Question for SMP students..

[pritomd]

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So you take the same classes as medical students, correct?

So on the first day, when everyone's introducing themselves to each other..how do you explain the whole SMP thing? Do you introduce yourself as a med student and just straight up lie? Do you tell them about SMP if they don't know what it is? How do med students usually react to you being in an SMP?

 

[deleted248403]

You are really that worried about introductions....

Tell them you are doing a masters, which is true.... no-one is going to care

 

[pritomd]

I am not worried, I was just curious and looking for a discussion topic.

 

[Funky]

The med students already knew what smp was when I told them. But I did feel a little like a second class citizen.

 

[Crisco]

The med students already knew what smp was when I told them. But I did feel a little like a second class citizen.

at BU, the SMP students who get into BU often end up being TA for the 1st year medical school classes. how's that for second class citizen 😉

 

[Crisco]

So you take the same classes as medical students, correct?

So on the first day, when everyone's introducing themselves to each other..how do you explain the whole SMP thing? Do you introduce yourself as a med student and just straight up lie? Do you tell them about SMP if they don't know what it is? How do med students usually react to you being in an SMP?

"Hi, my name is xxxx. I'm a graduate student taking medical school class with you. BTW, I'm gonna kick your ass in this class."

 

[DrMidlife]

At EVMS, what I found was that the former med masters pretty much pwned the M1's, as TA's and class officers etc. That took care of the education of maybe 85% of the M1's. The other 15% of M1's clued in over time, during social events or through roommates or whatnot. I think a single M1 last year had a resentment that the med masters had access to faculty, something like that, ie why did she have to fight to get a med school seat to find it's next to the unclean. I think she got the impression that med masters were making the curve harder to beat (which we would have been, if our scores affected M1 scores, which they don't). So that's what, 1 outlier out of 118 M1's that took issue with the med masters. There's always one.

Also at EVMS, about half the med masters sit in the front row all the time. Sometimes the professors will try to get an answer out of the M1's, and then give up and say "ok med masters, what's the answer" which pretty much gets the right answer. Does this happen at other programs?

 

[mic2377]

It is highly likely that they have heard about the SMP already. In my case, it didn't come up in conversation until sometime later in the year one of the med students was making small talk and asked me about the physical exam midterm, a part of the curriculum the MS students don't participate in. Only then did she realize I wasn't a med student. Her next question was "how are you doing in physio? you must have an A"

At UC the former MS students are highly regarded by the faculty as well. On several occasions the SMP'ers have outscored the entire med class on exams! If anything, the med students are afraid of the SMP'ers as they know we are just as smart (if not more so), AND work much harder.

 

[Mace1370]

It is highly likely that they have heard about the SMP already. In my case, it didn't come up in conversation until sometime later in the year one of the med students was making small talk and asked me about the physical exam midterm, a part of the curriculum the MS students don't participate in. Only then did she realize I wasn't a med student. Her next question was "how are you doing in physio? you must have an A"

At UC the former MS students are highly regarded by the faculty as well. On several occasions the SMP'ers have outscored the entire med class on exams! If anything, the med students are afraid of the SMP'ers as they know we are just as smart (if not more so), AND work much harder.

As a former SMP I can assure you that med students are not afraid of you, nor do the majority look down upon you. Some do, but they would probably be an ******* to you either way.

And the reason why SMP students usually score higher on exams is because they have a much lighter course load than med students, not because they are significantly more intelligent.

 

[Compass]

At Georgetown, 1/6 of the M1s are from the SMP, and it is usually "are you a med student or an SMP student?" if you're meeting someone the first time. Technically, that's important, because M1s have a slightly different schedule from SMPs, and also, M1s will be sticking together with their class for 4 years, while SMPers will probably go to very different places.

What is the purpose of lying? It's not something to be embarassed over...

 

[mic2377]

I would still disagree that the MS courseload is really that much lighter, unless it is referring to a specific time of year. Most people do a simple written thesis for the SMP but I did a lab thesis, which was time consuming on a similar magnitude to gross anatomy/clinical skills.

Regardless, most people, whether MS or med students, are generally too busy to care.