Papers/Essays in medical school?

[Maneuver]

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So... How often can one expect a writing/essay assignment in medical school.

 

[TexasPhysician]

Some small essays and assignments at my program. Nothing very time intensive though.

 

[tremulousNeedle]

Depends on each school, but I would say not very often.

Medical Ethics, which I took 2 years ago, was the last time I wrote anything in essay format.

 

[imorbust]

So... How often can one expect a writing/essay assignment in medical school.

It varies, but on the whole not a ton. We had writing assignments regularly in my school's version of the "how to be a doctor" class during preclinical years, and several of my clerkships had ethics or other essays.

 

[Transmogrifier]

No essays at all for the curriculum for me. Only thing that might qualify is filling out applications for scholarships/positions/research/grants etc.

I believe the next thing I have to write is my personal statement for residency.

 

[doraxplorer]

what about math? a semester of calc is required, but the last time I took calc was in HS, don't remember any now, won't remember any later. I suck at math in general, so I'd rather remember pathways than calculate anything.

 

[tremulousNeedle]

what about math? a semester of calc is required, but the last time I took calc was in HS, don't remember any now, won't remember any later. I suck at math in general, so I'd rather remember pathways than calculate anything.

There is most definitely math in medicine, mostly algebra and statistics (as well as 5th grade arithmetic), no calculus. Make sure you don't miss a calc prerequisite; schools are variable on this requirement and will variably accept AP credit.

-admissions committee interviewer / senior medical student

 

[ThaliaNox]

I had to write essays for ethics and clinical skills this year. Not big ones, though, just a couple pages.

As far as math goes, there is some around in biochem, cardio, pulmonary and the bane of my existence: Epidemiology.

 

[armybound]

I wrote 1 essay this year.

Math is definitely used, but it's not complicated math. Simple algebra, some logarithms.

 

[Transmogrifier]

what about math? a semester of calc is required, but the last time I took calc was in HS, don't remember any now, won't remember any later. I suck at math in general, so I'd rather remember pathways than calculate anything.

End of first year here and the only math I've used is nothing more difficult than what you'd run into on the MCAT. And that's made up all of maybe 3 or 4 test questions (pharmacokinetics and epidemiology).

 

[Maneuver]

End of first year here and the only math I've used is nothing more difficult than what you'd run into on the MCAT. And that's made up all of maybe 3 or 4 test questions (pharmacokinetics and epidemiology).

What about essays?

 

[mmmcdowe]

Essays ~

Writing YES! Unless my schools is just behind the times you have to do case write ups. The detail declines over time as you progress through 3rd and 4th year, but you have to write up the cases at least some of the time. We also have practice write ups (on real patients) at the moment. A couple psych ones and 4 or so normal ones this semester then more next.

 

[Maneuver]

Essays ~

Writing YES! Unless my schools is just behind the times you have to do case write ups. The detail declines over time as you progress through 3rd and 4th year, but you have to write up the cases at least some of the time. We also have practice write ups (on real patients) at the moment. A couple psych ones and 4 or so normal ones this semester then more next.

I wouldn't mind doing case writeups. I'm more concerned about having to write about the same kind of nonsense I've had to as an undergrad.

 

[mmmcdowe]

I wouldn't mind doing case writeups. I'm more concerned about having to write about the same kind of nonsense I've had to as an undergrad.

Trust me, case write ups are a necessary skill, but you're going to get sick of them if only because they take time. I still enjoy them because I learn from the experience, but when I'm writing up my 100th diabetic non-adherent case IDK...

 

[krs881]

some medical schools require students to write a thesis based on original research to graduate. and a lot of med students everywhere are involved in research and may write papers for publication, abstracts, posters and presentations for conferences, etc.