What was the first day of medical school like for you?

[Hemichordate]

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[remo]

It was a few days of orientation (i.e. hand holding) - telling me it was gonna be OK and that I would make it LOL.

Once it really got started, it was lecture just like undergrad but at a faster pace.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

What did you do?

We spent the day doing paperwork and meeting I think every dean and chairman in the hospital. We heard about financial aid planning, got IT passwords, got a free lunch from a bank wanting to finance all our homes, discussed HIPAA ad nauseum, learned and promptly forgot for the 100th time how to find books in a library, stuff like that. Three days of that, then we had a BS 'intro to medicine' course, so by week 3 when real classes started we were all settled in alright. As far as interacting with other members of the class it's pretty much like every other 'first day' of school I can remember going back to kindergarten.

 

[ZagDoc]

Here's my blog from the day after my first day. Get ready to be bored a lot, that's all I can really say.

God, I was such a cheesy wide-eyed brand new 1st year.

 

[alphaholic06]

I was sitting there praying they wouldn't tell me they made a mistake when they sent me an acceptance, and that I would have to leave.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

It was a waste of precious time.

 

[nogolfinsnow]

They gave me this really cool white coat so I can feel important when I walk around the hospital, even as a first year doing a practice interview on a standardized patient. And, because it only goes down to my waist, everyone can get a good look at my sweet Dockers.

 

[Ashers]

It was a waste of precious time.

Agreed. As was the rest of orientation week.

 

[OncoCaP]

We had a cool off-site retreat-style orietation for a few days. Then, back at the school in the lecture hall we had some intros from various heavyweights which probably should have been condensed into a shorter amount of time.

The first real day with lectures was decent ... just like pretty much every other day of school except there were a ton of people there and everyone seemed pretty happy then. That was before stress and all that. Now the handfull of us that still go to lecture have a very different experience. It's a lot more intimate ... the lecturers look like they are talking to us because they really are only a few human beings to focus on and talk to. Most people just watch the videos whenever. Ah the memories....

 

[Hemichordate]

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[HunterJumper]

I was sitting there praying they wouldn't tell me they made a mistake when they sent me an acceptance, and that I would have to leave.

Hahaha....that's totally how I will be!!!

 

[Ashers]

So do you end up getting to know pretty much everyone in your class (since most med schools accept only a couple hundred students or less each year)?

Um, no. 200 people is a lot to meet and remember. There are people who have been in my class since day 1 (none of the M2 fall backs/transfers whatever) with whom I've never spoken.

 

[ZagDoc]

Yeah, especially once the lecture crew starts to dwindle down, there are some people you rarely, if ever, see, let alone interact with.

 

[njbmd]

"What's it like in medical school" type threads are premed issues and now moving this thread to preallo. Medical students read and respond to threads in preallo and may follow and respond to this one if desired.

 

[alwaysaangel]

Well the first 3 days were orientation. A lot of paperwork and standing in line to be told that yes I had already submitted all of the required paperwork. I was really annoyed about that.

The first real day was 2 hours of Biochem lecture and 2 hrs of histo. Then I went home and studied for a little while before hanging out with my ex-bf and then went out to a bar with my classmates.

 

[45408]

So do you end up getting to know pretty much everyone in your class (since most med schools accept only a couple hundred students or less each year)?

I actually know everyone's name, but I'm kind of an anomaly in that regard. There are plenty of people I never talk to, but I know their names.

 

[Hurricane95]

Yeah same here, I know everyone's name but don't really speak to about a 1/4 of my class of 150-something.

For us we had a three day-orientation. Day 1 and 2 were mostly administrative BS, like filling out tons of paperwork, OSHA and safety lectures, listening to talks by pretty much every dean and sub-dean at the school, activating our email accounts, learning how to use our online resources, taking ID pictures, PPD testing, a small involvement fair during which we learned about school organizations and could meet with reps to order medical equipment, and even a lecture by some dude telling us how parking works at the campus. At night both days there were some social/bar night events. The third day was some outdoors forced bonding during which we had to basically do "team-building" activities like capture the flag, etc. and some other games I didn't really care to remember.

First day of lectures for us started off our biochemistry, genetics, and cell bio block. We had 5 hours of lecture that monday, from 9am-2pm.

 

[TheRealMD]

As me in 3 months and I can give you a first hand account AS IT'S HAPPENING!!!

 

[Hurricane95]

Medical school is like a blend of undergrad and elementary school for the first two years. It's like elementary school in that you're all herded from one lecture to the next together for the most part and everyone sits in the same lecture hall all day long. Then sometimes you remember how all the kids would split up for different activities for a while at set points during the day? Similar story here, only instead of art, music, spanish, PE, gifted and slow-kid classes, there are clinical sessions to learn physical exam with peers or real patients, inpatient hospital sessions, geriatrics touchy-feely group discussions and EBM sessions that ad-nauseum hammer into your head how searching for an hour on pubmed while your patient's vitals collapse for the "perfect" or most salient literature-supported intervention will make you into a better evidence-based medicine clinician and doctor overall. Then everyone goes back to the big, fun happy classroom for more lectures. It's kind of like undergrad in that you get somewhat more freedom than elementary school (once you are done for the day). You're free to decide where to live, when to workout, what to eat and who to sleep with, but just about everything else is dictated by the curriculum. Welcome to medical school.

Orientation for us was on thursday, friday, and saturday. See my other post above. Classes started that following monday. That sunday after orientation and before classes started was one of the most miserable days I can recall, because I already knew what awaited. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't drop medical school for anything, but it's no fun walk in the park most of the time. At least medical students seem to have some good motivations overall for wanting to do medicine, and the relationship with medical school is more love-hate. All my law school friends and acquaintances are hate-hate with law school. The fact that money is their only motivation may have something to do with it. I mean, they certainly aren't saving lives any time soon.

 

[Ki45toryu]

nap time...just playin, it felt like the first day of Undergrad a little except everyone is a type A personality

 

[DCDAWG]

I did a laminectomy on my cadaver using a bone saw.
It wasnt a bad intro to med school.

 

[milliya]

I did a laminectomy on my cadaver using a bone saw.
It wasnt a bad intro to med school.

is it wrong for me to be unsure about how well i will handle anatomy? i was browsing ZagDoc's blog (above post) and the post about his anatomy class (the dissecting the cadaver part) made me less than enthusiastic to say the least...

 

[ZagDoc]

is it wrong for me to be unsure about how well i will handle anatomy? i was browsing ZagDoc's blog (above post) and the post about his anatomy class (the dissecting the cadaver part) made me less than enthusiastic to say the least...

It's only natural to have reservations but you'll be surprised how quickly certain things become the norm that outside people would find really disturbing. There are certain tricky moments throughout the class (enucleating the eye was my task and a bit creepy, another one of my lab group members championed the task of transecting the penis, luckily our school did not do the hemipelvectomy portion of dissection), but the majority of the time dissection becomes very mundane after a couple days. You'll come to hate fascia and fat, but it'll stop being gross and just become a nuisance. Don't underestimate your ability to adapt.

 

[45408]

the relationship with medical school is more love-hate.

Agreed. I find almost all of this knowledge to be very interesting, but there are definitely some painful times in the knowledge acquisition process...

 

[myKuduSlewaZulu]

Started stabbin' that cadava'. I believe the breast and the pectoral muscles were on the menu the first day.