Professors are Jerks

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instigata

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  1. Medical Student
Man I don't like undergrad professors anymore, they hate on pre-meds so badly. I guess it's because they never made it 🙄 Just today my professor made fun of me for being pre-med because I'm trying to learn "too much of the details, like every other pre-med out there." I say screw off and let me do whatever I want!
 
instigata said:
Man I don't like undergrad professors anymore, they hate on pre-meds so badly. I guess it's because they never made it 🙄 Just today my professor made fun of me for being pre-med because I'm trying to learn "too much of the details, like every other pre-med out there." I say screw off and let me do whatever I want!


next time, dont mention pre-med.
 
instigata said:
Man I don't like undergrad professors anymore, they hate on pre-meds so badly. I guess it's because they never made it 🙄 Just today my professor made fun of me for being pre-med because I'm trying to learn "too much of the details, like every other pre-med out there." I say screw off and let me do whatever I want!
Pre-meds have a bad "rep" with science professors because there is the perception (which you have to admit is often true!) that pre-meds only care about getting an A, and don't really want to have to learn the professor's subject. You have to understand that to a person who loves science enough to have gone to graduate school and earn a Ph.D. in his/her field, it is demoralizing to have to teach a bunch of students who don't care about, say, organic chemistry, and are only in the class because they have to take it to get into medical school. My suggestion is that you make up your mind not to be one of those stereotypical pre-meds. When you take your pre-req classes, try to get involved with the subject and learn as much about it as you can, even if what you are studying doesn't directly pertain to getting into medical school. I think you will find that if you show some genuine interest in their classes and a little bit of intellectual curiosity, the professors will respond very positively to that. I always did. 🙂
 
next time, dont mention pre-med.
I never did!! ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh


try to get involved with the subject and learn as much about it as you can

I do!! That was the problem! I was trying to learn all of the concepts and details about this one assignment, and he just started bashing me for trying to learn the details!
 
Dude if you were being annoying he was just trying to get you out of his office...once you are on the other side you will see how annoying it is to have some know-it-all sitting in your office asking about ridiculous details when you simply need to know how to understand and apply the general concept...i see this as a tutor all the time, there are always these people who don't know how to study effectively and try and memorize worthless details and spend so much time on this that they end up getting C's and can't figure out why, because of course they are the "smartest" kid in the class...no you aren't part of being intelligent is knowing that at some point there is a diminishing return, its great you love the details of the subject, but it won't impress your prof, tutor or peers...it just makes us think you are an annoying little **** who needs to find better ways to spend their time.
 
snobored18 said:
Dude if you were being annoying he was just trying to get you out of his office...once you are on the other side you will see how annoying it is to have some know-it-all sitting in your office asking about ridiculous details when you simply need to know how to understand and apply the general concept...i see this as a tutor all the time, there are always these people who don't know how to study effectively and try and memorize worthless details and spend so much time on this that they end up getting C's and can't figure out why, because of course they are the "smartest" kid in the class...no you aren't part of being intelligent is knowing that at some point there is a diminishing return, its great you love the details of the subject, but it won't impress your prof, tutor or peers...it just makes us think you are an annoying little **** who needs to find better ways to spend their time.

Actually I do know what it feels like because I am a TA, and no I wasn't being very annoying. We have crazy lab write ups and if you miss a small detail you will get ****ed on your grade...so NO I wasn't being annoying and NO I am not the type to get a C in a class and think I'm the smartest kid in the class. I've only received one B+ in my undergrad and I DO know how to study...so chill out. I wasn't being annoying when asking him these questions because I do know how it feels to be bothered.
 
QofQuimica said:
When you take your pre-req classes, try to get involved with the subject and learn as much about it as you can, even if what you are studying doesn't directly pertain to getting into medical school. I think you will find that if you show some genuine interest in their classes and a little bit of intellectual curiosity, the professors will respond very positively to that. I always did. 🙂
Sometimes, but not always. Some are way too paranoid, and if you ask a question (after class) because it's interesting and you don't quite understand it, sometimes they see it as manipulative pointless smalltalk to suck-up to them in order to get a LOR down the line.

I need a shirt that says "NO, I DON'T WANT A REC FROM YOU. I REALLY DO FIND MY QUESTION INTERESTING, EVEN IF IT WON'T BE ON YOUR DAMN EXAM."

Take the topic of this thread at face value. Some professors are jerks, since professors are just as human as the rest of us and are just as vulnerable to having a jerk or assclown personality.

Edit: About the bitterness for "not making it" [to med school], I run into that every now and then. One advisor had a bunch of sciencey texts on his bookshelf in the office and not at all related to the job. So I casually asked about his O-Chem text (maybe cracking a joke about it being leisure reading) and he got really bitter and awkward.

Not every PhD science professor is a former med school wannabe, so it would be wrong to assume that, but sometimes you just wonder based on their bitterness towards physicians... 🙂
 
QofQuimica said:
Pre-meds have a bad "rep" with science professors because there is the perception (which you have to admit is often true!) that pre-meds only care about getting an A, and don't really want to have to learn the professor's subject. You have to understand that to a person who loves science enough to have gone to graduate school and earn a Ph.D. in his/her field, it is demoralizing to have to teach a bunch of students who don't care about, say, organic chemistry, and are only in the class because they have to take it to get into medical school. My suggestion is that you make up your mind not to be one of those stereotypical pre-meds. When you take your pre-req classes, try to get involved with the subject and learn as much about it as you can, even if what you are studying doesn't directly pertain to getting into medical school. I think you will find that if you show some genuine interest in their classes and a little bit of intellectual curiosity, the professors will respond very positively to that. I always did. 🙂
I agree here.

Many of my professors in college were excellent students in their days and attended top schools for their fields before teaching. They had a real passion for their subjects and I think they find the premed attitude of 'just tell me what I need to know to get an A' to be annoying at times. I can sympathesize because I tutor students and sometimes all they care about is putting down the right answer, rather than the underlying concept.
 
NonTradMed said:
I agree here.

Many of my professors in college were excellent students in their days and attended top schools for their fields before teaching. They had a real passion for their subjects and I think they find the premed attitude of 'just tell me what I need to know to get an A' to be annoying at times. I can sympathesize because I tutor students and sometimes all they care about is putting down the right answer, rather than the underlying concept.

yep, professors dedicate their lives to a particular subject and probably are quite insulted by the pre-med mentality that a class is pointless except to get a grade...they probably aren't too fond of students thinking they're bitter because they haven't "made it" either... 🙄
 
I'd be bitter too if I spent 10 years of my life studying one protein then got scooped while I was writing the final draft.

Yuck.
 
instigata said:
Man I don't like undergrad professors anymore, they hate on pre-meds so badly. I guess it's because they never made it 🙄 ...

Uh yeah sure... maybe their experince with some students with your mindset is exactly why? I'm not sure I like your comment about "never mad it" either...

Some of my professors "made it" into medical school but decided to pursue something else, and before you comment about how he or she can't make it pass medical, she or he dropped when he was very near the top of his class. Some of my professors are practing physicans that just happens to enjoy teaching at the same time.

Some professors are not fond of students but those are very few in numbers. Most professors are very intelligent and care a lot about their students. Please don't generalize, particularly in this case, because your generalization is very wrong.
 
instigata said:
Man I don't like undergrad professors anymore, they hate on pre-meds so badly. I guess it's because they never made it 🙄 Just today my professor made fun of me for being pre-med because I'm trying to learn "too much of the details, like every other pre-med out there." I say screw off and let me do whatever I want!

As a future physician, and at the very least a member of society, I wouldn't get too bothered by such things. Everyone has their own views of things just like you have your view about "anti-premed" professors. Although you did mention that you were being sarcastic about professors being that way due to "never making it", making the comment alone is still not a good attitude to have. In a way, I actually find it offensive, since I'm a PhD student. But I can understand your frustrations so I don't take it personally😉.

From my point of view, the stereotypical pre-med is one of the worst kinds of people to be around and have to deal with. In all honesty, when someone in class asks several questions in one lecture, I would think they were a pre-med. There is no such thing as a stupid question, but there is a place and time to ask for specific questions. Some professors encourage questions all the time, but as a courtesy to others in the class, I would save extensive, detail oriented questions until after the class or during office hours.

I recently took an undergraduate class which fell behind 5-6 lectures due to such questions, and I along with the 9 other graduate students were quite annoyed. Due to stereotypical pre-med characteristics, some of our med school and vet school professors have called these pre-meds "premees"..lol. :laugh:

As QinQuimica said, pre-meds have a bad reputation, but regardless it behooves you to act better than pre-meds. It is understandable that you want to understand things, but at the same time, if you are coming off as a "stereotypical premed" then it only benefits you to adjust your actions to move away from that stereotype. First impressions are always important.
 
Well, I took a fair amount of ribbing about being a pre-med but it was nearly always affectionate - my professors knew that us pre-meds in class would work like dogs and were actually interested in the subject... I was part of what I called the "rat pack" - there were about six of us who were all second-career premeds over age 35 in night school... more than one professor told us that we were his/her favorite students for a long time.

There's no way to let us know about tone of voice on a message board, but are you sure you didn't take more offense from the comment than was intended?
 
Good students, IMO, try to get the highest grades possible regardless of what professional track they are pursuing.
 
I wonder what kind of person does this. Necrobumbing a thread that obviously had to be dug up from somewhere -- posting a short, weird comment without quoting anyone. It happens all the time.
 
Nice that I just got a dozen likes on a post that I made almost a decade ago. I hadn't even started med school yet when I posted in this thread. lol.
 
Not every PhD science professor is a former med school wannabe, so it would be wrong to assume that, but sometimes you just wonder based on their bitterness towards physicians... 🙂

I don't think most even are. Reputable PhD programs (i.e. the ones that actually get one an academic position) are pretty tough to get into, and I don't think most professors saw grad school as a cop-out.
 
lol...the OP is long thru med school.
 
yeah, your like-to-post ratio could use some help; apparently being a MD doesn't automagically help 😛
Nice that I just got a dozen likes on a post that I made almost a decade ago. I hadn't even started med school yet when I posted in this thread. lol.
 
Man I don't like undergrad professors anymore, they hate on pre-meds so badly. I guess it's because they never made it 🙄 Just today my professor made fun of me for being pre-med because I'm trying to learn "too much of the details, like every other pre-med out there." I say screw off and let me do whatever I want!
These professors do sound like jerks, you should tell them that.
 
Nice that I just got a dozen likes on a post that I made almost a decade ago. I hadn't even started med school yet when I posted in this thread. lol.

LOL Wondering why you don't have any +1s. Or was that not a thing back in mid 2000s.
 
150 years later: some premed reads this and goes what's a professor?
 
Should i say i'm prevet or prelaw to someone when they ask me if i'm premed? 😛
 
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