What makes med school difficult? How difficult is it?

[QAtoPA]

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So how difficult is indeed medical school? in terms of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year?

I know this is subjective as we all have different learning styles, studying techniques. Is it difficult because of the complexity of the information or the amount that is given?

Can you guys have a social life? I am not talking about partying every night and getting wasted on weekends, but I am talking about having at least the chance of going out once a week and party/kickback with friends or a nightclub? go for a movie?

Thanks..

 

[DeadCactus]

Asking med students to rate the difficulty is like asking drug seekers to rate their pain. It's clearly a 12/10...

 

[MsKrispyKreme]

SDN guideline to discussions involving subjective, open-ended questions:

-Some people will say A. Some people will say B. The "A" folks and the "B" folks will debate angrily until a Mod comes into the thread and says "HEY! 😡" After discussion of how the As are douches and the Bs need to read "The Game" by Neil Strauss in order to become a masterful pickup artist, logical/cool people will abandon said thread.

-Then we'll all eat dinner, read this thread again, and someone else will say "It's A and B!"

-Then the discussion will end until some pre-med performs thread necromancy and replies to in the year 2015. Thus, the cycle continues.

-Rinse & repeat.

 

[Depakote]

SDN guideline to discussions involving subjective, open-ended questions:

-Some people will say A. Some people will say B. The "A" folks and the "B" folks will debate angrily until a Mod comes into the thread and says "HEY! 😡" After discussion of how the As are douches and the Bs need to read "The Game" by Neil Strauss in order to become a masterful pickup artist, logical/cool people will abandon said thread.

-Then we'll all eat dinner, read this thread again, and someone else will say "It's A and B!"

-Then the discussion will end until some pre-med performs thread necromancy and replies to in the year 2015. Thus, the cycle continues.

-Rinse & repeat.

HEY! 😡

 

[J ROD]

SDN guideline to discussions involving subjective, open-ended questions:

-Some people will say A. Some people will say B. The "A" folks and the "B" folks will debate angrily until a Mod comes into the thread and says "HEY! 😡" After discussion of how the As are douches and the Bs need to read "The Game" by Neil Strauss in order to become a masterful pickup artist, logical/cool people will abandon said thread.

-Then we'll all eat dinner, read this thread again, and someone else will say "It's A and B!"

-Then the discussion will end until some pre-med performs thread necromancy and replies to in the year 2015. Thus, the cycle continues.

-Rinse & repeat.

qft. It seems to really depend....on you.

Obviously, I have not started yet so I cant comment. But, I have heard 3rd year is the hardest, the amount of material makes it difficult, and you do have time for a life except for some rotations in 3rd year.

Just be prepared for the worst and appreciate anything better! 🙂

 

[sylvanthus]

So far, first year isn't too terribly bad. I probably put in 35 hours of studying a week on top of going to mandatory classes and have managed to score well on all the exams thus far. But, it is early yet and I know things pick up.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

So how difficult is indeed medical school? in terms of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year?

I know this is subjective as we all have different learning styles, studying techniques. Is it difficult because of the complexity of the information or the amount that is given?

Can you guys have a social life? I am not talking about partying every night and getting wasted on weekends, but I am talking about having at least the chance of going out once a week and party/kickback with friends or a nightclub? go for a movie?

Thanks..

LOL... haven't seen a question like this in a while. FWIW, here's my opinion, but remember I'm an old non-trad: the material in medical school is not difficult - you proved you could handle it when you were smart enough to get in. The problem is the volume. I'm sure you've heard that going to medical school is like drinking from a fire hydrant, and it's absolutely true (example: block 2 was metabolism in my biochem/genetics class, and we did an entire semester of undergraduate biochem in less than six weeks - in more detail). Yes, you can have one evening a week free in the first two years (and I recommend it for your sanity) - but plan on working on all the other afternoons and evenings, weekends included. It's a big culture shock - your days of being the smartest kid in the class who starts studying a week or two before the exam are over. Not studying is absolutely fatal in med school - everyone studies (or lies about it or flunks out).

Guide by year:

First year. Not too hard, but you're not used to medical school. For me it was the most difficult year - and, looking back, I wonder why. This is when you'll learn to study. You will also have gross anatomy and a cadaver - which is not as big a deal as you might think it is, but I'm glad it'll be you and not me - been there, done that.

Second year. Harder than first year, but the material is less pure basic science and more about sick people, the reason you went to medical school. You'll know what you're doing and you'll know how to handle things. I never went to class. All in all, not a bad year - I sometimes miss having so much time at home with no work to do except studying.

Third year. New ballgame. You're in the hospital and the clinic, and you're expected to be on-time and look respectable. Just when you start to feel like you've mastered a rotation, it's time to move on to the next one. You will still study lots, but now you have to do it at night on your own time, and there often isn't much of that. Exam at the end of each rotation. Some rotations you may have one free evening a week, but others you won't. You'll learn to be a doctor this year. Tough, but very rewarding.

Fourth year. Mostly electives. After working like a dog for three years, people tend to act a little surprised when you show-up where you're supposed to be on-time. Residency applications, interviews, and board exams are stressful. Other than that, 4th year is your reward for having survived medical school and it's the last screw-off time you'll have before becoming an intern, when you will once again be tortured.

 

[dangit]

The analogy of drinking water from a firehose is very true. The volume kills you. It's not the difficulty of the material. If you had more time, this wouldn't be bad. The problem is time. You don't have enough of it. I'm doing alrite, but I want to well. That means finding a study routine/habit that works. so far, I'm still trying to figure out the best way to use my time to study efficiently. I'm in class all day (8AM-5PM). by the time i come home, i don't want to study, but I force myself to study. Try to sleep around 12, but sometimes sleep later. Rinse and repeat. Weekends are spent trying to catch up. Rinse and repeat. Do you get time to play? Yes. You just have to plan for it. Say good-bye to random calls from friends to get a beer or watch a movie. If you do that, you'll probably regret not spending time to study. I guess if you get anything from my post, time management is key.

 

[greatnt249]

So how difficult is indeed medical school? in terms of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year?

I know this is subjective as we all have different learning styles, studying techniques. Is it difficult because of the complexity of the information or the amount that is given?

Can you guys have a social life? I am not talking about partying every night and getting wasted on weekends, but I am talking about having at least the chance of going out once a week and party/kickback with friends or a nightclub? go for a movie?

Thanks..

There's a lot of factors that shape one's perception of medical school.

1. You're inundated with work. Not so much that you can't manage studying, but you almost feel a burden of guilt for not being able to handle ALL of the information being thrown at you at once; it's fairly humbling.

2. Trouble dealing with 1 can lead to a bad case of impostor syndrome, which can cause its own problems. Don't worry, though; you wouldn't be in medical school if they felt you couldn't handle the material.

3. You can't shove material out of your brain that you've already learned to make room for more; most of it isn't useless (even though it seems so), and you will inevitably have to use what you've learned at one point or another.

4. A lot of medical school material isn't conceptual...you just have to grin and bear it, trusting that the information given to you is factual. Physiology may be the one exception to this statement. The material isn't difficult, per se, and some may in fact be covered in less detail than you've learned in undergraduate studies. However, there's a lot more to be covered at a faster pace, so the learning curve tends to be steep.

5. You'll hear a lot of "P=MD"; however, you can't kid yourself into thinking that studying "just to pass" is an easy thing; it takes a lot of effort just to pass.

I know that what I've said probably makes you think , but it isn't something you actually dwell upon at this stage of the game. You learn to adapt quickly to the change in academic setting, and there's always help and resources to be found at your school. Medical school is all about finding your own studying style and managing time efficiently. Master those techniques and you'll find that you have plenty of other time to do things you want to do.

 

[bad virus]

To answer your question in a way only a CS major will get it:

It's just like programming in assembly . . . You gotta think like an ape but work real, real hard.

Personally, it's a humbling experience as I have never felt so average in my whole life.

 

[McPoyle]

Personally, it's a humbling experience as I have never felt so average in my whole life.

This really is true, and at times this is one of the hardest things about school. At some point I have to admit that I just will not know something and be ok with that fact-doesn't seem like a big deal but this is totally new for a lot of people following undergrad.

For me, as others have alluded to, the material is not especially hard-I don't thing one has to be all that intelligent to get through medical school-however the sheer volume necessitates you not only work hard but also efficiently. This is where the challenge of med school lies for me at least.

 

[WellWornLad]

It's this difficult...

*holds out arms at appropriate distance to demonstrate difficulty of medical school*

 

[hoqhuuep]

The way I see it, among pre-meds and the general population, a huge misconception is that med school is a test of one's intelligence. It's not. Med school is a test of character more than anything else, and once you start seeing it like that, the curriculum becomes a bit more bearable.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

So how difficult is indeed medical school? in terms of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year?

I know this is subjective as we all have different learning styles, studying techniques. Is it difficult because of the complexity of the information or the amount that is given?

Can you guys have a social life? I am not talking about partying every night and getting wasted on weekends, but I am talking about having at least the chance of going out once a week and party/kickback with friends or a nightclub? go for a movie?

Thanks..

Yes you can.

 

[da8s0859q]

For me, it's been mostly a matter of things outside of med school that complicate school itself.

 

[smq123]

So how difficult is indeed medical school? in terms of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th year?

For me....

1st year: "Oh my God, I think I made a huge mistake, but I already spent so much money and so much time and so much of my life getting in, but now I'm here and I hate what I'm learning, and everyone tells me that I'll be so miserable as a doctor....AGHHHHHHH!"

2nd year: "What we're learning is a lot more clinically oriented, but there's this huge cloud over my head....and the cloud's name is Step 1...."

3rd year: "I love being in the clinic and learning REAL medicine for a change, but I'm so tired all the time....and you want me to go home and STUDY after 13 hours of working???"

4th year: "OMG where am I going to be next year, OMG what if I don't match, OMG what if I choose the wrong specialty, OMG you expect me to actually TAKE CARE of patients ON MY OWN next year without killing them??? OMG!!"

Those were my worries, generally, broken down by year.

 

[pingouin]

Moving to pre-medical forums.

 

[BlueElmo]

LOL... haven't seen a question like this in a while. FWIW, here's my opinion, but remember I'm an old non-trad: the material in medical school is not difficult - you proved you could handle it when you were smart enough to get in. The problem is the volume. I'm sure you've heard that going to medical school is like drinking from a fire hydrant, and it's absolutely true (example: block 2 was metabolism in my biochem/genetics class, and we did an entire semester of undergraduate biochem in less than six weeks - in more detail). Yes, you can have one evening a week free in the first two years (and I recommend it for your sanity) - but plan on working on all the other afternoons and evenings, weekends included. It's a big culture shock - your days of being the smartest kid in the class who starts studying a week or two before the exam are over. Not studying is absolutely fatal in med school - everyone studies (or lies about it or flunks out).

Guide by year:

First year. Not too hard, but you're not used to medical school. For me it was the most difficult year - and, looking back, I wonder why. This is when you'll learn to study. You will also have gross anatomy and a cadaver - which is not as big a deal as you might think it is, but I'm glad it'll be you and not me - been there, done that.

Second year. Harder than first year, but the material is less pure basic science and more about sick people, the reason you went to medical school. You'll know what you're doing and you'll know how to handle things. I never went to class. All in all, not a bad year - I sometimes miss having so much time at home with no work to do except studying.

Third year. New ballgame. You're in the hospital and the clinic, and you're expected to be on-time and look respectable. Just when you start to feel like you've mastered a rotation, it's time to move on to the next one. You will still study lots, but now you have to do it at night on your own time, and there often isn't much of that. Exam at the end of each rotation. Some rotations you may have one free evening a week, but others you won't. You'll learn to be a doctor this year. Tough, but very rewarding.

Fourth year. Mostly electives. After working like a dog for three years, people tend to act a little surprised when you show-up where you're supposed to be on-time. Residency applications, interviews, and board exams are stressful. Other than that, 4th year is your reward for having survived medical school and it's the last screw-off time you'll have before becoming an intern, when you will once again be tortured.

Thanks. A great post.👍

 

[prz36]

I'm not arguing with the mod or anything, but wouldn't this post belong in the medical student forum?

pre-meds would get the most use out of it, but the question is directed towards actual medical students and wouldn't it get more exposure to those people if it stayed in there?

The only reason I bring this up is that I would like to see the thread continue to develop and hear more opinions

Thanks

 

[fattymangox03]

I'm not arguing with the mod or anything, but wouldn't this post belong in the medical student forum?

pre-meds would get the most use out of it, but the question is directed towards actual medical students and wouldn't it get more exposure to those people if it stayed in there?

The only reason I bring this up is that I would like to see the thread continue to develop and hear more opinions

Thanks

i agree.

 

[ill be a doc soon]

-Then the discussion will end until some pre-med performs thread necromancy and replies to in the year 2015. Thus, the cycle continues.

actually it was the year 2017, but you were close