opinion of medical students please...

[daveynyc]

Hello,

I am strongly considering taking the MCAT and applying to medical school.

I am slightly apprehensive based on the following.

I've completed General Chem 1 & 2, General Bio 1 & 2, Organic Chem 1 & 2, Biochemistry and General Physics 1 & 2.

Although I received "A"s in all of the courses, I found the labs to be very, very, very difficult. I aced all of the class exams, the finals, and understood all of the classroom concepts with no problem at all (I recieved nearly perfect scores on every class exam).

I think I might be lab-challenged. Seriously though, would I have a serious problem suceeding in Medical School because of my lack of prowess in lab?

Your opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks...

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[freshity]

do you want to be a doctor? i think that's the only thing you should worry abt. you're bound to run into a class or two, or more, in med school that you could do without. are you afraid of NOT doing well given your performance in the other classes? fear of failure should be a concern if you think it's something you can't learn from and grow beyond.

i guess i don't understand your dilemma. if you want to be a doctor, go for it. lack of lab prowess in and of itself won't be a problem.

 

[Fanconi]

You wouldn't happen to be a Slayer fan, would you?

Doesn't matter. That wouldn't help or hurt.

Here's my deal with med school (I'm a third year). Very little of the material has been conceptually difficult. Most of the stuff is pretty easy to understand. It's more the VOLUME of material that can be overwhelming. If you wanna be a doctor, be a doctor. Any perceived lab difficulties you have will not be a problem for you.

 

[guardian]

Originally posted by daveynyc:
•Hello,

I am strongly considering taking the MCAT and applying to medical school.

I am slightly apprehensive based on the following.

I've completed General Chem 1 & 2, General Bio 1 & 2, Organic Chem 1 & 2, Biochemistry and General Physics 1 & 2.

Although I received "A"s in all of the courses, I found the labs to be very, very, very difficult. I aced all of the class exams, the finals, and understood all of the classroom concepts with no problem at all (I recieved nearly perfect scores on every class exam).

I think I might be lab-challenged. Seriously though, would I have a serious problem suceeding in Medical School because of my lack of prowess in lab?

Your opinions would be appreciated.

Thanks...•••

I think I know what you're getting at. Some people (myself included) have better book smarts than practical ability i.e would rather read about titration and do problems on paper than actually doing it on the lab bench. I worried about it when I was thinking about applying to med school. Even though there is a tremendous amount of book knowledge in medicine ultimately we'd have to feel comfortable enough to work with our hands and use our skills to treat a real, living patient. As a strategy to improve my practical ability I took upper level lab courses and undertook an independent research project, which forced me to take a more active role and think about what I'm doing rather than getting everything from a book. Am I making sense? It also would be a good idea to volunteer in a hospital, I think you can get alot of hands on experience in a pathology lab.

There are lab components to many of the classes in med school. We're just finishing up anatomy and half of our grade comes from a practical. To my surprise, I do better on the practicals than the written tests. And it's probably because we're in the lab every day. So there is hope ! You might want to get input from other students who have taken histo or other courses requiring labs. Don't worry too much though.

 

[Voxel]

As a 4th year medical student, having gone through most of medical school at this point, I have 2 words for you, "Fo-get AboudIT". Seriously, physics or chem lab and med school labs are completely different and med school labs are much easier in some respects and more difficult in other respects. Anatomy lab and physics lab are two completely different animals. Don't worry. Study hard and do right by your patients. You'll be fine.

 

[daveynyc]

Hi all,

Thanks for your input.

Learning a large amount of data and concepts are the easy part.

I actually have no problem with interacting with patients (I volunteer as an EMT-D).

As far as labs go, Anatomy & Physiology as an undergraduate were pretty simple. It was the Gen Chem, the Org Chem & the Physics that kicked my butt.



Thanks again.

D...