Things to learn before med school

[musicmasta1996]

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Hey all,

I'm currently in the middle of my gap year doing research. I've been fortunate enough to have been accepted to med school already. After getting in, I've been relaxing a bit and don't have too many plates spinning outside 40ish hours of work a week and basic life/health maintenance stuff -- exercise, learning to cook, reading. Luckily, the NIH offers a ton of courses to its employees for fairly cheap. I found an R course and a Spanish course. Both are about 2-3 hours one night a week for about 15 weeks. Technically, they are graded but the NIH isn't accredited (lol) so they aren't "real" courses

Spanish (3 credits) -- my Spanish is a couple of notches below conversational and I don't have many people to practice with and I think this would help.

R (2 credits) -- I used R briefly in undergrad and don't use it now with the research I am doing, but I anticipate a strong familiarity with stats software like R will be invaluable for research in med school.

I don't know if I want to take both of these because I do want to take it easy this year and prepare myself mentally for med school. How valuable would a semester's worth of practice in R be for clinical research? Is it worth spending 3 hours every Tuesday night for 15 weeks?

 

[plaidminouserfinthri]

Spanish will probably be useful but I don't think having general programming ability in R will be useful. You'll likely not be doing the actual programming for clinical research and if you are, it would be more useful to learn the actual statistics. The syntax of programming can be learned as needed.

Something you haven't really mentioned that would actually be really useful in making med school easier is to start cramming "First Aid for the USMLE Step 1" into your brain. People are going to think you're crazy though, but you seem like you have a lot of ree time. It's basically a list of facts you need to straight up memorize to do well on the board exams. It's necessary, but not sufficient. The preclinical years of med school is basically 50-100% of the intensity of MCAT studying, except for two years straight. Obviously you'll do more than cram but, cramming is a huge part of it.

 

[puahate]

R is useful for stats. Learn it

 

[musicmasta1996]

Spanish will probably be useful but I don't think having general programming ability in R will be useful. You'll likely not be doing the actual programming for clinical research and if you are, it would be more useful to learn the actual statistics. The syntax of programming can be learned as needed.

Something you haven't really mentioned that would actually be really useful in making med school easier is to start cramming "First Aid for the USMLE Step 1" into your brain. People are going to think you're crazy though, but you seem like you have a lot of ree time. It's basically a list of facts you need to straight up memorize to do well on the board exams. It's necessary, but not sufficient. The preclinical years of med school is basically 50-100% of the intensity of MCAT studying, except for two years straight. Obviously you'll do more than cram but, cramming is a huge part of it.

A lot of my research right now requires a fair amount of statistics and programming (though not at the same time), so I think I know enough about programming and statistical tests right now. I am hoping instead to get an understanding of the ins-and-outs of R so that I can take a dataset and turn it into useful analysis/figures quickly and efficiently. I helped on a few clinical research projects in undergrad and it seemed to me that the majority of work was data cleaning, analysis, and figure generation through SAS or R. What would I be doing as a clinical researcher other than analyzing data?

I am working a full-time research job and besides, I think it is foolish to spend a few hours a week stressing about on material which I will spend the better part of the next 2 years learning. I am not worried about falling behind in med school, rather I'm looking for skills that will make me productive as a student or attending.

 

[Gilakend]

I plan on learning how to cook more than frozen foods and overnight oats.

 

[getdown]

A lot of my research right now requires a fair amount of statistics and programming (though not at the same time), so I think I know enough about programming and statistical tests right now. I am hoping instead to get an understanding of the ins-and-outs of R so that I can take a dataset and turn it into useful analysis/figures quickly and efficiently. I helped on a few clinical research projects in undergrad and it seemed to me that the majority of work was data cleaning, analysis, and figure generation through SAS or R. What would I be doing as a clinical researcher other than analyzing data?

I am working a full-time research job and besides, I think it is foolish to spend a few hours a week stressing about on material which I will spend the better part of the next 2 years learning. I am not worried about falling behind in med school, rather I'm looking for skills that will make me productive as a student or attending.

Yes, this is completely true. Why would you be wasting time reading a REVIEW book with bullet points that you have no context in understanding? Furthermore, most of the material in First Aid is geared towards MS2 year.

As others have mentioned, learning Spanish is high yield. Learning to cook quick meals will be a big time saver in clinical years. Other than that, just enjoy your free time. You'll have none of it soon enough.

 

[SteyrFWB]

learn how to make one hand suture tie and two hand suture tie. You can learn it in one afternoon, properly.

once you learn you, that will last for a whole life, whether you use it again or not.

seen very few medical students and residents (non-surgical) doing it properly.

it will be impressive if you can do it properly. It is quite self evident.

 

[musicmasta1996]

Yes, this is completely true. Why would you be wasting time reading a REVIEW book with bullet points that you have no context in understanding? Furthermore, most of the material in First Aid is geared towards MS2 year.

As others have mentioned, learning Spanish is high yield. Learning to cook quick meals will be a big time saver in clinical years. Other than that, just enjoy your free time. You'll have none of it soon enough.

Thanks for the insight! Do you think the R course is a waste of time then? I am feeling a bit guilty about being unproductive lately (read: binging netflix and playing lots of video games) and I wanted to pick up some useful academic skills. I am living on a shoestring budget so the cooking skills I'm learning for free! 😛

 

[getdown]

Thanks for the insight! Do you think the R course is a waste of time then? I am feeling a bit guilty about being unproductive lately (read: binging netflix and playing lots of video games) and I wanted to pick up some useful academic skills. I am living on a shoestring budget so the cooking skills I'm learning for free! 😛

I don't know much about the R course. From my experiences through med school, residency and now I think you probably have more than enough understanding of statistics to get you through. If you're planning on doing more independent research requiring a higher level of stats knowledge like SAS then I don't see why not. It's free anyway and you seem genuinely interested in it. Statistics skills is highly valued in academic medicine. Especially if you can run your own programs since hiring a statistician can be expensive.

 

[deleted862527]

Things to learn?

Learn to take care of yourself. Learn to be comfortable with your weaknesses and develop the ability to become more resilient. Unfortunately, according to many medical students and faculty members, medical school 'breaks even healthy students'. It is very common to develop symptoms of anxiety or depression, which will impair performance, quality of life, and motivation to continue forward. Many students who do develop these symptoms are attributed to their distorted perception of self-esteem. In other words, many students believe their accomplishments and academic success determine their worth, and paradoxically believe these types of beliefs enhance performance rather than impair them. Once they enter medical school and realize they are no longer at the top of their class, or realize that they may have to work extra hard to earn the scores they desire, they may feel very discouraged, depressed, and upset.

Not everyone who enters medical school develops symptoms of mental illness, but it is very common. Remember to do your best, refrain from comparing yourself to others, and focus on the process rather than the result. Why? Because students with a 'process-oriented' philosophy excel compared to those who focus only on the result. You will be more likely to develop discipline and resilience that way. I hope I helped. I am not a medical student, but I know a lot about various cognitive-behavioral techniques that can defeat depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, perfectionism, etc.

 

[LBJLA23]

Learn how to relax when stressed. Most useful skill you can learn.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Something you haven't really mentioned that would actually be really useful in making med school easier is to start cramming "First Aid for the USMLE Step 1" into your brain. People are going to think you're crazy though, but you seem like you have a lot of ree time. It's basically a list of facts you need to straight up memorize to do well on the board exams. It's necessary, but not sufficient. The preclinical years of med school is basically 50-100% of the intensity of MCAT studying, except for two years straight. Obviously you'll do more than cram but, cramming is a huge part of it.

No.

 

[Medic741]

Hey all,

I'm currently in the middle of my gap year doing research. I've been fortunate enough to have been accepted to med school already. After getting in, I've been relaxing a bit and don't have too many plates spinning outside 40ish hours of work a week and basic life/health maintenance stuff -- exercise, learning to cook, reading. Luckily, the NIH offers a ton of courses to its employees for fairly cheap. I found an R course and a Spanish course. Both are about 2-3 hours one night a week for about 15 weeks. Technically, they are graded but the NIH isn't accredited (lol) so they aren't "real" courses

Spanish (3 credits) -- my Spanish is a couple of notches below conversational and I don't have many people to practice with and I think this would help.

R (2 credits) -- I used R briefly in undergrad and don't use it now with the research I am doing, but I anticipate a strong familiarity with stats software like R will be invaluable for research in med school.

I don't know if I want to take both of these because I do want to take it easy this year and prepare myself mentally for med school. How valuable would a semester's worth of practice in R be for clinical research? Is it worth spending 3 hours every Tuesday night for 15 weeks?

R studio. Being able to have something to bring to the research table is invaluable when approaching a lab and R is a great resource for stats + graphics

 

[deleted938090]

How do R and Matlab compare? I’m wondering whether it’s worth learning R as well.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

learn how to make one hand suture tie and two hand suture tie. You can learn it in one afternoon, properly.

once you learn you, that will last for a whole life, whether you use it again or not.

seen very few medical students and residents (non-surgical) doing it properly.

it will be impressive if you can do it properly. It is quite self evident.

Please for the love of god do not go learning to suture tie as a med student. Not only will you certainly forget it within the 3 years between now and your surgery rotation, but if you do manage to remember it, you will probably look like a giant tool trying to show this skill off.

 

[LBJLA23]

learn how to make one hand suture tie and two hand suture tie. You can learn it in one afternoon, properly.

once you learn you, that will last for a whole life, whether you use it again or not.

seen very few medical students and residents (non-surgical) doing it properly.

it will be impressive if you can do it properly. It is quite self evident.

Wow. What horrible advice....

 

[SteyrFWB]

I really beg to differ.

It is muscle memory. Once you get the hang of it, it is automatic and FUN. You won't forget it until the kingdom come.

I have never being unimpressed by medical students who can do it properly. On the contrary, I am super mega amazed by those who can do it, and carry on a good fun conversation from there.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

Normally I would say not to try to learn anything specific for med school, take it easy and chill, but having taken some of the NIH FAES courses (including after my acceptance to med school), they are a pretty cool opportunity to learn some interesting/useful things for a very reasonable cost (and in my experience not all that much work either). A lot of them are taught by some pretty big names in their fields, or bring in researchers from around the NIH for guest lectures. I wouldn't say either of the two you listed seem that interesting to me personally, though both could potentially be useful down the line, depending on where you go to school and what your research interests are. If you're thinking of taking a course though, I recommend looking through the catalog at some of the more interesting/unique courses that are offered! If nothing seems really interesting/fun though, I'd definitely recommend just chilling instead.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

You could also take a class in SPSS or some other stats program. Makes research wayyyyy easier when you can do your own stats

 

[jarednogeek]

During my gap year I've been learning more about business and entrepreneurship

 

[orthodoc23]

During my gap year I've been learning more about business and entrepreneurship

Any courses or resources you recommend on these topics?

 

[CyrusHabs7695]

Spanish will probably be useful but I don't think having general programming ability in R will be useful. You'll likely not be doing the actual programming for clinical research and if you are, it would be more useful to learn the actual statistics. The syntax of programming can be learned as needed.

Something you haven't really mentioned that would actually be really useful in making med school easier is to start cramming "First Aid for the USMLE Step 1" into your brain. People are going to think you're crazy though, but you seem like you have a lot of ree time. It's basically a list of facts you need to straight up memorize to do well on the board exams. It's necessary, but not sufficient. The preclinical years of med school is basically 50-100% of the intensity of MCAT studying, except for two years straight. Obviously you'll do more than cram but, cramming is a huge part of it.

first aid is a review book. Why would you read a review book before learning the material

 

[jarednogeek]

Any courses or resources you recommend on these topics?

I prefer more hands on learning. I started a small business buying and selling electronics on facebook marketplace and am working with a local businessman on some commercial/residential projects. Really just get your hands dirty and dive in. Not really trying to earn tons of money, just learn valuable lessons that'll carry with me.