My thoughts after finishing first year....

[DW]

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Since we're all completing or have completed our first year of med school recently, I'd like to hear what some people's reflections are after the experience.

My 2 cents:

-1st year wasn't as intellectually stimulating as I was expecting it to be. I knew it was going to be lots of rote memorization, but I was still suprised by how bland the material could get at times. Save physiology (my fav subject so far), there's really no in depth thinking needed to comprehend the material or pass the tests.

-I really feel identifying "how you learn" is key to using your time most efficiently. For example, I am not really an "auditory" learner, i.e. it takes an excellent lecturer to even hold my attention, I'd much rather read it on my own. At the beginning of the year in one of our easier blocks, I showed up to all the lectures, slept through many of them, stressed out about it unnecessarily. I pretty much adapted a unilateral ditch policy afterwards, studied during the day in the cozy confines of my own room, and started performing a lot better and even had more free time.

-mandatory attendance in med school is one of the most inhumane policies in human history. We had one day a week of mandatory lecture for our "doctoring" class, and it was the most painful experience of my life. Schools that practice an all week mandatory attendance policy should be brought before the UN and tried for war crimes.

-Having a copy of BRS books and First Aid to direct your learning along with the texts and lecture notes is a great idea. Not even so much for studying for the boards per se which I can't really speak to now...but when the lecturer starts on one of those "My research focuses on..." tangents, its good to know when to stop paying attention 🙄

-The BU histo website is better than crack, as is Costanzo physiology and Rohen anatomy.

-Dont forget to ask 2nd and 3rd years at your school which books to buy and which not too. I could have saved myself 200 bucks easy 😡

-Working out is a great way to relieve med school induced anxiety. I must have put on 5-10 lbs during anatomy.

-Doing the "study before med school starts" in retrospect sounds like the most idiotic thing I've ever heard.

-Even on occasions when it seems like there is an insurmountable amount of material to be covered, you have to make personal time for yourself to do things you enjoy. If you dont...you will go INSANE!!!

-Making location a priority in choosing a med school was one of the smartest things I have ever done. Being close to home and in a city I personally enjoy living in is a nice release from med school induced claustraphobia.

-Medical school is a weird social experiment, especially here where most people live very close to each other. I've spent enough time with my classmates that it almost feels like I've know some people my entire life. I've grown increasingly open to friendships and such in med school, as we have some very amazing people in our class, but sometimes its a bit overbearing seeing the same people all the time (even as a habitual class ditcher), its like being married to 100+ people.

-I stand by my assertion that people who say "med school will fly by" are out of their freakin minds. I swear I've been in med school for at least 10 years already 😛

glad to be done, bring on second year (after my vacation of course) 😀

 

[footcramp]

Since we're all completing or have completed our first year of med school recently, I'd like to hear what some people's reflections are after the experience.

My 2 cents:

-1st year wasn't as intellectually stimulating as I was expecting it to be. I knew it was going to be lots of rote memorization, but I was still suprised by how bland the material could get at times. Save physiology (my fav subject so far), there's really no in depth thinking needed to comprehend the material or pass the tests.

-I really feel identifying "how you learn" is key to using your time most efficiently. For example, I am not really an "auditory" learner, i.e. it takes an excellent lecturer to even hold my attention, I'd much rather read it on my own. At the beginning of the year in one of our easier blocks, I showed up to all the lectures, slept through many of them, stressed out about it unnecessarily. I pretty much adapted a unilateral ditch policy afterwards, studied during the day in the cozy confines of my own room, and started performing a lot better and even had more free time.

-mandatory attendance in med school is one of the most inhumane policies in human history. We had one day a week of mandatory lecture for our "doctoring" class, and it was the most painful experience of my life. Schools that practice an all week mandatory attendance policy should be brought before the UN and tried for war crimes.

-Having a copy of BRS books and First Aid to direct your learning along with the texts and lecture notes is a great idea. Not even so much for studying for the boards per se which I can't really speak to now...but when the lecturer starts on one of those "My research focuses on..." tangents, its good to know when to stop paying attention 🙄

-The BU histo website is better than crack, as is Costanzo physiology and Rohen anatomy.

-Dont forget to ask 2nd and 3rd years at your school which books to buy and which not too. I could have saved myself 200 bucks easy 😡

-Working out is a great way to relieve med school induced anxiety. I must have put on 5-10 lbs during anatomy.

-Doing the "study before med school starts" in retrospect sounds like the most idiotic thing I've ever heard.

-Even on occasions when it seems like there is an insurmountable amount of material to be covered, you have to make personal time for yourself to do things you enjoy. If you dont...you will go INSANE!!!

-Making location a priority in choosing a med school was one of the smartest things I have ever done. Being close to home and in a city I personally enjoy living in is a nice release from med school induced claustraphobia.

-Medical school is a weird social experiment, especially here where most people live very close to each other. I've spent enough time with my classmates that it almost feels like I've know some people my entire life. I've grown increasingly open to friendships and such in med school, as we have some very amazing people in our class, but sometimes its a bit overbearing seeing the same people all the time (even as a habitual class ditcher), its like being married to 100+ people.

-I stand by my assertion that people who say "med school will fly by" are out of their freakin minds. I swear I've been in med school for at least 10 years already 😛

glad to be done, bring on second year (after my vacation of course) 😀

we are very much alike 👍

 

[bigdan]

DW-

Great thoughts...any other year ones that wanna add in?

It's helpful!

dc

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

After completing 2nd year, I'd say all of that still holds true. It gets more interesting because you are learning the path behind everything, but you still aren't learning enough about patient care. I hate it when people ask me about things because it's too hard to explain to them that, after 2 years, I still can't help them, but I can tell them about the pretty pictures in robbins I saw. 😉

 

[phllystyl]

-Working out is a great way to relieve med school induced anxiety. I must have put on 5-10 lbs during anatomy.

-

Step I will help you lose that weight. Everyone I know has lost atleast 10 lbs in the past month. I havent been at this weight since soph yr of college.

 

[Lara]

My high school prom dress is too big for me now.

 

[SunnyS81]

I concur with DW, especially about the social experiment part. Never used BU or BRS so far, but sounds like a good idea.

Class is pretty much useless, although I find it useful in focusing my studying. Knowing which ppt slids to skip, which parts of the scribed notes are a lot of detail the lecturer just mentioned in passing and probably won't test....is it worth all the time just to get that? I'm not sure. I need to decide before next year......

 

[Neuronix]

I must have put on 5-10 lbs during anatomy.

Me too interestingly enough. I was the one standing over my cadaver reviewing with a cup of coffee in one hand and a muffin in the other. The best part is the days when the applicants were there, we could go right next door and take whatever food they didn't eat. Walked right out of anatomy lab and into the student lounge. Of course I did wash my hands first 🙂

 

[divinemsm]

...Do not feel obligated to cave into the pressure of studying in groups if it is counterproductive to your own progress...I learned this the hard way. I have found that people tend to want moral/emotional/psychological support of another person/other people studying in close proximity to them...then will sometimes attempt to ostracize/ belittle you if you don't want to do it their way..( I still don't understand the need for this crutch..you read your book, I'll read mine....if there are questions, that's why we have cell phones)....reconvene when we all can discuss topics intelligently...

...stop comparing yourself to other people IMMEDIATELY.....I would wager that for a good deal of the time, people are not always forthcoming with how well/not well they are performing......you might tend to have a skewed perception of how much " smarter " everyone else is compared to you....focus on your own progress, get help if you need it....

should you have a bad test, remember, it is better to mess up on an exam than with someone's life and well being...this is why you are a student....you are LEARNING

Always keep in mind that the race is not always to the swift....you made it this far, you will , in high likelihood, make it further...STAY CALM.....if medical school is the most stressful hurdle you encounter in life, consider yourself lucky....my own 2 cents....

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

Me too interestingly enough. I was the one standing over my cadaver reviewing with a cup of coffee in one hand and a muffin in the other. The best part is the days when the applicants were there, we could go right next door and take whatever food they didn't eat. Walked right out of anatomy lab and into the student lounge. Of course I did wash my hands first 🙂

You were allowed to have food and drink in your anatomy lab?? Ours forbid it.

 

[Neuronix]

You were allowed to have food and drink in your anatomy lab?? Ours forbid it.

I was following the instructors' examples 🙂

 

[flsweetlady]

With first year being done and over with...Im so thankful for BRS for Gross and Physio...and although only one class had mandatory attendance, it was common for proffessors of other classes to get offended if half the class didnt attend the lecture and thus feel the need to give a pop quiz. So for me lectures were a great time to read from the text and do questions...unless the professor explained things well...and in that case I would listen and take notes.

Also it is soooooo important to talk to the upperclassman to get the low-down on old tests, the books to buy and the teachers to listen to....the reason for this...is that you can save sooo much money and time...because no medical student can afford to waste either one of those things

Everyone thinks that you have to study every minute of everyday to do well in medical school...but that only works for SOME PEOPLE...So thats why it is very important to balance your life...because all work and no play can only hurt you and your grades....once I started doing things outside of school...my grades improved....

BALANCE IS ESSENTIAL TO SUCCESS

 

[labangel]

Step I will help you lose that weight. Everyone I know has lost atleast 10 lbs in the past month. I havent been at this weight since soph yr of college.

I wish!

Damn those tasty snack cakes

 

[Kev (UK)]

I was the one standing over my cadaver reviewing with a cup of coffee in one hand and a muffin in the other.

That would be strictly forbidden here on not only health and safety grounds but also because it would also be seen by most people as very disrespectful and if caught you would be up before the Dean before your feet could touch the ground!!!

 

[phllystyl]

That would be strictly forbidden here on not only health and safety grounds but also because it would also be seen by most people as very disrespectful and if caught you would be up before the Dean before your feet could touch the ground!!!

WELL SOMEONE BETTER REPORT HIM#$*#&$@#!@@!!!!!@!@!@!!@!@!!!!!

I would frequently bring bottles of soda into lab with me and set them off to the side when i was "elbow deep"

 

[Ramoray]

I guess i have two thoughts as far as first year goes
1. I knew i knew there was going to be alot of memorization and i knew i sucked but i didnt know it would be 100 percent of this and 100 percent boring except for physio i agree
2. can you say highschool well with mid 20 and 30 year olds. very very strange.
glad to see the year go

 

[OneStrongBro]

Great Post by DW. I agree. This is very good advice for 1st year medical students.

Since we're all completing or have completed our first year of med school recently, I'd like to hear what some people's reflections are after the experience.

My 2 cents:

-1st year wasn't as intellectually stimulating as I was expecting it to be. I knew it was going to be lots of rote memorization, but I was still suprised by how bland the material could get at times. Save physiology (my fav subject so far), there's really no in depth thinking needed to comprehend the material or pass the tests.

-I really feel identifying "how you learn" is key to using your time most efficiently. For example, I am not really an "auditory" learner, i.e. it takes an excellent lecturer to even hold my attention, I'd much rather read it on my own. At the beginning of the year in one of our easier blocks, I showed up to all the lectures, slept through many of them, stressed out about it unnecessarily. I pretty much adapted a unilateral ditch policy afterwards, studied during the day in the cozy confines of my own room, and started performing a lot better and even had more free time.

-mandatory attendance in med school is one of the most inhumane policies in human history. We had one day a week of mandatory lecture for our "doctoring" class, and it was the most painful experience of my life. Schools that practice an all week mandatory attendance policy should be brought before the UN and tried for war crimes.

-Having a copy of BRS books and First Aid to direct your learning along with the texts and lecture notes is a great idea. Not even so much for studying for the boards per se which I can't really speak to now...but when the lecturer starts on one of those "My research focuses on..." tangents, its good to know when to stop paying attention 🙄

-The BU histo website is better than crack, as is Costanzo physiology and Rohen anatomy.

-Dont forget to ask 2nd and 3rd years at your school which books to buy and which not too. I could have saved myself 200 bucks easy 😡

-Working out is a great way to relieve med school induced anxiety. I must have put on 5-10 lbs during anatomy.

-Doing the "study before med school starts" in retrospect sounds like the most idiotic thing I've ever heard.

-Even on occasions when it seems like there is an insurmountable amount of material to be covered, you have to make personal time for yourself to do things you enjoy. If you dont...you will go INSANE!!!

-Making location a priority in choosing a med school was one of the smartest things I have ever done. Being close to home and in a city I personally enjoy living in is a nice release from med school induced claustraphobia.

-Medical school is a weird social experiment, especially here where most people live very close to each other. I've spent enough time with my classmates that it almost feels like I've know some people my entire life. I've grown increasingly open to friendships and such in med school, as we have some very amazing people in our class, but sometimes its a bit overbearing seeing the same people all the time (even as a habitual class ditcher), its like being married to 100+ people.

-I stand by my assertion that people who say "med school will fly by" are out of their freakin minds. I swear I've been in med school for at least 10 years already 😛

glad to be done, bring on second year (after my vacation of course) 😀

 

[kaos]

...stop comparing yourself to other people IMMEDIATELY.....I would wager that for a good deal of the time, people are not always forthcoming with how well/not well they are performing......you might tend to have a skewed perception of how much " smarter " everyone else is compared to you....focus on your own progress, get help if you need it....

I totally agree with this. People will say they're having difficulty with classes when in actuality they're doing quite all right. It's hard not to compare yourself with others, especially if you're spending nearly every minute of every day with classmates, but it's very important that you learn to go at your own pace. Lord knows I've had tons of trouble with that.

Note to self for next year: study alone more often.

 

[HamOnWholeWheat]

For what its worth I really enjoyed 1st year. There were times I didn't enjoy, but overall it was probably the most fun I've ever had in school. I don't think I'm particuarly psychotic or anything, I just tend to think that its up to you whether or not you have fun.

Here's what worked for me:
1) Study alone until the day before the exam, then in a SMALL group (4 people max). This way, you all can speak intelligently on the topic, fill in any gaps, and overall boost each other's confidence pre-exam.

2) Go to class if only to build the "prison camp" cameraderie with your classmates. The mutual stress will bring you all closer together (most of the time).

3) Live alone, so you can leave med school at med school.

4) If there's some class organized fun thing to do, stop studying and do it. When its all over, you won't look back fondly on all the hours of studying, in fact you won't even remember it. You will remember the rafting trip, or the rock climbing, or the post-exam parties you had with your classmates.


Just make an effort to enjoy what you're doing and you will. I think the people who don't enjoy it are stressing themselves out and making it harder than it should be. You can have fun and still do fine.

HamOn

 

[sacrament]

You were allowed to have food and drink in your anatomy lab?? Ours forbid it.

Ours too, but our group exploited a loophole in the rule by eating the cadaver.

 

[Zweihander]

Ours too, but our group exploited a loophole in the rule by eating the cadaver.

I bet it tasted like pork.

 

[footcramp]

I bet it tasted like pork.

reminds me of the other thing we did...

 

[Neuronix]

I bet it tasted like pork.

I always thought the ribs kinda looked like pork ribs... Sliced, fixed lung reminds me of eggplant.

 

[phllystyl]

I bet it tasted like pork.

Are cadavers high in Nitrosamines?

 

[DW]

...Do not feel obligated to cave into the pressure of studying in groups if it is counterproductive to your own progress...I learned this the hard way. I have found that people tend to want moral/emotional/psychological support of another person/other people studying in close proximity to them...then will sometimes attempt to ostracize/ belittle you if you don't want to do it their way..( I still don't understand the need for this crutch..you read your book, I'll read mine....if there are questions, that's why we have cell phones)....reconvene when we all can discuss topics intelligently...

...stop comparing yourself to other people IMMEDIATELY.....I would wager that for a good deal of the time, people are not always forthcoming with how well/not well they are performing......you might tend to have a skewed perception of how much " smarter " everyone else is compared to you....focus on your own progress, get help if you need it....

should you have a bad test, remember, it is better to mess up on an exam than with someone's life and well being...this is why you are a student....you are LEARNING

Always keep in mind that the race is not always to the swift....you made it this far, you will , in high likelihood, make it further...STAY CALM.....if medical school is the most stressful hurdle you encounter in life, consider yourself lucky....my own 2 cents....

👍 👍 Wow, amen. To all you people out there about to start 1st year in the fall, I must emphasize, DO NOT GET FREAKED OUT BY THE KNOW-IT-ALLS IN YOUR CLASS!!!

Many occasions, its due to a few factors:
A) they took/majored in X course in undergrad, so just know a bit more coming in than you do. nothing you can do about that.
B) they're OCD and memorized the material within 45 mins of picking up the lecture notes.
C) they're BSing and trying to make themselves sound a lot smarter than they actually are. happens more than you think it would in med school.

By the time test days rolls around, if you've put in your work, your comprehension of the material and success on the exam usually won't be any different.

 

[sunflower79]

my $.02:

Don't compare yourself to your classmates. If the next person did better than you, they paid a price for it and you got something in return (sleep, outside interests, etc). You have to decide what you're willing to put in.

Even (or especially) the hardest working and brightest say they don't feel ready for a test. That's because readiness for an exam is an asymptote (sp?), something you can never achieve. That and we're so damn perfectionistic.

Studying hard is my incentive to party hard (I go out more than most of my circle of classmates, at least most Fri-Sun after 9pm). It makes me happier and more efficient, and it's so much fun! After all you can't study all day and night.

Knowing how you learn is SO important. I can't hold an attention span past 1.5h, so I schedule something after studying that long (e.g. errands, exercise, time w/bf, meal). I'm a strong visual learner, so I study with pictures and diagrams I find or make myself, and anything else I can't remember I wrote on note cards. I swore by Netter and Rohen during anatomy (Lippincott, Robbins and even Alberts has some good pictures and stuff for other courses; the latter two are online).

Another anatomy tip: for lab I looked up structures in Netter before going, otherwise I'm all disoriented and my time is wasted.

It helps to keep up. You have more time to understand (as much as one can anyway) instead of cramming by association. I always try to get the big picture wherever possible, I hate learning without knowing how the pieces fit (it even doesn't hurt to ask the instructor sometimes). Exception: in microbiology you just have to bite the bullet. Purely rote and painful as hell.

I feel sorta bad that I already don't remember half of the stuff I used to remember for exams. But I have faith I'll re-learn the important stuff when the time comes (and re-learning takes less time!). 🙂

Patient contact (e.g. free clinics) was a great motivator for me; it reminds me why I'm here to begin with.

Also, going to the gym feels great after you've been in class all day.

I would never date someone else in med school -- at least not in my class. You already see way too much of them!

woohoo! one down, 3 to go 😎
~sunflower

 

[deleted29780]

...

should you have a bad test, remember, it is better to mess up on an exam than with someone's life and well being...this is why you are a student....you are LEARNING

Always keep in mind that the race is not always to the swift....you made it this far, you will , in high likelihood, make it further...STAY CALM.....if medical school is the most stressful hurdle you encounter in life, consider yourself lucky....my own 2 cents....

This post is so down to earth... so motivating. And that is what all future medics need in this noble profession.

Med school is really challenging and I am enjoying every moment of it. Thru the bad times ... thru the good times... The final prize is "SATISFACTION"

 

[Samoa]

I posted this on the other thread, but it belongs here...

After a year of med school, I've learned:

1) I am not the smartest person in my class. Nor am I the stupidest, or the craziest, the most alcoholic, best dressed, prettiest...
2) How to behave professionally and still be me (an ongoing lesson).
3) Coffee shops are good places to study.
3a) You really can overdose on caffeine, and it's kinda unpleasant.
3b) Which coffee shops will give you ice water for free (YAY!)
4) The definition of mandatory depends on the instructor.
5) Studying in groups is only helpful if you're studying the right material.
6) Small town social rules apply.
7) There are lots of details you really don't need to know, like what class you're signed up for that starts next week. Just show up at the appointed time and place, and you'll find out when you get there.
7a) How not to worry about stuff that hasn't happened yet.
8) The worst is over (I hope).

And a few more things:

9) Making time to do something clinical keeps me motivated.
10) I get better grades when I have a job of some sort to take my mind off school.
11) Always consider the source of the advice you're getting. Advice from upperclassmen is usually golden.
12) Mercilessly discard study methods that don't work for you--even if all your friends swear by it.
13) Likewise, if you want to go to a class, don't let your study group pressure you into skipping in order to study with them.
14) Conversely, just because you're up at school that day, doesn't mean you HAVE to go to class.
15) If it's numerically impossible to raise your grade in a class, and almost as unlikely to lower it, then learn what you think is important, and go do something fun with your extra time.

 

[sunflower79]

I second the caffeine comment. Things get ugly if I have a second cup instead of a nap.

 

[MedguyNYC]

Working out is a great way to relieve med school induced anxiety. I must have put on 5-10 lbs during anatomy.

I agree w/ you DW. Working out is one of the best way to come down from the first year med-school high, especially when you are not dating!! There appears to be an outright Mr. Universe contest at SUNY-Downstate. During anatomy, I was pretty good about working out on a regular basis, I gained about 8lbs of solid muscle. However, during Head & Neck it was the opposite, I became very stressed w/ all the tiny nerves and arteries together on Downstate's Spaghetti diagram. After H&N, I decided to get back on tract and I've been hitting the gym since.
My goal for 2nd year is to be more organized. Although I did well during 1st year, I noticed that during exam time, notes became scattered, my apt. was a mess and my laundry needed to be done.

🙄

 

[DW]

I noticed that during exam time, notes became scattered, my apt. was a mess and my laundry needed to be done.

🙄

OMG, dude, i've been so bad about keeping my room clean in med school its downright disgraceful. there were so many points during the year when i had to wear "nice clothes" cause I hadn't kept up with my laundry 😛

my main resolution for 2nd year is to cook more often so i don't spend so much $ at the hospital cafeteria 🙄

 

[MedguyNYC]

DW: I'm actually at your school for the summer, finishing up a research project (Biochem) that I was working on B4 med-school. My first pub. (2nd Author) is due out in July (journal of Biochemistry). I'm stealing your phrase for a sec., woot woot!!

 

[Discobolus]

Random thoughts about the first year.....

1. I bought way too many books. Now I've got a large inventory to sell on half.com! Find out what others reccommend as far as textbooks and review books and don't go overboard.

2. It's not as bad as some would have you believe. I really lived a pretty laid back lifestyle my first year of medical school. Now that I'm working in the Summer I realize how good I really had it. I probably had more free time than I did in undergrad, but of course I was also a track and field athlete in college so that took up a LOT of time.

3. Despite what I just said school can be stressful at times, although my procrastination greatly amplified the stress at times.

4. You can cram for physiology tests and still do well (and still do well on the shelf exam too).

5. You can not cram for anatomy (gross, micro, or neuro) tests and still do well.

6. The Rohen atlas rules for Gross Anatomy practical exams

7. Despite the popularity I'm really indifferent about Netter's atlas

8. BRS Gross Anatomy (Chung) can practically be your textbook

9. Grant's Dissector is overrated

10. The Costanzo trilogy of books is the key to do well in physiology
A. The Saunders Physiology text for understanding
B. The BRS for quick review and practice questions
C. The BRS Case book for integration of material and to make you think

11. The best study method I have found is a combination of:
A. Spaced repetition with an early emphasis on understanding and a
later emphasis on memorization.
B. Practice questions, practice questions, and more practice questions.
Pre-Test, BRS, old test book, Review Questions for _____ series are
all excellent choices. The more the better.

12. Brain stem cross sections suck!

13. Keep your eyes on why you are doing this anyway. Get some clinical
experience to remind yourself.

14. If you don't get anything out of going to lecture don't go. If your school has a pop quiz policy you better still go to lecture then.

15. You can probably do as well as you want to, and it doesn't take studying 8 hours a day to get A's.

16. Don't compare your grades to others when they are posted on the grade wall, or at least keep it to a minimum!

17. Work out and eat right, don't do what I did and become a fast food junkie with an unused gym membership! Thats one to work on next year.

18. Do not study every day, take breaks after tests, the 2 week study break during school is not highly reccommended though.

Well that is enough for now.

 

[Celestron2000]

👍 Thanks, from an incomming M1. 👍

 

[Harps]

OMG, dude, i've been so bad about keeping my room clean in med school its downright disgraceful

first-hand experience with this..hehehe 😀 Congrats on finishing YEAR ONE!!! 🙂

btw, you're right about location. Staying close to home (aprox. 2hrs) was a priority. Plus, P/F will also help 😀

-Harps

 

[DW]

If your school has a pop quiz policy

There are med schools that give pop quizzes?!?!? 😕 😱 👎

PS: Grant's Dissector isn't overrated....its USELESS 😛 (maybe someone out there found some use for it, but at least in my experience I could have better spent that 8 bucks on toilet paper...)

 

[8744]

There are med schools that give pop quizzes?!?!? 😕 😱 👎

It's worse then that. As I have mentioned before (without causing the firestorm of indignation that I expected) the first and second years at my school have to swipe their ID badges in card readers at the back of the lecture hall both at the beginning and the end of lectures to verify mandatory attendance.

Since I am a fourth year (started on monday, Baby!) I don't really care. But I bet we're the only medical school in the world that does this. I understand that a few years ago a student who failed out successfully sued the school claiming that he failed because the school did not make him go to class. (I have this third hand so I don't know if it's true.) I do know that seven freshmen failed first year and six of them will be repeating. My class only lost three in first year, one for personal reasons. (We lost one after Sophmore year, he just decided he didn't want to come back, and we lost three rolled back to the third-year class for failing Step 1 twice.)

 

[cocoabutter]

Since we have been out for about a month, and I have recovered, I can reflect on the past year. Things that I learned after 1st year...

--You can have a life in medical school. Its all about time managment. Figure out what needs to be done and do it, but don't forget to leave time for yourself

--Take all advice with a grain of salt. As you begin med school, everybody and their mother will be offering advice on how to get through. Some of it is good and some of it is not. Listen, but then find what works best for you. For example, concerning what books to use for anatomy--everyone swears by Netter's and/or Rohen's. I was not really that impressed by Netter's and never even heard of Rohen's. I used Grant's dissector and atlas along with Clinically Oriented Anatomy (Moore & Dalley) and did very well.

--Make it a point to talk with people that are not in med school and could care less about med school. This can be hard when you move to a new place that is far away from family/friends, but try! Sometimes you just need to forget that you are in medical school.

--Do NOT talk with your classmates about grades or how much they study. It will just make you question your methods and stress out unnecessarily. Remember that everyone is different and that the same result can be reached by a different path.

--You can have a ton of fun in school. I got to know the majority of my classmates pretty well and they are generally a pretty good bunch of people. Med school is a stressful time, so having people that you like and enjoy spending time with around you can only make it better.

--When you feel discouraged, remember why you want to do this. Volunteer or think back to stressing over your application. It will help you keep your eye on the prize.

Thats all for now!

 

[Stinger86]

It's worse then that. As I have mentioned before (without causing the firestorm of indignation that I expected) the first and second years at my school have to swipe their ID badges in card readers at the back of the lecture hall both at the beginning and the end of lectures to verify mandatory attendance.

Yeeeeouch. Wow, I thought pop quizzes sucked, but I guess you learn something new every day. Sorry to hear that 🙁

I don't think I would've survived at your school, panda. The only thing I enjoyed about first year was not going to class.

 

[8744]

Yeeeeouch. Wow, I thought pop quizzes sucked, but I guess you learn something new every day. Sorry to hear that 🙁

I don't think I would've survived at your school, panda. The only thing I enjoyed about first year was not going to class.

We had mandatory attendance when I was a first and second year but it was never enforced. I have always been somewhat anal about going to lectures (I only missed a handful in two years) so the policy was academic to me. The point is that I wanted to go to lectures. Even the hundreds of them which were "low-yield."

 

[MichiMO]

One thing that surprised me was how difficult it was to be above the class mean!!! Of course it didn't help that my fellow classmates are psycho...with some of the highest averages ever seen in the school's history.
My advice after the frustrating experience of constantly struggling to break the curve and get out of the 70's 🙂:
1. Don't beat yourself up over not being perfect. Remember a class average is just that: an AVERAGE...meaning half of the students are below that number!
2. If you are not performing as well as you want...change what you are doing! While you might feel there is nothing more you can do, that no matter how hard you work you just can't do better....there is always something that you can change, as hard as that is to admit sometimes. Don't just sit around and whine about it (I was very guilty of that). Personally, my first semester, I was way too borderline grade wise to be happy with my performance (even with the whole P=MD mantra). When my grades didn't improve dramatically at midterms 2nd semester, I really changed what I was doing. I began studing in a much more focussed way. I began doing the majority of my studying with one study partner and we really mapped out our studying and stuck to it. Also, I didn't go to class just because I felt some moral obligation to go. If I felt my time would be better spent another way, I let that be the priority. This is something that is still very hard for me to do...I am not one of those strong advocates of not going to class. However, sometimes there just were not hours in the day to learn everything I had to learn if I went to every single class. So in summery, make learning the priority. The grades fall into place after that. My marks for this term went up by 15% or more.
3. If you are not happy, it is really difficult to do well, no matter what study style you use or how many hours you put in. If you are unhappy, try to figure out why, and try to help yourself. Do not use this to justify not working hard (which a lot of my classmates do) but do realize that your happiness is important and making yourself happy should be part of your overall study strategy 🙂
4. Don't abandon your loved ones to study. I found that having a nice 2 hour dinner with my boyfriend made my studying much more efficient afterwards than if I had stayed at school and grabbed some crap in the cafeteria for 15 minutes. If you study the way you should throughout the semester, exam time should not be overwhelmingly stressful.

 

[Ryan]

I'm starting this Fall and just wanted to say thanks for the info 😀

 

[STAC]

I'm starting this Fall and just wanted to say thanks for the info 😀

Ditto. Thanks!!!

 

[lotanna]

Thank God for P/F 👍