MS4 with too much time on my hands. Ask anything.

[boaz]

1. Would you say that medical school favors students who can memorize better or students who understand better? (I know this sounds like a silly question).

2. What does it take to get into the teaching side of academic medicine?

1. Good question, but I honestly don't know the answer because I've never served an an admissions committee. But my guess is that in this day and age, since information is readily available at our fingertips, less value is placed on ability to retrieve data than on what one does with available data.
2. I'm still far from contemplating that, but my understanding is that post residency, instead of applying for a private group practice job, you stay in the hospital/academic environment and take a job as a hospitalist attending. Doing an extra year as chief resident is very helpful.

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[pbrocks15]

1. Did you having any notable moments during any of your rotations?

2. Do you believe that you are a different person in regards to morals and ethics from when you entered medical school until now?

3. What was your favorite class during medical school, if any?

4. Where classes heavily lecture based or did you do a fair amount of group work?

5. Did you work at all during medical school?

6. Did you read any books for fun, if so what book? Did you read any interesting informative medically related books that you would recommend to a premed?

7. Thanks for answering all my questions!

 

[boaz]

1. Did you having any notable moments during any of your rotations?

2. Do you believe that you are a different person in regards to morals and ethics from when you entered medical school until now?

3. What was your favorite class during medical school, if any?

4. Where classes heavily lecture based or did you do a fair amount of group work?

5. Did you work at all during medical school?

6. Did you read any books for fun, if so what book? Did you read any interesting informative medically related books that you would recommend to a premed?

7. Thanks for answering all my questions!

Tough questions, but I'll do my best.
1. Absolutely, many notable moments. Once I ran into a former patient on the street outside the hospital. She said that she thought I was her most favorite member of the team. I realized that the reason probably was that, as a student, I had the most time to sit and hear her out. As the year went on I came to realized that one of the most common complaints patients have about their inpatient stay is that no one seems to pay enough attention and they feel neglected. A bunch of docs come in in the morning and ask them rapid fire questions and tell them they'll come back later and tell them the plan.
2. Not sure what you're getting at here. Do you mean specifically medical ethics, or in general. My general outlook on life changed, but for reasons that aren't directly related to med school.
3. My favorite preclinical class was M2 pathology and my favorite rotation was my subinternship. More details above.
4. My classes were split pretty even between lecture and small groups. I believe it's like that these days at most schools.
5. I used to own a small business before med school. Over the course of the first year it kind of petered out, though it didn't really have to. I could have continued during less rigorous classes/rotations.
6. Since most of the day during M1/2 I'd be reading, I didn't read as much for fun. Instead I used to relax in other ways.
There are tons of books out there, but one that comes to mind is "How Doctors Think." Also, anything by Atul Gawande.
7. I was in your position not too long ago

 

[603pharmacy]

This is a random question, but I have never had the opportunity to ask a Med student this. During your Undergrad years, did you ever smoke weed? If so, how many times a week? A group of pre-meds at my current institution are in a heated debate whether it has an impact on getting into Med school or not.

 

[boaz]

This is a random question, but I have never had the opportunity to ask a Med student this. During your Undergrad years, did you ever smoke weed? If so, how many times a week? A group of pre-meds at my current institution are in a heated debate whether it has an impact on getting into Med school or not.

I didn't but I imagine that a good number of my classmates did. Probably more on the order of "how many times ever" than "how many times a week." The Getting into med school requires a fairly clear and motivated head so you can get good grades etc.

 

[603pharmacy]

Just a personal question, did you drink at all during your undergrad years? Usually every weekend or just some weekends?

 

[MichaelG17]

Thanks for answering many of our questions. One rotation away from being an MS4. Very excited and nervous about it. Anything words of wisdom about the residency interview process. Things you wish you knew before... I'm currently planning on taking november off for interviews.

 

[boaz]

Just a personal question, did you drink at all during your undergrad years? Usually every weekend or just some weekends?

Yea, I drank during undergrad, but more on a casual couple-of-beers basis at the end of the day (weekdays too). I didn't start to seriously party until med school. Really.

Thanks for answering many of our questions. One rotation away from being an MS4. Very excited and nervous about it. Anything words of wisdom about the residency interview process. Things you wish you knew before... I'm currently planning on taking november off for interviews.

I didn't always write to my interviewers and program directors after the interview. I think that may have worked against me. Some of them must have taken it as a sign that I wasn't interested. So I'd recommend writing an email to all of your interviewers and PDs to let them know how much you love their program blah blah blah. But I wouldn't get cheesy about it lest it start smelling rotten.

 

[mvenus929]

Thanks for answering many of our questions. One rotation away from being an MS4. Very excited and nervous about it. Anything words of wisdom about the residency interview process. Things you wish you knew before... I'm currently planning on taking november off for interviews.

Talk to people who are going into your specialty as to when they got interviews. I managed to do the bulk of my interviews in November (5/10, and could have done more, but I had some geographical issues with some), but several of my classmates didn't get invites until November, and some specialties only offer a small number of interview days, which may mess up your plans for when you do them.

Also, have a phone with e-mail access, and have it set to check every 15 minutes during interview invite season. Some places will offer more interviews than they have slots for, so it's best to contact them very shortly after you get your interview. And call them if possible, rather than e-mailing back. It makes the scheduling process much easier.