med school isn't as hard as you think it is!! well for most of you

[geldrop]

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These posts like "i live 20 minutes won't see my bf" or "my gf will be a distraction" gimme a break. Medical school isn't THAT time consuming. I would bet money I spend less time studying in medical school than I did for my engineering courses.

Every school I have visited, you will hear people say how they have plenty of time, and the several students I know in medical school have plenty of time. Its just a handful of classes that take up a lot of time, and rotations can be time consuming depending on what you choose.

Stuff is usually a lot easier than you imagine, at least thats the way it is for me.

 

[Maple]

Well, now... that's a load of my mind! I'll sleep much better tonight! thank you gel drop for putting some of us at ease! you dummies out there though (who didn't choose to major in engineering) be afraid....be very afraid. Med school won't be as easy for you as it will be for geldrop.🙄

ok...feeling better now.. 🙂 hated to be so sarcastic..but this post just rubbed me the wrong way instantly. flame away everyone!😀 I won't mind! 😎

 

[VienneseWaltz]

Actually, for some schools (for the first year), geldrop has a point. One MS-I at Hopkins said it was almost embarassing how little work they had to do first year. Students at Wash U and Case Western told me the same thing. I have gotten the same impression from a lot of schools, especially the more progressive schools, which are paring the curriculum down to the basics (realizing how pointless it is to try to teach everything, much of which will be outdated by the time we graduate). MS-II and III, on the other hand, is a completely different story ...

 

[UCLAMAN]

Geldrop has a point. S/He wasn't trying to get up on the high and mighty horse IMO. I think the point was that these posts about "oh my god...my boyfriend will be 1 min away but i am going to medical school. oh my god it is the end of the world." seem to be a little misconceived about medical school. The first 2 years aren't impossible. I agree, everywhere I have been to medical students HAVE LIVES outside of medical school during the first 2 years. Years 3 and 4 do get hairy, especially depending on the rotation.

But the main idea IMO was that some people seem to think that medical school is a 24hour 7 day a week thing that leaves no room for a life and is so extremely difficult. But geldrops point was that this isn't so necessarily.

Geldrop is correct about stuff being easier han we imagine. Do you remember when you went form the 6th grade to jr high? Everyone would say that jr high was killer. Same thing from jr high to high school. Oh my god, high school is killer. All of you experienced it from high school to college, yet you all did very well and are accepted into medical school. People would tell me that ucla was soooo hard and that classes were sooo large and it was sooo difficult to get A's. Well classes were never so large that it was a problem and it was never "sooo difficult" and I did get A's. (No...i'm not saying i'm a genius) I'm just saying that as difficult as things were always described to be we have always gotten through and they were never as difficult as initially described to us.

Geldrop makes a very very good point IMO.

 

[memoryless]

I sat next to a girl who was in med school at UCSF on an airplane awhile ago, and we naturally got onto the topic of med school. In a nutshell, she said it's really not as hard as it's hyped up to be, although still very intellectually-challenging, nor as time-consuming. Of course, I didn't study much in college (not that I'm a slacker.. I just studied enough to get the A), so I know it's still going to be a shock for me. But still, that was reassuring to hear.

 

[Maple]

I did see (and agree with) geldrop's point about med school being doable...and come to think of it..I haven't yet seen a malicious post by him/her...so I must've read too much into it. sorry gel drop! Please excuse my mean reply...I must be going through chocolate withdrawal!😀

 

[lotanna]

Well everyone will find it different, some will see as hard, others will find really easy or ok. Plus take into fact that some schls have pass/fail as opposed to grades thus making it easier or rather less competitive.

 

[What the pho]

I?m trying to figure out if you guys are just naturally smart or just a bunch of smart asses.

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by UCLAMAN
Geldrop has a point. S/He wasn't trying to get up on the high
Geldrop is correct about stuff being easier han we imagine. Do you remember when you went form the 6th grade to jr high?

I know exactly what you mean. When I took general chemistry, I thought that was hard. Then I took organic chemistry and I thought that was hard. So by the time I took physical chemistry I didn't think that was hard.............that was F*king hard!!!!

I guess I'm looking at medical school as a job with 10 hour days in the first 2 years followed by some "call" in the last two years!!!!

 

[lotanna]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
I know exactly what you mean. When I took general chemistry, I thought that was hard. Then I took organic chemistry and I thought that was hard. So by the time I took physical chemistry I didn't think that was hard.............that was F*king hard!!!!

I guess I'm looking at medical school as a job with 10 hour days in the first 2 years followed by some "call" in the last two years!!!!

LOL, that was mad funny!!!!!!!

 

[banannie]

while reading medical school evaluations written by alumni of my undergrad, i was struck by the fact that virtually all of the humanities/social science majors were surprised by how much easier and more manageable medical school was than they thought it would be. meanwhile, most of the bio, biochem, and other science majors used phrases like "tough but manageable" and tended to use adjectives that made medical school sound difficult. no, this wasn't due to a difference in the schools these 2 groups of people attended.

it could be partially a difference in expectation: humanities majors might think they're getting in over their head and are pleasantly surprised when they do well. the science majors on the other hand expect to go into medical school and breeze right through just because they think they've learned it all before.

anyway, just wanted to get out a word of warning to all the hard-core science majors. it's sometimes more difficult to re-learn something you already learned before, especially if it's taught in a different way. so don't count on med school being easy just because you think you're a biology god/goddess.

oh, and p.s. med school is a completely different kind of difficult than engineering. engineers are generally pretty memorization-adverse, while med school is very much about memorization. but i'm sure you know this already.

 

[Brewster]

Med school (the preclinical years) is definitely about memorization. It is quantity, not quality, that makes it challenging. There is very little that you learn in the first two years of medical school that is conceptually difficult. There is just a lot of it. But, don't worry, it is definitely doable.

I also agree that hard-score science majors should not expect to have an easier time than everyone else (I was a chem major myself). You take things like biochem, microbiology, and physiology during the first year, but most everything else is going to be new to everyone, science major or nonscience major.

 

[geldrop]

While I don't expect it being to difficult, the memorization is scary for me, given that I have never really had to do much of that, it was more thinking through stuff rather than memorization. But thats the way i did it with the MCAT, and it turned out ok. I think your better off UNDERSTANDING than memorizing.

For example, drug names, why not understand where the name is derived from or the chemical structure gives hints at it. Although if they make you memorize the commercial names thats just memorization, and the names of the body parts mostly follow latin roots.

But in the end, yes memorization will be a big part. While memorization is not difficult, its a pain in the butt and requires lots of time with little use of the brain.

 

[VienneseWaltz]

I think you'll be OK, geldrop. It is a lot of memorization, but memorization is so much easier if you understand it. Biochem was a lot of memorization, but compare the grades of someone who approached it with rote memorization versus someone who saw the big picture and paid attention to word roots. The latter person did much less work and got a much better grade. One place we might run into trouble, though, is the occasional body part or enzyme or disease mis-named with an otherwise sensible Greek or Latin root (because the person who named it thought it was something else) ... 🙄

 

[Brewster]

You are right, geldrop, I suppose I should rework what I posted before. The point I was trying to make was about quantity vs. quality. I should not have been so emphatic about memorization.

It is definitely better the understand what is going on than the just memorize it. I was trying to make the point that the stuff there is to understand is not nearly as complex as upper level undergrad coursework.

For instance, you are much better off understanding phsysiology. And if you grasp it conceptually the first time around, it makes learning pathophysiology much easier.

Anatomy, I would argue, is more memorization. You can gain some information from latin roots, etc, but when it comes down to it, you just have to memorize that the internal jugular vein lies lateral to the carotid artery, and so on...

So, the take home message I would like to leave with people is that once you are there, med school is not all that bad. Work hard, figure out what courses are best to approach with "understanding" and what courses are best to approach with "memorization." You will be fine.

 

[irlandesa]

this should make those of you who weren't spectacularly unique applicants feel better. I am currently a second year at an allopathic US school with a good reputation (but not top 25), <30 MCAT, state school (not a UC or U Mich or UVA or UNC) graduate, biology major (though took a good number of Spanish and humanities courses), and to boot taken off the WL! And I am doing just fine in med school with a few honors and the rest passes (H/P/F system) under my belt. Except for the semester that we took Anatomy and Physiology concurrently for the whole term, I can honestly say that med school has been much more manageable than I expected. I have plenty of time to exercise and this year have yet to pull an all-nighter even though I can be the cramming type.. 6-9 hours/night of sleep is most definitely possible if you keep even a little bit on top of the material. our first semester of med school was easy for most (no anatomy) and everyone had time to hang out. 2nd year is a lot more fun than first b/c the material becomes more clinically relevant and you get to apply it to patients you see if your school is good about early contact with real patients.

Although I am woefully ignorant of Latin roots, I do agree that certain parts of a drug name clue you to what it does. e.g. -azepram=benzodiazepines=anti-anxiety drugs + mild sedation, -prazole=drug to decrease stomach acidity for purpose of treating either reflux or as part of ulcer therapy, mycin=antibiotic (though other names of antibiotics are of course common), cycline=antibiotic of tetracycline class.. I could go on and on.. good luck!

 

[Jalby]

I agree with Geldrop. Med school isn't as hard as everyone thinks it is. It is like taking 30 quarter units of easy science classes. If you can keep up, it isn't a problem at all.

I personally believe that how well you do on the MCAT's really will tell you how well you will do in med school. The people I know who are having problems here either have person problems at home (Girlfriend breaking up, etc) or took a very light course load in college and arn't used to the amount of material.

(I know one person who used to record every lecture in college and listen to it twice and tried that in med school. 12 hours a day of lecture. Another person tried to recopy all of the notes. He was 2.5 weeks behind after 3 weeks.)

So my biggest piece of advice, be prepared for a TON of easy stuff.

 

[Meridian]

Originally posted by VienneseWaltz
One place we might run into trouble, though, is the occasional body part or enzyme or disease mis-named with an otherwise sensible Greek or Latin root (because the person who named it thought it was something else) ... 🙄

latin and greek roots are pretty accurate.. can you give me an example of a mis named term? i'd like to solve it

 

[kito]

the had part is getting in.

 

[VienneseWaltz]

Originally posted by Meridian
latin and greek roots are pretty accurate.. can you give me an example of a mis named term? i'd like to solve it

The roots themselves are fine--it's the people who aren't always accurate. Sorry, I don't remember the example, but a friend in med school was telling me that relying on the Greek/Latin roots can be misleading occasionally. He was telling me about some disease that was thought to be related to/caused by one thing, so was named accordingly, and later was found out to be unrelated to what its name implied, but the name stuck. I don't think it happens very often.

 

[womansurg]

For me, I was able to put in a modest amount of effort and still pass or do about class average, which I did during my first year when I was dealing with my dad's cancer. After Dad died, when I decided to bucke down and do well, I found that it became expotentially harder to climb up the rank ladder. I busted my ass to make it into the top 90th; beyond that it was just a phenomenal effort. When you are competing against brilliant, talented folks who have a mission, it's damned hard to beat their best.

 

[Street Philosopher]

All you need to do to get to the top is to introduce the people above you to Everquest.

 

[Jalby]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
All you need to do to get to the top is to introduce the people above you to Everquest.

Or Warcraft in my case.

 

[moops]

womansurg- damn good work there. congradulations.

sincerely
moops

 

[irlandesa]

ok, I hoped my previous message would be helpful, but once again I have been proven terribly wrong. I don't need to justify myself to anyone on a random message board, however, I will say that my school does NOT rank students for the first 2 years and that is why I am trying to relax and have as much of a life as possible. But heck, if it makes you feel better to think of "average" people as lame and not belonging in medicine, you can tell yourself that all you want..🙄

 

[Dr Chooch]

Originally posted by irlandesa
ok, I hoped my previous message would be helpful, but once again I have been proven terribly wrong. I don't need to justify myself to anyone on a random message board, however, I will say that my school does NOT rank students for the first 2 years and that is why I am trying to relax and have as much of a life as possible. But heck, if it makes you feel better to think of "average" people as lame and not belonging in medicine, you can tell yourself that all you want..🙄

If you are referring to womansurg's comments, I think you are taking it wrong. I think she was being very humble by acknowledging the talent of her classmates. I don't think anyone on this board thinks med students are lame if they get the class average. That wasn't even hinted at, and is definitely not the belief that I hold. Trust me, we all respect you for having a life outside of school, I know I won't be studying 24/7 next year. 🙂

 

[UCLA2000]

Nobody said that med school was incredibly difficult. It's just VERY time consuming. Geldrop I think that MAYBE you'll be a lil suprised once you see how much work there really is.

 

[womansurg]

Originally posted by irlandesa
ok, I hoped my previous message would be helpful, but once again I have been proven terribly wrong. I don't need to justify myself to anyone on a random message board, however, I will say that my school does NOT rank students for the first 2 years and that is why I am trying to relax and have as much of a life as possible. But heck, if it makes you feel better to think of "average" people as lame and not belonging in medicine, you can tell yourself that all you want..🙄

???

Did someone erase a post or something? I can't relate your comments to any of the previous posts...

 

[VienneseWaltz]

I'm not clear on irlandesa's post, either. My understanding of womansurg's post is that with reasonable effort, you can hold your own, but disproportionately more effort is required to be at the top of the class. My friends in law school tell me it's the same way--once you get beyond the middle of the pack, you have to exert enormous effort just to move up a place or two in rank (meaning that many find it's just not worth it to gun for the top spot). I think womansurg was indicating that, for people who are happy to be near the median, the workload is reasonable, but those who have to be in the top 5 or 10% should be prepared for a LOT of work. Am I missing something?

 

[Desdemona]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
All you need to do to get to the top is to introduce the people above you to Everquest.

Or Snood.

 

[What the pho]

I know this bad azz who did some time in juvenile hall, where he was the shot caller, when he got older he got sent to Pelican Bay (the toughest prison in Calif), there he got his fudge packed. Point being you just might be a bad azz now but when around a bunch of other bad azzes, you just might be another byyootch. Yes rote memorization isn?t as difficult as say p-chem or calculus based phsyics, but it just a pain when they give you so much of it all at once. Drinking water isn?t to difficult, it?s just harder to manage when coming out full pressure out a fire hose.

 

[edfig99]

meds school is only as hard as you want to make it to be for yourself. also the type of curriculum and your learning style also play a role.

i went to a pbl based school, h/p/f system, unranked class...with my sole goal of passing, and having fun. 1st and 2nd year classes were from 8am to 1pm, and i refused to work friday afternoons, saturdays and sundays. watched tons of tv. did tons of extracurriculars and organized at least 3 major conferences/yr for all 4 years. no spoon feeding in my curriculum, yet i refused to do the rote memorization thing if i could've avoided it...it worked for me...i had my goals and i easily met them. i really never found it hard. i won't say it was easy either...just something else that had to be done to get to where i wanted to be.

some of my classmates needed a lecture based curriculum, but came to my school anyway. they had to work a little harder, spent a lot of time doing school related stuff...but they were happy, doing what they were doing....more power to them.

you get as much as you put into it... but ya gotta have fun doin' it.

 

[smgilles]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
All you need to do to get to the top is to introduce the people above you to Everquest.

I refer to it as Evercrack!

 

[carrigallen]

hey, I'm going to be happy if I get the class average. almost everyone is going to be insanely smart and hardworking. it's not like I got in the top 15% in science classes in undergrad, so I have no chance now.