Med School Schedule?

[plzhelpmeh]

I was wondering what the average weekly schedule is at medical school. (For both the first two academic years and the next to clinical rotation years).

At my college I take ~4 classes that meet three times a week for 1.5 hrs each (Total of 18 hours a week, or 3-4 hrs a day). Is this similar to classes the first two years of medical school? Or do the classes meet for longer? Also, what else do you do besides classes.

And are the clinical rotations basically working as different types of doctors from like 9-5 each day? Also, do you still have to study and go to lectures during those two years or is it all seeing patients and stuff?

If anyone wants to share a sample schedule that'd be useful too.

Thanks!

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[redpanda]

I was wondering what the average weekly schedule is at medical school. (For both the first two academic years and the next to clinical rotation years).

At my college I take ~4 classes that meet three times a week for 1.5 hrs each (Total of 18 hours a week, or 3-4 hrs a day). Is this similar to classes the first two years of medical school? Or do the classes meet for longer? Also, what else do you do besides classes.

And are the clinical rotations basically working as different types of doctors from like 9-5 each day? Also, do you still have to study and go to lectures during those two years or is it all seeing patients and stuff?

If anyone wants to share a sample schedule that'd be useful too.

Thanks!

At my program, the general MS1-MS2 schedule was 7-8 half days per week (half day = 3-4 hours) in some combination of lecture, small group, and the half day a week of clinical something. MS3 clerkships are generally not 9-5 unless it is specifically ambulatory and that involves mostly clinical time and some lecture time. Hours vary by clerkship and ranged from something along the lines of 4a-7p x 5 days/week plus a short Saturday on surgery to 9a-4p on psychiatry. In general, you will have to be around before 8 am (and sometimes much earlier) on most inpatient months.

 

[nemo123]

Adding on to @redpanda, at my school, we have classes from 8-1 everyday during our preclinical years (sometimes 8-12 or 8-11:30 if it's a lighter day) with a combination of lectures, PBL, and small groups. Occasionally, we just had exam days where we took an exam from 9-11 and that's all we had for the entire day. First semester, we had anatomy twice in the afternoons from 2-5 along with preceptorships 5 times throughout the course of the semester. Second semester was more free because we didn't have anatomy, but we continued to have preceptorships and we also moved onto doing the physical exam on patients (and learning the male and female GU exam which was trauma lol).

I haven't gotten to my clerkships yet, but I have heard from our upperclassmen that even on the same clerkships, hours are really dependent on which site your assigned to.

 

[NickNaylor]

In addition to classes, some courses involve labs that you may be required to participate in. Classes that typically requires labs include anatomy, microbiology, and pathology. Some schools (most I feel like, now) also include small group sessions outside of typical lectures which are generally required.

The specific schedule will vary from school to school and even course to course. As a general rule, though, medical school is usually 20+ "credit hours" if you use the system as applied to college credit hours. At my institution, a daily scheduled involved anything from 8-5 lectures 3 days/week to 9-12 lectures 5 days a week. There would also usually be labs/small groups/clinical skills teaching time outside of that.

The clerkship year is highly variable and depends on your specific rotation as well as the service you're rotating on within a clerkship. In general, outpatient services follow a typical 8-5 or 9-5 schedule, 5 days/week. Inpatient units are typically more demanding but again depend on the schedule. For more "intense" rotations, e.g., medicine and surgery, 10-12 hour days, 6 days/week were the norm (if not more). Keep in mind that you will also be studying during your clerkships; sometimes you're able to get work done while you're at the hospital, but if not you will likely need to do some studying at home. At my institution (and I imagine all institutions), there are didactics (lectures) included the clerkship schedule. For us, there was typically one day or one half-day of lecture each week. You would obviously be excused from clinical duties during that time.

 

[Goro]

Being able to use the search function is a critical skill for medical students. google, even more so:

http://medicine.yale.edu/education/rebuild/timelines/yearone.aspx

I was wondering what the average weekly schedule is at medical school. (For both the first two academic years and the next to clinical rotation years).

At my college I take ~4 classes that meet three times a week for 1.5 hrs each (Total of 18 hours a week, or 3-4 hrs a day). Is this similar to classes the first two years of medical school? Or do the classes meet for longer? Also, what else do you do besides classes.

And are the clinical rotations basically working as different types of doctors from like 9-5 each day? Also, do you still have to study and go to lectures during those two years or is it all seeing patients and stuff?

If anyone wants to share a sample schedule that'd be useful too.

Thanks!

 

[Affiche]

LOL @Goro, be nice!! The responses on here were helpful!

 

[mehc012]

LOL @Goro, be nice!! The responses on here were helpful!

Yup. There's always what the schedule says, and then what your day-to-day actually is, haha! I'd rather ask the students than the school websites!

 

[plzhelpmeh]

Well Goro, I wanted to get responses from actual med students, so that's why I asked on here. Thanks everyone for your responses!

Do people find it hard to study if there's like 8 hrs of new material in a day? How do you manage all that?