Medical School is like...

[Anxious Affect]

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Once/If you get into med school, you realize that there is a huge commodity on your time. You can no longer strap yourself down to several activities while scoring well in class. One of our deans told our class to cool it with volunteering early last year when I started as an MS1 and to only add on once we were able to keep our heads above water, which is great advice.

I'm all for wanting a compassionate physician, but I'll be damned if my physician isn't also competent and knows his/her stuff inside and out.

No definitely, I realize this is the case during medical school because of time constraints and to ensure that the material is learned well, because ultimately, the material no longer becomes a test, but someone's life. Thank you for the info🙂 I just mean that pre-meds shouldn't feel they are "checking boxes" and should want to do extracurricular activities and volunteering because they want to, not because they feel they have to. At least that was the case for me because I decided on medical school much later. But I do hope that after finishing medical school and residency/fellowship (if applicable), physicians continue to give back to their community.

 

[Psai]

Never understood why people bitchh about med school so much. The amount of material I've had to process thus far has made me so much sharper and just so much better in every other area of my life. I feel like a complete badass already (only year 2), can't wait until next year when I wear scrubs and white coat.

 

[NWwildcat2013]

Never understood why people bitchh about med school so much. The amount of material I've had to process thus far has made me so much sharper and just so much better in every other area of my life. I feel like a complete badass already (only year 2), can't wait until next year when I wear scrubs and white coat.

Just wait till MS3 you hardcore USMLE Navy Seal. Its an operation you are not prepared for and the rest of your life will fall apart and you will feel stupid every day. I felt like some sort of medical knowledge god at the end of MS2 until I stepped onto my first rotation and got curb stomped by the realization that everything I spent so much time learning doesn't really matter.

 

[coldcase331]

Just wait till MS3 you hardcore USMLE Navy Seal. Its an operation you are not prepared for and the rest of your life will fall apart and you will feel stupid every day. I felt like some sort of medical knowledge god at the end of MS2 until I stepped onto my first rotation and got curb stomped by the realization that everything I spent so much time learning doesn't really matter.

This right here is kinda what I've been hearing from all the physicians we get to talk to as M1's. They tell us to just get through the first two years and pass your boards, then you'll learn the pertinent information that will help you become a successful doctor. One of them even went as far to say as, "Unless you go into anesthesia, 90% of what you learned in biochem becomes completely useless."

 

[giantswing]

No definitely, I realize this is the case during medical school because of time constraints and to ensure that the material is learned well, because ultimately, the material no longer becomes a test, but someone's life. Thank you for the info🙂 I just mean that pre-meds shouldn't feel they are "checking boxes" and should want to do extracurricular activities and volunteering because they want to, not because they feel they have to. At least that was the case for me because I decided on medical school much later. But I do hope that after finishing medical school and residency/fellowship (if applicable), physicians continue to give back to their community.

LOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. Keep up that attitude studying and your mind will explode. For every test question you get wrong, a patient dies!!

 

[coldcase331]

LOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. Keep up that attitude studying and your mind will explode. For every test question you get wrong, a patient dies!!

I've had soooooooo many patients die on me then.....

 

[Zywie]

People complaining about med school, at least the first two years, have never done a job they've truly hated. I worked a desk job for a few years before I started school. Comparatively, med school is a breeze. I'll take the long days of studying and constantly being around friends over spending 10 hours a day 5 days a week staring at a computer doing mind numbing tasks, surrounded by people I don't like 10000000% of the time.

 

[Stagg737]

People complaining about med school, at least the first two years, have never done a job they've truly hated. I worked a desk job for a few years before I started school. Comparatively, med school is a breeze. I'll take the long days of studying and constantly being around friends over spending 10 hours a day 5 days a week staring at a computer doing mind numbing tasks, surrounded by people I don't like 10000000% of the time.

Semi-agree, except I think the first two years were far worse than clinicals. Rotations are more time consuming and there is some scut work, but I feel like I'm actually doing something somewhat relevant to my career instead of memorizing minutiae I don't care about.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Im glad that the boards count more than anything else. Thats the way it should be, a meritocracy. It's bad enough that the current system makes premeds check a bunch of extraneous boxes, like """"research""""", which is actually just washing glassware like a lab monkey 90% of the time...or volunteering that they would have never done if they werent applying to med school...its laughable. No other country cares about this extraneous crap when deciding who gets to study medicine. I love standardized tests. Its an objective way to cut through all the bull**** "filler" stuff and expose what people are truly made of. Dont blame the system just because it didnt work in your favor. You had the opportunity to work harder in your board prep. Instead of taking on tons of research projects and being hellbent on racking up publications, maybe you should have been memorizing First Aid.

I would say though that a true meritocracy would consider things other than step 1. There's quite a bit of merit in things like research and leadership positions IMO. It shows you're not a study monkey and can think critically/interact with others. I'd imagine those are valuable qualities to see in a resident...but hell if I know, I'm just an m1.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Semi related - a surgeon I used to work for would tell people that "Surgeon is just Latin for very, very good plumber"

 

[Psai]

Semi related - a surgeon I used to work for would tell people that "Surgeon is just Latin for very, very good plumber"

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