A physics education heavily emphasizes concepts, whereas medical school (from what I understand) is all about facts. Are there any former physics student who can attest to what this transition is like? How hard was it? Did you have to relearn how to prepare for exams? If so, what do you do differently? Thanks!
Transitioning from a physics major to med school
- Thread starter Wody
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You know, it is different. In the first two years, the focus is definitely on memorization and recall as opposed to the utilization of concepts to solve problems like you're probably used to. There is a ton of work in medical school, but in some ways the process of learning has been a little easier than it was as a physics major. I haven't found the transition to be too terribly difficult, and I've even found my physics background to be pretty helpful in physiology so far.
I imagine that the ability to problem solve you've gained from a background in physics will be massively helpful once you get to the wards during the third and fourth year. At that point, you'll have to be able to mobilize your stores of information in order to be successful.
So overall, being a physics major has been much more of a benefit than a curse. I'm very happy with the skills that my physics background has provided me.
I imagine that the ability to problem solve you've gained from a background in physics will be massively helpful once you get to the wards during the third and fourth year. At that point, you'll have to be able to mobilize your stores of information in order to be successful.
So overall, being a physics major has been much more of a benefit than a curse. I'm very happy with the skills that my physics background has provided me.
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I think conceptual thinking makes life a lot easier. Learning concepts is a huge part of what you're tested on, and understanding how everything interrelates boils studying down to pure memorization. I'm not aiming for a 4.0 in med school, so my study load is substantially lower than most people's. I can basically roll out of lecture with all the take-home points in my mind and learn a bit of surrounding information to get some extra points on tests. It sure beats the hell out of simply trying to memorize everything and trying to fit all the pieces together on the fly for the vignette test questions.
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Hey,
About a year and a half ago I was a physics graduate student and I decided to switch to medicine. Other than getting the prereq's done, it has not been too hard. I did get lucky in that I was allowed to stay on as a TA and take my classes for free, but if you are still in undergrad there is time to switch. I was a little short on community service due to my physics track, but I worked really hard for the last year to volunteer and the schools have respected that. As far as your question goes, there are tons of concepts in biology and I have found my physics background to be immensly helpful. It is especially helpful on the mcat, b/c you should do great on physical sciences. If you really want it, I say go for it but you have to go all in with volunteering/clinical stuff/etc. if you want them to take you seriously.
About a year and a half ago I was a physics graduate student and I decided to switch to medicine. Other than getting the prereq's done, it has not been too hard. I did get lucky in that I was allowed to stay on as a TA and take my classes for free, but if you are still in undergrad there is time to switch. I was a little short on community service due to my physics track, but I worked really hard for the last year to volunteer and the schools have respected that. As far as your question goes, there are tons of concepts in biology and I have found my physics background to be immensly helpful. It is especially helpful on the mcat, b/c you should do great on physical sciences. If you really want it, I say go for it but you have to go all in with volunteering/clinical stuff/etc. if you want them to take you seriously.
