Meeting with Dean of Students

[katiep]

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Hi,

I'm about to start as an MS-1 in August. Do you advise setting up a meeting with the Dean of Students at the school to introduce myself and to find out what I should do to prepare myself so I can hit the ground running. I've been out of school for a year, and haven't done any of the pre-meds courses in two years, so I feel like I'm behind right now. (I'm up to date on the current "just enjoy the summer" thread.)

Thanx.

 

[lilycat]

Hmmm... I'm not sure that that would really do any good, and I'm not totally sure what you would hope to get out of it. If you are worried about feeling unprepared, you could find out if your school has a prematriculation program during the summer. Otherwise, an investment in one of those "how to do well in med school" books, or just using some common sense and thinking about things like your schedule, how to make sure you maintain downtime, quality of life, etc., would be more beneficial.

 

[Future_Doc]

I'm in a similar situation - been out of school full-time for 8 years and haven't been in any classes at all for 2 years. I've been just hanging around for the past year since my acceptance. My school does have a 3 week prematriculation course (they only accept 35, so I will have to wait to see if I'm accepted into the program) - but if your school has that, that's an option.

Other than that, there probably isn't much you can do at this point. You're obviously prepared and ready to go otherwise they wouldn't have accepted you! 😀

I know you're probably anxious (I sure am) and are eager to get started. I think it's all I think about these days. I know our admissions/financial aid officer at the school is probably tired of getting emails from me checking on the status of everything. I guess we have no other choice but to wait patiently for August. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

 

[ckent]

My advice to you would be that you don't need to do anything to prepare for medical school. Most students do feel overwhelmed when they start medical school, but 99% of them quickly adjust once they find their studying "groove". If you really want to do something to prepare academically though, you can purchase a Netter (Atlas of Human Anatomy) and try memorizing where a few organs or the names of few bones (you basically have to know all the names in that book for anatomy), or you can purchase a Board Review Series Biochemistry or Physiology and read through a few chapters and do the questions at the end. I only give you that advice because you asked for it though, it's really not necessary to do anything academically. I suppose that you could also look over your old premed bio notes too if you wanted to, sometimes med schools skim over the big picture stuff because they assume that you got it in college and if you needed to know for your premed bio class, you will need to know it for med school. If I were you , I would relax and not worry about med school starting. I would try to make and save as much money as possible right now, and in your spare time, you can either buy "First Aid for the Match" or "Iserson's Getting into Residency" for light reading on what you will have to do during med school to get into a good residency (most schools don't really teach their students any of that). Good luck.

 

[katiep]

Thanks to all for the advice. I did already buy the Netter (do we really have to learn all the names -- when they say that the average medical student learns 40,000 new words: they're not kidding!). I will also get a review book for biochemistry or physiology, just because I never took these classes in undergrad and want to get at least a taste of it before classes start.

By the way, the interactive CD for Netter's Atlas, is that any good? Does it do things like hide names and quiz you?

 

[mary]

I would definitely look into the Physio- especially the electrolyte balance/renal chapters, if you have never had this before. This is one area that I wish I had been exposed to before medical school and it is absolutely crucial to understand it as you go through school. Some other areas that pose difficulty for people not exposed to them before medical school are neuroscience and immunology. I say pick the one or two that you have the least exposure to and buy the respective book from the Made Ridiculously Simple series (easier summer reading and easy to remember). I don't think any of this is absolutely necessary to do before school starts, but if you really want to get a head start, I think these would be the most high yield areas to start in. Good luck!
Mary

 

[Katie]

99% of med students adjust well?! sorry to have to disagree with you, but I don't think there is any way I am one of the 1 or 2 people that is having trouble adjusting at my school! at least 5 people have mentioned to me this week alone that they are having academic problems with anatomy or physio or just quality of life in general, and i'm not exactly a peer counselor. these people went to good schools like NWU, Penn, and Michigan too. that being said, i do agree that there is no way to prepare for med school beforehand except to try to relax and really spend your time on things you like to do for fun. IMHO, if you spend your time studying for med school then plunge straight into more studying you are destined for burnout. Usually, whatever semester you have anatomy in will be the hardest during first year, so definitely make sure to build up a life outside of med school for yourself during the "off" semester. and definitely try and learn as much as you can in the clinically relevant courses like interviewing and physical diagnosis. good luck!
Kate
TUSM '05

 

[ckent]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Katie:
•99% of med students adjust well?! sorry to have to disagree with you, but I don't think there is any way I am one of the 1 or 2 people that is having trouble adjusting at my school! at least 5 people have mentioned to me this week alone that they are having academic problems with anatomy or physio or just quality of life in general, and i'm not exactly a peer counselor. these people went to good schools like NWU, Penn, and Michigan too. that being said, i do agree that there is no way to prepare for med school beforehand except to try to relax and really spend your time on things you like to do for fun. IMHO, if you spend your time studying for med school then plunge straight into more studying you are destined for burnout. Usually, whatever semester you have anatomy in will be the hardest during first year, so definitely make sure to build up a life outside of med school for yourself during the "off" semester. and definitely try and learn as much as you can in the clinically relevant courses like interviewing and physical diagnosis. good luck!
Kate
TUSM '05•••••Whoops, didn't mean to get caught exagerrating there. I just threw out the 99% number to make the original poster feel better about starting med school. You are right, a good number of people do struggle through their first year of med school (probably ~15% at my school either report signficant academic related stress or end up having to retake classes/tests, but this is only my guess at the number of people in a med school class, it could be more at my school or other schools). My only point was that there was not too much you could do about it before you actually started. If you start stressing out now about it, you will be probably be more susceptible to being burned out once med school actually starts.