshops arranged by interest groups, not really by the school. A lot of my classmates went to them, but I was just like "nah, think I'll chill instead".

 

[ill be a doc soon]

Lol these responses are scary... I guess the outcome is worth it though.

 

[caramelbear]

Well they were more workshops arranged by interest groups, not really by the school. A lot of my classmates went to them, but I was just like "nah, think I'll chill instead".

Oh, then I highly doubt they really know how to suture. I don't think any of my friends really know either. We'll learn and practice once we get through that small, relatively insignificant exam in 2.5 weeks that nobody actually studies for.

 

[guytakingboards]

Oh, then I highly doubt they really know how to suture. I don't think any of my friends really know either. We'll learn and practice once we get through that small, relatively insignificant exam in 2.5 weeks that nobody actually studies for.

Learn it early on if possible. I didn't learn how to suture well until i was a surgery intern and my PD was NOT happy with me. People are 100% correct when they say the opportunities to suture in med school if you any minimal competence.