weakness for labs..is med school not possible?

[rleung3]

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Hi,

I'm a potential pre-med, but I have always had a weakness for laboratory work. Most of the time, when I do the reading for the lab beforehand, I don't really completely "get" it, and when I get to lab, I am trying to figure out what everything is (equipment and such). Something usu. goes wrong (as in I do not get ideal results), and I am usu. one of the last ones to finish.

Is med school not a possibility? I have tried improving my study strategy for lab in terms to drawing diagrams of apparatus out and taking good notes before lab, but I always seem to be a little behind most people. I feel that as an undergrad, you don't get many chances to learn from labs since you go there and do it, and then you don't ever refer to it again. The grading doesn't hurt me as an undergrad since they are more concerned with the fact that you tried rather than how efficiently/accurately you did it, but I would assume that in med school, it is dire you get all your labs right on the first try, right? Or do you get multiple chances to redo labs in med school?

 

[Wizard of Oz]

We don't have very many labs. You might look into the curricula at the med school(s) in your state.

 

[zimmie256]

Hi,

I'm a potential pre-med, but I have always had a weakness for laboratory work. Most of the time, when I do the reading for the lab beforehand, I don't really completely "get" it, and when I get to lab, I am trying to figure out what everything is (equipment and such). Something usu. goes wrong (as in I do not get ideal results), and I am usu. one of the last ones to finish.

Is med school not a possibility? I have tried improving my study strategy for lab in terms to drawing diagrams of apparatus out and taking good notes before lab, but I always seem to be a little behind most people. I feel that as an undergrad, you don't get many chances to learn from labs since you go there and do it, and then you don't ever refer to it again. The grading doesn't hurt me as an undergrad since they are more concerned with the fact that you tried rather than how efficiently/accurately you did it, but I would assume that in med school, it is dire you get all your labs right on the first try, right? Or do you get multiple chances to redo labs in med school?

At my undergrad, some professors had videos of key procedures that would be used in the lab available online. Sometimes viewing these beforehand was very helpful. I'd suggest finding out if your school has something like this... If not, google around and see if you can find that type of stuff posted elsewhere. You may also want to try asking your lab TAs for more help. They might have some good tips for you as well.

 

[zimmie256]

.

 

[OncoCaP]

Hi,

I'm a potential pre-med, but I have always had a weakness for laboratory work. Most of the time, when I do the reading for the lab beforehand, I don't really completely "get" it, and when I get to lab, I am trying to figure out what everything is (equipment and such). Something usu. goes wrong (as in I do not get ideal results), and I am usu. one of the last ones to finish.

Is med school not a possibility? I have tried improving my study strategy for lab in terms to drawing diagrams of apparatus out and taking good notes before lab, but I always seem to be a little behind most people. I feel that as an undergrad, you don't get many chances to learn from labs since you go there and do it, and then you don't ever refer to it again. The grading doesn't hurt me as an undergrad since they are more concerned with the fact that you tried rather than how efficiently/accurately you did it, but I would assume that in med school, it is dire you get all your labs right on the first try, right? Or do you get multiple chances to redo labs in med school?

This is a pre-med question ... you should ask this question in the pre-med forum.

If medicine is what you want to do, don't let your current weaknesses slow you down. It sounds like you are doing ok, but could improve. Keep working at your education and continue to evaluate your interests, aptitudes, and options. Although there are limits for everyone, if you are really interested in something, you can often build the skills you need given some time.

 

[8744]

Hi,

I'm a potential pre-med, but I have always had a weakness for laboratory work. Most of the time, when I do the reading for the lab beforehand, I don't really completely "get" it, and when I get to lab, I am trying to figure out what everything is (equipment and such). Something usu. goes wrong (as in I do not get ideal results), and I am usu. one of the last ones to finish.

Is med school not a possibility? I have tried improving my study strategy for lab in terms to drawing diagrams of apparatus out and taking good notes before lab, but I always seem to be a little behind most people. I feel that as an undergrad, you don't get many chances to learn from labs since you go there and do it, and then you don't ever refer to it again. The grading doesn't hurt me as an undergrad since they are more concerned with the fact that you tried rather than how efficiently/accurately you did it, but I would assume that in med school, it is dire you get all your labs right on the first try, right? Or do you get multiple chances to redo labs in med school?

Ha ha. I have to laugh. Excuse me. Ha ha.

Hey, you need absolutely zero lab skill to graduate medical school. Zilch. Nada. Rien. About the only thing we routinely do is look at wet preps under the microscope. Every other lab you can think of is done by, well, the lab. I know that in the good old days before they let all of us whiney non-traditionals into the temple they did their own gram stains, prepared their own peripheral smears, and tasted their patient's urine for all I know but today, this is just not done.

You may have a cheesy lab session or two in medical school where you will attempt to stain a slide or two or something equally "scutty" but nobody cares if you get the right result and, at my medical school anyways, we didn't even have to write those incredibly ridiculous "Lab Reports."

Chemistry lab, of the kind you are used to in undergrad, does not exist in medical school in any shape, way, or form. Good thing too, because this kind of thing is the biggest waste of time in undergrad for people who are never, ever, going to work in a lab. Totally ******ed. I resented every minute I spent mixing chemicals and measuring the heat of a reaction.

In summary, this is about the last thing you need to worry about. I'd be more worried about whether I could dissect my way through the left-over chicken that will be your cadaver. Even that is not a big worry as you don't acutally get graded on your dissection skills, your attendance, or anything else other than being able to identify structures on a practical exam.

 

[vtucci]

We do not have a lot in the way of traditional labs either. I don't think an aversion to labs is a problem in medical school but it might give you a problem in undergrad.

 

[Schaden Freud]

Doesn't "I have a weakness for laboratory work" mean that you like lab work? I have a weakness for coffee...

Hi,

I'm a potential pre-med, but I have always had a weakness for laboratory work. Most of the time, when I do the reading for the lab beforehand, I don't really completely "get" it, and when I get to lab, I am trying to figure out what everything is (equipment and such). Something usu. goes wrong (as in I do not get ideal results), and I am usu. one of the last ones to finish.

Is med school not a possibility? I have tried improving my study strategy for lab in terms to drawing diagrams of apparatus out and taking good notes before lab, but I always seem to be a little behind most people. I feel that as an undergrad, you don't get many chances to learn from labs since you go there and do it, and then you don't ever refer to it again. The grading doesn't hurt me as an undergrad since they are more concerned with the fact that you tried rather than how efficiently/accurately you did it, but I would assume that in med school, it is dire you get all your labs right on the first try, right? Or do you get multiple chances to redo labs in med school?

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Man, I sucked at lab. I actually quit being a chemistry major because I hated lab so much and thought it would be the most miserable thing to spend my life in one. Yep, always had bad results and was always the last person there. 😱 Anyway, it doesn't matter in med school -- we don't have anything remotely resembling chem lab (which it sounds like you're mainly talking about) here.

 

[rleung3]

yes, I meant I suck at lucks, so I guess I have a weakness IN labs....haha.

 

[lilnoelle]

I hated chemistry lab until I worked in one.... Then it seemed easy - all repitition and routine. So maybe you should try to work in a chem lab?
It doesn't really matter though, as long as the grade doesn't hinder you from getting into med school, you won't need to be good in lab for med school because we just don't have them.

 

[TexasFool]

I always found labs to be poorly taught and poorly organized. I think that the problem isn´t you, it´s your school. Another problem with labs is that they sometimes get ahead of the class or skip around, so you don´t really understand the science behind the lab you are currently doing. I hated labs because of this.

You probably finish last because you bother to take the time to learn from the lab while others just do the steps and leave.

 

[cfdavid]

Yep, good ole chem lab..... I remember the VAST majority of students (unfortunately, myself included) would just run down the procedure, never fully grasping why we were doing what we were doing. There simply wasn't the time to analyze that. In my experience, it was all about the yield.

On the flip side, I had a great micro lab (I took it post-bacc). The professor actually ran the lab part too, and he couldn't care less if we had good yields or even if our experiments worked or not. He just wanted us to understand what the hell we were supposed to be doing, and why we were doing it. It was enjoyable, and I felt I learned a lot more that way, versus the frantic pace of most other labs, in which the end result is typically the only thing that matters.