Taking physics at an easier school

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The "easiest" physics class I ever took was at MIT because we had an awesome world-class instructor! The most difficult physics course was with a bad instructor at a so-so college who kept making mistakes...

That being said, pre-reqs should be NOT be taken at a community college because some medical schools have policies regarding that.
 
By pandering to the bottom-middle of the class, the flipped classroom model probably bores advanced kids to death.

For example, I only attended lecture because attendance was mandatory. I sat at the back of the class, and was so bored that I pulled out my laptop to watch TV shows or do stuff for my research. I only started learning the material 1-2 days before the test by teaching myself from the book. And I then killed the curve with a perfect or near perfect score.

For me, the flipped curriculum and weekly quizzes would have been an incredible waste of my time. I don't need to be goaded by online busy-work modules to learn. On the other hand, doing the labs and reading OChem papers my professor gave me was super-fun because I could actually engage with the material, and learn interesting stuff.

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I did. I led group reviews 3 hours before our test.



Like WashU because it's so great?
There's some contradiction here. If you love working with and teaching your peers, you should love flipped classroom.

Oh I'm sure someone as brilliant as yourself would seek only the most challenging, maybe UChicago? But yeah if you're a lonely genius and hate the boredom of always being the smartest kid in the room by a mile...should probably have aimed higher than you did
 
There's some contradiction here. If you love working with and teaching your peers, you should love flipped classroom.

My time is limited and valuable. If I'm expected to devote significant time to teaching, I expect to get paid for it.

And peer-instruction pretty much turns into "gimme your answers"

Oh I'm sure someone as brilliant as yourself would seek only the most challenging, maybe UChicago?

So why didn't you go there?

Should probably have aimed higher than you did

Lol you know nothing about me.
 
My time is limited and valuable. If I'm expected to devote significant time to teaching, I expect to get paid for it.

And peer-instruction pretty much turns into "gimme your answers"



So why didn't you go there?



Lol you know nothing about me.
Your feelings aren't universal. Many volunteer tutor and enjoy it. Sounds like you teach, but dont love it, and that's fine. All I pointed out originally is that some advanced kids might love that setup and stave off boredom by having a good time playing professor.

My SO now of five years got in to WashU, I was impressed by their Neuroscience program, I wanted a suburban campus not a hardcore urban one, they had a great team for the sport I play, among the nicest living setups and food and happiest student body, I could go on. But that's not really relevant, since it's only you that sounds bored and in need of a challenge. I set curves in Ochem, physics, etc but you'll never hear me bitching about how it would be boring to have to work with my peers.

I don't really need to know more than what I do from your insanely humblebraggy post (even by my standards!) above to say you sound in need of bigger fish in your pond. If something forced you to matriculate where you did then you'll just have to suffer until Med school, but in the meantime you could at least tone the narcissism down to like my levels or something

And i apologize if I've offended you I really didn't mean to. My sibling is in a similar situation (went to pretty unknown LAC for $) and wants to go abroad twice to escape boredom
 
Your feelings aren't universal. Many volunteer tutor and enjoy it. Sounds like you teach, but dont love it, and that's fine. All I pointed out originally is that some advanced kids might love that setup and stave off boredom by having a good time playing professor.

My SO now of five years got in to WashU, I was impressed by their Neuroscience program, I wanted a suburban campus not a hardcore urban one, they had a great team for the sport I play, among the nicest living setups and food and happiest student body, I could go on. But that's not really relevant, since it's only you that sounds bored and in need of a challenge. I set curves in Ochem, physics, etc but you'll never hear me bitching about how it would be boring to have to work with my peers.

I don't really need to know more than what I do from your insanely humblebraggy post (even by my standards!) above to say you sound in need of bigger fish in your pond. If something forced you to matriculate where you did then you'll just have to suffer until Med school, but in the meantime you could at least tone the narcissism down to like my levels or something

And i apologize if I've offended you I really didn't mean to. My sibling is in a similar situation (went to pretty unknown LAC for $) and wants to go abroad twice to escape boredom

My apologies. I'm exhausted and burn out, and was blowing off some steam.

I like teaching, but I also don't like to be used as free labor by the university.

Check your PM in a bit btw 🙂
 
My apologies. I'm exhausted and burn out, and was blowing off some steam.

I like teaching, but I also don't like to be used as free labor by the university.

Check your PM in a bit btw 🙂
we cool bruh. We all gotta do some volunteering and imo tutoring is a really great option. Its too bad they switched up the MCAT though, cuz as far as paid tutoring goes the most insane rates I've seen so far were from high scoring MCAT tutors
 
we cool bruh. We all gotta do some volunteering and imo tutoring is a really great option. Its too bad they switched up the MCAT though, cuz as far as paid tutoring goes the most insane rates I've seen so far were from high scoring MCAT tutors
What type of rates are we talk' bout here.
 
By pandering to the bottom-middle of the class, the flipped classroom model probably bores advanced kids to death.

For example, I only attended lecture because attendance was mandatory. I sat at the back of the class, and was so bored that I pulled out my laptop to watch TV shows or do stuff for my research. I only started learning the material 1-2 days before the test by teaching myself from the book. And I then killed the curve with a perfect or near perfect score.

For me, the flipped curriculum and weekly quizzes would have been an incredible waste of my time. I don't need to be goaded by online busy-work modules to learn. On the other hand, doing the labs and reading OChem papers my professor gave me was super-fun because I could actually engage with the material, and learn interesting stuff.

You misunderstand me...The whole point of this structure is to allow for advanced quiz and test questions. For example, students would be given a list of several publications a week out from an exam (articles that reflected topics/modules in the course). Then on test day, analogous mechanisms would span several questions combining new knowledge from the articles with fundamentals being taught in class...'reasoning by analogy'.

If anything, the 'more advanced kids' probably appreciated not having their time wasted...I know I did. Lectures were optional, video lectures were *obviously* optional. It allows one to set their own pace. If anything the 'bottom-middle' of the class immediately fell behind because they would not keep up with the amount of 'optional' class materials given outside of the classroom.

Also...get real...traditional lectures bore the hell out of most people, regardless of advancement...If anything you end up sitting back watching some poor sap ask stupid questions and then the professor going into 10-15 minute explanations completely irrelevant to the module.
 
By pandering to the bottom-middle of the class, the flipped classroom model probably bores advanced kids to death.

For example, I only attended lecture because attendance was mandatory. I sat at the back of the class, and was so bored that I pulled out my laptop to watch TV shows or do stuff for my research. I only started learning the material 1-2 days before the test by teaching myself from the book. And I then killed the curve with a perfect or near perfect score.

For me, the flipped curriculum and weekly quizzes would have been an incredible waste of my time. I don't need to be goaded by online busy-work modules to learn. On the other hand, doing the labs and reading OChem papers my professor gave me was super-fun because I could actually engage with the material, and learn interesting stuff.

Also...this...C'mon dude. This is Mickey Mouse stuff.


It's not about 'killing the curve'. It's about engaging in a thoughtful learning experience.
 
You have no idea how many times a day this sound bite goes through my head...Listening to people at work...Or people on my tri-team...Or just at the grocery store.

IT'S ALL MICKEY MOUSE STUFF

Med School Interviewer: "What's the most important thing you learned so far?"
HarryH00d: *Don't say Mickey Mouse. Don't say Mickey Mouse. Don't say Mickey Mouse. Don't say Mickey Mouse.*
HarryH00d: "IT'S ALL MICKEY MOUSE STUFF"
Interviewer: 😵
HarryH00d: 😵

😛
 
Med School Interviewer: "What's the most important thing you learned so far?"
HarryH00d: *Don't say Mickey Mouse. Don't say Mickey Mouse. Don't say Mickey Mouse. Don't say Mickey Mouse.*
HarryH00d: "IT'S ALL MICKEY MOUSE STUFF"
Interviewer: 😵
HarryH00d: 😵

😛

Although, as I imagine it..... the interviewer responds...'VENTION TENSION'...We then proceed to high-five aggressively before going to the gym to bang out some skull crushers.

The day ends with a full-tuition scholarship.

Ahhh...life is good.
 
I'm still surprised by how many people say ochem is memorization. I memorized reagents I guess but even then those were pretty simple to understand as to why they did what they did once you learned the mechanism. I feel bad for the people who's ochem courses turned out that way, that just makes ochem artificially harder.

Oh, I haven't taken o chem. I was talking about the other pre med classes, bio, chem to some extent etc
 
Although, as I imagine it..... the interviewer responds...'VENTION TENSION'...We then proceed to high-five aggressively before going to the gym to bang out some skull crushers.

The day ends with a full-tuition scholarship.

Ahhh...life is good.

Oh man, imagine if all ortho residency interviews went like this!
 
My time is limited and valuable. If I'm expected to devote significant time to teaching, I expect to get paid for it.

And peer-instruction pretty much turns into "gimme your answers"



So why didn't you go there?



Lol you know nothing about me.

Better check on med school curricula... many expect you to teach your peers -- and to pay for the privilege.
 
Better check on med school curricula... many expect you to teach your peers -- and to pay for the privilege.

@Goro

My apologies for what I said. I should have phrased it much better. It's not that I mind teaching others (I really really like group studying with my friends), but rather that my experiences at a state school have left me jaded with mandatory class assignments in which we have to "teach" others in our group. Every time I've been in a group for a class, it's with people who don't bother about putting in the effort to succeed. They only cared about taking shortcuts, and copying my answers. Most of them dropped out of my school by junior year and never graduated. Maybe my experience would be different if I had attended another school, and I look forward to med school because I'll be working with people who actually have passion for their education and careers.
 
Calling general science classes "weed out" makes me giggle.

But they are..... lol. Most pre-meds think general science classes are hard. lol.

You arent going to weed out the super determined people. You weed out the people who think Organic Chemistry is actually the nightmare its advertised to be.
 
Mandatory anything other than exams is stupid. As I've said before, the best approach is the "you're an adult, learn however the **** you want" curriculum
 
But one example: You'll need to give case or PBL presentations to your peers.



@Goro

My apologies for what I said. I should have phrased it much better. It's not that I mind teaching others (I really really like group studying with my friends), but rather that my experiences at a state school have left me jaded with mandatory class assignments in which we have to "teach" others in our group. Every time I've been in a group for a class, it's with people who don't bother about putting in the effort to succeed. They only cared about taking shortcuts, and copying my answers. Most of them dropped out of my school by junior year and never graduated. Maybe my experience would be different if I had attended another school, and I look forward to med school because I'll be working with people who actually have passion for their education and careers.
 
But one example: You'll need to give case or PBL presentations to your peers.

Which I'm looking forward to because: 1) Group studying with the right set of people is fun because it turns eventually into socializing and 2) I'll get to know people in my class pretty well!
 
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