Rant: Insecure & overachieving medical students, check your baggage at the door

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Yes, a generalization that he/she seems to believe is true. Saying it's a "generalization" doesn't make it any less ridiculous.

For what it's worth, I have never met anyone who spent 18hrs/day in the library, or anywhere close to it. I have also never met a med student with kick-a$$ grades who was completely deficient in social skills. Hard sciences, yes, but not in med school. What I have seen are a lot of students who console themselves over their mediocre grades by (wrongly) believing that they are superior in "social skills".

Nice try, dragging in the foreign students. I'm not interested in getting into a stupid argument because you want to put words in my mouth.

Agreed. At my school, the 'best and brightest' excel pretty much across the board. And the dullest and dimmest, or whatever you want to call them, spend too much time yammering about their 'superior social skills'.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Wow. This is truly wonderful, excellent advice. I think that we should all follow this...including you.

I know that this is a rant, but it's a rant that was brought on by your own preconceived judgements of clerkship directors and attendings. For example, not everyone who makes AOA is a socially maladjusted jerkwad. The 3rd years at my school who were just elected to AOA are the nicest, most considerate and sincerely helpful people you'll ever meet.



You must have been really sheltered and coddled during your pre-med school existence. You mean to say that you've never run into power-happy, socially maladjusted a-holes outside of med school?!? You've never met the sadistic sales clerk who enjoys making customers' lives a little more miserable? The security guard in the airport who gives you a hard time about your laptop just because he's bored? Or the biochem lab TA who decides that, just because you misspelled the name of an enzyme, that you deserve a B+? If you haven't learned it before now - suck it up and deal with it. Yes, the system could be better, and no, students don't deserve to be made miserable just on a clerkship director's whim. But your rant isn't going to make things better.
I forgot. If some people act like power-hungry monkeys, it makes it okay for anyone to act like a power-hungry monkey.

And it's not my preconceived notion of directors and attendings. It's been my experience; there's a difference. Many of them ARE maladjusted. Many of them also have baggage. Sorry if the truth hurts your feelings. See if your 3rd year AOA buddies can hold your hand and wipe your tears away.
 
Agreed. At my school, the 'best and brightest' excel pretty much across the board. And the dullest and dimmest, or whatever you want to call them, spend too much time yammering about their 'superior social skills'.
How bright can you be if you choose to memorize hundreds of facts that can be looked up in less than a minute? And save the "you're lazy and unitelligent" retort because it's already been debunked.

Show me that the dermatologist who made 260 and AOA is better than teh dermatologist that did 3 years of research and 230 with a 3.5 middle of the road.

When the reality is that research buys you less credibility than AOA and board scores, you know something is screwed up. You're better off wasting time memorizing irrelevant facts and concepts than actually engaging in field-specific learning.

The system rewards the wrong type of learning.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I forgot. If some people act like power-hungry monkeys, it makes it okay for anyone to act like a power-hungry monkey.

I didn't say that it made it "okay." Yes, I've gotten into screaming matches with the security guards at my school for being d!ckheads - randomly instituting ID checks on the morning of an exam, and then giving me a hard time about how "your hair looks different in this picture. Your glasses are different too. How do I know this is you?" But it just seems strange to me that you have such a hard time dealing with it, like you've never encountered this before.

And it's not my preconceived notion of directors and attendings. It's been my experience; there's a difference. Many of them ARE maladjusted. Many of them also have baggage.

Yes, your feeling that some directors and attendings are power-happy a-holes IS based on your experience. But your assumption about what is motivating them to be power-happy a-holes IS based on your preconceived notion. There's a difference.

How do you know so much about their personal lives and their past? Did you ask them, "Why are you such a dick to the students?"
 
i'm probably gonna be 250/260 on the step1 as well.

i don't really have research in derm, per se. but i have looked at the stats and i think i have a shot.

are numbers usually good enough?

geez.. i did not realize i would need to publish to have a chance.

to answer your question, i will be starting my second year. i don't mean to come off as arrogant, but i am very confident in my capabilities. i have a photographic memory and remember probably 99% of what i read the first time.
i think 3rd and 4th year will be alright because i can study and ace the shelf exams. but, i will definitely try and establish a good rapport with my faculty.

and are there really other derm applicants that can show these numbers? jr.AOA, 1st in class, and let's say a 260 aren't guaranteed admission into even a "lower" derm spot?
(both from a couple of years ago)

I've highlighted the passages which are particularly enlightening/amusing. So using my investigative journalism abilities (and my redoubtable procrastination skillz) I've deduced that you are finishing up your 3rd year, have been hammered pretty good on your evals, and have watched your chances of saving the world one mole at a time dwindle away like a fart in the breeze. Tough luck buddy; life isn't fair, best thing you can do is suck it up and move on. Again I thought you had some good points at the beginning (and how can I not be partial to a fellow McCain supporter). But you lose credibility every time you childishly attack somebody just because they don't agree with your personal view of medical training. Luck to you, though.
 
(both from a couple of years ago)

I've highlighted the passages which are particularly enlightening/amusing. So using my investigative journalism abilities (and my redoubtable procrastination skillz) I've deduced that you are finishing up your 3rd year, have been hammered pretty good on your evals, and have watched your chances of saving the world one mole at a time dwindle away like a fart in the breeze. Tough luck buddy; life isn't fair, best thing you can do is suck it up and move on. Again I thought you had some good points at the beginning (and how can I not be partial to a fellow McCain supporter). But you lose credibility every time you childishly attack somebody just because they don't agree with your personal view of medical training. Luck to you, though.
i feel honored to have had an expose done on me :love:

And for those who care, i got a 254 on step 1.
 
Let's review:

1) I originally said, and I quote, "There are plenty of people who can hold a normal conversation, and who are bright enough not to need to spend 18hrs a day in the library. Med schools are filled with them." You are the one who drew out that I was really talking about foreign students. Why? Because you seem to think that foreign students spend more time in the library than American students. I steadfastly disagree with that proposition, but if you want to hold it, that's your business.

2) "We are the fish, the lawyers are the sharks"? That's just nonsense. If you're that scared of getting sued, get out of medicine and go sell cars for a living. For myself, I don't censor my words based on on an irrational fear of lawsuits.

3) If you check my previous posts, you will find that I have been fairly consistent is saying that I believe American students are more intelligent than foreign students. I am not ashamed to say that, and I do not need to "suggest/imply" it, I just say it. I am not afraid of my words, or my opinions.

4) In the future, I have no need of you telling me what I "really" meant by my posts. I have no trouble getting myself into trouble with what I actually "really" mean.



Whatever....
FYI - I don't live in fear of lawyers, I just know how the POS like John Edwards think.
 
Plus, a lot of long-time NJ residents aren't sure how to pump their own gas, which I imagine makes road trips into PA and NY a little hard. One article I read somewhere quoted an NJ resident who said that she'd be afraid that she was putting the gasoline "in the wrong hole."

I moved to NJ last year, and, already, I've forgotten how to pump gas. I remember every intermediate int he Krebs cycle, though...
 
The funny thing is that when someone says they have great social skills you can usually know that they don't.

It's nearly always said online, probably because saying you have great social skills to someones actual face is ******ed (because if they see you face to face they already know :laugh:.)

[edit] I'll be the first to say my social skills aren't perfect... sometimes i just can't be bothered to make a good impression on someone who i don't know... i tend to stick with friends i already have.
 
The funny thing is that when someone says they have great social skills you can usually know that they don't.

It's nearly always said online, probably because saying you have great social skills to someones actual face is ******ed (because if they see you face to face they already know :laugh:.)

[edit] I'll be the first to say my social skills aren't perfect... sometimes i just can't be bothered to make a good impression on someone who i don't know... i tend to stick with friends i already have.

I think social skills is really relative to the situation. For instance, when I'm with other people my age, I can make small talk pretty well if I want to unless the persons in question come off as inapproachable or to clicky. But in a nother situation, i.e. dealing with my parents friends, I'm very reserved and stay away from them completely because of the fake attitudes that prevail.

Similarly, I know several physicians who are great with their patients but when it comes to the desi parties, they will stay completely reserved.

That is why I always hate it when people judge social skills.
 
Top