Medical School Vs. Upper Level Undergrad...

[spreebee]

For you medical students out there that have experienced this phenomenon, are upper level grad level courses that can be taken by undergrads like medical microbiology with lab and neurophysiology on par with a medical schools med micro or neurophys class? Reason being, I noticed medical students at IU are allowed to take their first 2 years of schooling at undergrad branches around the state to learn their basic sciences. What are you opinions on this...

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[bairde]

as an MSII, I have to say that no matter what level courses I was taking (took graduate level toxicology and was first in the class, even though I was a 4th yr undergrad), none of my undergrad courses hold a candle to my med school courses - doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, just that in my experience they are definitely not comparable

 

[Happy2BOB]

none of my undergrad courses hold a candle to my med school courses - doesn't mean that it doesn't exist, just that in my experience they are definitely not comparable

Ditto.....I took a few grad-level courses in undergrad that were supposed to be comparable to med school courses. However, when I got to med school it became obvious that they weren't even close to one another in difficulty.

 

[Ashers]

The only classes that really helped me in med school were my grad-level immunology for the immuno-section of micro (3 weeks) and my endocrine physiology class (undergrad level) (3-4 weeks in phys).

Both of those classes had essay exams and required a lot more detail than was needed in the sections for my med school classes. They were both electives, and I chose to take them because I enjoyed the topics.

 

[Tired Pigeon]

I have actually found med school science course material to be somewhat easier than my upper level undergrad stuff. However, the volume of material is much greater. In med school we cover in a couple of weeks what was covered in a semester-long undergrad course. Plus, you've got X number of other equally demanding classes moving along at the same breakneck pace. I think that's the biggest difference.

 

[Auron]

I have actually found med school science course material to be somewhat easier than my upper level undergrad stuff. However, the volume of material is much greater. In med school we cover in a couple of weeks what was covered in a semester-long undergrad course. Plus, you've got X number of other equally demanding classes moving along at the same breakneck pace. I think that's the biggest difference.

I can see why block schedules are so desired, It sounds awesome to be able to take one class at a time.

 

[Critical Mass]

Reason being, I noticed medical students at IU are allowed to take their first 2 years of schooling at undergrad branches around the state to learn their basic sciences. What are you opinions on this...

If I can save money on the tuition, great! My lectures are usually worthless anyway. Give me a set of board review books and leave me alone for two years. I bet I'd do better without all of the interruptions.

 

[deleted77919]

Comming from a strong science background, in my experience undergrad biochem had more material and was more challenging than biochem in medical school. Otherwise I agree with the above sentiments about every other class I've taken.

 

[Tristy]

I can see why block schedules are so desired, It sounds awesome to be able to take one class at a time.

It certainly is! It can get boring at times, but at least you don't have to juggle your time trying to study for x number of consecutive exams on different subjects

 

[pparmet]

I strongly agree with Tired Pigeon on this one. I would say that most of my upper level undergrad classes were a lot harder than my med school classes as far as content and level of understanding required, but medical school is a whole new beast with regard to the incredible volume of material covered in such a short time. For basic sciences at least, med school classes seem to sacrifice depth on any particular subject in favor of quantity. For me at least, such class designs were an entirely new challenge compared to the upper-level undergrad and graduate courses I took.

 

[psipsina]

I strongly agree with Tired Pigeon on this one. I would say that most of my upper level undergrad classes were a lot harder than my med school classes as far as content and level of understanding required, but medical school is a whole new beast with regard to the incredible volume of material covered in such a short time. For basic sciences at least, med school classes seem to sacrifice depth on any particular subject in favor of quantity. For me at least, such class designs were an entirely new challenge compared to the upper-level undergrad and graduate courses I took.

There is something to say for the ease of understanding when you get to go in depth vs massive surface knowlege memorization. I'm in med neuro right now and as a neuro major from undergrad I know that we are definitely just scratching the surface of topics, but I also had alot longer than 3 hours of lecture to understand neurophysiology, . . . I think we spent an entire semester on that alone in undergrad. If I had the time to actually study the whys of biochem I'm sure it would stick a whole lot more effectively in my mind, but who has time to understand the actual chemistry at the medschool pace, instead you end up memorizing huge chains of reactions with very little actual understanding. I know what the carnite shuffle is and when it is necessary and the names of the enzymes needed but I don't really get how any of it is working at the structural level, which I'm sure would make it all make much much more sense. The challenge is memorizing without really comprehending most of it in any meanigful way.

 

[stargirl50]

For you medical students out there that have experienced this phenomenon, are upper level grad level courses that can be taken by undergrads like medical microbiology with lab and neurophysiology on par with a medical schools med micro or neurophys class? Reason being, I noticed medical students at IU are allowed to take their first 2 years of schooling at undergrad branches around the state to learn their basic sciences. What are you opinions on this...

I'm pretty sure the IU med students aren't taking undergrad level classes. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong about this, cause I don't know anything about IU, but I went to Notre Dame and I know there were IU med students there (like 12 per year or something crazy like that) but they weren't in our classes.

Personally I thought the upper level science classes were easier than the weed out classes like organic chem and physics (eeeek). It's the same old story-- it's not how hard the material is, it's the volume.

 

[Pianoboe01]

For you medical students out there that have experienced this phenomenon, are upper level grad level courses that can be taken by undergrads like medical microbiology with lab and neurophysiology on par with a medical schools med micro or neurophys class? Reason being, I noticed medical students at IU are allowed to take their first 2 years of schooling at undergrad branches around the state to learn their basic sciences. What are you opinions on this...

Yes, IUSOM has 8 satellite campuses in addition to the main campus in Indianapolis, but the first two years science courses are definitely not courses that undergrads or grad students from the respective universities can take. They are only for med students and are equivalent to what we'd be taking at the main campus. At Muncie, our med ed building is not even on the local university's campus but a part of the local hospital instead.

 

[merlin17]

I agree with many of the above posters. My undergradute courses were much more difficult than my med school courses. I would never revisit undergrad. Medical school certainly has a lot of content to consume though