My thoughts after the first week of med school.....

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Members do not see this ad.
Is anyone else living for the weekend, not so you can party/ drink/ watch reality TV, but so you can finally catch up to the friggin lectures???? Geez, three days into Biochemisty and I'm already behind!!!😱
 
Originally posted by Doc Ivy
Is anyone else living for the weekend, not so you can party/ drink/ watch reality TV, but so you can finally catch up to the friggin lectures???? Geez, three days into Biochemisty and I'm already behind!!!😱
Click to expand...

Yes. Weekends are definitely a time to catch up. I find myself getting so lazy during the week that I HAVE to study on weekends.
 
The best so far: our hungarian prof teaching us abdomen.
He likes to say Abdomeen-al(abdominal), cainal(canal) and of course the best and I swear to God- punkrockus(pancreas).

He said anal cainal today and I almost lost it completely.

I love him though
Dr_Sax
 
they give us a day off before exams (if it's during the week) or the weekend (if it's a Monday exam). I'm convinced it's to shut up the profs so we can catch up. And yeah, weekends are for studying 🙁
 
i so agree w/ the description of anatomy as a mile wide and an inch deep. thankfully here we take anat. at the same time as biochem, molec. bio, and cell. bio, which i find so much more enjoyable! and i can't wait for microbio.
yep, i really, really dislike anatomy.
 
anatomy = 😍

biochem (and its demon stepchildren like cell bio) = +pissed+

I'd rather take TWO anatomy courses than take a biochem class. Oh yeah, and I love histo too.
 
our anatomy is spread out over 8 months so it's actually not too bad. neener neener!
 
Originally posted by Doc Ivy
Is anyone else living for the weekend, not so you can party/ drink/ watch reality TV, but so you can finally catch up to the friggin lectures???? Geez, three days into Biochemisty and I'm already behind!!!😱
Click to expand...

this is exactly how i feel!! even though we are typically out of class by 3, i find myself totally exhausted when i get home and unable to motivate myself to study until after dinner. then by that time i'm starting to get sleepy!
 
I get the feeling that everyone in my class parties and act like they don't study, but in labs and pbl they seem to be so bright. In pbl the people who act like slackers are naming off stuff that I have no idea of what they are talking about. Is it just me or are these people those undercover gunners? I study consistently 4-6 hours 6 days a week and I'm still clueless, and behind.
 
closet gunners are the worst! They pretend like they barely passed an exam...pretend like they never study. But of course there are those really bright people who can party often and still do well b/c they have good retention and only need to go over material two times instead of my normal 10 times before it sticks tatic.
 
My classmates are pretty honest about studying all the time, but I definitely feel like a tool with a capital "ool" pretty regularly.

...back to radiographic anatomy
 
Originally posted by jwin
AHHHH!!! i have the worst closet gunner in my anatomy lab group!! he said he hasn't opened a book yet (4 weeks into school), encourages us not to study, and makes sure we know that he didn't do any work over the weekend. meanwhile, he knows the name of every muscle, nerve, vein, artery, insertions and origins. he is a walking netter's, even though he has yet to open netter. he also treats me like his surgical assistant during lab, calling out "scalpel" or "hemostat." i may soon have to inform him our "patient" is in fact dead.
Click to expand...

I would stab this guy in the throat.
We have somebody sort of like that in my class. Example of his behavior: we had an optional lab session once, for people who have had no prior experience with microbiology, just to get them up to speed a bit. This guy comes, despite the fact he was a micro MAJOR, just so that he can raise his hand and answer all the questions correctly and try to correct the instructor and generally just act like a prick. I hate people.
 
I dunno if I qualify as a closet gunner, but in small groups I usually come across like a complete IDIOT. So far I've:

1. forgotten to bring my homework
2. been late when the session was headed by the main instructor
3. shouted out a wrong answer
4. shouted out the right answer, and when the instructor looked surprised, "corrected" myself
5. in anatomy i have no idea what's going on and i couldn't remember any of the structures even if my life depended on it

I do this unintentionally, but damn, it seems to happen a lot. I do fine on exams though.
 
Originally posted by GoodMonkey
i go to class.
i have no pretenses about working from home... i can't do it. that's great for all you folks who can, though. for me, well .... i can say "oh yeah i'll watch the streaming lectures at home online and then i'll read the book chapters." then i just don't do it. i fart around, play online, clean crap, organize, play with pets, general procrastination.... i would get about half the amt accomplished/learned/even looked at than what i would had i gone to class. i have to get up and go to lectures or i will get *nothing* accomplished. i sometimes wish i were that person who could never go to lectures and do just as well motivating themselves to get up and do the stuff at home.
Click to expand...
I wish I could go to class. 🙁 It does make going over the stuff much easier the first time, but I have one of those 9-5 schedules. And I'm tired at night and can only get in 2 good hours if I am burnt out from class. I have to leave my house to study too since I get nothing done at home. I just hate that class to class to lab to workout to shower to studying to sleep feeling where I never breath. Therefore I work it out on my own and don't go to class. 🙂
 
Originally posted by sacrament
I would stab this guy in the throat.
Click to expand...

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I die laughing when I read some of the expressions on this site:laugh: I guess I try to imagine what you would look like saying this face to face, and it just seems funny to want to stab a guy in the throat for being a gunner.:laugh:
 
Originally posted by DW
hey guys, i'm working on my rough draft for my personal statement...tell me how you like the start of it..........

I've always wanted to help people in need and to use my analytical skills to save lives. On day while walking to the supermarket a woman and her 3 gravely sick children staggered out of their home and crawled towards me on the sidewalk. Like nomads crossing the sahara yearning for a refreshing oasis, they beckoned me to relay them the crucial information that would save their lives......"Please, tell us what is the only achiral amino acid? what is the pka of the side group of tyrosine? Using the Henderson Hasselbach equation, calculate the final pH of adding 1.3 ml of 1 M HCL to a 1 liter solution of imidazole buffe at ph 7.7!!! Give us the exact mechanism for the Schiff base formation between Isoniazid and pyridoxal phosphate!!!! Please, help us!!! Please!!!!!!"

I stood there, and a unexplainable feeling of helplessness overwhelmed me. The begged and pleaded, but without this crucial information, they collapsed and died right at my feet, and I wept. at this moment, I knew med school was for me........

yes yes i know this is on the boards and yadda yadda yadda, i'm just teasing 😉
Click to expand...

LOL:laugh: :laugh: ...I am reading this kinda late but it's funny.
 
Originally posted by sacrament
omg, if we had streaming lecture videos and all that stuff, I would NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER go to lecture, ever, never, not even once, not even on the first day. As it is, the only times I ever bother going is if I look ahead at the notes and they seem a bit sparse... then I figure there must be "more to it" than what is in the notes. I'm jealous. I'm so jealous.
Click to expand...

Sac,

I'm in dental school, but I just couldn't pass up commenting on this, because I 100% agree with you.

Get this, we have all that same crap (a total plethora of resources available to us over the internet) and our attendance is mandatory.

Consider yourself lucky that you at least have the option of skipping (even if the resources aren't all you wished they were).
 
Originally posted by Dr_sax
The best so far: our hungarian prof teaching us abdomen.
He likes to say Abdomeen-al(abdominal), cainal(canal) and of course the best and I swear to God- punkrockus(pancreas).

He said anal cainal today and I almost lost it completely.

I love him though
Dr_Sax
Click to expand...

I've had a similar experience with a professor explaining "chemical shift", which comes out as "chemical $hit".

So funny that class members asked him to repeat the concept 4 or 5 times just to hear him say it.
 
I had a professor in undergrad who used to say platoon phase or cartoon phase of the heart AP.
 
Originally posted by johnstoner
closet gunners are the worst! They pretend like they barely passed an exam...pretend like they never study. But of course there are those really bright people who can party often and still do well b/c they have good retention and only need to go over material two times instead of my normal 10 times before it sticks tatic.
Click to expand...

Dude, I don't know any closet gunners. I only know people who nap in the library instead of studying. 😛

I can't wait till we get to some classes where my pharmacy background will help me (pharmacology, microbiology, immunology, physiology, pathophys, etc.--2nd year, basically), because right now I'm feeling SO overwhelmed. Everything we're learning this semester is stuff I've never seen before. I know it's all new to everyone else, too, and unlike me they have little prospect of more familiar material later. But my brain is getting very slow to absorb things that are completely new, and I constantly have this feeling of not quite understanding the material. It's just really demoralizing to be confronted with what will be MY most challenging courses all in my first semester.
 
We have mandatory attendance 8 AM-3 PM, 5 subjects (Cell Bio, Histology, Gross Anatomy, Embryology, Medical Ethics), 5 days a week!

Anyone else experiencing "Mandatory Attendance" for medical school?

By the time I get home, I am so tired, I can't study and by the end of week I am so exhausted, I sleep my weekend away. I am so far behind, especially in Anatomy, I want to scream!

I don't know how much longer I can put up with this, if I really bomb my first and second set of exams, I think I am going to have to call it quits, just to save my sanity.

I never conceptualized how horrible mandatory attendance is until I got here, it?s like being in High School all over again, and I never got to class on time.

The only reason I did so well is college/grad. school was because I could pick my class schedule and attendance was optional. I learn just fine all on my own. I guess my only saving grace might be if everyone else is having just as much trouble/hating the mandatory attendance policy as much as I am, at least it will be affecting us all equally.

Mike
 
Here are my thoughts in regards to the past month of school....

Marginal Pass and Pass are beautiful things...

The people who have to sit in the same f*cking seat everyday in our lecture hall are the same ones who are complaining about not getting honors in our first module, "Introduction to Clinical Decision Making". Puh-lease, if they're worrying about getting honors already, lord only knows what shape they'll be in next year....

I don't understand why people complain about not having time to go and do things like exercise or do stuff on the weekends. Our curriculum allows us SOOOO much time for personal time, it's almost laughable. Yes, the material we are getting is voluminous and intense, but you will not find me camped out in the library 15 seconds after lecture ends, studying intensely for 5 hours....

We don't have too many gunners, but the few ones we have are way too vocal....and hostile!

Other than that, I find med school and the town in which my med school is located to be WAY FUN!
 
Originally posted by ItsGavinC
Sac,

I'm in dental school, but I just couldn't pass up commenting on this, because I 100% agree with you.

Get this, we have all that same crap (a total plethora of resources available to us over the internet) and our attendance is mandatory.

Consider yourself lucky that you at least have the option of skipping (even if the resources aren't all you wished they were).
Click to expand...

If our attendance was mandatory, it's possible I would have dropped out of school by now. 😀
 
Originally posted by Samoa
Dude, I don't know any closet gunners. I only know people who nap in the library instead of studying. 😛

I can't wait till we get to some classes where my pharmacy background will help me (pharmacology, microbiology, immunology, physiology, pathophys, etc.--2nd year, basically), because right now I'm feeling SO overwhelmed. Everything we're learning this semester is stuff I've never seen before. I know it's all new to everyone else, too, and unlike me they have little prospect of more familiar material later. But my brain is getting very slow to absorb things that are completely new, and I constantly have this feeling of not quite understanding the material. It's just really demoralizing to be confronted with what will be MY most challenging courses all in my first semester.
Click to expand...


Did you see me napping at the library? if you seen someone napping then that was me! Usually if i decide to stay for afternoon lectures and we don't have those meetings with free pizza...I'm at the library taking a short nap.

maybe i'll see u at the gold mine...
 
Mandatory can mean a lot of things & lots of people get out of mandatory stuff.
I'm making getting out of mandatory things a hobby at school. Sometimes I try to show up & then slip out. Cough, cough, cough...can't breathe...must get water. Never return. That is my fave, but you can't use it too much or people think you have TB.

cleo
 
Haha, if you do go to med school in cali, you can go COUGH COUGH SNEEZE and say you just return from ASIA and all your relatives are affected by SARS.

That will get you out of your MANDATORY class in a hurry. Into a MANDATORY respiratory isolation at your favorite hospital room.

🙂
 
Originally posted by tatabox80
Just finished my first week of class...and here are a few of my observations.



Sixth: 8 hours of lecture is cruel and unusual punishment.

!
Click to expand...

😱 😱

you poor thing! is that 8 hrs of lecture per *day*??? We have like 8 hrs of lecture per *week*! ouch!
 
Originally posted by Barry Otter
So what you're saying is that you would knife a gunner?
Click to expand...
I think he is saying he is not a gunner but a knifer.
 
meh.
my school sucks
 
Do you really think your school suck?? And why??
 
i forgot to add a smiley 😎

i don't think my school sucks. it's just that there are certain issues about downstate that bother a lot of students including myself.

cheers
 
I would just like to say that to my pleasant surprise, CWRU rules. Everything is taped, documented, noted, and outlined for us... and it's ALL online on ONE website. They do everything save take the test for us. It's beautiful. During biochem they've had patients come in at least once a week to talk to us about rare and or serious illnesses/conditions they have. They're always bringing it back to the clinical setting.
 
Originally posted by Street Philosopher
I dunno if I qualify as a closet gunner, but in small groups I usually come across like a complete IDIOT. So far I've:

1. forgotten to bring my homework
2. been late when the session was headed by the main instructor
3. shouted out a wrong answer
4. shouted out the right answer, and when the instructor looked surprised, "corrected" myself
5. in anatomy i have no idea what's going on and i couldn't remember any of the structures even if my life depended on it

I do this unintentionally, but damn, it seems to happen a lot. I do fine on exams though.
Click to expand...

Wait... so you actually go to smallgroup?
 
Originally posted by relatively prime
Wait... so you actually go to smallgroup?
Click to expand...

you mean you guys don't have to???😕
 
Originally posted by relatively prime
I would just like to say that to my pleasant surprise, CWRU rules. Everything is taped, documented, noted, and outlined for us... and it's ALL online on ONE website. They do everything save take the test for us. It's beautiful. During biochem they've had patients come in at least once a week to talk to us about rare and or serious illnesses/conditions they have. They're always bringing it back to the clinical setting.
Click to expand...

pretty much the same thing here at michigan. 😀

Wait... so you actually go to smallgroup?
Click to expand...

they're required (i.e. in a sign in, part of your grade - easy points - type of required).
 
We did plebotomy on fellow classmates today, that was cool, cause I can say I've done my first procedure in the 6th week of med school. The only thing that wasn't cool was the guy sticking me had to do both of my arms, cause one of my samples started to coagulate because he forget to invert it a few times. Oh yeah and PBL is mandatory here too.
 
Originally posted by GoodMonkey

they're required (i.e. in a sign in, part of your grade - easy points - type of required).
Click to expand...

We have the same thing, but I usually still don't go. In one class I voluntarily gave up 5% of the final grade by never once going to the small groups. (I would proudly declare that I still got Honors in the class, but I won't. But not because it isn't true. 😀 )
 
i thank the higher powers everytime i go to anatomy lab, open up my tank, and see my skinny minnie cadaver. i never have to pick off nasty fat. thank you benign adipose gods for sparing me.
 
Originally posted by ilovetexas
i thank the higher powers everytime i go to anatomy lab, open up my tank, and see my skinny minnie cadaver. i never have to pick off nasty fat. thank you benign adipose gods for sparing me.
Click to expand...

i must have wronged benign adipose gods at some point in my life. try about 4-5" of it all around midsection and especially in her lower back. whew!
 
After 1 week and 2 days in medical school I have come to the following conclusions:

1) P/F (not Honors, Pass, etc. but Pass/Fail) is the greatest thing ever.
2) The majority of my classmates are VERY smart but also very helpful, outgoing, funny and likeable people. (I was so worried that I would be surrounded by tools and gunners.)
3) Reliable public transportation is a godsend.
4) There are so many things to do in San Francisco and Oakland that I might not make it out of here in four years.
5) Our 800+ page syllabus may be long but it is thorough -- for the most part.
6) Pro-section rocks. I have not touched a single organ and we've had three anatomy labs already.
7) I chose the right medical school.
 
Originally posted by sacrament
We have the same thing, but I usually still don't go. In one class I voluntarily gave up 5% of the final grade by never once going to the small groups. (I would proudly declare that I still got Honors in the class, but I won't. But not because it isn't true. 😀 )
Click to expand...
it was as high as 50% in one of our classes. 🙁
 
Originally posted by Street Philosopher
it was as high as 50% in one of our classes. 🙁
Click to expand...

50%!!!! You could get 50% of your grade just by showing up? I don't know if I'd be overjoyed or seriously bitter...
 
Originally posted by seaworthc
where you been hiding Tein???? 😉
Click to expand...

i've been doing the medical school thing 🙂
...gotta go to small group now. so so fun
 
Originally posted by Doc Ivy
you mean you guys don't have to???😕
Click to expand...

As far as I know... no. I almost always go... but I've missed once or twice and no one has said anything to me. They don't take attendance and there's always a different faculty person leading us.

Very few things at Case are mandatory. We have something called "ICM" every tuesday morning that we absolutely have to go to... but I think they only require this to prevent us from completely disappearing for weeks at a time. 😉

And everything is strictly P/F (i.e. there's no high pass or honors or anything like that).
 
another 2 percent of a dollar:

all those people who told me "medical school will fly by" I now realize must be smoking some really cheap crack. we've had four weeks of class so far, and I feel as though I've been here for at least a year.


DW----->
action-smiley-060.gif
<-----med school
 
Originally posted by DW
another 2 percent of a dollar:

all those people who told me "medical school will fly by" I now realize must be smoking some really cheap crack. we've had four weeks of class so far, and I feel as though I've been here for at least a year.


DW----->
action-smiley-060.gif
<-----med school
Click to expand...

well it is like flying...its expensive, we have cramped seats, poor food, I constantly choose between sleeping or watching the in-flight presentation, and every so often I feel extremely nauseous....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

aricena318
What to do After Medical School
Replies
10
Views
3K
abc123412
A
D
SDN Article: 5 Tips to Survive Your First Year of Medical School
Replies
0
Views
1K
Dr. David Lenihan, Ph.D., J.D., FRSM
D
jkinterestedinmed
Failed the crap out of my first class potentially
Replies
8
Views
2K
operaman
O
R
Things to buy/do before med school starts
Replies
10
Views
2K
cerebellar
cerebellar
L
Most unexpected classmates in med school?
Replies
21
Views
2K
ontiquicuo
O
Top