What drives you to study?

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What drives/motivates you to study

  • Fear of failure

    Votes: 75 35.5%

  • The desire to have a high class rank

    Votes: 53 25.1%

  • Your future patients

    Votes: 25 11.8%

  • Love of the material

    Votes: 14 6.6%

  • What's this motivation you speak of?

    Votes: 44 20.9%
  • Total voters
    211
None of the above. I study to pass my classes and know what I need to know to not be totally incompetent when I start next year. That's it.
 
I'm currently studying for a histo quiz I need to take in about an hour, I guess my motivation comes from a desire to help my patients and a desire to get into a really good residency.
 
So I can get the residency I want and not be stuck doing FP for the rest of my career.
 
I didn't do the best in undergrad so when I applied to med school, I didn't have a lot of chances. I only got in to one school so I had to go here. My motivation to do well is to make sure that when it comes to 4th year and deciding what I want to do, I have choices. I don't want to be stuck in a crappy residency in BFE. I want to be able to be competitive for ortho, plastics, IM, FM, EM, etc. I want to have those multiple choices. I want to keep as many doors open as I can because who knows what specialty I will like in 3 years.
 
In the moment, fear of failure. Big picture, I know I'm doing it all for the right reasons. I'm confident those reasons will fall into place when it's all over.

Step 1: Pass your classes.

:scared:
 
bleeker10 said:
I didn't do the best in undergrad so when I applied to med school, I didn't have a lot of chances. I only got in to one school so I had to go here. My motivation to do well is to make sure that when it comes to 4th year and deciding what I want to do, I have choices. I don't want to be stuck in a crappy residency in BFE. I want to be able to be competitive for ortho, plastics, IM, FM, EM, etc. I want to have those multiple choices. I want to keep as many doors open as I can because who knows what specialty I will like in 3 years.
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Agree with this. I have no idea what I want to do, so I want to keep options open. I'd probably go with a combination of the choices: Study to avoid failure, study to get a good rank, study to learn the material, but hard to say I love the material/want to help future pts when right now I'm avoiding studying the most irrevelant clinically-insignificant genetics of all time
 
More than 1 of the above. I don't want to fail classes, but I also don't want to be near the bottom of the class. I'd like to actually LEARN material so I'm not incompetent instead of just holding on long enough to pass the class.
 
Love of the material. LOVE it. L-O-V-E it. I've always wondered why other med students wanted to go into this field if getting through all the "boring" course work was such a painful chore. I know it was a simple poll but I'd like to know if everyone else is at least a little interested in the science behind the medicine.

Never really the understood the "Dude, I REALLY want to help people" argument either. They could have become a social worker if that's all there was to it.

I talk with people at my school and its generally an unspoken rule that the more you 1) slack off, 2)complain about the course work, and 3) whine about learning the pathophys behind disease, the "cooler" you are.

I don't get it. Then again it doesn't really matter. I'm enjoying myself everyday (even if there is a suffocating volume of "lovable material").
 
bawer234 said:
Love of the material. LOVE it. L-O-V-E it. I've always wondered why other med students wanted to go into this field if getting through all the "boring" course work was such a painful chore. I know it was a simple poll but I'd like to know if everyone else is at least a little interested in the science behind the medicine.

Never really the understood the "Dude, I REALLY want to help people" argument either. They could have become a social worker if that's all there was to it.

I talk with people at my school and its generally an unspoken rule that the more you 1) slack off, 2)complain about the course work, and 3) whine about learning the pathophys behind disease, the "cooler" you are.

I don't get it. Then again it doesn't really matter. I'm enjoying myself everyday (even if there is a suffocating volume of "lovable material").
Click to expand...

I really like the science behind the medicine - unfortunately medical school isn't the place to be if you actually want to learn it.
 
This ties in with a thread elsewhere about studying to learn vs asking questions (or some other convoluted argument that I couldn't quite pay attention to)...

but I'm with Bawer in that I absolutely love the material. I love the science and the understanding of normal and pathological functioning. There is no graduate, doctoral, or other program that requires you to study and learn as much of the human-oriented sciences as medical school does. And of course, I am learning this stuff on the possibility that I may need it as a physician.

One argument said elsewhere is that medical school is too fast paced for us to truly understand anything. I make the point that we are learning a tremendous amount in only a short period of time; we are acquiring the broad knowledge base that will allow us to learn any field of medicine in depth in the future if we choose; and if the material was any more in depth we would be memorizing way too many of the "unimportant details" that med students hate, like names of transcription factors, proteins, individual mechanisms of those pathways, localizations of those molecules, etc...things that you might only know if you were publishing a paper on it.
 
bawer234 said:
Love of the material. LOVE it. L-O-V-E it. I've always wondered why other med students wanted to go into this field if getting through all the "boring" course work was such a painful chore. I know it was a simple poll but I'd like to know if everyone else is at least a little interested in the science behind the medicine.
Click to expand...

I go through all the boring course work because I'm interested in clinical work. And yes, select parts of it I do find interesting but if I had wanted to be a scientist I wouldn've gone and got a PhD.
 
What drives me to study....knowing that the biggest exam of my life that determines a lot is only 3 months away......#(*^)(@#*$&(*&$@#(*@&$ STEP 1...:scared::scared::scared:

Oh, and knowing that one day I'll have more then $0 in my bank account.
 
As my 2 years of "class room medicine" is coming to an end, I realize you study to pass (or hopefully do very well on) STEP 1 and to not look like a tool 3rd year even though that will probably still happen.
 
DrYoda said:
I go through all the boring course work because I'm interested in clinical work. And yes, select parts of it I do find interesting but if I had wanted to be a scientist I wouldn've gone and got a PhD.
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You can argue this, but I'd like to make the point that one doesn't have to be a "PhD" to love science and apply its principles in a clinical setting.
 
bawer234 said:
You can argue this, but I'd like to make the point that one doesn't have to be a "PhD" to love science and apply its principles in a clinical setting.
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You don't need a degree period to love science. But you also don't need to love science to apply it clinically was the point I was making. Different strokes for different folks.
 
this is the only chance I'll probably ever have to sit back and devote a lot of time to basic science. I don't want to ever be on the wards and regret not having learned pharm or pathophys as well as I should have. I'm sure that will still happen, but man errs so long as he strives, etc.
 
DrYoda said:
You don't need a degree period to love science. But you also don't need to love science to apply it clinically was the point I was making. Different strokes for different folks.
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That's a good point. I just feel like people are missing out or something I guess. Clinic and the background pathophys are intimately linked. You're entire world revolves around understanding the disease in order to understand how to Rx. Then again, I suppose you dont HAVE to understand everything to treat it, but its kind of a scary thought.
 
DrYoda said:
I go through all the boring course work because I'm interested in clinical work. And yes, select parts of it I do find interesting but if I had wanted to be a scientist I wouldn've gone and got a PhD.
Click to expand...

True.

First year is sooooooooooo boring. Biochem, embryo, histo, eshhhh.

I study cos I need to, not particularly cos I want to.
Physio, anatomy I study cos its interesting.

Fear of failure is another motivating factor..
 
bawer234 said:
That's a good point. I just feel like people are missing out or something I guess. Clinic and the background pathophys are intimately linked. You're entire world revolves around understanding the disease in order to understand how to Rx. Then again, I suppose you dont HAVE to understand everything to treat it, but its kind of a scary thought.
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Isn't that the whole rationale behind nurse practioners and PAs? The knee-jerk give this Tx for this Sx?
 
chiz2kul said:
True.

First year is sooooooooooo boring. Biochem, embryo, histo, eshhhh.

I study cos I need to, not particularly cos I want to.
Physio, anatomy I study cos its interesting.

Fear of failure is another motivating factor..
Click to expand...

OMG, I didn't even consider those first year classes. LOL, hmmmm maybe I should retract my previous statements. I'd say physio was the only first year course I REALLY enjoyed. Neuro would have been really cool if it wasn't shoved down my throat in 5 weeks. Anatomy had its postive moments as well. I guess its the 2nd year classes that I was talking about.
 
to not fail. except i studied pretty hard for an anatomy test yesterday. and it was a slap in my face.
 
we just sit and memorize powerpoints. if you call that learning tons of science then ok.

my motivation to study? my huge debt and and fear of failure.
 
Million dollar home, 100,000 car, and the trophy wife I will have when I am all done.
 
I study w/ the hope using my medical knowledge to help my future patients. There's no greater satisfaction!
 
How about actually helping patients? :idea: I'm sure they'll be awfully impressed with your knowledge of intracellular transport, though. Keep up the good work!
 
I chose to get a high class rank, but that isn't quite right. I study to learn the material so I can do well on exams, and eventually on the boards. I don't concern myself with class rank- que sera, sera.
 
How about studying for confidence? Has anyone mentioned that yet?

I think I do feel a tad competitive... but it's not THAT much about class rank. It's more with myself. Like, if I do "below average" relative to the class, I just don't feel that confident or comfortable.

And... I don't know if that performance would actually translate into me being an incompetent doctor (surely there are tons of "below average" med students who end up as "above average" docs). But I would certainly lose confidence in myself... and confidence is kind of essential toward good performance.

So in that sense, I do sort of feel pressure to keep it above average. To maintain my confidence level. If I don't have confidence in myself during the student stage, I can't imagine how I would suddenly acquire it during the residency or doctor stage.

So yeah, my answer would be "confidence".
 
unsung said:
How about studying for confidence? Has anyone mentioned that yet?

I think I do feel a tad competitive... but it's not THAT much about class rank. It's more with myself. Like, if I do "below average" relative to the class, I just don't feel that confident or comfortable.

And... I don't know if that performance would actually translate into me being an incompetent doctor (surely there are tons of "below average" med students who end up as "above average" docs). But I would certainly lose confidence in myself... and confidence is kind of essential toward good performance.

So in that sense, I do sort of feel pressure to keep it above average. To maintain my confidence level. If I don't have confidence in myself during the student stage, I can't imagine how I would suddenly acquire it during the residency or doctor stage.

So yeah, my answer would be "confidence".
Click to expand...

Yea I feel the same way. Knowledge is key to building confidence. I honestly don't care how I do in comparison to X or Y or Z in my class. Just want to learn the material well because it's going to come back someday when I'm treating a patient. And I need to draw the much needed confidence from knowledge. Therefore, I shall study. No choice or wiggle room there.
 
This is a good question, I never really thought about it before. In all honesty I have been studying so hard for so long that I don't know what it is like anymore to not study. Studying has just become a part of my day, something I need to do, similar to eating food and sleeping.
 
MilkmanAl said:
None of the above. I study to pass my classes and know what I need to know to not be totally incompetent when I start next year. That's it.
Click to expand...

what this milkman said
 
Fear goes a long way, but it is an acute experience. Which means I cram. Which sucks.
 
I like to understand what's going on. It's not really love of the material, but the satisfaction of being able to keep up in lecture and generate some interesting questions (internally).

I'm not scared of failing and I don't give a hoot about class rank.
 
Most likely a combination of factors...
 
ChubbyChaser said:
I study to pass...so i can DO work, son.
Click to expand...

😀👍

bawer234 said:
Love of the material. LOVE it. L-O-V-E it. I've always wondered why other med students wanted to go into this field if getting through all the "boring" course work was such a painful chore. I know it was a simple poll but I'd like to know if everyone else is at least a little interested in the science behind the medicine.

Never really the understood the "Dude, I REALLY want to help people" argument either. They could have become a social worker if that's all there was to it.

I talk with people at my school and its generally an unspoken rule that the more you 1) slack off, 2)complain about the course work, and 3) whine about learning the pathophys behind disease, the "cooler" you are.

I don't get it. Then again it doesn't really matter. I'm enjoying myself everyday (even if there is a suffocating volume of "lovable material").
Click to expand...

:eyebrow:
 
bawer234 said:
Love of the material. LOVE it. L-O-V-E it. I've always wondered why other med students wanted to go into this field if getting through all the "boring" course work was such a painful chore. I know it was a simple poll but I'd like to know if everyone else is at least a little interested in the science behind the medicine.

Never really the understood the "Dude, I REALLY want to help people" argument either. They could have become a social worker if that's all there was to it.

I talk with people at my school and its generally an unspoken rule that the more you 1) slack off, 2)complain about the course work, and 3) whine about learning the pathophys behind disease, the "cooler" you are.

I don't get it. Then again it doesn't really matter. I'm enjoying myself everyday (even if there is a suffocating volume of "lovable material").
Click to expand...

I love being in medical school and I am infinitely happy that I'm here instead of working as an engineer. It has definitely been the best decision I've ever made.



...Now that being said, I don't give a flying **** about the ventralizing signal BMP4 genes, histological changes in the perichondrium, or diseases like Q fever which strike an entire eight people in the US per year with flu like symptoms. Loving being here is great, but there is certainly enough absolutely worthless information we have to learn that the whole "I love everything and every fact and every minute" mentality makes it seem like somebody's got a rainbow a little too far up the anal triangle.
 
Knowing that studying and regurgitating some minutia is an essential step to a career I love, even when I'm not particularly fascinated by the minutia of the day. Lots of time I actually enjoy the topics being tested and or they are clinically relevant for my future patients (especially after 1st year).
 
engineeredout said:
I love being in medical school and I am infinitely happy that I'm here instead of working as an engineer. It has definitely been the best decision I've ever made.



...Now that being said, I don't give a flying **** about the ventralizing signal BMP4 genes, histological changes in the perichondrium, or diseases like Q fever which strike an entire eight people in the US per year with flu like symptoms. Loving being here is great, but there is certainly enough absolutely worthless information we have to learn that the whole "I love everything and every fact and every minute" mentality makes it seem like somebody's got a rainbow a little too far up the anal triangle.
Click to expand...

I'm referring more to patho-phys of the common dz's than to biochem and histo. BTW, what's w/ the hostility? If I offened you, sorry. Why are there so many people on SDN always looking to start fights out of nothing? I guess I remember why I stopped posting on here now.

To clarify my above "LOVE" statements, I 😍love😍 learning the patho-phys and details of what makes the avg person sick. I'm not a bench scientist or researcher interested in isolating obscure proteins, I just love learning & UNDERSTANDING how our bodies tick. Please keep any further "rainbow" opinions to yourselves. Thanks.
 
I just have no life, no girlfriend, no friends. I seriously hope that if I pwn academically, then I can become rich and get a trophy woman. I am also an "obligate exerciser". I mean I wasn't until recently. But right now I run intervals at least 3x/week and if I dont feel like puking I just keep increasing the pace.
 
bawer234 said:
To clarify my above "LOVE" statements, I 😍love😍 learning the patho-phys and details of what makes the avg person sick. I'm not a bench scientist or researcher interested in isolating obscure proteins, I just love learning & UNDERSTANDING how our bodies tick.
Click to expand...

Agree. I like the taking-apart-the-clock aspect of it, just not at a molecular level, and some subjects more than others.
 
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