I love medical school

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Can someone point me out to these jobs where you can have tons of sex never worry and make tons of money?

They're reserved for people who know that "med school" is two words, not one.

Medical school is not easy. If it was, everyone would do it. The fact of the matter is, there are countless other careers where you can make decent money without going through 12 years of training and dig yourself 300K in debt. I'd submit that those who don't believe this are either extremely young, extremely naive, or both.

I'd suggest to the med students not to bother trying to shed light on what it's like. If one person posts it's great, that person's post is taken as gospel, whereas the 50 posts that counter it are dismissed. The reason for that is that these pre-meds aren't ready to listen to the reality that not everyone enjoys med school and that, in fact, the majority of people don't like med school. Yes, in every class you'll find a handful (probably 10% of the class) who couldn't be happier. You'll find another 10-20% who roll with the punches. And the rest of the people will hate it. It's not about the material being interesting. It's not about wanting to be a doctor. I don't know a single person who had fun studying for the MCAT. Well guess what? Med school is MCAT studying 24/7 for two years. And not the kind of MCAT studying you did freshman year when it was "cool" to tell people you were studying for the MCAT, but the kind of MCAT studying you did that last month before your test date. If you don't mind studying like that every night for two years, then you'll have a good time. If that was miserable for you, as it is for most people, you're in for a rude awakening.

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They're reserved for people who know that "med school" is two words, not one.

Medical school is not easy. If it was, everyone would do it. The fact of the matter is, there are countless other careers where you can make decent money without going through 12 years of training and dig yourself 300K in debt. I'd submit that those who don't believe this are either extremely young, extremely naive, or both.

I'd suggest to the med students not to bother trying to shed light on what it's like. If one person posts it's great, that person's post is taken as gospel, whereas the 50 posts that counter it are dismissed. The reason for that is that these pre-meds aren't ready to listen to the reality that not everyone enjoys med school and that, in fact, the majority of people don't like med school. Yes, in every class you'll find a handful (probably 10% of the class) who couldn't be happier. You'll find another 10-20% who roll with the punches. And the rest of the people will hate it. It's not about the material being interesting. It's not about wanting to be a doctor. I don't know a single person who had fun studying for the MCAT. Well guess what? Med school is MCAT studying 24/7 for two years. And not the kind of MCAT studying you did freshman year when it was "cool" to tell people you were studying for the MCAT, but the kind of MCAT studying you did that last month before your test date. If you don't mind studying like that every night for two years, then you'll have a good time. If that was miserable for you, as it is for most people, you're in for a rude awakening.

First off Med is a prefix you can put a space or place it together. Also You can be in college (NYU and be 300k in debt.) Also you haven't named any career it just shows that you are a naive student who doesn't know how the world works. Also studying for the MCAT wasn't bad just the stress of the test. The material for the MCAT was pretty intersting. And even then I had to work a lot and I still did decent on it.

If you worked so hard going into something you detest you will be unhappy in anything since it shows you have horrible foresight.
 
They're reserved for people who know that "med school" is two words, not one.

Medical school is not easy. If it was, everyone would do it. The fact of the matter is, there are countless other careers where you can make decent money without going through 12 years of training and dig yourself 300K in debt. I'd submit that those who don't believe this are either extremely young, extremely naive, or both.

I'd suggest to the med students not to bother trying to shed light on what it's like. If one person posts it's great, that person's post is taken as gospel, whereas the 50 posts that counter it are dismissed. The reason for that is that these pre-meds aren't ready to listen to the reality that not everyone enjoys med school and that, in fact, the majority of people don't like med school. Yes, in every class you'll find a handful (probably 10% of the class) who couldn't be happier. You'll find another 10-20% who roll with the punches. And the rest of the people will hate it. It's not about the material being interesting. It's not about wanting to be a doctor. I don't know a single person who had fun studying for the MCAT. Well guess what? Med school is MCAT studying 24/7 for two years. And not the kind of MCAT studying you did freshman year when it was "cool" to tell people you were studying for the MCAT, but the kind of MCAT studying you did that last month before your test date. If you don't mind studying like that every night for two years, then you'll have a good time. If that was miserable for you, as it is for most people, you're in for a rude awakening.

This couldn't be further from the truth, from my experience. Sure, there's lots of studying, but nothing like studying for the MCAT, except for maybe USMLE time. And there's definitely more happy people than 10%. Med students may encounter bad days, or even weeks, but the overall effect is a positive one.
 
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Having worked at a treatment center, where there was a high proportion of substance abusing/depressed docs and other "wealthy" people, I'd say a lot of it centers around:

1) the *real* reasons some people choose to go into medicine

(clue: if you really think referring to your patients and your role as a care provider as "fat middle aged vaginas" is EVER appropriate and/or if your biggest concern is how much "partying" you'll get to do without ever thinking about why that's such a big deal thing to you and/or if you don't like studying science/medicine... then becoming a doc might not be the most realistic/honest choice, some go into medicine almost entirely to "prove something" to their family or themselves)

2) the *unreal* expectations these same people have about life as a doc

(example: rolling in cash with hotties lining up (btw, women like that are generally known as hookers to the people who have actual relationships that they don't need to purchase) and believing that everyone will see them as SO SMART or SUCH A GREAT PERSON or SO PRESTIGIOUS- in reality, even when you're a doc- surgeon or not- most people will just see you as a person and, if you act like an a**, they'll view you as such regardless of your degree or position- maybe even more so because it seems completely backwards for a doctor to be greedy/immature/shallow when it's a helping/service profession where most expect you to actually care about your patients)

3) Therefore, these unhappy med students aren't: rolling in cash, don't have hotties lining up, have to study a lot, aren't getting the respect they believe they deserve from everyone, and in general- it's just not working out how they thought it would in the fantasy land of pre-med. Some will get honest with themselves and change professions, others will not and they'll most likely become unhappy docs when they realize their $$$ doesn't buy all the things they thought it would. Maybe they end up in treatment and get a reality check then or maybe they just live out their lives trying to feel good about themselves by trying to believe they're better than everyone else for all they "sacrificed" and how smart and impressive they are- even if it's mostly fantasy world stuff bearing no resemblance to what a normal, healthy person would want from life, anyway.

Also, those who view the entire process as something miserable that they have to "get through" and then their "real life" will begin, are probably going to be bitter people when they someday realize that every minute of every day of **8 years** WAS "real life"... that they didn't enjoy because they just wanted to get it over with and move on to something better. Those who take each day as it comes and had the foresight to think about WHY they're really going into medicine, genuinely have a passion for the field- both its material and practice, and try to relate to their patients (every one of them) and focus on the positives of the entire journey along the way (because this IS their 20's and their life happening) will probably be happier at every point, *especially* later as docs b/c they won't view themselves as martyrs who are "owed" something for what they "endured".

Lastly, it's possible that some people either didn't choose or didn't get into a med school that was a good fit. I think that can likely make or break your experience of the entire process. If you go somewhere with intense competition and you hate that- but you decided to go there, anyway (for the "name"), then you're going to be miserable. If you tend to get totally stressed out wanting to make the highest grade possible and you go to a school with grades (including those "HP/P/etc" systems that are really grades by another name) instead of one with P/F only, then you're probably going to be miserable... etc.

If the issue was solely having to study so hard or lack of sleep, they would have faced those same issues at some point before medical school and it certainly wouldn't lead to the level of intensity/drama that you see represented by the posts you were referring to.

For a thread that was started for the sole purpose of being inspiring, this has to be the most depressing thread I've ever read through on this site...

I'm wondering if there are a disproportionate number of dissatisfied med students on SDN because the ones who love med school pretty much don't need or want to read a site like this. Otherwise it sounds like 75-80% of med students are miserable (which might be true... I will soon find out I guess)
 
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First off Med is a prefix you can put a space or place it together. Also You can be in college (NYU and be 300k in debt.) Also you haven't named any career it just shows that you are a naive student who doesn't know how the world works. Also studying for the MCAT wasn't bad just the stress of the test. The material for the MCAT was pretty intersting. And even then I had to work a lot and I still did decent on it.

If you worked so hard going into something you detest you will be unhappy in anything since it shows you have horrible foresight.
This post hurts my brain very badly.
This couldn't be further from the truth, from my experience.
I'd say it's actually somewhere between your two assessments, as far as I can tell. I don't think 70%+ of med students actually hate med school, but I'd wager that somewhere around that number are either overall neutral or slightly negative towards it.
 
First off Med is a prefix you can put a space or place it together.

No it isn't. I don't know who told you that, but that's BS.

Also You can be in college (NYU and be 300k in debt.)

If you're 300K in debt from a Bachelor's degree anywhere, you did something wrong in choosing which college to attend.

Also you haven't named any career it just shows that you are a naive student who doesn't know how the world works.

I'm not the poster you're replying to, but there have been several careers named in this very thread. Perhaps more reading comprehension is in order?
 
Having worked at a treatment center, where there was a high proportion of substance abusing/depressed docs and other "wealthy" people, I'd say a lot of it centers around:

1) the *real* reasons some people choose to go into medicine

(clue: if you really think referring to your patients and your role as a care provider as "fat middle aged vaginas" is EVER appropriate and/or if your biggest concern is how much "partying" you'll get to do and/or if you don't like studying science/medicine... then becoming a doc might not be the most realistic/honest choice, some go into medicine almost entirely to "prove something" to their family or themselves)

2) the *unreal* expectations these same people have about life as a doc

(example: rolling in cash with hotties lining up (btw, women like that are generally known as hookers to the people who have actual relationships that they don't need to purchase) and believing that everyone will see them as SO SMART or SUCH A GREAT PERSON or SO PRESTIGIOUS- in reality, even when you're a doc- surgeon or not- most people will just see you as a person and, if you act like an a**, they'll view you as such regardless of your degree or position- maybe even more so because it seems completely backwards for a doctor to be greedy/immature/shallow when it's a helping/service profession where most expect you to actually care about your patients)

3) Therefore, these unhappy med students aren't: rolling in cash, don't have hotties lining up, have to study a lot, aren't getting the respect they believe they deserve from everyone, and in general- it's just not working out how they thought it would in the fantasy land of pre-med. Some will get honest with themselves and change professions, others will not and they'll most likely become unhappy docs when they realize their $$$ doesn't buy all the things they thought it would. Maybe they end up in treatment and get a reality check then or maybe they just live out their lives trying to feel good about themselves by trying to believe they're better than everyone else for all they "sacrificed" and how smart and impressive they are- even if it's mostly fantasy world stuff bearing no resemblance to what a normal, healthy person would want from life, anyway.

If the issue was solely having to study so hard or lack of sleep, they would have faced those same issues at some point before medical school and it certainly wouldn't lead to the level of intensity/drama that you see represented by the posts you were referring to.

As a fellow pre-med, I think your post is full of crap. You're making a blanket statement and stereotyping unhappy med students based on your amateur opinion having "worked" at a treatment center? LOLOLOLOL, put your psych degree back in the Cracker Jack box, Dr. Freud.
 
No it isn't. I don't know who told you that, but that's BS.



If you're 300K in debt from a Bachelor's degree anywhere, you did something wrong in choosing which college to attend.



I'm not the poster you're replying to, but there have been several careers named in this very thread. Perhaps more reading comprehension is in order?

Whatever it is, it is a pointless distractor.

If you are in 300k in Medschool and didn't go to Tufts you did something wrong.

:laugh::laugh::laugh: Those were horrible examples, if those are your examples then you have an unrealistic world view.

Maybe it would better serve you to let people who can make decent points post instead trying to defend those points.
 
Whatever it is, it is a pointless distractor.

If you are in 300k in Medschool and didn't go to Tufts you did something wrong.

:laugh::laugh::laugh: Those were horrible examples if those are your examples then I you have an unrealistic world view.

Wow, excellent comeback. Now run along and play with the kids in second grade.
 
Actually, I'm not an amateur. Far from it- I'm finishing my doctorate this year (3rd graduate degree after dual undergrad degrees) and the center where I was a therapist is one of the most well-known, well-respected in the world. That's why patients paid ~$50,000/month (out-of-pocket) for treatment and why I chose to work there. But, if throwing a random insult at a total stranger online makes you feel better somehow, continue on!

As a fellow pre-med, I think your post is full of crap. You're making a blanket statement and stereotyping unhappy med students based on your amateur opinion having "worked" at a treatment center? LOLOLOLOL, put your psych degree back in the Cracker Jack box, Dr. Freud.
 
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Having worked at a treatment center, where there was a high proportion of substance abusing/depressed docs and other "wealthy" people, I'd say a lot of it centers around:

1) the *real* reasons some people choose to go into medicine

(clue: if you really think referring to your patients and your role as a care provider as "fat middle aged vaginas" is EVER appropriate and/or if your biggest concern is how much "partying" you'll get to do without ever thinking about why that's such a big deal thing to you and/or if you don't like studying science/medicine... then becoming a doc might not be the most realistic/honest choice, some go into medicine almost entirely to "prove something" to their family or themselves)

2) the *unreal* expectations these same people have about life as a doc

(example: rolling in cash with hotties lining up (btw, women like that are generally known as hookers to the people who have actual relationships that they don't need to purchase) and believing that everyone will see them as SO SMART or SUCH A GREAT PERSON or SO PRESTIGIOUS- in reality, even when you're a doc- surgeon or not- most people will just see you as a person and, if you act like an a**, they'll view you as such regardless of your degree or position- maybe even more so because it seems completely backwards for a doctor to be greedy/immature/shallow when it's a helping/service profession where most expect you to actually care about your patients)

3) Therefore, these unhappy med students aren't: rolling in cash, don't have hotties lining up, have to study a lot, aren't getting the respect they believe they deserve from everyone, and in general- it's just not working out how they thought it would in the fantasy land of pre-med. Some will get honest with themselves and change professions, others will not and they'll most likely become unhappy docs when they realize their $$$ doesn't buy all the things they thought it would. Maybe they end up in treatment and get a reality check then or maybe they just live out their lives trying to feel good about themselves by trying to believe they're better than everyone else for all they "sacrificed" and how smart and impressive they are- even if it's mostly fantasy world stuff bearing no resemblance to what a normal, healthy person would want from life, anyway.

Also, those who view the entire process as something miserable that they have to "get through" and then their "real life" will begin, are probably going to be bitter people when they someday realize that every minute of every day of **8 years** WAS "real life"... that they didn't enjoy because they just wanted to get it over with and move on to something better. Those who take each day as it comes and had the foresight to think about WHY they're really going into medicine, genuinely have a passion for the field- both its material and practice, and try to relate to their patients (every one of them) and focus on the positives of the entire journey along the way (because this IS their 20's and their life happening) will probably be happier at every point, *especially* later as docs b/c they won't view themselves as martyrs who are "owed" something for what they "endured".

Lastly, it's possible that some people either didn't choose or didn't get into a med school that was a good fit. I think that can likely make or break your experience of the entire process. If you go somewhere with intense competition and you hate that- but you decided to go there, anyway (for the "name"), then you're going to be miserable. If you tend to get totally stressed out wanting to make the highest grade possible and you go to a school with grades (including those "HP/P/etc" systems that are really grades by another name) instead of one with P/F only, then you're probably going to be miserable... etc.

If the issue was solely having to study so hard or lack of sleep, they would have faced those same issues at some point before medical school and it certainly wouldn't lead to the level of intensity/drama that you see represented by the posts you were referring to.

Actually a lot of the unhappiness in med school is exactly what you said in the last paragraph: lack of sleep, always studying, lack of control of your time. A lot of it is seeing your friends from college working, getting a salary, going home from work and not having to worry about studying while you're doing your third overnight in 2 weeks and paying to do it. Of course it's all real life, but you're still a student, and being a student is still very different than being in the real world working. Very few of my classmates expected to garner respect of everyone else, being such prestigious people, making lots of money, getting girls/guys. Most of us just wanted to do what we want to do and have a nice stable job in the future. However, there are many hoops to jump through to get to that point, and I think you're minimizing these obstacles.
 
Actually, I'm not an amateur. Far from it- I'm finishing my doctorate this year (3rd graduate degree after dual undergrad degrees) and the center where I was a therapist is one of the most well-known, well-respected in the world. That's why patients paid ~$50,000/month (out-of-pocket) for treatment and why I chose to work there. But, if throwing a random insult at a total stranger online makes you feel better somehow, continue on!

And they never taught you not to dismiss what people say and stereotype them the way you see fit, even when you know nothing of what they're saying? Wow, what a program. Sign me up!
 
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I agree with you about med students in general. But, the post I was replying to was asking specifically about the negative posts *on SDN*. I based my response only on what I've seen in the pre-med discussions as I've been reading them for about a year now. There's a lot of dysfunctional communication and the thoughts/beliefs that I've read on here from negative folks in pre-allo seem to carry forward to the negative folks in med and then, like I mentioned, they're a lot the same as what I saw in people who eventually hit bottom in life, regardless of their $$$ or the name of the school/residency they attended.

[Like someone else mentioned, the positive:negative ration on SDN seems to be about 1:40. No matter what you post, someone will hurl an insult. If you're happy, someone will try to deflate you. This thread is a fine example of that- look at the first response to my post and I'm sure that person honestly expects that I'll respond further so that we can derail the thread by insulting each other back and forth, as already happened earlier in the thread with some others! That mentality comes from *somewhere* and I can honestly say that I haven't seen it in the professionals that I interact with. It's the kind of mentality I think schools are actually trying to weed out through the crazy admission/residency process but it's, unfortunately, still easy to get good at playing "the game" and end up in medical school and onward, anyway.]

With regard to unhappy med students in general, I'd agree- the conditions of medical school in general seem very stressful and draining- and that takes a toll on anyone. The difference is the specific statements I've read in this thread and many, many others that are more what I was responding to with my post. I have friends who are med students, residents, and docs- and my grandfather was a doc. While, they would certainly talk about frustration/exhaustion, none of these people express some of the sentiments that are expressed everyday on SDN by unhappy people (constantly looking for where they can get in an insult or jab, focused on what they have/don't have, centered on partying and believing they have "no life" without that,there was just generally a lot more respect for other people and WAY less intensity) and virtually ALL of the patients in rehab *did* (and were generally disrespectful towards others and very intense).

Actually a lot of the unhappiness in med school is exactly what you said in the last paragraph: lack of sleep, always studying, lack of control of your time. A lot of it is seeing your friends from college working, getting a salary, going home from work and not having to worry about studying while you're doing your third overnight in 2 weeks and paying to do it. Of course it's all real life, but you're still a student, and being a student is still very different than being in the real world working. Very few of my classmates expected to garner respect of everyone else, being such prestigious people, making lots of money, getting girls/guys. Most of us just wanted to do what we want to do and have a nice stable job in the future. However, there are many hoops to jump through to get to that point, and I think you're minimizing these obstacles.
 
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As a fellow pre-med, I think your post is full of crap. You're making a blanket statement and stereotyping unhappy med students based on your amateur opinion having "worked" at a treatment center? LOLOLOLOL, put your psych degree back in the Cracker Jack box, Dr. Freud.

Frued was a neurologist, just saying.

Let's all take a chill pill here folks. I'd rather let this thread move on or be locked than let it just be insult throwing.
 
So what exactly is med school like?

How does one encapsulate the essence of medical school when describing it as a fine italian dinner?
 
I agree with you about med students in general. But, the post I was replying to was asking specifically about the negative posts *on SDN*. I based my response only on what I've seen in the pre-med discussions as I've been reading them for about a year now. There's a lot of dysfunctional communication and the thoughts/beliefs that I've read on here from negative folks in pre-allo seem to carry forward to the negative folks in med and then, like I mentioned, they're a lot the same as what I saw in people who eventually hit bottom in life, regardless of their $$$ or the name of the school/residency they attended.

[Like someone else mentioned, the positive:negative ration on SDN seems to be about 1:40. No matter what you post, someone will hurl an insult. If you're happy, someone will try to deflate you. This thread is a fine example of that- look at the first response to my post and I'm sure that person honestly expects that I'll respond further so that we can derail the thread by insulting each other back and forth, as already happened earlier in the thread with some others! That mentality comes from *somewhere* and I can honestly say that I haven't seen it in the professionals that I interact with. It's the kind of mentality I think schools are actually trying to weed out through the crazy admission/residency process but it's, unfortunately, still easy to get good at playing "the game" and end up in medical school and onward, anyway.]

With regard to unhappy med students in general, I'd agree- the conditions of medical school in general seem very stressful and draining- and that takes a toll on anyone. The difference is the specific statements I've read in this thread and many, many others that are more what I was responding to with my post. I have friends who are med students, residents, and docs- and my grandfather was a doc. While, they would certainly talk about frustration/exhaustion, none of these people express some of the sentiments that are expressed everyday on SDN by unhappy people (constantly looking for where they can get in an insult or jab, focused on what they have/don't have, centered on partying and believing they have "no life" without that,there was just generally a lot more respect for other people and WAY less intensity) and virtually ALL of the patients in rehab *did* (and were generally disrespectful towards others and very intense).

I'm sorry, but I really take offense at being lumped into the "miserable SDNers who just want to party" group by virtue of my having posted here.

I think there were plenty of people on here who eloquently expressed their feelings about their experience in med school (emphasis on "experience") without mentioning partying with hot chicks and throwing money around. You would have to be a complete idiot to expect med school to be anything like that. I don't think I'm wrong in saying that most if not all of us were expecting to have some tough days and to work really hard. You work in a treatment center, so I'm sure you know that just because you expect something will be hard, it doesn't mean that you won't struggle.

I don't miss having the Playboy mansion lifestyle- I never had it, and don't care that I never will. I didn't go into medicine to please my family. I genuinely love dealing with patients. I love my med school, and I love my classmates.

But what you may not realize is that a lot of medical school isn't medicine. In fact, you might spend a good deal of first year learning stuff that you won't be able to associate with the practice of medicine AT ALL, and you'll wonder why the hell you're learning it. I had many days of studying 12 hours straight feeling like I was just fulfilling some kind of historical requirement, like "we've all had to go through this and so should you". I had weeks and weeks of not seeing a patient and not learning a damn thing about what I love. No matter how much you love medicine, and people, you will have bad days when what you're studying isn't interesting, isn't relevant, and is just exhausting.

Hell, I'd argue that the people who love medicine the most- especially the human component- are the ones who get most demoralized by how little of that we get in preclinicals. Social interactions are hard because your classmates are just as stressed and busy as you are at the same time as you.

It's just...hard. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with expectations or immaturity.
 
I'm sorry, but I really take offense at being lumped into the "miserable SDNers who just want to party" group by virtue of my having posted here.

I think there were plenty of people on here who eloquently expressed their feelings about their experience in med school (emphasis on "experience") without mentioning partying with hot chicks and throwing money around. You would have to be a complete idiot to expect med school to be anything like that. I don't think I'm wrong in saying that most if not all of us were expecting to have some tough days and to work really hard. You work in a treatment center, so I'm sure you know that just because you expect something will be hard, it doesn't mean that you won't struggle.

I don't miss having the Playboy mansion lifestyle- I never had it, and don't care that I never will. I didn't go into medicine to please my family. I genuinely love dealing with patients. I love my med school, and I love my classmates.

But what you may not realize is that a lot of medical school isn't medicine. In fact, you might spend a good deal of first year learning stuff that you won't be able to associate with the practice of medicine AT ALL, and you'll wonder why the hell you're learning it. I had many days of studying 12 hours straight feeling like I was just fulfilling some kind of historical requirement, like "we've all had to go through this and so should you". I had weeks and weeks of not seeing a patient and not learning a damn thing about what I love. No matter how much you love medicine, and people, you will have bad days when what you're studying isn't interesting, isn't relevant, and is just exhausting.

Hell, I'd argue that the people who love medicine the most- especially the human component- are the ones who get most demoralized by how little of that we get in preclinicals. Social interactions are hard because your classmates are just as stressed and busy as you are at the same time as you.

It's just...hard. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with expectations or immaturity.

Good post. I wouldn't waste your breath or your energy on that poster though. He's obviously just flexing his muscles and trying to show off by psychoanalyzing people he's never met in a situation he's never been in. For anyone -- especially a doctorate level student -- to think that's appropriate or even close to being accurate is quite scary and screams major God complex.
 
I know eight people that are now in their third year of residency. I know two of them all the way back to 1st grade and the other people I met freshman year of college. All eight of them having one thing in common at this point in their training. Guess what that commonality is? All eight of them have changed in personalities. One guy grew up a religious freak. Now he never talks about religion, nor goes to church anymore, is really pessimistic now.

All eight of them were nice, low key, happy people. Now they are all stressed, all of them gained weight, about the only time they update Facebook is night shifts, and they are unhappy.

Now, I know three people that I got to know during their residency training. They were just as miserable as the eight other people I know during that time of their training. One of the three is a neurologist and hates her life. Another did a fellowship in endocrinology and he is happy. He said the only reason he is happy is because he now has a child. The other one is a cardiovascular surgeon. She grew up dirt poor and went to medical school so she could have a better life. She is a very happy person, albiet feeling tired and overworked almost all of the time.
 
I'm sorry, but I really take offense at being lumped into the "miserable SDNers who just want to party" group by virtue of my having posted here.

I think there were plenty of people on here who eloquently expressed their feelings about their experience in med school (emphasis on "experience") without mentioning partying with hot chicks and throwing money around. You would have to be a complete idiot to expect med school to be anything like that. I don't think I'm wrong in saying that most if not all of us were expecting to have some tough days and to work really hard. You work in a treatment center, so I'm sure you know that just because you expect something will be hard, it doesn't mean that you won't struggle.

I don't miss having the Playboy mansion lifestyle- I never had it, and don't care that I never will. I didn't go into medicine to please my family. I genuinely love dealing with patients. I love my med school, and I love my classmates.

But what you may not realize is that a lot of medical school isn't medicine. In fact, you might spend a good deal of first year learning stuff that you won't be able to associate with the practice of medicine AT ALL, and you'll wonder why the hell you're learning it. I had many days of studying 12 hours straight feeling like I was just fulfilling some kind of historical requirement, like "we've all had to go through this and so should you". I had weeks and weeks of not seeing a patient and not learning a damn thing about what I love. No matter how much you love medicine, and people, you will have bad days when what you're studying isn't interesting, isn't relevant, and is just exhausting.

Hell, I'd argue that the people who love medicine the most- especially the human component- are the ones who get most demoralized by how little of that we get in preclinicals. Social interactions are hard because your classmates are just as stressed and busy as you are at the same time as you.


It's just...hard. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with expectations or immaturity.

This is definitely true for me. I love medical school. I hate the work. It's not horrible. I don't hate my life and wanna throw myself in traffic (at least not all the time :rolleyes:), but the amount of work it takes to do moderately well can be soul sucking. I put in the same amount of work/hours for a quiz that I did for a final in college. Repeat every two weeks and you start to burnout very quickly. I'm not designed to study for 10 hours straight all the time. Your social life takes a hit. Your only meaningful social interactions become with medical students and you can't help but devolve into talking about that horrible lecture or how much you have to study or how bad you did on that test... it's tough. I'm happy I'm here and when I describe it to my friends at home I say it's the worst of times and the best of times.

My personal life has also taken a big hit this first year so that's definitely effected my morale and made it more difficult to be all smiles and sunshine while I'm here. I'm in the middle of a complicated breakup of a 5+ year relationship that was very strong before I got here, but isn't holding up against the strain of two people in demanding careers. Med school isn't too tough. It's having a life + med school that is draining...
 
I'm sorry, but I really take offense at being lumped into the "miserable SDNers who just want to party" group by virtue of my having posted here.

I think there were plenty of people on here who eloquently expressed their feelings about their experience in med school (emphasis on "experience") without mentioning partying with hot chicks and throwing money around. You would have to be a complete idiot to expect med school to be anything like that. I don't think I'm wrong in saying that most if not all of us were expecting to have some tough days and to work really hard. You work in a treatment center, so I'm sure you know that just because you expect something will be hard, it doesn't mean that you won't struggle.

I don't miss having the Playboy mansion lifestyle- I never had it, and don't care that I never will. I didn't go into medicine to please my family. I genuinely love dealing with patients. I love my med school, and I love my classmates.

But what you may not realize is that a lot of medical school isn't medicine. In fact, you might spend a good deal of first year learning stuff that you won't be able to associate with the practice of medicine AT ALL, and you'll wonder why the hell you're learning it. I had many days of studying 12 hours straight feeling like I was just fulfilling some kind of historical requirement, like "we've all had to go through this and so should you". I had weeks and weeks of not seeing a patient and not learning a damn thing about what I love. No matter how much you love medicine, and people, you will have bad days when what you're studying isn't interesting, isn't relevant, and is just exhausting.

Hell, I'd argue that the people who love medicine the most- especially the human component- are the ones who get most demoralized by how little of that we get in preclinicals. Social interactions are hard because your classmates are just as stressed and busy as you are at the same time as you.

It's just...hard. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with expectations or immaturity.

I agree. There's no way you can really wrap your head around it ahead of time. When I was bummed out in the first two years my husband said "well you knew it was going to be hard" but I couldn't predict exactly what it would feel like. For me I felt very socially isolated my first two years. I found that I didn't do well studying in groups so I had to sit alone in a library most of the time. After a few months spending the majority of your time sitting alone memorizing massive amounts of information got under my skin. I wasn't depressed and I didn't hate it but I certainly wasn't loving it. I was realistic and knew I just had to get through to third year so I dug in and did it. But the fact that I didn't love it wasn't due to some deep pathology. It was monotonous and lonely. Third year is hard in a different way but at least there is a camaraderie to the experience and I'm actually doing what I came here to do.
 
The pattern you'll notice on SDN is as follows:

Most med students telling you how medical school sucks the humanity from you, with a smattering of med students, like the OP, giving their hoorah fist pump about how amazing it is. The pre-meds then jump in and defend the OP, using a lot of :love: and :soexcited:, because in essence they are just defending their own decision to pursue medicine. The reality is these pre-meds are entirely ignorant to what it feels like to be in medical school, and their decision to join the team of the isolated OPs while ignoring the chorus of other medical students that are generally in hell is nothing more than selective listening and self-justification.

The reality is that medical school IS enjoyable for a select group of people. And these people, almost by definition, have personality disorders. You'll see them when you get to medical school. Excited about things they really should not be excited about . . . preferring to shovel random lists of facts into their heads rather than just enjoying the mental space of relaxation . . . having no sense of intellectual creativity or capacity to discuss something other than biochemical pathways.

If you then ask me, why am I putting myself through this, well, it's because I have an end-goal. Medicine happens to allows me to meet this goal. But make no mistake, if you have even an inkling of normal in you, you'll be a year into med school, read the OP, and start changing your emoticons to :boom: and :barf:.

While it is true that we pre-meds cheer when we read a positive post about medical school, it's not simply that we want to pretend like it's going to be the four best years of our life. We're not discounting all of the negative posts from medical students as coming from some unhappy fringe; it's just encouraging to hear someone say that it's not complete misery all the time. Negativity flows so freely on SDN that even if it is a completely accurate representation of how the average medical student feels, it's nice to know that there are doctors and doctors-in-training out there who remain stoked about medicine, despite its challenges. We're not being naive when we cheer, just excited to hear that while medical school is difficult, it doesn't have to be soul-crushing.
 
While it is true that we pre-meds cheer when we read a positive post about medical school, it's not simply that we want to pretend like it's going to be the four best years of our life. We're not discounting all of the negative posts from medical students as coming from some unhappy fringe; it's just encouraging to hear someone say that it's not complete misery all the time. Negativity flows so freely on SDN that even if it is a completely accurate representation of how the average medical student feels, it's nice to know that there are doctors and doctors-in-training out there who remain stoked about medicine, despite its challenges. We're not being naive when we cheer, just excited to hear that while medical school is difficult, it doesn't have to be soul-crushing.

I've read this whole thread and while some of the pre-meds might be feeling as you suggest, the majority have been dismissive and downright combative of the medical students who aren't painting a picture of rainbows and butterflies. Hearing these pre-meds babble on with certainty on how the med students who are miserable have no reason to be is like a listening to a high school sophomore drone on about the MCAT and the application process to a college junior.

In my experience, first year sucks. It's endless studying of minutia that you can barely connect to clinical medicine. For me, it's like studying for the MCAT on a daily basis week after week. Yes, some weeks are lighter than others, but since my school has an exam every other week, you can never truly take a break until after the end of a block. Am I depressed? No. Do I hate it? Hate may be too strong a word, but I certainly don't like it. Will I drop out? No, because it'll get to my end goal which is being a doctor, something that I want. I'm a non-traditional who worked in a field outside of medicine for several years before returning to school and I can honestly say that med school is the hardest thing I've ever done in terms of workload. The material is easy. The amount of it might bring you to tears once or twice during your first year. Just be prepared for the worst and hope that you'll be pleasantly surprised.
 
I'm kinda curious what the WORST thing about medical school is. Especially for the people who have hated it.

1) Not bringing in a paycheck
2) Massive debt
3) Long hours
4) The material
5) Your peers
6) Abuse as an MS-3 (which I hear is pretty bad)

It's hard for me to gauge if I would absolutely despise medical school or not. I've been poor my entire life and I've always been happy, so I don't see money being an issue. I've never been a partier and I enjoy spending time reading in the library. On the other hand, I don't know how I'd deal with being yelled at in the middle of a crowded hospital.
Working extremely hard and having the privilege of paying through the nose for it. If I had been pulling six figures through med school, it would have felt a lot different.
 
This couldn't be further from the truth, from my experience. Sure, there's lots of studying, but nothing like studying for the MCAT, except for maybe USMLE time. And there's definitely more happy people than 10%. Med students may encounter bad days, or even weeks, but the overall effect is a positive one.
Probably depends on how you studied for the MCAT. If I had studied for the MCAT the way I studied for the USMLE, I would have probably gotten another 5 points. In general, I studied much harder for my regular med school classes than I did for the MCAT.
 
What most 20-somethings are up to? It may be tough, but you are doing something incredible with your life. Most 20-somethings are working boring jobs sitting at a desk where the highlight of the day is a break at the water cooler. Think about it. You are doing something far more interesting than most 20-somethings can ever imagine.

Hey! I know you said most 20-somethings, but I happen to like my job! :p
As a late-20-something, I have to say "freedom" is overrated. Been there, done that. I'm starting med school this fall with lots of life experience and a fiance under my belt. So excited to finally be on the road to achieving my real dream! Of course there are days when I would rather be somewhere else, but I think it will all be worth it!
 
Hey! I know you said most 20-somethings, but I happen to like my job! :p
As a late-20-something, I have to say "freedom" is overrated. Been there, done that. I'm starting med school this fall with lots of life experience and a fiance under my belt. So excited to finally be on the road to achieving my real dream! Of course there are days when I would rather be somewhere else, but I think it will all be worth it!
You don't get to say "freedom is overrated" until you have children. ;)
 
Debt tops it all. Otherwise time goes by quickly because it's fun
 
Finished pre-clinicals and I'm half way through internal medicine rotation.

Still loving it :D.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

not going to lie... this thread is pretty refreshing after the abundance of negative crap that's been posted around here the past few weeks
 
:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

not going to lie... this thread is pretty refreshing after the abundance of negative crap that's been posted around here the past few weeks
I agree completely. People get flamed when they say they're tired of undergrad and want to be in med school already, cause everyone's like "why so you can be moar busy?" and "you'll have even less time" and just "it sucks though lawl." Maybe it's because we'll enjoy learning about something we're interested enough in to pursue a career!
 
Finished pre-clinicals and I'm half way through internal medicine rotation.

Still loving it :D.

+1. Though this is just from am MS-1, but I'm enjoying myself a lot so far, and I think its only going to get better as the things we learn get more and more clinical and relevant (and an increasing work load).

Whether you enjoy med school depends a hell of a lot more on who you are then the actual specifics. Yes there are things that suck, yes its a lot of work, yes my friends with real jobs work less with more freedom than I have while making bank. I'd rather work my ass off learning really cool things then spend 40 hours a week waiting for the clock to strike 5.

And no, I don't have a "personality disorder," I'm not a fan of shoveling in material right before tests, and I'm sure step1 cramming will suck. But even in those times, its about keeping perspective, remembering that you love this stuff and chose to be here. Plus it helps if you have some awesome people in your class to blow off steam with. And if your football team is going to the super-bowl thats just a bonus.
 
I agree completely. People get flamed when they say they're tired of undergrad and want to be in med school already, cause everyone's like "why so you can be moar busy?" and "you'll have even less time" and just "it sucks though lawl." Maybe it's because we'll enjoy learning about something we're interested enough in to pursue a career!

That being said, While I really love med school you shouldn't be in such a rush to leave undergrad. Take advantage of the things that undergrad offers that will be much harder to do when med school rolls around. Learn a foreign language, be part of a theater group, get hammered on tuesday (*can still be done in med school, just not test weeks), pick random courses in the bulletin that sound cool, have anonymous hookups with classmates(*can also be done in med school, but prepare for levels of gossip that will put high school cliques to shame), etc.
 
That being said, While I really love med school you shouldn't be in such a rush to leave undergrad. Take advantage of the things that undergrad offers that will be much harder to do when med school rolls around. Learn a foreign language, be part of a theater group, get hammered on tuesday (*can still be done in med school, just not test weeks), pick random courses in the bulletin that sound cool, have anonymous hookups with classmates(*can also be done in med school, but prepare for levels of gossip that will put high school cliques to shame), etc.
Oh I totally understand, I'm not itching to go just yet, I'm only in my second semester haha...I just meant it's not that hard to understand the intense anticipation of medical school beforehand.
 
I'm sorry, but I really take offense at being lumped into the "miserable SDNers who just want to party" group by virtue of my having posted here.

I think there were plenty of people on here who eloquently expressed their feelings about their experience in med school (emphasis on "experience") without mentioning partying with hot chicks and throwing money around. You would have to be a complete idiot to expect med school to be anything like that. I don't think I'm wrong in saying that most if not all of us were expecting to have some tough days and to work really hard. You work in a treatment center, so I'm sure you know that just because you expect something will be hard, it doesn't mean that you won't struggle.

I don't miss having the Playboy mansion lifestyle- I never had it, and don't care that I never will. I didn't go into medicine to please my family. I genuinely love dealing with patients. I love my med school, and I love my classmates.

But what you may not realize is that a lot of medical school isn't medicine. In fact, you might spend a good deal of first year learning stuff that you won't be able to associate with the practice of medicine AT ALL, and you'll wonder why the hell you're learning it. I had many days of studying 12 hours straight feeling like I was just fulfilling some kind of historical requirement, like "we've all had to go through this and so should you". I had weeks and weeks of not seeing a patient and not learning a damn thing about what I love. No matter how much you love medicine, and people, you will have bad days when what you're studying isn't interesting, isn't relevant, and is just exhausting.

Hell, I'd argue that the people who love medicine the most- especially the human component- are the ones who get most demoralized by how little of that we get in preclinicals. Social interactions are hard because your classmates are just as stressed and busy as you are at the same time as you.

It's just...hard. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with expectations or immaturity.

I'm happy to report that for me, second year has been much, much more fun than first year. It's actually a lot busier, since there's more work and at my school we have a ton of mentorship stuff to do for the first years- but it's also FAR more interesting. I only hate my life the day before a test, and that's basically to be expected. The rest of the time, I am amazed at how much I'm learning and in love with medicine. Don't get me wrong, not everything is super interesting but everything is RELEVANT. I can actually see the point of learning everything we're learning. It's no longer a "historical requirement", and I'm no longer learning stuff that I feel like I'll never see again. For me there's a really big difference between sitting down and memorizing a bunch of obscure aberrant arteries, and memorizing drugs the names of which I'll see on my patients' charts. BIG difference.

Anyways, to the premeds: even if you hate first year, second year is way better. To the first years: it gets a lot more interesting.
 
I'm happy to report that for me, second year has been much, much more fun than first year. It's actually a lot busier, since there's more work and at my school we have a ton of mentorship stuff to do for the first years- but it's also FAR more interesting. I only hate my life the day before a test, and that's basically to be expected. The rest of the time, I am amazed at how much I'm learning and in love with medicine. Don't get me wrong, not everything is super interesting but everything is RELEVANT. I can actually see the point of learning everything we're learning. It's no longer a "historical requirement", and I'm no longer learning stuff that I feel like I'll never see again. For me there's a really big difference between sitting down and memorizing a bunch of obscure aberrant arteries, and memorizing drugs the names of which I'll see on my patients' charts. BIG difference.

Anyways, to the premeds: even if you hate first year, second year is way better. To the first years: it gets a lot more interesting.
Good to see that you're still alive Let! :) I feel like it's been forever since I've seen a post by you!
 
Good to see that you're still alive Let! :) I feel like it's been forever since I've seen a post by you!

Haha yeah I know, I've only been around the Vandy thread lately. But I'm still alive! Tired and overscheduled, but alive ;). You'll see what I mean soon enough!
 
They're reserved for people who know that "med school" is two words, not one.

Medical school is not easy. If it was, everyone would do it. The fact of the matter is, there are countless other careers where you can make decent money without going through 12 years of training and dig yourself 300K in debt. I'd submit that those who don't believe this are either extremely young, extremely naive, or both.

I'd suggest to the med students not to bother trying to shed light on what it's like. If one person posts it's great, that person's post is taken as gospel, whereas the 50 posts that counter it are dismissed. The reason for that is that these pre-meds aren't ready to listen to the reality that not everyone enjoys med school and that, in fact, the majority of people don't like med school. Yes, in every class you'll find a handful (probably 10% of the class) who couldn't be happier. You'll find another 10-20% who roll with the punches. And the rest of the people will hate it. It's not about the material being interesting. It's not about wanting to be a doctor. I don't know a single person who had fun studying for the MCAT. Well guess what? Med school is MCAT studying 24/7 for two years. And not the kind of MCAT studying you did freshman year when it was "cool" to tell people you were studying for the MCAT, but the kind of MCAT studying you did that last month before your test date. If you don't mind studying like that every night for two years, then you'll have a good time. If that was miserable for you, as it is for most people, you're in for a rude awakening.

Med school is not that bad. Med school is also hard to get into so not everyone can get in. Yeah, you study a lot but the material is interesting. You point out all these post about med students complaining and make the assumption that most med students hate medical school. The reason why you see so many posts complaining about med school is because, those who still use SDN after they get into medical school will mostly post about stuff they are unsatisfied with.

And most med students do not end up with 300k in debt. Could you not get into a public school? Complaining about med school all the time just makes med students look stupid since you worked so hard to get in and yet you are miserable.

Also do you not have any nontrads in your class? We have investment bankers, nurses, chiefs, division 1 athletes, teachers, accountants, grad students and accountants. Also I would say about 10% of the people in my med school have children. And all of these people are liking or don't mind med school that much.
 
It's glad to see some med students who, although they work extremely hard and feel burnt out at times, still appreciate the opportunity and keep things in perspective, and hopefully deriving some satisfaction from the med school experience while they are at it

I think that med students who say they wish they were making bank instead of studying may be infected with the-grass-is-much-greener-on-the-other-side-itis. People who work don't have as much freedom as you think. You are told where to be, what to do, and are expected to toe the company line for 9+ hours a day. I did that for two years as an engineer and that was more than enough. Yes after 5 your time is your own, but I feel that QUALITY free time is waaay more important than QUANTITY. I spent my off-work hours cooking, excersicing, and watching waaay too much TV. To think that life as a 20something cubicle dweller is all happy hours and hookups after 5 is pure romantization.

PS Studying for the MCAT really wasn't that bad. At times I even enjoyed studying the material and honing my testtaking skills. I did better on it that I have ever done on any standardized test in my entire life, and I still went out 2-3 times a week, worked the aforemention full time job, and went to night school 3 times a week.

The most freedom I have ever had is now as a graduate student. I do my research when I want, do my problem sets when I want. Most of my time is completely my own.
 
Yeah...anyone for whom this is a thrilling experience had a pretty terrible life beforehand, whether they know it or not. I'm not saying med school is the worst thing ever - I actually enjoy it - but the alternatives are infinitely better. For every "Hey, that's cool!" moment, there are 5-6 "I have no freedom whatsoever" moments, and the latter are only that scarce because, after a little while, you start to tune out how much what you're doing sucks compared to what most 20-somethings are up to.

You live in Arkansas.
 
Nice bump :thumbup:

Great thread, even though I only read the 1st and last pages.
 
The grass is always greener on the other side...

I'm currently working right now. Sometimes my job is cool, but most of the time I'm just staring at a computer screen all day bored out of my mind.

So basically I can't wait to start med school. This summer can't come soon enough.
 
And most med students do not end up with 300k in debt. Could you not get into a public school?

I just wanted to point out that for a lot of us (e.g. the 50 gazillion applicants from California), getting into our state public school is not a realistic option. But carry on.
 
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