Pod/Med/Dent School & Undergrad school

[cool_vkb]

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I wanted to ask this question from a long time but i always forgot. So anyways, i was wondering is there like any difference between Undergrad School and Professional Schools (Like Pod school). I mean you know in Undergrad the attitude is not that serious, people are all abt activities, weekends, School organizations, oncampus jobs & internships, too many out of major classes and extracurriculars. Well basically i think the whole attitude is different.

How is Pod school like? Is it a totally different system or just like any undergrad college? And how is the general student mentality (Since most of us will be from 25-30s i guess people will be more mature, experienced and classes will be serious.

I mean when we walk in a Pod school for the first time as Undergrads. Do we feel like we are in a totally new world and take sometime to adjust or its not that big deal as iam making it?

 

[bex83]

Personally, I believe that podiatry school is a lot different than undergrad.

I remember, before i came to pod school, a lot of my friends/parents were telling me that it was going to be totally different and that i would be surprised, etc. And i remember not really believing it, because i didn't think that it could honestly be THAT much different.

The main differences, which you will realize right away, is the amount of material that you will be expected to know/learn. In undergrad we had an entire test on resp. physiology (for example), whereas in pod school it is a third of one test that we take for the class. You learn A LOT of information in a small period of time.

Also, you will be studying A LOT more. I will admit, i never really studied in undergrad. I literally studied for a test the night before. You will never do this again. You study for a test AT least for an entire week (if you have time available to do that).

You really need to find a rhythm for yourself, and that may take a little getting used to...however, it's not impossible once you settle in. You will see.

I wouldn't suggest getting a job right away, but i know in my second year i would have had LOADS of time to work. (i just didn't want to=) It's smart to get involved though...i know a lot of people at our school join a ton of clubs when they first arrive and i think it's good...it's always nice to get introduced to people and feel like you aren't the only one going through it.

HOPE THAT HELPS...you may not believe me either (like i didn't believe everyone who told me) but it definitely is a change. GOOD LUCK

 

[NatCh]

It was a GINORMOUS change for me. In undergrad I would attend a few lectures in the morning (or not), drink coffee in the student center for an hour, hang out in the quad for an hour, ride my bike all afternoon, go to work in the evening, go out at night, then study a little bit. Prior to exams I'd review for an hour or two and I graduated with a 3.7 gpa.

In pod school I ran from class to home so I could study. I ran to the grocery store so as to not lose any study time. I ran to the library to study some more. I had heart palpitations.

The biggest difference was in the sheer volume of info I needed to learn. It was as if podiatry school took the quantity of info that undergrad would cover in an entire semester and compressed it into one week. Also different was that I had to stop trying to get a deep understanding of the material as I did in undergrad, and learn to do name recognition and word pairing instead so I could get through the material quickly. I studied probably 10-12 hours per day versus the 1-3 in undergrad and I graduated pod school middle of the curve.

A lot of my pod school classmates were freaky-psycho-competitive, and most of us (who didn't drop out) took it very seriously, as if our careers were at stake (hint).

That was First-Year. After that either it got easier or I got used to it.

Nat