Outline of a typical day...

[taylormade2006]

I am wondering if anyone would be willing to outline a typical day for an MS1/2 student and also for an MS3/4 student. For example, "Wake up at 5am, in class at 8am, etc".

I just want to make sure I know as much about the schooling as possible before attempting admissions. I can shadow to learn about the job, but there's nothing I can do to observe the education or the time requirements.

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[Pinkertinkle]

o its not that bad at all

 

[whoknows2012]

I am an MS-1 and my typical day goes as follows...

wake up at 8
9-12 various lectures (usually 2)
12-1 Lunch
1-2 Additional lecture
2-4 or 5 Lab
5-6 relax/work out
6-7 dinner
8-11 study
12 sleep time

This is for a non-test week...during a week there is a test increase the studying per day by double

 

[sisco]

3 A.M. Go to sleep
5 A.M. Wake up and study
7 A.M. Class
10 A.M. Get out of class
11A.M. Second class starts
4 P.M. Second class ends
4 P.M. Third class starts
6 P.M. Third class ends
7 P.M. Library
10 P.M. Get home
10 P.M. Start studying
3 A.M. Go to sleep
Cycle repeats from Monday to Saturday
*Meals and naps are sporadically thrown in the schedule

 

[ZagDoc]

Typical day on surgery right now

3:45am Wake Up
4:30am 10 min walk to hospital
4:40am-5:30am Pre-round on patients/Vitals
5:30am-7:15am Rounds
7:30am Meet patient of first case of day in pre-anaesthesia
7:45am-~noon Case #1
12:00-12:30 Grab lunch, finish notes if not done already
12:30-5:00 Either second case of day or floor work
5:00-7:30 Evening rounds
7:45-10:30 Dinner, reading for cases next day, studying, procrastinating, shower
10:30-3:30 Sweet, sweet sleep

 

[AlexMorph]

3 A.M. Go to sleep
5 A.M. Wake up and study
7 A.M. Class
10 A.M. Get out of class
11A.M. Second class starts
4 P.M. Second class ends
4 P.M. Third class starts
6 P.M. Third class ends
7 P.M. Library
10 P.M. Get home
10 P.M. Start studying
3 A.M. Go to sleep
Cycle repeats from Monday to Saturday
*Meals and naps are sporadically thrown in the schedule

this sounds a little outrageous

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Typical day on surgery right now

3:45am Wake Up
4:30am 10 min walk to hospital
4:40am-5:30am Pre-round on patients/Vitals
5:30am-7:15am Rounds
7:30am Meet patient of first case of day in pre-anaesthesia
7:45am-~noon Case #1
12:00-12:30 Grab lunch, finish notes if not done already
12:30-5:00 Either second case of day or floor work
5:00-7:30 Evening rounds
7:45-10:30 Dinner, reading for cases next day, studying, procrastinating, shower
10:30-3:30 Sweet, sweet sleep

wut school do u go to so other people kno not to go there

 

[iMD]

1-2AM Go to sleep
11AM Wake (miss lectures)
11-1PM skim/read over lecture i missed
1-3/4PM Go to labs
4-6 continue going over lecture
6-8 watch lectures
8-10 go workout, play ball, chill, surf internet, spend time with gf
10-1030 shower from doing the above (giggity giggity)
1030-1 surf, catch up on shows i missed, skim over notes if the day's lecture is particularly info intensive.

 

[greatnt249]

I am wondering if anyone would be willing to outline a typical day for an MS1/2 student and also for an MS3/4 student. For example, "Wake up at 5am, in class at 8am, etc".

I just want to make sure I know as much about the schooling as possible before attempting admissions. I can shadow to learn about the job, but there's nothing I can do to observe the education or the time requirements.

MS-1 Anatomy block.
1. Wake up at 6:30 am.
2. Catch train at 7:25 am.
3. Begin lecture 8:00 am.
4. End lecture-begin lab cross-teach at 9:00 am.
5. Whatever group cuts that day cuts from 10 am-12 pm.
6. Go home and study or stay in lab if you want-studying increases doubly around test time.
7. Go to bed around 1 am.

Doctoring from 1-2:30 pm (Mondays) and 3-5 pm (Thursdays).

 

[phospho]

3 A.M. Go to sleep
5 A.M. Wake up and study
7 A.M. Class
10 A.M. Get out of class
11A.M. Second class starts
4 P.M. Second class ends
4 P.M. Third class starts
6 P.M. Third class ends
7 P.M. Library
10 P.M. Get home
10 P.M. Start studying
3 A.M. Go to sleep
Cycle repeats from Monday to Saturday
*Meals and naps are sporadically thrown in the schedule

Dude, no offense, but if you're living on 2 hours of sleep a night, you're doing something wrong. Either your study habits suck, your're not using your time efficiently, or both.

Also, 10 hours of lecture a day? Is this a U.S. medical school we're talking about?

 

[pingouin]

Moving to pre-medical forums. Lots of medical students wander in and will be happy to answer this there.

 

[DrYoda]

MS1: non-test time schedule.

1-2am: go to sleep
~7-9am: wake up, eat breakfast, read news ect.
9-11am: read over days lectures
11-3: run errands, eat lunch, exercise.
4-5pm: nap
5-6pm: dinner
6-9pm: hang out w/ friends, goof off on internet, ect.
9-11: read next days lectures, and parts of todays lecture if needed.
11-1: watch a movie, go through my email, basically relaxing time


The couple of days before a test there's significantly more studying and less down time.

 

[aggie08]

We're in Anatomy block right now, with self-teach Embryo.

Wake up at 7am.
Lecture: usually 8am - 9am.
Anatomy Lab: 9am - Noon
Lunch: Noon - 1pm
Clinicals: 1pm - 5pm (this is not everyday, maybe 2x week max)

Some days we have additional lectures from 1pm - 4pm.

 

[MedMan25]

3 A.M. Go to sleep
5 A.M. Wake up and study
7 A.M. Class
10 A.M. Get out of class
11A.M. Second class starts
4 P.M. Second class ends
4 P.M. Third class starts
6 P.M. Third class ends
7 P.M. Library
10 P.M. Get home
10 P.M. Start studying
3 A.M. Go to sleep
Cycle repeats from Monday to Saturday
*Meals and naps are sporadically thrown in the schedule

Sorry, but I'm calling your BS. First, there isn't any school that schedules 10 hours of class per day. Second, you can't live on 2 hours a sleep a night and make it through medical school, plain and simple.

 

[jvesco22]

wut school do u go to so other people kno not to go there

this ^ lol

 

[MossPoh]

My schedule is kind of crazy depending on the day.
I try to keep consistent sleep patters.

I'll just say where my time goes in an average day.

6-7 Hours of sleep.
1.5 Hours of exercise
2.5- 3 hours of lecture (if I choose to go)
1-2 Hours of small group meetings, lab, team based crap, etc.
3-4 Hours of study time.
The rest is mixed between zone out time, decompression time, travel time and eating.

In reality it is much more complex. I workout specific days. I have random meetings all the friggin time, etc. The ideal day is somewhere around there though.

 

[shawnpl]

MS1: non-test time schedule.

1-2am: go to sleep
~7-9am: wake up, eat breakfast, read news ect.
9-11am: read over days lectures
11-3: run errands, eat lunch, exercise.
4-5pm: nap
5-6pm: dinner
6-9pm: hang out w/ friends, goof off on internet, ect.
9-11: read next days lectures, and parts of todays lecture if needed.
11-1: watch a movie, go through my email, basically relaxing time

When do you study, I don't see it anywhere. Or is reading over the lectures your study time?

 

[DrYoda]

When do you study, I don't see it anywhere. Or is reading over the lectures your study time?

I should have been more clear on that.

Reading over lectures=study time. I don't actually attend the lectures so the notes they pass out are my primary study material.

 

[corbis11]

ms-1 in anatomy block

0630 wake up/shower/breakfast
0800 conference
0900 - 1200 anatomy lab or self-study (our lab groups are split in half so you alternate days in the lab dissecting and then cross-teach the next day for ~30 minutes)
1200-2230 exercise, eat, study, bum around, study, intramurals, sleep

mondays we have doctoring from 1200-1300 and I have another doctoring session on tuesdays from 1400-1600

Next block it's 0800-1200 daily with doctoring mixed in

 

[Disinence2]

MS3

Internal Medicine Rotation

6:45 Wake up
7:30 Morning Report
8:15 - 4:30 Pre-Rounding/Rounds/Note Writing
4:30-5 Sign out

Note that this includes weekend rounding, and multiple calls both weekday and weekend. Call schedule vary from school and rotation. For me a weekend call is 8am saterday - noon sunday. Weekday call is from 5pm- noon the next day when you get to go home.

 

[xaelia]

EM-II PICU:
6:15am wake up
6:30 breakfast
7am hospital for pre-round/sign-out
8:30am rounds in unit
12pm lunch
afternoon cover the unit or go home depending on clinic/call schedules
q4 overnight call ~4-6 hours of sleep on average

that's my day right now!

still waiting for that mythical day when the PICU isn't full....

 

[mmmcdowe]

9-12 Lecture
12-1 lunch
1-5 either free day or lab (alternating days)
5-6 workout
6-8 eat and screw around
8-12 study or screw around (doing the latter atm)
12-1 hang out and get ready for bed.

 

[taylormade2006]

This is great information! Thank you so much to everyone who has participated so far!

 

[Bacchus]

I have a comprehensive course right now that includes anatomy, histology, embryology, and radiology. The last three are sprinkled in among anatomy. I also have OMM stuff since I'm at an osteopathic school (2 times a week).

8-10: Lecture
10-1: Lab
1-2: Lunch
2-4: Usually lecture

OMM Lab takes us til 5. Not bad

I usually come home, take a nap, and then eat dinner and start studying around 8 or 9 til 12.

 

[Beta Cell]

Awesome post!

 

[Depakote]

On my surgery rotation I was in by 5am for pre-rounds and was usually done by 6pm. Morning usually went pre-rounds->rounds->cases with followup on the patients in the afternoon. Occasional consults/lectures/etc and more misc stuff in the afternoon to fill the day. Studied in the evening and then crashed early.

 

[Bacchus]

I'd also like to add, even though my lab is in the "middle" of the day, my friend and I do a clean locker (backpacks and clothes from the morning) and dirty locker (all scrubs, sneakers, socks) setup and I don't smell when I leave lab. So, having lab in the middle of the day isn't necessarily bad. The lectures we have after lunch pertain to that day's lab and usually are histology portions of what we were doing.

 

[aggie08]

I'd also like to add, even though my lab is in the "middle" of the day, my friend and I do a clean locker (backpacks and clothes from the morning) and dirty locker (all scrubs, sneakers, socks) setup and I don't smell when I leave lab. So, having lab in the middle of the day isn't necessarily bad. The lectures we have after lunch pertain to that day's lab and usually are histology portions of what we were doing.

Our school gives us an anatomy locker! It's so nice. Stinky clothes stay in the basement, backpack doesn't smell like Formalin. Great idea with the sharing your locker thing, though. That's a pretty spiffy routine you have.

 

[LAman10]

2am - 11am: Sleep
11am - 2pm: Class/lunch/nap
2pm - 5pm: Class or nap
5pm - 7pm: Work/dinner/nap if I skip work
7pm - 9pm: Study? or nap...
9pm - 2am: Chill, relax, or sleep early (because I am usually sleep-deprived as you can plainly see)


Edit: oh crap, I'm still an undergrad. sorry for misleading you

 

[rowerontheriver]

MS1 Systems Based

0645 Wakeup
0800- 1000 Gross Lab
1000-1200 Lecture
1200-1300 Lunch
1300-1500/1600- Histo Lab/Small Groups/Gross Lab
1500-1800 Chill, workout, dinner
1800-2200 Read, review, etc
2200-2330ish- waste time online/talk to longdist BF
2330 sleep

Granted our schedule is completely different every single day of the year, but it pretty much involves classes from 8-3/4 with an hour lunch break.

 

[TopSecret]

3 A.M. Go to sleep
5 A.M. Wake up and study
7 A.M. Class
10 A.M. Get out of class
11A.M. Second class starts
4 P.M. Second class ends
4 P.M. Third class starts
6 P.M. Third class ends
7 P.M. Library
10 P.M. Get home
10 P.M. Start studying
3 A.M. Go to sleep
Cycle repeats from Monday to Saturday
*Meals and naps are sporadically thrown in the schedule

My schedule was more like this.

7:30 AM Wake up
8:00 AM Breakfast
8:30 AM Watch morning news
9:00 AM Class
12:00 PM Lunch
1:00 PM Class
5:00 PM Dinner
5:30 PM Watch TV
6:00 PM Study
9:00 PM Hang out with friends
11:00 PM Sleep

Two weeks before finals
I would eliminate hanging out with friends and the TV time. I would also sleep at around 12:30 AM.

 

[calnation]

Wow it seems like free time really goes to hell in medical school. We only seem to be talking about MS1/MS2. I hope I don't completely lose my ability to socially interact before I get to MS3.

 

[potato head]

6:50 AM wake up
7:00 AM bum around, surf net
7:15 AM listen to radio or listen to lecture (the latter doesn't happen as often as it should)
9:00 AM lecture
12:00PM lunch
1:00 PM lab
4:00 PM listen to radio or listen to lecture
6:00 PM get home, eat dinner, watch tv, study... repeat last two. mix/match.
12:00 AM sleep

 

[rmsgolfer]

6:00 wake up
630-730 hit the gym
8-noon lecture
12-1 Lunch
1-3 or 4 some lecture/lab most days
4-6 try and get home for diner
630-11 study

anytme after that i try to relax, watch some tv, or get to bed early

 

[fastnfurious]

did any of you guys find it hard to be in lecture for 4-8 hours a day?

 

[Bacchus]

did any of you guys find it hard to be in lecture for 4-8 hours a day?

Not with my laptop and an active internet connection

 

[TopSecret]

did any of you guys find it hard to be in lecture for 4-8 hours a day?

Nope. It's not like college where you're in separate classes and have to walk to different lecture halls. You basically stay in one lecture hall the entire time and the lecturers take turns. So you get to experience all the joy and pain of medical school lectures with your friends.

 

[Slowpoke]

Nope. It's not like college where you're in separate classes and have to walk to different lecture halls. You basically stay in one lecture hall the entire time and the lecturers take turns. So you get to experience all the joy and pain of medical school lectures with your friends.

friends? are there such things in medical school?

 

[vinniekan]

6:50 AM wake up
7:00 AM bum around, surf net
7:15 AM listen to radio or listen to lecture (the latter doesn't happen as often as it should)
9:00 AM lecture
12:00PM lunch
1:00 PM lab
4:00 PM listen to radio or listen to lecture
6:00 PM get home, eat dinner, watch tv, study... repeat last two. mix/match.
12:00 AM sleep

6:00 wake up
630-730 hit the gym
8-noon lecture
12-1 Lunch
1-3 or 4 some lecture/lab most days
4-6 try and get home for diner
630-11 study

anytme after that i try to relax, watch some tv, or get to bed early

These schedules are a lot like my schedule during undergrad's chem/physics/bio lab days, minus the 4-5 hours study time at night, it was more like 1-2 I guess

 

[DrYoda]

did any of you guys find it hard to be in lecture for 4-8 hours a day?

I find it pretty dull and unproductive. Which is why I usually don't attend.

I do sometimes go for a half-day just to say hi to my peeps.

Edit: Or when I run out of food, free lunches FTW!

 

[taylormade2006]

Nope. It's not like college where you're in separate classes and have to walk to different lecture halls. You basically stay in one lecture hall the entire time and the lecturers take turns. So you get to experience all the joy and pain of medical school lectures with your friends.

Top Secret,

Now that you are through school, what is your schedule outline like?

 

[caniac]

I find it pretty dull and unproductive. Which is why I usually don't attend.

I do sometimes go for a half-day just to say hi to my peeps.

Edit: Or when I run out of food, free lunches FTW!

wait, the lunches are free in medical school?!?!

I want to go where you go Yoda!!

 

[Beta Cell]

wait, the lunches are free in medical school?!?!

I want to go where you go Yoda!!

Lol, once he tells you, write about the free lunch deal in that school's secondary. That shows intense knowledge about the school.

 

[Pills Of Soap]

so..what days of the week do u guys go out and drink and stuff

 

[TopSecret]

Top Secret,

Now that you are through school, what is your schedule outline like?

It's 9-5 M-F but variable hours because of on-call responsibilities. About 60 hours a week of patient contact (40 hours in office) and 20 hours before or after office hours and on weekends. That's just direct patient contact. I also spend about 7-10 hours each week on the administrative end.

I should also mention that some weeks it's staggered hours, i.e., alternating between 7-3 and 11-7 to see patients who want to be seen before or after work.

 

[DrYoda]

wait, the lunches are free in medical school?!?!

I want to go where you go Yoda!!

I think you can get free lunch pretty easily at most med schools.

There's always a club meeting, a guest lecture, presenatation ect at lunch time and they allways have free food.

so..what days of the week do u guys go out and drink and stuff

Friday, Saturday, and after tests.

 

[TopSecret]

so..what days of the week do u guys go out and drink and stuff

TGIF's, weekends, holidays, summer breaks.

 

[scrambizle]

MS4 year (not including SubI or any rotation where you want a letter)

8:00 AM: look at clock, go back to sleep
8:15 AM: get up, shower, eat cheerios, read news/watch sports center
9:00 AM: get into work, look at clock until lunch,
noon - 1:00 PM: Lunch, hopefully free and provided by pharm reps
1:00 - 4:00 PM: Hope attending tells you to go home by 4
4:00 PM: She did!
4:01 PM - whenever you feel like going to sleep: Relax, watch TV, go to the bar, work out, read for pleasure, think about how how much you'll forget by the time you're an intern.

 

[echolalia16]

This is really relieving. I feel like the amount of relaxation time I get right now between working, volunteering, ECs, studying, classes etc is right on par with what I can expect in the future based on these outlines. I'll just need to adjust the diversity of what I do now to the monotony of classes and studying

 

[w8ting2exhale]

Class times seem kind of long...all day, basically