The First Two+ Weeks of Medical School is Like....

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

metalmd06

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Nov 19, 2007
Messages
494
Reaction score
12
[INSERT YOUR ANSWER HERE]

...An entire semester of college

Members don't see this ad.
 
...drinking out of a fire hydrant.
 
The First Two+ Weeks of Medical School is Like....

eating 6 saltines in 1 minute without a drink...
 
Members don't see this ad :)
...playing leap-frog with a unicorn...:(
 
getting a DRE while constipated...
 
We start classes tomorrow. Ask me again in two weeks. :scared:
 
like running through a flowery meadow, with rainbow skies, and rivers made of chocolate where the children dance and laugh and play with gumdrop smiles.
 
TT must be drunk again. :D

(actually, I thought the school part of the first two weeks - two months really - of med school were pretty darn fabulous; it was when we got to bacT that I really thought it was painful.)
 
First two weeks not so bad... I'm awaiting the horror that is physio
 
Looking back that seems like a walk in the park, don't worry you'll see what i mean...
 
I dont have a real clever comment to " insert here" but I can say that Im having the time of my life. Yeah Im busier than Ive ever been but I cant get enough of it. I have a good routine down and I get through material just fine and have some time on the side. All in all, I feel like I have found my niche. By the way, if some of the regulars may recall, I HATED undergrad. :D
 
Members don't see this ad :)
.. weak.

The hardest parts are when all of the exams hit simultaneously...
 
Well I'm starting the 4th week tomorrow and I have my first set of exams coming up. Well I've already found out that I haven't been studying enough so at least I know that. Time to prepare as much as I can for these ones and buckle down for the second set of exams.
 
Congrats to everyone who is starting medical school. You worked long and hard and now you are finally on your way to achieving your dream


You will adjust. You will do fine. You will develop a set of routines and even enjoy a semblence of normal life. :hardy:


Until you realize that Step 1 is around the corner and you have to rememorize everything that you learn in the first two years of medical school :smuggrin:
(there should be an icon of a ballon popping)

But every once in a while, visit the Pre-Osteo forum, the Re-Applicant Forum, and the Non-traditional forum and remind yourself that there are people who are eager to switch places with you ... to go through what you are going through. Medical education is a marathon, but every once in a while just stop and think of all the people that are cheering for you.

Again, congrats. You've hit the ground running ... see you at the finish line.
 
just wait till you start taking exams....regular exams feel like 3X undergrad finals!! and as a current MSII, i think MSI is way easy!!!! i am currently crying my way in MSII...so much crap! but its ok, i will look back at it one day and say it was easy!
 
It's really not that bad. Just study some each day then chill out.
 
I dont have a real clever comment to " insert here" but I can say that Im having the time of my life. Yeah Im busier than Ive ever been but I cant get enough of it. I have a good routine down and I get through material just fine and have some time on the side. All in all, I feel like I have found my niche. By the way, if some of the regulars may recall, I HATED undergrad. :D

If you don't mind posting your study schedule and how you go over the mass amounts of material with the best return. I'd sure like to hear some other ideas. My ideas haven't worked like I had hoped they would. Thanks
 
High school, where all the "cool kids" sit in one place, the "smart kids" sit in another, and the slackers sit in the back.
 
I remember vividly saying, "I can't wait until Anatomy is over" about 6 or 8 weeks into it. Two weeks after it was over....I was crying nightly and wishing that Anatomy would return. The second semester I was praying that first year would be over soon. The second year I was hoping to go back again. It just got worse and worse......until third year. These days I'm doing really cool stuff like pulling a newborn's slimy head out of a vagina while trying not to drop it and suturing the episiotomy. Never thought I'd like OB, but here I am on my fourth rotation and there's nothing so far that I haven't totally loved so far.

You may very well have times in the next couple of years when you wonder whether or not you made the right decision in trying out this whole "med school thing." But, it's worth it. Just don't give up because it's really worth it in the end. You really do have some fun times around the corner :)
 
I remember vividly saying, "I can't wait until Anatomy is over" about 6 or 8 weeks into it. Two weeks after it was over....I was crying nightly and wishing that Anatomy would return. The second semester I was praying that first year would be over soon. The second year I was hoping to go back again. It just got worse and worse......until third year. These days I'm doing really cool stuff like pulling a newborn's slimy head out of a vagina while trying not to drop it and suturing the episiotomy. Never thought I'd like OB, but here I am on my fourth rotation and there's nothing so far that I haven't totally loved so far.

You may very well have times in the next couple of years when you wonder whether or not you made the right decision in trying out this whole "med school thing." But, it's worth it. Just don't give up because it's really worth it in the end. You really do have some fun times around the corner :)


Quite true. There are times, especially when I'm on call q3 or q4, with no weekends for months at a time, where my life consist of work, sleep, then wake up at insane hours to go to work for insane length of time, then home to sleep (and take out food OR late night hospital caffeteria food to keep nourished since who has time to cook when you can barely keep your eyes open) ... that I wish I was back in medical schools. Then I remember what the first two years of medical schools were like :)sleep::sleep:) and remind myself why I'm glad I'm no longer in school.

There is nothing like taking care of patients - they have issues/problems - you identify the issues, formulate a plan, implement them, and see the results of your plan. It makes all the anatomy memorization, the biochemical pathways, the pharmacology, pathology, the physiology worth it.
 
If you don't mind posting your study schedule and how you go over the mass amounts of material with the best return. I'd sure like to hear some other ideas. My ideas haven't worked like I had hoped they would. Thanks


Glad to offer a few helpful hints. # 1, get sleep. Are you going to sleep a quality 8 hrs every night? NO, thats not realistic. But make an effort to get a good sleep/wake cycle going. As for the material, if its something Im kinda/sorta familiar with I try to rapid read the info once before lecture. If its way outta my league, I leave it alone until after lecture. SO heres my "schedule", go to class and PAY ATTENTION (if youve had sleep, this is easy). Following the days lecture, which may end at noon, or 5 read the material again. Typically if we have 4 lectures/day , once I get home I slowly read the first 2 lectures and then I go workout. Following a workout/shower I finish the final 2 lectures. Then I eat dinner, after dinner I go over the high yield or most difficult topics of the 4 lectures. Then by 9:30 or earlier even, I put the books away and TRY to get my mind off of school and watch tv ect.... The weekends are where you can really begin to feel moderatley "caught up". You can catch up on sleep, but Saturdays I try to get through 3/4 of the entire weeks material, and then sunday do the last 1/4 and more difficult material. So Far it has worked for me. Note that everybody is different AND every school is different as well. :luck:
 
I like the fire-hydrant comment... priceless

I was really just trying to make a light-hearted thread out of this one. TT got the idea. I'm really not having a difficult time adjusting. Is the material difficult? Not really. Is the pace insane? I would say that yes. In three weeks we've had 40+ lectures all on different topics. But, I find that as long as I put my time in every day, study hard on the weekends and stay prepared that I can enjoy medical school and still do things I like to do. Tonight I watched a movie with my girlfriend. But only because I studied for 6 straight hours earlier and now I'm at it again. Just to clarify, I wasn't complaining at all. I feel completely blessed and I'm having a ton of fun at the same time. It's greuling but its interesting, its stimulating and its worth the hard work. Good luck to all you guys :D
 
It's like coming from texas, and not being a steer or a queer...

(FMJ for you folks who don't get it)
 
...a casual walk through Farmer's Market on a warm, breezy day, next to the River Front. Seriously, I think the first two weeks of medical school are actually very easy compared to what you have ahead of you. Every account I've heard is that it tends to get worse before it gets better. It goes in phases, too. I mean, school seems grueling and tough during your first year, but in the middle of 2nd year, you feel on top of your game with respect to studying, then you fall back to the bottom when you start your rotations during 3rd year. When you begin your 4th year rotations, you are happily on top of your game again, only to be kicked back down again when you begin your internship. You get the point.

Stick with it. Good luck! :)
 
It's like coming from texas, and not being a steer or a queer...

(FMJ for you folks who don't get it)

The folks that don't get that probably won't get what "FMJ" is either.
 
...a casual walk through Farmer's Market on a warm, breezy day, next to the River Front. Seriously, I think the first two weeks of medical school are actually very easy compared to what you have ahead of you. Every account I've heard is that it tends to get worse before it gets better. It goes in phases, too. I mean, school seems grueling and tough during your first year, but in the middle of 2nd year, you feel on top of your game with respect to studying, then you fall back to the bottom when you start your rotations during 3rd year. When you begin your 4th year rotations, you are happily on top of your game again, only to be kicked back down again when you begin your internship. You get the point.

Stick with it. Good luck! :)

Im doing pretty good with FOM spiced. But I will say that the lack of "flow" for lack of a better term is getting old. Its just the nature of FOM with every branch of science coming at you full steam. I hope in MSK it gets more organized in terms of a foundation and then building upon it. I had a friend go through KCUMB who thought FOM was harder than some of the other sections
 
I totally agree that it's hard to study without a sense of direction. Fundamentals is all about "ok today it's proteins/RNA/DNA and tomorrow it's pharm/global health/biostatistics." It's hard to switch gears so fast. I wish my brain worked as well as Jeff Gordon's right hand.

On the other hand, I suppose that if the organization was "better" among the Intro topics, then we'd be stuck doing all hard biochem on 1-2 days and all "filler/easier" stuff the rest of the time so interspersing the two doesn't seem that bad if you think about it.

Anyway, I guess what I'm saying is that we would complain either way, but the directors probably have a reason for organizing lectures the way that they do.
 
I really enjoy our PBL program (although I believe that it'd be a lot more fun to do NOT during anatomy). We start all of our basic sciences early on (i.e., at the end of our first class) and go from there. I've already started reading from Neuroanatomy, Pharmacology, Pathology, and the like. It's really really fun to see how it all ties in together. Just my two cents, though.
 
An odd mix between "do I really have to do this **** AGAIN" and "trying to take a sip from a fire hose on full blast"
 
The folks that don't get that probably won't get what "FMJ" is either.

lol my exact thoughts
 
One day I want to try and drink from a fire hose just to see what its like. I'll probably have someone aim it up and then catch the falling drops. Probably the safest move.
 
I've done it. It hurts until you figure it out, and then it still stings. Be careful what the pumper (the fire truck) is hooked up to: hydrant water isn't always safe to drink.

I suppose you could always bribe the guy on the pump panel to dump the pressure and then use a large diameter hose line so it's just a dribble, but that wouldn't be any fun. Far more interesting to use a 1 1/2" hose with high pressure and open the nozzle up full. BTW: also not any advantage to using a fan spray pattern vs. a tight spray pattern.
 
I've done it. It hurts until you figure it out, and then it still stings. Be careful what the pumper (the fire truck) is hooked up to: hydrant water isn't always safe to drink.

I suppose you could always bribe the guy on the pump panel to dump the pressure and then use a large diameter hose line so it's just a dribble, but that wouldn't be any fun. Far more interesting to use a 1 1/2" hose with high pressure and open the nozzle up full. BTW: also not any advantage to using a fan spray pattern vs. a tight spray pattern.

I'm in love.
 
Top