Is 1st year that important?

[PageDerm]

But if you do, keep in mind that dismissing the smallest (or biggest) of details can literally kill someone.

So true, and it's something that I think about a lot. One of my biggest regrets is not having done more in the first 2 years.

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[JP2740]

Yes 1st year is very important. 2nd year is important. 3rd year is important. 4th year is important. People who tell you otherwise are not doing well and rationalizing how badly they are doing. I honestly studied much less compared to my colleagues in 3rd year and did great because of the fund of knowledge I gained from 1st and 2nd year. You're in med school, why not put your best foot into your professional career now.

 

[Mad Jack]

First year and third year are the two years students are most likely to fail, at least at my school. Be careful having a lax attitude about first year.

As to how useful it is, you can get a lot out of it if you choose to do so. It really depends on what specialty you intend to enter. As to the boards, biochem is fairly well represented.

 

[FFH]

Over 80% of students at my school do research in the summer after MS1. It depends on the school. I remember on the interview trail when I asked about research at one school, the med student said "oh yeah, a couple people do research each year."

In a school I interviewed, the entire time ~2.5 days, no one muttered the word research once. I asked M2 and M3 if research can be done, got the reply "it is possible, I think..."

 

[22031 Alum]

So as an M1, what you're saying is since I'm not in the top half of the class, I should feel bad about myself and not be proud that I'm actually passing pretty comfortably?

Well, the fact that you jumped to taking offense tells me you may already be thinking that about yourself...

If you are working hard, putting in a good-faith effort and that lands you in the bottom half of the class, fine. Somebody's got to be in the bottom half, that's how numbers work. If you aren't doing your best, and rationalizing that it's okay you're in the bottom half because this stuff is less important and you'll "just do better later," that's where the problem is.

 

[NickNaylor]

So as an M1, what you're saying is since I'm not in the top half of the class, I should feel bad about myself and not be proud that I'm actually passing pretty comfortably?

Agree with Alum's post above. Everyone has to come to accept their "place" in the class if it's not where they're used to being. That is part of the medical school experience. As long as you're comfortable with where you are and your performance will allow you to pursue your ultimate career goals, who cares. If the previous two things aren't true, then you know what to do: work harder. At some point you will find a balance between "I need to work harder" and "I'm happy with my current performance." Only you can determine where that balance lies.

 

[TwinsFan]

I think anyone should be damn proud to comfortably pass at a U.S. Med school, it is quite an accomplishment.

However, if you are cutting every corner and putting in a mediocre or less effort than it is time to step it up. The notion that class rank always correlates to individual effort is silly. I know several people putting in very solid effort just to pass, others to end up in the middle, and highly gifted crammers putting in mediocre effort at best to score very high (photographic short term memory).

It is about learning the material to the best of your ability. Obviously we would all like to rank highly in our classes. But there are constraints; whether family, time, sanity, calibre of avg student at the school, memorization ability, test taking skill, or subject aptitude there is a limit on the output achieved for a given time and effort input. Over half of any given class will be average or below...

 

[22031 Alum]

I'm doing what I could without driving myself insane so I think I should be proud. As for my goals, I just want to be a doc in a major metropolitan area, preferably Chicago. Don't care about specialty for now.

I think you should be proud too- surviving medical school is an accomplishment! I was a pretty apathetic MS1. I didn't put in as much effort as I could have, and coasted to mediocrity. I tried to work harder and turn things around as an MS2, but was hampered by my lack of foundation and stayed mediocre. I did fine on Step 1, and was (I think) pretty great as an MS3- but not great enough to rank up there with my classmates who had been excelling all along. I ended up matching at a program I love in a specialty I love, but if I'd fallen in love with something more competitive, would things have worked out as well? Maybe, maybe not. One day you will care about your specialty, likely even more than you care about location. I just hate to see students unnecessarily closing future doors they aren't even aware of, because of how they feel in the moment. If your honest-to-god best efforts still end up closing certain doors, then that's totally respectable.

 

[JP2740]

Well, the fact that you jumped to taking offense tells me you may already be thinking that about yourself...

If you are working hard, putting in a good-faith effort and that lands you in the bottom half of the class, fine. Somebody's got to be in the bottom half, that's how numbers work. If you aren't doing your best, and rationalizing that it's okay you're in the bottom half because this stuff is less important and you'll "just do better later," that's where the problem is.

Yup this was my point too

 

[username456789]

I just hate to see students unnecessarily closing future doors they aren't even aware of, because of how they feel in the moment. If your honest-to-god best efforts still end up closing certain doors, then that's totally respectable.

This is a point I have tried to make repeatedly on this website. I knew quite a few classmates with whom I was rather close who intimated that when it came time to pick a specialty, they felt they were settling for what was left over because they hadn't push themselves very hard during the first couple years. Usually they came into medical school thinking family medicine or internal medicine, but then developed a very strong interest in more competitive feels like orthopedic surgery, dermatology, plastic surgery, and radiation oncology. It was painful to see them unable to reach these goals simply because of lack of foresight early on.