"thinking"?

[murfettie]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I'm starting to wonder why do med schools admit people like me - social science/post bac major into med schoo? Just to make us feel extraordinarily terrible when compared to biochem majors?

Really, biochem has some principles underlying it and you can reason and think about it with those logic. However, at this point, I feel like I can't remember anything to begin with, let alone, oh, REASONING.

Next week, it's a different thing and I had forgotten how that candy bar I just eaten had been metabolized to begin with..
At the same time, so many people who are somewhat familiar with this stuff can "think about it" and maybe figure out if this step broke, what happens on a larger picture...

I feel lame, brainless, and just .. duh....
Everything I had learned in college, in life is completely useless right now.
My stress tolerance isn't even that good despite being in my late 20's. The way I feel now isn't much different from when I was 16, and taking 6 AP classes + 2 college classes at the same time

 

[D elegans]

I'm starting to wonder why do med schools admit people like me - social science/post bac major into med schoo? Just to make us feel extraordinarily terrible when compared to biochem majors?

Really, biochem has some principles underlying it and you can reason and think about it with those logic. However, at this point, I feel like I can't remember anything to begin with, let alone, oh, REASONING.

Next week, it's a different thing and I had forgotten how that candy bar I just eaten had been metabolized to begin with..
At the same time, so many people who are somewhat familiar with this stuff can "think about it" and maybe figure out if this step broke, what happens on a larger picture...

I feel lame, brainless, and just .. duh....
Everything I had learned in college, in life is completely useless right now.
My stress tolerance isn't even that good despite being in my late 20's. The way I feel now isn't much different from when I was 16, and taking 6 AP classes + 2 college classes at the same time

Disclaimers:

1. I am an M1
2. I was a science major

If you've been a science major, you probably have a leg up in the beginning. However, as time goes on, I've heard that wanes completely. I'm thinking once you begin neuroanatomy, everyone ought to be on the same page (pg. 1). Just hang in there and certainly don't obsess about what other people are doing.

 

[CatFactorial]

"Thinkers" tend to be otherwise unremarkable assclowns. Pay them no heed.

 

[projectlogic]

Being a bio major DEFINITELY helps in med school. I've already taken many of the same classes that I take in med school. It provides you with a framework and lets you add information on top of what you already know instead of starting at a lower point.

 

[giggle]

I agree - a science background really helps! But I think you'll soon be on equal footing with your classmates as the year progresses. There's bound to be stuff that nobody has learned about before.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Generally speaking, they'll do better in class, while you'll do better on standardized exams. Guess which one wins? 😉

 

[CaptainSSO]

"Thinkers" tend to be otherwise unremarkable assclowns. Pay them no heed.

WTF does this even mean?

 

[Stixman28]

WTF does this even mean?

Post bac liberal arts ms3 here. Thinking is finally coming in handy this year. Just hang on for a couple years buddy.

 

[Brewmeister]

Anatomy is blind memorization
Biochemistry is 60% memorization, 40% thinking

Once you get to physio you'll be thinking a lot

People who score well (I'm talking 240+) on Step 1 know how to memorize and think.

 

[adaptation1]

i can't think. i'm screwed for the step. i can only blindly memorize like a machine. crap crap crap crap crap crap 010101010101010

 

[QuaerensIntelle]

By half way through the year you'll be equal....if you got a high verbal mcat chances are you'll be WAY ahead of most of your classmates by the time you take the step.

I know it doesn't seem like it now, but it really doesn't make a difference in the end. (Unless your classmates have actual clinical experience, that might actually be helpful).

 

[CatFactorial]

WTF does this even mean?

Think about it.

 

[Jolie South]

I don't think it matters what the heck you did in college. After block 1, everyone's on a level playing field. Period.

 

[Lbgem]

Anatomy is blind memorization

Thanks for this. My prof keeps insisting you're able to reason out what muscle does what. And sometimes okay I can kinda, but the functions overlap so much and muscles criss-crossing this way and that, and I'm barely managing to sort out what is where, let alone reason out the function. I'm trudging along though.

 

[Morsetlis]

So I'm In Grenada Living Free Of Luxury:
Subcostal
Ileohypogastric
Ileoinguinal
Genitofemoral
Lateral Femoral Cutaneous
Femoral
Obturator
Lumbosacral

Yeah that took a lot of thinking!

The only course right now that's a little bit "logical" is Biochem with the pathways and drugs. Of course, you still have to memorize the names of substrates, enzymes, and inhibitors/activators before you can start to reason about it.

The "large" picture is important, but that might make up 5% of the test. The rest are minutiae like which enzyme Arsenate inhibits in Glycolysis, and which substrate Arsenic binds to in the Pyruvate Dehydrogenase Complex, and what's the difference between intrinsic termination of transcription and extrinsic termination, and which protein is involved in such in prokaryotes versus eukaryotes... oh and which tendon is that one right over there in between those two?

 

[GoSpursGo]

I don't think it matters what the heck you did in college. After block 1, everyone's on a level playing field. Period.

This. The people who have taken biochem before are probably feeling pretty good about themselves right now, but in a couple of months their "lead" will vanish.

Don't worry about other people. Do your best and you'll figure out a way that works for you.

 

[surftheiop]

So far I've actually been surprised that anatomy seems to take more thinking than biochem. Seems in biochem you just memorize some metabolic path or signaling cascade and there is no way to know it other than memorizing it.

But in anatomy (at least MSK anatomy so far) if you know something's insertion/origin you could work out its actions. Or if you happen to only know its action, you can figure out where it would have to originate/insert. You also need to be able to look at your mental picture from different angles and move stuff around in your mind.

I've actually been refreshed by the thinking so far in anatomy compared to biochem.

 

[Lbgem]

So far I've actually been surprised that anatomy seems to take more thinking than biochem. Seems in biochem you just memorize some metabolic path or signaling cascade and there is no way to know it other than memorizing it.

But in anatomy (at least MSK anatomy so far) if you know something's insertion/origin you could work out its actions. Or if you happen to only know its action, you can figure out where it would have to originate/insert. You also need to be able to look at your mental picture from different angles and move stuff around in your mind.

I've actually been refreshed by the thinking so far in anatomy compared to biochem.

Ah lucky you it's clicking then. I am definitely not a visual learner (o chem imagining structures and reactions what fit where were the WORST), but the labs help (I'm kinesthetic) so it kinda makes sense...but I definitely have to go over this stuff a lot more than the biochem/etc. Things like Netters, I can look at it like 3-4 times and it still doesn't really stick. Some days I feel like an idiot. I'll work more with the skeleton model and the human body website I think should help and working it out on my own instead of staring yet again at Netters... Oh well, back to the drawing board literally.

 

[CaptainSSO]

This. The people who have taken biochem before are probably feeling pretty good about themselves right now, but in a couple of months their "lead" will vanish.

Don't worry about other people. Do your best and you'll figure out a way that works for you.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooo......

I was counting on that lead. I have been struggling like hell to keep up with all the material, that's going to get worse if biochem becomes foreign.

 

[Jack is Back]

I don't think it matters what the heck you did in college. After block 1, everyone's on a level playing field. Period.

Agreed here.

 

[Jack is Back]

This. The people who have taken biochem before are probably feeling pretty good about themselves right now, but in a couple of months their "lead" will vanish.

Don't worry about other people. Do your best and you'll figure out a way that works for you.

Agreed, I've already seem science majors leaning on old knowledge and not learning our professors slant on things. As soon as the lead vanishes, you will be in the mode of working hard and efficiently, while they will be swamped.

Better to be overwhelmed early, forcing you into efficiency, rather than later when your doing head and neck anatomy or something.

 

[Crow King]

"Thinkers" tend to be otherwise unremarkable assclowns. Pay them no heed.

M1 isn't exactly a "thinking" experience. Doubt M2 will be either.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I was a social science/post bacc person, too, and managed to do better than most of the biochem majors. If you're admitted then you have the skills you need to do well. Being a biochem major might help you in your first year biochem class, but the benefits fade pretty soon after that.

 

[isoquin]

it does get better. stick with it.

 

[shadowfox87]

The first biochem class I took was in med school. I was non-traditional and I haven't even majored in a science let alone biochem major. I even had to teach myself some stuff that I never learned before just for MCAT. If I would do it all over again though, I'd still pick the same major every time b/c that's what I was interested in the most. I don't like to pick majors so it's easy for me, I pick them because they intrigue me. I'm very good at reasoning, but I suck at memorization. I thought that I would suck the most in these science subjects, but apparently I was wrong.

 

[mrwesticles]

A lot of people that I've studied with can be lumped into two venn diagrams. People who memorize really well, and people who reason really well. Ideally you get people at the intersection of the two.

But both groups are perfectly good docs.

 

[dienekes88]

Medicine isn't just about memorizing facts. It's about taking all those memorized facts, e.g. studies c inclusion/exclusion criteria, physiology, pathophys, histology, etc., and applying it to a new patient in a new situation. It's not cookie cutter. If it were, we wouldn't have to do residency, and we could probably graduate in 2 or 3 years.

 

[CatFactorial]

The first biochem class I took was in med school. I was non-traditional and I haven't even majored in a science let alone biochem major. I even had to teach myself some stuff that I never learned before just for MCAT. If I would do it all over again though, I'd still pick the same major every time b/c that's what I was interested in the most. I don't like to pick majors so it's easy for me, I pick them because they intrigue me. I'm very good at reasoning, but I suck at memorization. I thought that I would suck the most in these science subjects, but apparently I was wrong.

You go girl!

 

[HumbleMD]

I'm starting to wonder why do med schools admit people like me - social science/post bac major into med schoo? Just to make us feel extraordinarily terrible when compared to biochem majors?

Really, biochem has some principles underlying it and you can reason and think about it with those logic. However, at this point, I feel like I can't remember anything to begin with, let alone, oh, REASONING.

Next week, it's a different thing and I had forgotten how that candy bar I just eaten had been metabolized to begin with..
At the same time, so many people who are somewhat familiar with this stuff can "think about it" and maybe figure out if this step broke, what happens on a larger picture...

I feel lame, brainless, and just .. duh....
Everything I had learned in college, in life is completely useless right now.
My stress tolerance isn't even that good despite being in my late 20's. The way I feel now isn't much different from when I was 16, and taking 6 AP classes + 2 college classes at the same time

This feeling won't disappear by the time you get bast basic science courses. Instead, in organ blocks and in clerkships EVERYONE feels a little dumb and majorly challenged, so you won't be alone.

PS. Seriously? High school accomplishments are pretty irrelevant now that you're in your late 20s. And back-door bragging is gross altogether.

 

[Guillemot]

Step 1, clinical rotations, and NBME shelf exams all require more thinking than in house basic science exams. So being able to think will be of more benefit later in your med school career.

That is not to say that the ability to memorize isnt still very important.

 

[inspirationmd]

Being a science major provides a distinct advantage 1st year but as people have already said by 2nd year everyone is pretty much level in terms of no one has had a med school pathology and pathophysiology course and that Molec cell advanced class you were a TA for means nothing. Add Step 1 prep on top of that and everyone is working hard to do well.

 

[da8s0859q]

"Thinkers" tend to be otherwise unremarkable assclowns. Pay them no heed.

You either misunderstood what the OP was saying or are seriously mistaken.

M1 isn't exactly a "thinking" experience. Doubt M2 will be either.

You might be surprised. M2 tends to be heavy on the pathology / physiology / pharmacology -- so yeah, there's a lot you just have to know, but there's just as much or more that can be figured out on the fly if you just know the fundamental stuff. Way more efficient than trying to be a robot all year and rote memorizing everything.

 

[murfettie]

This feeling won't disappear by the time you get bast basic science courses. Instead, in organ blocks and in clerkships EVERYONE feels a little dumb and majorly challenged, so you won't be alone.

PS. Seriously? High school accomplishments are pretty irrelevant now that you're in your late 20s. And back-door bragging is gross altogether.

First of all, I apologize that you interpreted those comments as back-door bragging, which is actually a new word for me. You are generous with the assumptions.

Normally, I am not bothered by internet comments, yet I'm bothered by your comment because I was clinically depressed at that time due to those pressure as a 16 year old. I feel mental health is an important aspect of an individual's life and should not be taken lightly. Maybe it is my fault to clarify my intention of stating some of these facts, but you seem like you would rather assume the negative intentions than otherwise.

Trying to get used to America and taking lots of classes at 16 was challenging, and I had to seek some psychiatric help for a period for it. I feel pretty similarly now and I worry that I might return to those depressions now. I think how I feel now is probally worse than how I felt at 16, precisely because I am no longer a kid, no longer a new immigrant, or no longer has any linguistic difficult, and more than anything, 10 years older and thought of myself as stronger in some ways. Perhaps I am not.

I hope you do not assume so easily and frequently with your patients.

Best.

 

[Jorje286]

I came to the conclusion that medicine is 70% memorization and 30% thinking. Both are essential, but I think memorization much more so. It's impossible to derive the basis on thinking... you just need it to tie some knots. But if you have a crazy memory, you can actually get done by memorization alone.

 

[Morsetlis]

I came to the conclusion that medicine is 70% memorization and 30% thinking. Both are essential, but I think memorization much more so. It's impossible to derive the basis on thinking... you just need it to tie some knots. But if you have a crazy memory, you can actually get done by memorization alone.

Well... right now it feels like it.

Would it change on the wards?

 

[murfettie]

Who knows?
I hate it when people deny that they are good at memorizing
"no. I'm just good at figuring it out"
-- really? You can figure out all the enzymes in this?

 

[CatFactorial]

Who knows?
I hate it when people deny that they are good at memorizing
"no. I'm just good at figuring it out"
-- really? You can figure out all the enzymes in this?

Agreed, such people are full of it.

 

[murfettie]

Agreed, such people are full of it.

What I hate the most, is that I let it affect me.

Sometimes I just want to those people to admit that they are good at memorizing and let it be.