Time in Pre-med and Med school

[NYR56]

I get that there is going to be required reading. I mean some peeople, like me, will do the work if they chose the major/ courses. But having to take lib arts courses when you specifically have a biochemistry major is what I'm talking about. Like ST John's U in NY, they make you take lib arts and theology courses even if your major is Bioengineering.

You can solve that by going to a different school. I didn't take a single credit of humanities in undergrad and have a biomedical engineering degree. My humanities/social sciences requirements were fulfilled with my business or applied math minors. Not all schools require you to take totally irrelevant courses; in fact this was a major reason I picked Hopkins over other schools. Of course, I may have to take an English class or two now but that depends on where I want to go. I pretty much eliminated any colleges that required a second language when I was picking back in HS.

That said, I don't think people should rush through college. I could have graduate early but I took 12 credits a few semesters just so I didn't. It let me have more time to enjoy myself and be a normal college student. IMO, there is no excuse not to have fun on the weekends, I don't care what classes you have to take. College is about growing as a person and that takes time.

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[Drrrrrr. Celty]

You can solve that by going to a different school. I didn't take a single credit of humanities in undergrad and have a biomedical engineering degree. My humanities/social sciences requirements were fulfilled with my business or applied math minors. Not all schools require you to take totally irrelevant courses; in fact this was a major reason I picked Hopkins over other schools. Of course, I may have to take an English class or two now but that depends on where I want to go. I pretty much eliminated any colleges that required a second language when I was picking back in HS.

That said, I don't think people should rush through college. I could have graduate early but I took 12 credits a few semesters just so I didn't. It let me have more time to enjoy myself and be a normal college student. IMO, there is no excuse not to have fun on the weekends, I don't care what classes you have to take. College is about growing as a person and that takes time.

Last time I checked most medical schools require you to have completed a decent amount of humanities and social sciences. Its one of the reasons psychology and sociology are required/recommended by premedical programs.
No humanities? I don't know what to say. You've never taken a philosphy class? A class about theory? A lit class? I can say that you've narrowed down your medical choices, because many require English comp + English litt and humanities litt classes.

 

[NYR56]

As I said, I took social sciences in place of humanities. I've never seen any school not use the two interchangeably in regards to requirements, so I'm fine in that area. I'm considering taking 2 English classes next year after I apply for whichever schools require that over just writing intensive courses. I need to call more schools but a few that I spoke to said any writing intensive class is perfectly fine. Anyway, I wasn't premed in UG, hence the total lack of English. I hate those courses so I just stayed away from them. My point was that not all colleges require you to take courses that you don't want to.

 

[ProgPenguin]

I think the people on this thread who see no value in a well-rounded education will change their minds in several years. I know I'm pre-med too, but I've been out of undergrad for several years. Once you graduate and mature a bit you will see the value in being a well-educated person.

I can only speak for myself but this may very well be true of others here and you may have the wrong impression. I thoroughly enjoy doing and learning about things that bear no direct relation to the sciences. I think that the life of the mind is extremely important and I believe that it is beneficial to immerse yourself in a broad range of material. My position is that you shouldn't be mandated to do this by paying for and attending courses that provide such material. A diverse course load doesn't necessarily translate to a well-rounded education. With humanities and other coursed being obligatory, people approach them as such, often doing what they have to do to pass the class without truly cultivating an appreciation for the material. Med school (and undergrad for that matter) is expensive, and I would welcome the opportunity to eliminate unnecessary credits. This does not mean that I would stop reading literature, exploring other cultures/languages, etc. I am extremely passionate about the sciences (biology in particular), just as I'm sure many other people here are, but I'm sure that if that's all I ever focused on I would eventually burn out. Still, it would be nice to have a more direct pre-med track, at least as an option.

 

[El31]

Last time I checked most medical schools require you to have completed a decent amount of humanities and social sciences. Its one of the reasons psychology and sociology are required/recommended by premedical programs.
No humanities? I don't know what to say. You've never taken a philosphy class? A class about theory? A lit class? I can say that you've narrowed down your medical choices, because many require English comp + English litt and humanities litt classes.

I <3 John Hopkins research projects. I guess it isn't too bad to go there either? I imagine they are difficult school to get into though. The research that comes out of there is just beautiful.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I <3 John Hopkins research projects. I guess it isn't too bad to go there either? I imagine they are difficult school to get into though. The research that comes out of there is just beautiful.

John Hopkins is a great institute however they have different schools with different course reqs. Biomedical engineering is primarily held by one school. Other majors have general education requirements.

 

[El31]

I can only speak for myself but this may very well be true of others here and you may have the wrong impression. I thoroughly enjoy doing and learning about things that bear no direct relation to the sciences. I think that the life of the mind is extremely important and I believe that it is beneficial to immerse yourself in a broad range of material. My position is that you shouldn't be mandated to do this by paying for and attending courses that provide such material. A diverse course load doesn't necessarily translate to a well-rounded education. With humanities and other coursed being obligatory, people approach them as such, often doing what they have to do to pass the class without truly cultivating an appreciation for the material. Med school (and undergrad for that matter) is expensive, and I would welcome the opportunity to eliminate unnecessary credits. This does not mean that I would stop reading literature, exploring other cultures/languages, etc. I am extremely passionate about the sciences (biology in particular), just as I'm sure many other people here are, but I'm sure that if that's all I ever focused on I would eventually burn out. Still, it would be nice to have a more direct pre-med track, at least as an option.

This is my point exactly. Why am I paying loads of money for things that aren't necessary for our field. I would consider myself a well-rounded person currently, and it isn't for the things that I've paid for in school, it's because of my personal pursuit of knowledge. I don't want a school to create me, because they would create all of us the same. I want to choose what it is that I learn based on my multiple passions and which ones rank highest in what will be useful to me/fulfill me the most.

 

[tmjbama5]

You are more than a doctor. I wasn't acting in terms of patient care. I mean, as a grown, mature, intelligent, well-educated PERSON.

the whole "well-rounded education" is so overstated in my honest opinion...

tell me this...after cramming TONS of info. into your brain for 7-12 or so years during med school/residency, how much is ANYONE honestly going to remember from all of this elective classes that have absolutely NOTHING to do with this profession?? listen, i'm interested in other subjects besides science classes...however, i haven't even gotten into med school yet and already i have trouble remembering a lot about some of my elective classes i took as an undergrad. sure, when you're a practicing doctor you can gloat about taking this class or that class as an undergrad...but if you can hardly remember what the class taught you, how "well-rounded" are you (academically)?? you can still grow, be mature and intelligent simply by learning things on your own and in your spare time...i mean, who cares that i took an art history, social psychology class in college? especially when i won't be able to recall most of the information i learned by the time im out practicing medicine...? might as well learn these types of things after you're out of your training if you are that interested in them in the first place. i just think the whole "it's about getting a well-rounded education" argument is overplayed and overvalued.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

the whole "well-rounded education" is so overstated in my honest opinion...

tell me this...after cramming TONS of info. into your brain for 7-12 or so years during med school/residency, how much is ANYONE honestly going to remember from all of this elective classes that have absolutely NOTHING to do with this profession?? listen, i'm interested in other subjects besides science classes...however, i haven't even gotten into med school yet and already i have trouble remembering a lot about some of my elective classes i took as an undergrad. sure, when you're a practicing doctor you can gloat about taking this class or that class as an undergrad...but if you can hardly remember what the class taught you, how "well-rounded" are you (academically)?? you can still grow, be mature and intelligent simply by learning things on your own and in your spare time...i mean, who cares that i took an art history, social psychology class in college? especially when i won't be able to recall most of the information i learned by the time im out practicing medicine...? might as well learn these types of things after you're out of your training if you are that interested in them in the first place. i just think the whole "it's about getting a well-rounded education" argument is overplayed and overvalued.

You have to realize I know so many premeds who are so dull. They should be going into a solo lab and shouldn't be working with people really. Medicine is a service based profession, you must be culturally, socially and educationally appealing to the people you'll work with. Art history, I can say probably a very interesting class, something you can talk to with your patients about when you check up on them. I mean science is nice, but its good to have hobbies and interests outside of medicine.
I recommend reading this
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~chem105a/FROSH.html

Honestly, spend less time in college doing science and more exploring the world. Explore philosophy and ways of thought, explore culture and peoples life styles. These are ways of us to be able to understand and see people and where they come from. I'll admit that in my opinion me majoring in psychology and taking time to explore history and sociology will make my college experience all much more fun. Because these things I don't need to remember heuristically, I can easily just absorb the understands and add onto my world view.