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...and go
...and go
what are your plans til intern year?
Specialty?
What type of curriculum does your school have for the pre-clinical years? Is it traditional, PBL, organ system? And how did you feel about it?
As someone who is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (doing surgery as my last clerkship), make MS4 sound as delicious as possible.
that's unfortunate, I have a buddy who's on inpatient surgery right now and it sounds like the pits.
OP, do you think that time as a second semester m4 would be well spent doing hard rotations to get the most experience before you hit intern year? I remember someone saying something about how they got to do a bunch of procedures because they stuck around and the residents weren't so busy trying to pump up their numbers. Also they were into the groove of things so had more time to teach.
My school's curriculum is currently changing to organ system, which I think is better than how it used to be.
I imagine you asked because you want to know if certain curricula are better than others. In my opinion, most medical students are self motivated and will learn the material no matter how it is presented. The type of curriculum has little to do with success on the boards. I wouldn't rank that factor too highly when deciding between medical schools.
In principal it's a good idea and a lot of people do it. But I'm really over being in the awkward role of the med student, so I decided to take it easy. There will be plenty of opportunities to do procedures in intern year.
I'll have to admit, though, that I've been reading Cecil Medicine for fun the past few months :-/
Thanks. I'm more curious about what's more "enjoyable" and I guess like a lot of things it varies from person to person. I just like to hear pros and cons about each curriculum type from people that have gone through it.
Step 1? Research during med school? If so, what kind? Do you attend an MD or DO school?
Roughly how much debt will you have after medical school?
Was your curriculum P/F?
Wow. Great step score. How do you suggest we plebeians study for step 1 (aside from doing well in class)?I would say the organ-system curriculum, where you learn everything pertaining to each organ (physio, pathophys, pharm, histo, etc.) is more enjoyable.
My Step 1 was 253. I did a month of translation research during my fourth year. Nothing big, just to get my feet wet. MD school.
1. Well below average
2. Preclincal were P/F, 3rd year was H/HP/P/F
My Step 1 was 253. I did a month of translation research during my fourth year. Nothing big, just to get my feet wet. MD school.
I'm just bumming around. Literally.
Internal Medicine with future plans for Cardiology or Pulm/Critical Care
I'm assuming that critical care medicine is more "hours heavy" than other IM specialities.
Again, thanks for doing this thread!
What do you know now that you wish you knew before you started medical school?
I'm starting M1 this summer. What advice do you have for studying, free time, and keeping your sanity?
I would have been more savvy about who's @$$ to kiss during clerkships and who to ask for evaluations so as to get better clinical grades. But that's a whole different skill level that I was not born with.Is there anything you wish you had done differently now that you are a wise M4?
M/F? Are you in a relationship? If so, were you in the same relationship when you began med school? Is romance in med school possible? I don't want to get married post 30
You mean in terms of success during med school itself or getting into med school? If it's the former, I really can't think of anything. Undergrad really doesn't prepare you for med school beyond the foundations science background needed for biochem, genetics, and physio.Congrats on the awesome Step 1 Score!
What would you have done differently during undergrad if you had the chance to?
Male, single
Romance is totally possible. I went through a few relationships during med school. None of them ended for the reason that I have comparatively less free time. That was never an issue. I can't common on marriages or otherwise very serious relationship because I wasn't in one during my time in med school.
1. I just kept reading it over and over. And over. Sometimes I would transcribe a lecture in my own words so I remember them better. Some people like to draw out graphics on paper. I never did that. Like I mentioned above, different strokes for different folks.What studying techniques did you use for the high volume of information in med school?
Also, how many hours on average do you sleep a night?
Did you have a better time in medical school or undergrad?
Lastly, did you feel like you fit in better during medical school than in undergrad?
Thanks!
1. Do you do research? If so, what kind?
2. Is there time to do research during medical school?
3. What is the difference when shadowing in MS1 and MS2 compared to shadowing as an undergrad? Are you allowed to help as a medical student?
4. What was the hardest course you took in medical school?
5. Did you develop a good relationship with friends in your class?
How did you schedule interviews with residencies during your 4th year? Did you have to ask your school for time off or the specific departments where you were doing the rotations? Do you know if someone would be penalized if they went to a lot of interviews and had to take numerous days off?
Thanks for taking the time out to answer our questions. They've been very enlightening so far.
I would have been more savvy about who's @$$ to kiss during clerkships and who to ask for evaluations so as to get better clinical grades. But that's a whole different skill level that I was not born with.
That's pretty much itI heard about this from other MS3 and MS4 as well. So do you just ask the clerkship directors in advance about my evaluators? Or is it anonymous and usually you figure it out through word of mouth? I am curious on how exactly it works.
Not at all. Med school is tough and there are lots of frustrations, but I never regretted my decision. When I'm working in the wards and loving it, I know I've made the right decision.Any regrets about your decision to go into medicine?
Was it hard getting the away rotations that you wanted?
What was your favorite part about medical school?
What did you do during your free time?
Are the professors generally caring? Or do they just teach and leave?
Are you at your first choice school?
What qualities did you look for in a residency program?
Rosie O'Donnell, Shia Labeouf, Hitler....and go
Rosie O'Donnell, Shia Labeouf, Hitler.
Gotta marry one, **** one and kill one, go.
That's pretty much it
Not at all. Med school is tough and there are lots of frustrations, but I never regretted my decision. When I'm working in the wards and loving it, I know I've made the right decision.
1. I only applied for one away rotation and it was not at all difficult to get. Having said that, I'm in IM and away rotations aren't really needed. I can't comment on the more competitive things, like getting an away rotation in derm at the Brigham.
2. My favorite part of med school was my subinternship. It's because it's the closest thing to practicing medicine in med school.
3. I used to bike around the city a lot (great stress relief), and I'd frequently go out at night when it wasn't busy. I caught up on lots of movies and TV shows during MS4.
4. A lot of the lecturers were research people, so they would come give the lecture and leave. However, there are also small group leaders (MDs or PhDs), and you definitely get the opportunity to get to know them. They lead small groups because they like teaching, which usually means that they'd be glad to get to know you and help.
5. Yes, I am at my first choice.
6.
-Tertiary care center. You get more interesting and complicated cases than at a community hosp.
-Learning culture, i.e. is the hospital and program oriented towards residency education, or are we just employees doing the bidding of various private attendings?
-Geography. Residency is already pretty isolating, so you want to be in an area where you can have a life outside of work.
-Some residencies have a reputation for malignancy and you want to avoid those at all costs. It can make life really difficult.
-Prestige. Sure it's nice to be able to tell family and friends that you are training at Brigham, but in practical terms it's not that valuable unless you see yourself going into a hardcore academic research career.
Rosie O'Donnell, Shia Labeouf, Hitler.
Gotta marry one, **** one and kill one, go.
1. There's a website called VSAS that most (there are a significant number of exceptions) schools use and that makes it a seamless process. It could be a bit more cumbersome for the schools that don't use VSAS, but I can't imagine that it's a big deal.Thank you for your comments. I had a few follow-up questions.
1) I was curious on how you apply for away rotations. You just go online, fill out away rotation application for each school/hospital, and you hope for an acceptance?
2) Let's say someone is from a low-tier medical school but went to a competitive hospital/institution for residency training. Does it mean he has a good chance to go into academic medicine even though he did not come from a relatively well known medical school?
1. I'm not familiar with subinternships, what was it like and did you get it? Are they hard to get into or are they popular?
2. I'm not sure if you mentioned this, but how did you perform so well on the step 1?
3. Did your step score play a big part into your acceptance to your residency?
4. What shows did you watch/catch up on during MS4.
5. How much time where you alloted to study for your step 1?
6. If the future would you prefer going into private practice or stay with a hosital?
7. Are you interested in academic medicine?
Outside of lecture/lab, how many hours a day did you study during pre-clinical years?
To the OP, what was your favorite thing about the pre-clinical years, if anything at all?