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Hello applicants and future podiatry students,
I just want to discuss completing my first year of podiatry school and just to let you know, this post is subjective due to every podiatry school having different curriculums. For instance, I attend at Des Moines University and I have my classes with the DO program, the scale could be different. Before I begin, I'll give you my background information.
I had a 3.6 GPA with a 495 MCAT coming into my first year and I had plenty of experience in terms of volunteering, extracurricular activities, shadowing, and working as both a medical assistant and biochemistry researcher. My interest in podiatry was fairly late after I interviewed at 2-3 DO interviews. I did not really want to become a DO and saw podiatry as a potential profession and loved every single aspect of it. So I applied in October and got an interview in November at DMU. A week later, I got in and gladly accepted a $6000 scholarship over there.
Anyways, where to begin...
I'll be honest, that was the toughest year in my entire life. The first semester was not the worst but definitely was not the best. It was work and as expected, it was tough. I made plenty of friends there and received many opportunities to get involved (in my opinion, the best part of the 1st year so far). I took gross anatomy, histology, principles, and practices of podiatric medicine, clinical medicine and biochemistry in that semester. As you know, biochemistry was the toughest part of that semester. It is definitely doable but you have to work hard for it. I came out of that semester with a 3.4 and stable (emotionally and physically).
For the second semester, oh god. The courses were not that hard, to be honest, but it was just the workload that came with it. I had two exams for almost every week and you were kind of forced to leapfrog and I know you were not suggested to do that but it just happened. I took neuroanatomy, pathology, gross anatomy II, medical physiology, clinical medicine II, microbiology and immunology, and geriatrics (I did not take all of them at the same time but they do overlap at times). I tried to get involved as much as possible but the workload definitely reduced my time to get involved. I failed multiple exams and struggled to even pass in some subjects. Yes, I failed some exams but never failed out of a course. If you fail an exam, DON'T FREAK OUT. It is not the end because there are so many exams in the higher credit courses that other exams overlap them. I remembered having a C in a class in the middle of the semester and got a B at the end of the semester because I boosted my grades at the end. It is doable to change your study habits and adjust to the classes. I thought medical physiology was the toughest course that I have ever taken in podiatry school so far. It involved a lot of concepts and memorization and you needed to grasp on the visualizations of each organ system was trying to do overall. I ended with a 3.0 for this semester and got a 3.2 overall for the 1st year. From what I heard for DMU, this was supposedly the hardest semester of your medical school career. Let's hope that's true because I could not handle another semester like that again.
If I had advice for the first year in terms of academics...it would definitely be to get your study habits down and quickly. If something works for you, DO IT! Don't change your habits in the middle of the semester because it would be hard for you to get back up. For me, I finally found a study method that worked for me and it was to watch the lectures twice and take notes on them. It was risky for me because I was not sure if I retained the information but I trusted myself that I did and it paid off. Everyone's study habits are different and you don't have to follow them if it doesn't work for you. For example, a lot of my classmates love using Anki but I didn't because I felt it took too much time reading over 300 cards per exam. Again, some people enjoy studying this way, good for them.
For advice in general in podiatry school in the 1st year, I would say get involved! The first year is all about academics and getting the GPA that you want. GPA gets to you and it happens. To avoid the stressors of GPA, get involved or do something that you love. Join every club that your school provides you because it doesn't hurt if you don't go to some of the meetings but it is there for you anyways. Volunteer or grab a job on campus somewhere. JUST GET INVOLVED. It what makes you different from the other candidates. Grades are just a part of getting a residency. The other things will tell the rest of you.
In conclusion, the first year was HARD but it is not impossible! You'll get the things that you love to do, trust me. You just need to find time for it. If you are aiming for a high GPA like a 3.9, then you might lose the things that you love but to me, that's not worth it. Many residencies just need a 3.0 and above. But if you want a 3.9 then sure, go right ahead but it is not that beneficial to have in the long term. The perfect GPA is probably a 3.5-3.6 for a guaranteed residency with other factors as well.
Hope this helped for some of you to get a good idea of what the 1st year is like. Ask questions if you need to!
I just want to discuss completing my first year of podiatry school and just to let you know, this post is subjective due to every podiatry school having different curriculums. For instance, I attend at Des Moines University and I have my classes with the DO program, the scale could be different. Before I begin, I'll give you my background information.
I had a 3.6 GPA with a 495 MCAT coming into my first year and I had plenty of experience in terms of volunteering, extracurricular activities, shadowing, and working as both a medical assistant and biochemistry researcher. My interest in podiatry was fairly late after I interviewed at 2-3 DO interviews. I did not really want to become a DO and saw podiatry as a potential profession and loved every single aspect of it. So I applied in October and got an interview in November at DMU. A week later, I got in and gladly accepted a $6000 scholarship over there.
Anyways, where to begin...
I'll be honest, that was the toughest year in my entire life. The first semester was not the worst but definitely was not the best. It was work and as expected, it was tough. I made plenty of friends there and received many opportunities to get involved (in my opinion, the best part of the 1st year so far). I took gross anatomy, histology, principles, and practices of podiatric medicine, clinical medicine and biochemistry in that semester. As you know, biochemistry was the toughest part of that semester. It is definitely doable but you have to work hard for it. I came out of that semester with a 3.4 and stable (emotionally and physically).
For the second semester, oh god. The courses were not that hard, to be honest, but it was just the workload that came with it. I had two exams for almost every week and you were kind of forced to leapfrog and I know you were not suggested to do that but it just happened. I took neuroanatomy, pathology, gross anatomy II, medical physiology, clinical medicine II, microbiology and immunology, and geriatrics (I did not take all of them at the same time but they do overlap at times). I tried to get involved as much as possible but the workload definitely reduced my time to get involved. I failed multiple exams and struggled to even pass in some subjects. Yes, I failed some exams but never failed out of a course. If you fail an exam, DON'T FREAK OUT. It is not the end because there are so many exams in the higher credit courses that other exams overlap them. I remembered having a C in a class in the middle of the semester and got a B at the end of the semester because I boosted my grades at the end. It is doable to change your study habits and adjust to the classes. I thought medical physiology was the toughest course that I have ever taken in podiatry school so far. It involved a lot of concepts and memorization and you needed to grasp on the visualizations of each organ system was trying to do overall. I ended with a 3.0 for this semester and got a 3.2 overall for the 1st year. From what I heard for DMU, this was supposedly the hardest semester of your medical school career. Let's hope that's true because I could not handle another semester like that again.
If I had advice for the first year in terms of academics...it would definitely be to get your study habits down and quickly. If something works for you, DO IT! Don't change your habits in the middle of the semester because it would be hard for you to get back up. For me, I finally found a study method that worked for me and it was to watch the lectures twice and take notes on them. It was risky for me because I was not sure if I retained the information but I trusted myself that I did and it paid off. Everyone's study habits are different and you don't have to follow them if it doesn't work for you. For example, a lot of my classmates love using Anki but I didn't because I felt it took too much time reading over 300 cards per exam. Again, some people enjoy studying this way, good for them.
For advice in general in podiatry school in the 1st year, I would say get involved! The first year is all about academics and getting the GPA that you want. GPA gets to you and it happens. To avoid the stressors of GPA, get involved or do something that you love. Join every club that your school provides you because it doesn't hurt if you don't go to some of the meetings but it is there for you anyways. Volunteer or grab a job on campus somewhere. JUST GET INVOLVED. It what makes you different from the other candidates. Grades are just a part of getting a residency. The other things will tell the rest of you.
In conclusion, the first year was HARD but it is not impossible! You'll get the things that you love to do, trust me. You just need to find time for it. If you are aiming for a high GPA like a 3.9, then you might lose the things that you love but to me, that's not worth it. Many residencies just need a 3.0 and above. But if you want a 3.9 then sure, go right ahead but it is not that beneficial to have in the long term. The perfect GPA is probably a 3.5-3.6 for a guaranteed residency with other factors as well.
Hope this helped for some of you to get a good idea of what the 1st year is like. Ask questions if you need to!
