Med School Attendence

[grapp]

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I saw this from a post a really long time ago about studying time for medical students....

"I listen to lectures at 2x speed instead of going to class. So I sleep until 9ish, get up and listen to the lectures and I'm done by lunch. Then I take a break and study a couple hours in the afternoon. Done for the day by 2 or 3- when my classmates are still in class.

I highly recommend this method if you have the discipline to stay on task and you like lots of free time. 😀"

Do people actually do this? 😀
Or, is attendance mandatory at most medical schools?

I like the concept, but it seems unlikely? Maybe?
Thanks for any input, I'm curious.

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

I would say many people do this, if not the majority. Most schools do not have required attendance at lecture.


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[grapp]

I would say many people do this, if not the majority. Most schools do not have required attendance at lecture.


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🙂 Good to hear, thanks future doc. 😉

 

[sharpstickie]

🙂 Good to hear, thanks future doc. 😉

At the school that I'll be attending, attendance isn't required. Ideally, I'd like to think that I'll go to every lecture but who knows? I really like to gain relationships with teachers and if almost no one goes to lectures, it gives me more opportunities.

 

[Buddy.the.Elf]

I saw this from a post a really long time ago about studying time for medical students....

"I listen to lectures at 2x speed instead of going to class. So I sleep until 9ish, get up and listen to the lectures and I'm done by lunch. Then I take a break and study a couple hours in the afternoon. Done for the day by 2 or 3- when my classmates are still in class.

I highly recommend this method if you have the discipline to stay on task and you like lots of free time. 😀"

Do people actually do this? 😀
Or, is attendance mandatory at most medical schools?

I like the concept, but it seems unlikely? Maybe?
Thanks for any input, I'm curious.

The majority of people at my school don't attend lecture regularly. Maybe 20-30 students do. There are a fair amount of required sessions every week though. For us, that's case based learned, group learning, and our doctoring class. Anatomy and histo are not required, but most people go to most of them. I don't go to lecture, and I don't podcast every lecture. If I can get what I need out of the notes, I just move on to the next lecture. It works for me.

 

[Hangry]

Ideally, I'd like to think that I'll go to every lecture but who knows? I really like to gain relationships with teachers and if almost no one goes to lectures, it gives me more opportunities.

I kid, I kid. Most of us went into medical school with a mindset somewhat like yours. I couldn't imagine "gasp" missing a lecture?? when I was an undergrad. After a few weeks I was a vehement 2x from home person and never looked back. Something that might put things in perspective: are you willing to trade (assuming your school has 4 hr/day of lecture, which is fairly typical) literally 2 ENTIRE HOURS, 5 days every week in exchange for nebulous "relationships with teachers" who typically are PhDs, often worse teachers than the excellent study materials available out there (looking at you, Pathoma), and who won't be good people to write you letters down the line. Those extra hours could be used for extra studying to reinforce the material you already learned, research to improve your chances in a specific field, or for literally anything else (hobbies, significant other time, cooking, exercising, netflix) and they add up: 10 hrs a week, 40 hrs a month....and remember this is with getting through the same amount of lecture material. This is your last chance to be a pure student with a completely flexible schedule, use it wisely.

 

[sharpstickie]

I kid, I kid. Most of us went into medical school with a mindset somewhat like yours. I couldn't imagine "gasp" missing a lecture?? when I was an undergrad. After a few weeks I was a vehement 2x from home person and never looked back. Something that might put things in perspective: are you willing to trade (assuming your school has 4 hr/day of lecture, which is fairly typical) literally 2 ENTIRE HOURS, 5 days every week in exchange for nebulous "relationships with teachers" who typically are PhDs, often worse teachers than the excellent study materials available out there (looking at you, Pathoma), and who won't be good people to write you letters down the line. Those extra hours could be used for extra studying to reinforce the material you already learned, research to improve your chances in a specific field, or for literally anything else (hobbies, significant other time, cooking, exercising, netflix) and they add up: 10 hrs a week, 40 hrs a month....and remember this is with getting through the same amount of lecture material. This is your last chance to be a pure student with a completely flexible schedule, use it wisely.

Well crap. Foiled again.

 

[deleted407021]

I'm the goober who attends all the lectures. Interested to see how I'll adapt to med school.

 

[grapp]

I'm the goober who attends all the lectures. Interested to see how I'll adapt to med school.

Don't feel bad... I attend all of my lectures for the most part too... Might be nice on 1.25x speed or 2.00x if it's understandable at home.

 

[sharpstickie]

I'm the goober who attends all the lectures. Interested to see how I'll adapt to med school.

Same. We'll have to see what happens though.

 

[Derivations]

I think there's still a hardcore bunch of around 20 or so students out of the 250 in my MS2 class that go to every lecture (I am not one of those 20), to give you some perspective. We are about 3 months out from boards though so that certainly isn't helping attendance.

 

[deleted407021]

Do professors ever get upset that only a handful of people attend their lectures?

 

[GoodWillShunting]

Personally, I never attend lecture. I watch from home, 2x speed, and spend the rest of my time doing research, having more time for a social life, and hobbies, etc. It's common for students to feel guilty about not physically being in lecture. However, you've gotta understand that the point of this all is to learn the material, by hook or by crook. If you are more comfortable/efficient doing it from home, then it is your responsibility to do it that way.

In fact, learning material in ways other than that in which you would maximize your learning experience (if given option class vs no class) could be considered malpractice 🙂 Only kidding- BUT, you should learn whichever way best suits YOU. You'll have classmates who attend every lecture and read 2 extra textbooks outside of class. That does NOT mean you are doomed if you don't follow suit.

I'd like to add, however (in order to create a balanced post...) that common reasons for people attending lecture include, but are not limited to: seeing friends/classmates; getting out of the house; prevents them from procrastinating at home; etc.

 

[Derivations]

Do professors ever get upset that only a handful of people attend their lectures?

Yeah some of them do get bitter about it. We've had professors threaten not to do reviews for exams when no one was showing up and last year there were a handful of professors who flat out refused to have their lectures recorded.

 

[DrDarce]

Downloaded the video speed controller on google chrome. Allows you to go faster than 2x. Certain teachers I could 2.5x it. It's pretty nice, a 50 minute lecture turns out to be 20 minutes. Of course when I go talk to professors in real life I'm always wondering why the hell they talk so slow

 

[grapp]

Personally, I never attend lecture. I watch from home, 2x speed, and spend the rest of my time doing research, having more time for a social life, and hobbies, etc. It's common for students to feel guilty about not physically being in lecture. However, you've gotta understand that the point of this all is to learn the material, by hook or by crook. If you are more comfortable/efficient doing it from home, then it is your responsibility to do it that way.

In fact, learning material in ways other than that in which you would maximize your learning experience (if given option class vs no class) could be considered malpractice 🙂 Only kidding- BUT, you should learn whichever way best suits YOU. You'll have classmates who attend every lecture and read 2 extra textbooks outside of class. That does NOT mean you are doomed if you don't follow suit.

I'd like to add, however (in order to create a balanced post...) that common reasons for people attending lecture include, but are not limited to: seeing friends/classmates; getting out of the house; prevents them from procrastinating at home; etc.

Completely agree with your logic.... Lol, it would probably force me to be responsible because I want to have a social life. xD

 

[grapp]

Downloaded the video speed controller on google chrome. Allows you to go faster than 2x. Certain teachers I could 2.5x it. It's pretty nice, a 50 minute lecture turns out to be 20 minutes. Of course when I go talk to professors in real life I'm always wondering why the hell they talk so slow

LOL! 🙂

 

[FindMeOnTheLinks]

Do professors ever get upset that only a handful of people attend their lectures?

Sometimes they comment but there's really nothing they can do about it. For one of our evidence based medicine lectures only 5 people showed up out of 180 (I think it was the week before finals week). Professor took it in stride with no hurt feelings but did send out an email asking people to attend lecture the following week, and I guess 80ish people showed up for that one.


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[NYCdude]

I don't go to class and don't even bother watching the lecture even most times. The notes are usually good enough and if they aren't, you can just google anything.

I have almost twice as much free time as the people who go to class.

 

[DrDarce]

I don't go to class and don't even bother watching the lecture even most times. The notes are usually good enough and if they aren't, you can just google anything.

I have almost twice as much free time as the people who go to class.

one of my good friends does that and he consistently gets top scores on the exams. I could never pull it off, I need to watch the lectures to make sure I don't miss anything.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I would say like 40-50% of my class does this consistently. Attendance is rarely mandatory (only for quizzes and stuff) here.

 

[Ace Khalifa]

I'm so happy I go to a school with non-mandatory recorded lectures. I only go to class if it's mandatory or if I know the lecturer for that class is one of the good ones. But yeah don't feel like you have to go to class and don't feel like you have to watch lectures at 2x at home. Do what works best for you.

 

[LostinLift]

First year - 90% attended class (of 130 students)
Halfway first year - 75%
End of first year 50%
Start of second year 60%
Halfway 2nd year 25%
Last month of lectures 2-6 people

 

[operaman]

First year - 90% attended class (of 130 students)
Halfway first year - 75%
End of first year 50%
Start of second year 60%
Halfway 2nd year 25%
Last month of lectures 2-6 people

This. Everyone starts out going to class, and then they peel off as they find what works best for them. The reality is that technology has made the traditional lecture as the most efficient and effective means of delivering information to a group of people rather obsolete. This has also happened rather fast so schools and professors are still catching up to the new reality.

You'll have some mandatory activities, and in most cases 'mandatory' means 'not really testable.' Every time you read a story in the mainstream press maligning doctors and saying that, "medical students need to be taught more about XYZ," then abracadabra -- another mandatory activity.

 

[Stagg737]

I'm the goober who attends all the lectures. Interested to see how I'll adapt to med school.

I was the same in undergrad and probably the first 3/4 of MS1. Then our professors started doing question based learning and didn't really have slides, so I stopped going once I got a new system down. Everyone's different though. Some people need the structure, others do better using independent resources. Try to figure out your learning style early and use it.

 

[Goro]

I'd say about 75% of my students do this!!!

We get a core of 25% who have to hear the material, not merely watch it, or they get something from the live interaction that digital fails to make stick.

You have to find the right learning style for you. Some people get too distracted at home and can't learn there. Others may have living environments (like living at home) that are not conducive to learning.

Lecture attendance is mandatory at LECOM, for one.

At my school, labs and TBL/PBL exercises are mandatory.

I saw this from a post a really long time ago about studying time for medical students....

"I listen to lectures at 2x speed instead of going to class. So I sleep until 9ish, get up and listen to the lectures and I'm done by lunch. Then I take a break and study a couple hours in the afternoon. Done for the day by 2 or 3- when my classmates are still in class.

I highly recommend this method if you have the discipline to stay on task and you like lots of free time. 😀"

Do people actually do this? 😀
Or, is attendance mandatory at most medical schools?

I like the concept, but it seems unlikely? Maybe?
Thanks for any input, I'm curious.

 

[grapp]

I'd say about 75% of my students do this!!!

We get a core of 25% who have to hear the material, not merely watch it, or they get something from the live interaction that digital fails to make stick.

You have to find the right learning style for you. Some people get too distracted at home and can't learn there. Others may have living environments (like living at home) that are not conducive to learning.

Lecture attendance is mandatory at LECOM, for one.

At my school, labs and TBL/PBL exercises are mandatory.

Good to know Goro! I appreciate your opinion. Thank you!

 

[AlteredScale]

Do professors ever get upset that only a handful of people attend their lectures?

We've had lectures not posted because there was crappy attendance. Everyone just shrugs it off.

I used to attend every single day but now, I'll be there only because I have lab or because there's an event that's serving free food.

 

[Ismet]

Do professors ever get upset that only a handful of people attend their lectures?

Yes. Most are perfectly fine with it and even say, "hello to all the listeners at home!" There's been a couple instances of the prof turning off the podcast, but that gets rectified.

 

[NoRagrets]

Attendence

Finally! 😉

 

[Bones 2020]

My parents think I'm going to fail out of med school when I tell them I do not plan on attending lectures lol. They think I'm actually nuts

 

[medstar11]

My parents think I'm going to fail out of med school when I tell them I do not plan on attending lectures lol. They think I'm actually nuts

My parents think the same thing!

 

[DrDarce]

My parents think I'm going to fail out of med school when I tell them I do not plan on attending lectures lol. They think I'm actually nuts

My parents came to visit me and thought I was slacking so hard when I just pulled up the recordings from online

 

[MedNation907]

I prefer being there in real-time, but only if the professor is good. I'm not sure why but I just don't like listening on recordings. So if I decide to skip class, then I only read the slides and call it quits. I only check the recordings for clarifications, never to just listen to a lecture.

And for those that say professors get mad, and that students feel like they're slacking.. it's the same thing just cut differently.
Professors are still teaching the students at home, their efforts aren't for nothing so they shouldn't be butt hurt and the students are still listening to the lecture, just at a faster rate so they shouldn't feel like slackers. Idk, just an interesting thought.

 

[kmp0410]

If I had to go to lecture I would hate med school, spend twice the time studying, make worse grades and be a be a generally unhappier person. I could go on and on about how much better watching recorded lectures is (for me).

Also attending lecture in undergrad =/= attending lecture in med school.

The learning is just different, and atleast when I was in undergrad, lecture's weren't recorded. So you were reduced to reading from the book and combining it with posted power points. I would recommend attending lecture in undergrad, whereas I think its inefficient to attend lecture in med school. With some room for wiggle based on how you learn.

 

[jqueb29]

About 40 people in my 160+ person class attend a typical lecture. Unless you genuinely learn better by going to class, all you're doing by attending class is wasting time.

 

[sinombre]

At least half of my class went to lecture regularly. I podcasted everything, and probably attended fewer than 10 lectures in the first 2 years. We had a decent number of mandatory activities/labs though.

 

[sinombre]

Also during the first week of my first rotation of 3rd year I got called out pretty hard for not going to lecture. The attending whose service I was on gave probably 15-20 lectures to my class during second year, and he realized he'd never seen me before (I go to a small school). I still ended up doing well, but it's never easy to undo a bad first impression.

 

[cyanide12345678]

About 75% of my class fell into the streamers category.

I almost never attended college classes if I didn't need to. I attended a week of med school classes in total. Streaming is a lot more efficient. You work at your own pace. I woke up 5 pm everyday, slept at 8 or so am. You can rewind when you don't understand anything. I was usually between 1.6 - 1.8x for most speakers. Usually it took me the same amount of time to do a lecture because of the number of times I'd rewind to hear something again or just pause to read slides to understand and learn whats going on. But all in all, everyone finds what works for them. This obviously was what worked for me. I'm not a morning person. Never will be.

 

[Ismet]

Moving to pre-allo as OP is pre-med and this question/thread benefits future med students rather than those of us who are stuck with whatever system our school has in place 😉

 

[Verity]

Curious: is it rare, then, for students to ask questions/to ask to go further into depth on a certain topic during lecture?

 

[claduva94]

Curious: is it rare, then, for students to ask questions/to ask to go further into depth on a certain topic during lecture?

Normally those that go are the committed ones that have that covered 😉

 

[jqueb29]

Curious: is it rare, then, for students to ask questions/to ask to go further into depth on a certain topic during lecture?

Yes. They usually go into what seems like too much detail without further questioning.

 

[MedNation907]

Usually it took me the same amount of time to do a lecture because of the number of times I'd rewind to hear something again or just pause to read slides to understand and learn whats going on.

This is basically why I like being in lecture. I get so caught up with the details of new material that sometimes pure recordings can take me longer to get through than if I just attended the lecture. When I'm there I take notes on my computer and I'm forced to stick pace, so that when the day is over I just review my notes and I'm usually done by 4-5pm. I enjoy my early morning workouts before class, the pre-workout keeps me hyper focused during lecture lol then between lectures and/or during lunch I can spend time with people versus just my smelly dog and Netflix. I just get more done.

And what's interesting is when I'm reviewing for an exam or something I am the complete opposite. I stay in my apartment all day. So it must just be the fact that every-day lecture brings new material, in which my first-pass is best spend in real-time. I've never evaluated this about myself....

 

[cyanide12345678]

This is basically why I like being in lecture. I get so caught up with the details of new material that sometimes pure recordings can take me longer to get through than if I just attended the lecture.

Having done both, gone to actual lectures and done streaming, I can say for a fact that although the streaming takes as much time as the lectures (even if done at 1.8x speed), but once I would be done streaming, I'd know the entire lecture very well because I'd have read the slides, paused and rewinded whenever I needed to. I'd probably learn 30-40% of the material by sitting through a lecture. Anyway, everyone is different and each individual has his/her own study style. There is no single correct way to go throguh medical school.

 

[Udreamin]

I'm actually ecstatic to hear that the first 2 years of medical school can be watched from home using sped-up lectures. If quizzes, exams, and group lecture projects are all the attendance I need to worry about, it sounds like a 2 year vacation to getting your MD/DO.

Please tell me it's not this simple. All lecture professors in my undergrad brutally punish you for skipping lecture with 10% of your grade (clicker questions).

 

[frosted_flake]

I'm actually ecstatic to hear that the first 2 years of medical school can be watched from home using sped-up lectures. If quizzes, exams, and group lecture projects are all the attendance I need to worry about, it sounds like a 2 year vacation to getting your MD/DO.

Please tell me it's not this simple. All lecture professors in my undergrad brutally punish you for skipping lecture with 10% of your grade (clicker questions).

That is my biggest pet peeve about professors. If I am in a 4XX level biology class, WHY in the HECK is 10-15% of my grade depend on me showing up when I can get the same amount of material covered on my own in 1/4 of the time -_-

 

[Derivations]

it sounds like a 2 year vacation to getting your MD/DO.

 

[mcloaf]

If quizzes, exams, and group lecture projects are all the attendance I need to worry about, it sounds like a 2 year vacation to getting your MD/DO.

 

[Lucca]

I'm stealing this and using it for everything