I mean I know that being a doctor takes a lot of work, and the course load and studying and such is difficult and takes a lot of time, but do you feel as if all your time is spent hitting the books and in classes? I think I either want to be a doctor or dentist but basically my question is, is all you pre meds do study? If in college I were to organize my time well and study 3-4 hours a day in addition to class will I have time to myself and just hanging out?
Is college overwhelming for getting into Med School?
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No, you will absolutely have free time during undergrad.
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There's free time in undergrad, but it can be tough not knowing if you'll get into med school or not, that always keeps me on edge.
In actual "book" studies, depending on your major, there isn't an absurd amount, I'm sure even the best applicants had time for leisure.
In actual "book" studies, depending on your major, there isn't an absurd amount, I'm sure even the best applicants had time for leisure.
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Yes, our entire lives consist of studying all day and all night. None of us join social circles of any sort, including clubs and fraternities or like going out to party or have fun. To add onto that, all of us are single and have no committed relationships besides that of one with our books and professors to get letters of rec for our applications. We eat, breathe, and sleep books and we never dare to venture out to exercise because it might endanger our brain cells from the extra stress that it might put onto our brains from bouncing up and down while jogging.
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In all seriousness though, a lot of us really do recognize our time in college to be 4 years of where we have the liberty of deciding what we want to do, when we want to do it, and how that time is going to be wisely used. As premeds, I think a lot of is will be committed to studying to get that A in the class, but at the same time a lot of us do outside activities and just relax when needed.
i.e., I just skipped all my classes today just to give myself rest time after a vicious biochem midterm yesterday. Had no life studying maybe a week before that, but on a normal day, it's relatively not stressful.
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It's a balance. In my personal opinion, leisure time is just as important for getting into med school as studying. If I studied all the time, my barin would melt, and there would go all my hopes...I live by the philosophy, "Work hard, play hard." I do have leisure time, but I plan it into my schedule the same way I plan in my study time. As long as you don't consistently and haphazradly add hours of fun where hours of studying should be, you'll have room for plenty of leisure. There will be a week here and there when there is no time for leisure (I once had 5 finals in two days; one of them was orgo and another was cell...Sleep was my only playtime that week), but you'll suck it up and crash for a few days afterwards.
But that's just my experience. There are some people out there who really struggle with the material and can't pass science classes without studying all day every day. You'll know if you are that type of person after the first year, and can decide then if it is worth it to continue on as a pre-med or not.
But that's just my experience. There are some people out there who really struggle with the material and can't pass science classes without studying all day every day. You'll know if you are that type of person after the first year, and can decide then if it is worth it to continue on as a pre-med or not.
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Nah, but you do have to study more than in high school just due to the fact that you are not in class as long in college.
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You'll have plenty of time. College is awesome.
And if I had spent 3-4hrs/day studying in addition to classes during undergrad... well... let's just say I'd probably be a bit further along in my medical education
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When you first start college it seems like a lot. Then it gets easier to manage (2 months in). You'll have more than enough free time.
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Put your work in studying, but enjoy what college has to offer outside academics. When it's over, it's over.
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You will have free time assuming you are not OCD about memorizing every little fact about all your classes; even then you probably will have a bit of time to have fun.
Make the most of your undergraduate years, it's supposed to be easy compared to med school and not as time consuming.
Make the most of your undergraduate years, it's supposed to be easy compared to med school and not as time consuming.
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I had a ton of free time in undergrad... and so did most of my pre-med friends. But, I will say we were still a bit busier than most of our non pre-med friends and I definitely had to miss out on a couple of things because of studying.. but that's normal.
I had a few pre-med friends who majored in humanities such as Philosophy/Religion/Classics/etc.. They still took all the pre-med pre reqs but had a noticeably easier schedule because they weren't taking tons of tough science classes. However, if you do this you best make sure you perform well in all the med school pre-req courses because you will have nothing to off-set them.
I had a few pre-med friends who majored in humanities such as Philosophy/Religion/Classics/etc.. They still took all the pre-med pre reqs but had a noticeably easier schedule because they weren't taking tons of tough science classes. However, if you do this you best make sure you perform well in all the med school pre-req courses because you will have nothing to off-set them.
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Depends how well you, individually, absorb the material. Some people have to study for 3 hours a day to get a passing grade, others can sit in on lecture and show up on test day and ace it. For some people, concepts just come to them easier than others.
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To be honest, those pre-meds who tell you that they study all day (~6-8 hours) and have no free time are the dimwitted bunch who have trouble absorbing information, and really shouldn't be in medicine in the first place.
As a premed, I went to classes and studied an average of 2 hours a day. Had pretty much all day to do whatever I wanted.
As a premed, I went to classes and studied an average of 2 hours a day. Had pretty much all day to do whatever I wanted.
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I study around 2 hours a day probably 3-4 if I incorporate HW or if I am writing a lab report.
If it's a couple days before something like a ch1-12 Orgo test however, it can bump up to 6-8 hours a day.
If it's a couple days before something like a ch1-12 Orgo test however, it can bump up to 6-8 hours a day.
