I love medical school

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Cool story bro.
I enjoy medical school but at some point I get annoyed of waking up early, appeasing annoyingly anxious patients, and kissing up to the attending for my honors.
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PrettyFishy said:
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.
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I read this whole thread and the "MS1 and MS2 in med school is like studying for the MCAT for the whole year" comment and I didn't understand that comment either.

The crazy thing about the MCAT was the pressure and its importance (which I believe is quite ridiculous, but that's a whole other discussion) ; you knew that that 4 hour test could determine whether or not you got into medical school . The same cannot be said for a test in the middle of MS1 or MS2.
 
It boils down to the individual. Some people love med school for the knowledge they get and spend their waking hours studying and while enjoying that, are lonely and loveless. Others may not study as much, may just do enough to get the "P" and have more of a life. Personally I couldn't sacrifice my life to just books for two years. I like having friends, relationships, and meeting people. However everyone is different I suppose.
 
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+1 for medical school being awesome

2nd year here and I really think its not nearly as bad as people will have you believe. I can't imagine doing anything else :)
 
I think the biggest determinant if whether you have a nice quality of life in medical school is whether your school has tons of lectures per day or just a few. We just have 2 lectures/day and it makes life so much more enjoyable. Go to a school with an easier curriculum if at all possible
 
Is it just me or has SDN been getting more and more negative, rude and unhelpful members lately? I don't remember it ever being this bad (ie. the 1:40 of good:neg posts) but maybe i've just been spending more time on here than before :shrug:

But as a "lowly pre-med" i'm glad that there are at least a handful of current med students who for the most part, are enjoying medical school. I mean honestly, we know medical school will be tough and trying but that doesn't mean it can't be rewarding and enjoyable too.

I look forward to starting. You can ask anyone of my friends who are working their 9-5 jobs, they'd rather be back in school (maybe not medical school) but the point is "Real Life" isn't all s***ts and giggles. You're supposed to work 9-5 but my friend who's an actuary commutes 1hr+ to work so he wakes up at 6:30am every morning, sometimes has to stay til 6:30-7pm, then commutes that 1hr+ back home and goes to bed by 10:30-11pm cuz he's gotta wake up bright and early. My other friend who's a CPA is soon to be working 7 days a week b/c of tax season.

It's all about perspective. To me, I expect medical school will be rough, but the end goal is worth it. If it's not to you, then you chose the wrong career to pursue.
 
GoodmanBrown said:
If you have extensive work experience where this is untrue kudoos to you, sir (or madam). But I've worked at two different companies in "serious," career-style jobs, and I'd say 95% of the people in those companies spent 7+ hrs/day in front of their computers. The other time was spent in meetings or on conference calls which are equally mundane.

That's not to say there aren't jobs out their that don't involve a computer. But the perennial SDN favorites of engineering, law, and business all spend large portions of their days at a desk looking at a screen.

As for not working all the time, I'm not sure how much guiltily reading SDN while looking over your shoulder for your boss really makes the day that much awesomer. Besides, I see plenty of med students who are on this site, so it's not like you don't get a chance to goof off on the Interwebs from time to time, too.

As for pay, I dare say it's not that amazing, especially when about 4/5 of it goes to your basic living expenses.
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this.

business / office work is terrible. I wonder how many people that complain about medical school have worked a real job before...
 
I graduated and worked a real job. I woke up at the same time, got to work at the same time, saw the same people (they've worked there for several years) for hours, and went back home at the same time every day.

It drove me crazy, and I quit after 3 months. Plus, the only reason I lasted that long was because I had a hot co-worker to flirt with.

No thanks, real job.
 
SoundofSilver said:
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.
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A-freakin'-men. Only my job is never cool, but the people I work with are nice. I cannot wait to start school.
 
LEUNIT said:
I graduated and worked a real job. I woke up at the same time, got to work at the same time, saw the same people (they've worked there for several years) for hours, and went back home at the same time every day.

It drove me crazy, and I quit after 3 months. Plus, the only reason I lasted that long was because I had a hot co-worker to flirt with.

No thanks, real job.
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Geekchick921 said:
A-freakin'-men. Only my job is never cool, but the people I work with are nice. I cannot wait to start school.
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+11111111111111111111111111!!!oneoneoneoneoneonezzzzzzzzzzz
 
AutumnChild said:
It's all about perspective. To me, I expect medical school will be rough, but the end goal is worth it. If it's not to you, then you chose the wrong career to pursue.
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I guess the issue is that there's a difference between thinking medical school is worth it (like you just said) and thinking medical school is fun in and of itself (like the OP said). I'm looking forward to being an attending physician and I haven't seen anything that's made me think I made the wrong choice. However I don't particularly enjoy medical school and I expect to enjoy at least Intern year even less. Honestly, especially in third year, saying that your experience is 'a blast' seems less like optimism that Stockholm syndrome. Third year can be tolerable, it's often educational, and it's a blessing to be here when I should not have gotten in. None the less it's long days under flourescent lights with sick people and vindictive bosses. You fill out paperwork, fax things, and set appointments. In between the scut you discuss why your plans for patient care are wrong both in their general concepts and also all their specific details. And when you go home, after working what anyone else in the world would describe as a double shift, you need to study. And, of course, to add to your stress there is aways something enormous and potentially disasterous looming: residency apps, the USMLE, Match Day, whatever. While I know that being fed and warm is still enough to make the experience better than what most people on the planet gets by with, it still doesn't seem like a great time to me.
 
Perrotfish said:
I guess the issue is that there's a difference between thinking medical school is worth it (like you just said) and thinking medical school is fun in and of itself (like the OP said). I'm looking forward to being an attending physician and I haven't seen anything that's made me think I made the wrong choice. However I don't particularly enjoy medical school and I expect to enjoy at least Intern year even less. Honestly, especially in third year, saying that your experience is 'a blast' seems less like optimism that Stockholm syndrome. Third year can be tolerable, it's often educational, and it's a blessing to be here when I should not have gotten in. None the less it's long days under flourescent lights with sick people and vindictive bosses. You fill out paperwork, fax things, and set appointments. In between the scut you discuss why your plans for patient care are wrong both in their general concepts and also all their specific details. And when you go home, after working what anyone else in the world would describe as a double shift, you need to study. And, of course, to add to your stress there is aways something enormous and potentially disasterous looming: residency apps, the USMLE, Match Day, whatever. While I know that being fed and warm is still enough to make the experience better than what most people on the planet gets by with, it still doesn't seem like a great time to me.
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It sucks that you go to a school with vindicative bosses and mocking residents. I do paperwork and set appointments, yes, for my patients. If you are doing it for the entire service, well either stick up for yourself or push to make it so that it isn't done for future classes after you. Why shouldn't I do those things for my patients? Will I be immune to bureaucracy as an attending? Do I sit there grinning ear from ear because I'm doing paperwork? No, of course not. There are dull moments, excruciating moments even, but at the end of the day I don't wish that I was over and done with it all. Medicine SHOULD be fun for you. You should get excited when you hear your first murmur without being told its there. You should be proud the first time you catch something the house staff didn't. If I have Stockholm Syndrome, you have Stockade Syndrome. Years of reinforcement that med school is hell has you so defensive that you can't let go of the stereotypes, the fear of scut, and the perceived callousness of the education system. I have great classmates, am willing to do the labor for my patients because they are my patients, and have had nothing but understanding attendings who are willing to teach if I am willing to learn. I treat medical school like a 40000 page good book. I can't read 40000 pages at once even if it is a good book, I need breaks to do other things and stretch my legs. That doesn't make it any less of a good book. In the same manner, I will have a few sleepless nights (such as today...), I will butt heads with a classmate or two, and I will probably get yelled at somewhere along the way. I don't dwell on the turbulent areas at the expense of the rush.
 
mmmcdowe said:
It sucks that you go to a school with vindicative bosses and mocking residents. I do paperwork and set appointments, yes, for my patients. If you are doing it for the entire service, well either stick up for yourself or push to make it so that it isn't done for future classes after you. Why shouldn't I do those things for my patients? Will I be immune to bureaucracy as an attending? Do I sit there grinning ear from ear because I'm doing paperwork? No, of course not. There are dull moments, excruciating moments even, but at the end of the day I don't wish that I was over and done with it all. Medicine SHOULD be fun for you. You should get excited when you hear your first murmur without being told its there. You should be proud the first time you catch something the house staff didn't. If I have Stockholm Syndrome, you have Stockade Syndrome. Years of reinforcement that med school is hell has you so defensive that you can't let go of the stereotypes, the fear of scut, and the perceived callousness of the education system. I have great classmates, am willing to do the labor for my patients because they are my patients, and have had nothing but understanding attendings who are willing to teach if I am willing to learn. I treat medical school like a 40000 page good book. I can't read 40000 pages at once even if it is a good book, I need breaks to do other things and stretch my legs. That doesn't make it any less of a good book. In the same manner, I will have a few sleepless nights (such as today...), I will butt heads with a classmate or two, and I will probably get yelled at somewhere along the way. I don't dwell on the turbulent areas at the expense of the rush.
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After reading some of the posts here and your signature, youve got problems.

medical school is not fun for the majority of things you do.
 
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For what it's worth, I like third year a lot. I don't mind the scut because I know I need to learn how to do that stuff at some point. The first year blows ass spectacularly, but second year was okay-ish since I skipped class constantly and had a bunch of free time. It's the mass memorization that drags them both down.

business / office work is terrible. I wonder how many people that complain about medical school have worked a real job before...
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Me! Like I said earlier in this thread, I'd much rather work and be done with it at the end of the day than do the first years of med school. Med school loses that battle in a landslide. Unfortunately, they don't let you substitute office work for the basic science years for some reason. For a comparison that maybe some of the rah-rah crowd can wrap their heads around a bit better, I thoroughly enjoyed my psych rotation. I would never in a bajillion years go into psych, but I liked the pace, the people, and the fact that I was done at 4:30 every day. This whole year, I've felt like I'm redoing the first two years the way they should've been taught in the first place.
 
Medical school wasn't as bad as I thought it was. However, I wouldn't do it again. The lack of respect, the amount of hours you will work, and the concern about Obamacare makes it a bad choice. It is unfortunate but its the truth and the quicker you accept it the better you'll be.

I advise you against going to medical school, but if you feel it will make you happy go right ahead.

Good luck guy.....I hope you make the right choice.
 
mmmcdowe said:
Finished Clinical Year, still loving medical school fyi.
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Awesome! And thank you for creating this thread. It's nice to know that medical school is not an excruciating experience for everyone.
 
mmmcdowe said:
Finished Clinical Year, still loving medical school fyi.
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funny-pictures-rolling-cat.gif
 
FWIW, I'm a first year, just got a rather dismal score on an exam, and I still am 10000000000000000x happier than when I was in the "real world" working a horrid, soul sucking, thankless job.
 
giantswing said:
FWIW, I'm a first year, just got a rather dismal score on an exam, and I still am 10000000000000000x happier than when I was in the "real world" working a horrid, soul sucking, thankless job.
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:clap:

please post more. especially in allo. it's downright morbid in there sometimes.
 
gravitywave said:
:clap:

please post more. especially in allo. it's downright morbid in there sometimes.
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This is why I'm in Pre alot. The only thing I don't like about medical school so far is that it has made me an incredibly boring person to talk to - I forget what "normal" people talk about, and my husband, who is a normal person, suffers. However, this is a nice change from before when all I talked about was vile toxic spew about how much I hated my job.
 
giantswing said:
This is why I'm in Pre alot. The only thing I don't like about medical school so far is that it has made me an incredibly boring person to talk to - I forget what "normal" people talk about, and my husband, who is a normal person, suffers. However, this is a nice change from before when all I talked about was vile toxic spew about how much I hated my job.
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more truth. :love: wow. let's you and me be friends.

mauberley said:
I forget that that forum even exists sometimes. Is it worth poking my head in?
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meh :( it's no bed of roses in here either, though.

sometimes you get a winner. i thought the 'scut' thread was good. it probably helps to have some idea of what is and is not the 95% CI for appropriate clerkship experiences. but it's like everything else on here, the signal/*******t ratio is poor.
 
Another M1 here. First semester is done and I absolutely love med school! :love:

The material is very interesting, I really enjoy my preceptorship, my classmates are amazing, and, as corny as this sounds, I feel like I'm finally where I belong and am happy with how things are going.

Don't get me wrong, you work very hard and it can absolutely suck at times (trying to memorize the million different things for biochem anyone?), but the good times far outweigh the rough times, at least for me. It's really cool to see things I learned about in the basic science classes so far come up in the clinic, even though I'm just an M1.
 
I can't wait to finish my job (great boss btw), travel in Latin America and start med school!!!!!

Thank you OP for creating this thread. I think I have a good picture of what med school is like from this thread/med school friends.
 
I'm in grad school with a extremely unreasonable advisor. I cannot wait to be free and start school next year.
 
TooMuchResearch said:
I don't know. I have a friend who works <30 hours per week, way a lot o' money, and is able to attend parties on demand.
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A friend. Just one. If you think about all your friends who are in their 20's there may be a few who fall into the lifestyle you listed above. But I bet there are a helluva lot more whose lives aren't as "fun" as you may think. When I think about all my friends in their 20's I'd say there are maybe 10 who are doing really cool things that I am truly envious of...things that beat studying cytokines in a dusty library any day. A few got awesome jobs in awesome cities straight out of undergrad. Some are living abroad in cities like London and Paris. But the vast majority of my friends are working some ordinary job where they sit at a desk all day doing the same thing everyday and every week. To me that sounds absolutely horrendous. I'd much rather be in medical school where I'm always learning new things- that's what I find fun. And while there probably will be days when I abhor the idea of sitting and studying, I'd much rather do that than work at some desk job. And as far as attending parties on demand, I can imagine that that would get old fast (at least for me). I'd rather have the occasional free weekend in which I can really let loose and really enjoy my free time. After all, what's better than working your butt off for weeks at a time and then earning that feeling of freedom even if it's only for a weekend?

But, I think I may have a naive and overly optimistic view of medical school.
 
Flapjacks said:
That's all you can refute with? Please, tell me what happens in your crunkfests.
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Crunk died 2004. Get with it brah.

Not every party has to be a blacked out, **** faced, Ke$ha-drunk fest. Those are fun every once in a while.
 
mmmcdowe said:
Finished Clinical Year, still loving medical school fyi.
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giantswing said:
FWIW, I'm a first year, just got a rather dismal score on an exam, and I still am 10000000000000000x happier than when I was in the "real world" working a horrid, soul sucking, thankless job.
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Kaushik said:
Another M1 here. First semester is done and I absolutely love med school! :love:

The material is very interesting, I really enjoy my preceptorship, my classmates are amazing, and, as corny as this sounds, I feel like I'm finally where I belong and am happy with how things are going.

Don't get me wrong, you work very hard and it can absolutely suck at times (trying to memorize the million different things for biochem anyone?), but the good times far outweigh the rough times, at least for me. It's really cool to see things I learned about in the basic science classes so far come up in the clinic, even though I'm just an M1.
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:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
 
For some reason, every time I see this thread I always think of back in the day:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUg7G3CPos0[/YOUTUBE]
 
Man, this thread is depressing. I don't start med school until next year so I can't say what it will be like for me, but I have plenty of friends and a sister who have gone through med school and weren't miserable. In fact, none of them whined anywhere near as much as the people on this thread. And no, I don't think it will be easy or that I'll be able to "party" all the time, and I know it will be harder than anything I've ever done. But suggesting that misery is a necessary part of medical school or that med students who aren't unhappy have something wrong with them seems unnecessarily morbid. Jeez.
 
I'm right in the middle of 4th year, and I love life at the moment. However, I don't love it because of school; I love it because of the lack of school. I haven't had any meaningful responsibility for 2 months, and I'm almost done with the whole thing entirely (2 blow-off rotations to go!). Coasting is awesome. Interviewing has been a lot of fun, though answering the same questions over and over again is starting to wear a little thin. My thoughts in general are earlier in the thread, but here's my impression by year:

M1: Complete and utter waste of time. I resented every minute of it. Though I made some close friends and had a lot of good times, the drudgery of learning material I hated and knew was largely irrelevant ate at me and far outweighed any positive the year brought. Anyone who tells you that working a "normal" job is worse than this is totally insane.

M2: Still with the massive fact memorization and the social restraints enforced by everyone studying constantly, but way better than the first year. I had much more free time and could get away from med school much more easily.

M3: Awesomesauce. It's longer hours, but you're actually DOING stuff and learning. At least at UAMS, most people weren't studying during the evenings or most weekends, so the frequency of social events picked up dramatically.

M4: Hard as hell at the start thanks to vying for rec letters and Step 2, but it's incredible now. Interviewing is expensive, but it's a lot of fun.

Overall, med school is probably not something I'd do again, given the options I had beforehand, but it's not a choice I regret. I enjoy anesthesia and think I'll be quite happy with my career. However, I'm not yet certain the sacrifices I've had to make to get here are worth it. Right now, I'd lean towards "no," but I'll let you know for sure in a few years. Intern year. Ugh. :(
 
cheekiemunky said:
Man, this thread is depressing. I don't start med school until next year so I can't say what it will be like for me, but I have plenty of friends and a sister who have gone through med school and weren't miserable. In fact, none of them whined anywhere near as much as the people on this thread. And no, I don't think it will be easy or that I'll be able to "party" all the time, and I know it will be harder than anything I've ever done. But suggesting that misery is a necessary part of medical school or that med students who aren't unhappy have something wrong with them seems unnecessarily morbid. Jeez.
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You will see. . .

I don't think its all that bad except MS1. That was the worst year ever, there wasn't a single good thing about it. I def was close if not depressed toward the winter months when no one wanted to do anything on the weekends and we had exam after exam after exam of all boring material like the poster said above me that we def will never rlly need to know. Also the fact that I was walking around school and would literally see peoples depressed miserable faces and even a few of my girl friends crying lol. It just wears at you as time goes by though, I didn't think itd happen to me..at first you have the wow excitement factor of being in med school and then it wears off and then u just slowly go down hill..people def had it worse than me though. Now MS2 is 999999x better.. material is more interesting, you have a better grasp of whats expected of you and your no longer new to this whole process. You also feel like your learning information that you may one day actually use.. like drugs, diseases etc. Idk one more semester of it and then step1.. I also feel good knowing that its my last semester of classes, another thing that weighs on you when your in the **** first year.. "man I have another year of studying.".. 3rd and 4th year to come. . .
 
doxycycline said:
You will see. . .

I don't think its all that bad except MS1. That was the worst year ever, there wasn't a single good thing about it. I def was close if not depressed toward the winter months when no one wanted to do anything on the weekends and we had exam after exam after exam of all boring material like the poster said above me that we def will never rlly need to know. Also the fact that I was walking around school and would literally see peoples depressed miserable faces and even a few of my girl friends crying lol. It just wears at you as time goes by though, I didn't think itd happen to me..at first you have the wow excitement factor of being in med school and then it wears off and then u just slowly go down hill..people def had it worse than me though. Now MS2 is 999999x better.. material is more interesting, you have a better grasp of whats expected of you and your no longer new to this whole process. You also feel like your learning information that you may one day actually use.. like drugs, diseases etc. Idk one more semester of it and then step1.. I also feel good knowing that its my last semester of classes, another thing that weighs on you when your in the **** first year.. "man I have another year of studying.".. 3rd and 4th year to come. . .
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Sounds like a great advertisement for the shortened preclinical curriculum that they do at some schools. From what I've seen, those programs tend to have only four months of pre-pathophys rather than nine, and then you're on the wards after only 14 months of classes. Do you think your experience would have been better at a program like that?
 
Well...I can't wait to be a depressed med student and complain about my first world problems! I mean, I'd rather be a depressed med student than a depressed non-med student ;)
 
cheekiemunky said:
Man, this thread is depressing. I don't start med school until next year so I can't say what it will be like for me, but I have plenty of friends and a sister who have gone through med school and weren't miserable. In fact, none of them whined anywhere near as much as the people on this thread. And no, I don't think it will be easy or that I'll be able to "party" all the time, and I know it will be harder than anything I've ever done. But suggesting that misery is a necessary part of medical school or that med students who aren't unhappy have something wrong with them seems unnecessarily morbid. Jeez.
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you will meet many whiners in med school. at times you will be one of them. nearly everyone does some whining at some point; it can be miserable. one of the reasons you hear so much whining on here is because it is something of a safe zone for people to vent. Like your friends and family who've gone this route, you won't vent like this to your people when you go home, either. You'll know they want to hear about the good parts more than the bad. But you will vent to someone, otherwise you'll explode.

eHombre said:
Sounds like a great advertisement for the shortened preclinical curriculum that they do at some schools. From what I've seen, those programs tend to have only four months of pre-pathophys rather than nine, and then you're on the wards after only 14 months of classes. Do you think your experience would have been better at a program like that?
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as a student at such a school, i approve of this message. It's one of the best things you can do for yourself when picking a school, along with P/F, recorded lectures, and low mandatory attendance. I can't imagine what kind of BS they would have loaded us down with if we had done a whole year of anatomy/embryo/biochem/physio.
 
The experience has a central theme, but there seems to be wide variability. Students at some schools are less worked, less stressed, and happier than students at other schools. And of course, there is a distribution of stress and happiness within each class. I wish this information was more widely available and easily understandable - it would be nice to know which schools it is easier to be happy at.
 
eHombre said:
Sounds like a great advertisement for the shortened preclinical curriculum that they do at some schools. From what I've seen, those programs tend to have only four months of pre-pathophys rather than nine, and then you're on the wards after only 14 months of classes. Do you think your experience would have been better at a program like that?
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I'm not sure I can't really imagine doing all this work in 14 months either without a summer break I assume.. not that I really needed the full 8 or 9 weeks we had off, I think 4 woulda been plenty and used the other 4 or 5 for various vaca time during ms2 like maybe a longer winter break (we only get 2 weeks and we had less last year). I assume they cover the same material in 14 months that we do in 18 or rlly wat would be the difference between an MD and a PA
 
doxycycline said:
I'm not sure I can't really imagine doing all this work in 14 months either without a summer break I assume.. not that I really needed the full 8 or 9 weeks we had off, I think 4 woulda been plenty and used the other 4 or 5 for various vaca time during ms2 like maybe a longer winter break (we only get 2 weeks and we had less last year). I assume they cover the same material in 14 months that we do in 18 or rlly wat would be the difference between an MD and a PA
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They get the same 8 week break, but start clinicals in January of M2 year rather than in July. Step 1 is after the clinical year (Jan/Feb of M3). They compress M1 year into the first semester, but then sprinkle topics they left out throughout the rest of the curriculum.
 
eHombre said:
They get the same 8 week break, but start clinicals in January of M2 year rather than in July. Step 1 is after the clinical year (Jan/Feb of M3). They compress M1 year into the first semester, but then sprinkle topics they left out throughout the rest of the curriculum.
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Oh interesting I'd like that esp since I'd be starting clinicals in 2 weeks then lol altho Idk how I feel about the break before studying for boards I'd like to get those out of that way.
 
doxycycline said:
I'm not sure I can't really imagine doing all this work in 14 months either without a summer break I assume.. not that I really needed the full 8 or 9 weeks we had off, I think 4 woulda been plenty and used the other 4 or 5 for various vaca time during ms2 like maybe a longer winter break (we only get 2 weeks and we had less last year). I assume they cover the same material in 14 months that we do in 18 or rlly wat would be the difference between an MD and a PA
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we get the eight weeks off in summer. i'm confident some material gets dropped from your curriculum to mine, but I'm also confident that it's mostly minutiae from the traditional MS1 curriculum that no one ever really needs. so we're not doing 18 months of work in 14.

our Step study time starts now, we have a half-time PBL-style integration course that runs in January, take Step at the beginning of March and start clinicals mid-March. Traditional clinical year, then extra time for MS4 electives before ERAS submission. there isn't much of a downside. Other places with this kind of setup have the Step after the clinical year, as someone said.
 
I try to give myself a realistic view of what medical school is going to be like and hopefully I'll enjoy it too!
 
MilkmanAl said:
M1: Complete and utter waste of time. I resented every minute of it. Though I made some close friends and had a lot of good times, the drudgery of learning material I hated and knew was largely irrelevant ate at me and far outweighed any positive the year brought. Anyone who tells you that working a "normal" job is worse than this is totally insane.
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I think M1 is a hell of a lot better than working at Walgreen's pharmacy 40 hours per week. Although at times it feels irrelevant, it's pretty interesting stuff most of the time.
 
I think M1 is a hell of a lot better than working at Walgreen's pharmacy 40 hours per week. Although at times it feels irrelevant, it's pretty interesting stuff most of the time.
Click to expand...
I worked at a CVS almost full-time before med school and would wholeheartedly disagree. At least I got to talk with some cool people (coworkers and customers) and learn a ton of (useful) pharm. The money wasn't terrible for a single guy, either, believe it or not. I also disagree that M1 material is interesting. I couldn't give less of a **** about anything I learned in biochem or histology. Cell bio and gross weren't much better. Phys and neuro were actually pretty cool, even though neuroanatomy never made the least bit of sense to me and is, at best, minimally useful for anything but neurology.
 
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