Why do med students study so much?

[axp107]

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Other than the obvious..

is it mainly a greater feeling of responsibility (hey I'm actually going to be dealing with human lives, I'd better study me @$$ off)

or

is it just the workload.. and its a constant struggle. I mean, do students simply strive to "pass" or get by... or do you genuinely try to do well and understand everything.

 

[SeventhSon]

Other than the obvious..

is it mainly a greater feeling of responsibility (hey I'm actually going to be dealing with human lives, I'd better study me @$$ off)

or

is it just the workload.. and its a constant struggle. I mean, do students simply strive to "pass" or get by... or do you genuinely try to do well and understand everything.

Assuming you are talking about the first two years, definitely not the former. You learn lots of stuff that is of no clinical relevance. The workload is high, much of the material is genuinely interesting and hence people really want to learn it, and you also have a room of people that have always been the top 5% of their class and hate the idea of being below average or even average.

 

[Roy7]

Assuming you are talking about the first two years, definitely not the former. You learn lots of stuff that is of no clinical relevance. The workload is high, much of the material is genuinely interesting and hence people really want to learn it, and you also have a room of people that have always been the top 5% of their class and hate the idea of being below average or even average.

I second that.

For me - it's more knowing the material because it's interesting and also, the desires to control my life. If you do badly in med school it's an uphill battle for residency, board exams, and everything else.

 

[45408]

Some people are only shooting for a "pass," but I definitely try to do as best I can. I study as much as I do because I feel stupid if I do poorly on an exam, and because I'm spending a ton of money on this. Plus, I'm interested in some moderately competitive specialties, and I don't want to close any doors before I even know that I want to go through them.

 

[psipsina]

I just try to do my best, its how I've always approached life . . . you can't regret if you did your best. I'm not too wrapped up in if its a honor or a high pass or whatever, just that I gave it my all. Many times my all has been a pass, so its a good thing I went for it, lol. I would obviously be upset if I failed something but thats less about ego and more about the pain in the tush it would be to repeat a course.

 

[arsenewenger]

Other than the obvious..

is it mainly a greater feeling of responsibility (hey I'm actually going to be dealing with human lives, I'd better study me @$$ off)

or

is it just the workload.. and its a constant struggle. I mean, do students simply strive to "pass" or get by... or do you genuinely try to do well and understand everything.

Because they are in medschool...dummy dumb boy

 

[45408]

Because they are in medschool...dummy dumb boy

🙄

 

[jonb12997]

Other than the obvious..

is it mainly a greater feeling of responsibility (hey I'm actually going to be dealing with human lives, I'd better study me @$$ off)

or

is it just the workload.. and its a constant struggle. I mean, do students simply strive to "pass" or get by... or do you genuinely try to do well and understand everything.

for me, a little bit of both, but usually more of the 2nd one...

 

[GBFKicks]

It starts as the first and end up being mostly the second. It's a crazy load of material and you just plain need to study to do well. As some posters have already said, a lot of the stuff that you learn in the first couple of years is garbage.

 

[brewmeistervi]

From what I hear, just studying (as tough as it is during M1/M2) is a cake walk from the actually working during the clinical years and residency ( panda bear seems to think so anyway)

 

[45408]

From what I hear, just studying (as tough as it is during M1/M2) is a cake walk from the actually working during the clinical years and residency ( panda bear seems to think so anyway)

It also depends on what you like doing. You can definitely sleep more during the first two years, but if you hate studying but love practicing/actively learning medicine, then your opinion will reflect that.

 

[CCLCMer]

Other than the obvious..

is it mainly a greater feeling of responsibility (hey I'm actually going to be dealing with human lives, I'd better study me @$$ off)

or

is it just the workload.. and its a constant struggle. I mean, do students simply strive to "pass" or get by... or do you genuinely try to do well and understand everything.

No one's lives depend on anything I do as a med student and I don't have any exams in my classes. I guess I study so much because I don't want to be a dumba$$ in PBL and I don't want to flunk my boards next summer. Those are good enough reasons for me.

 

[Here2healyou]

No one's lives depend on anything I do as a med student and I don't have any exams in my classes. I guess I study so much because I don't want to be a dumba$$ in PBL and I don't want to flunk my boards next summer. Those are good enough reasons for me.

wow, no exams in your classes? I can't imagine...
Must be a relief, i bet you can really enjoy learning the material without haunting deadlines!

🙂
Enjoy. 🙂
Lily

 

[Law2Doc]

Other than the obvious..

is it mainly a greater feeling of responsibility (hey I'm actually going to be dealing with human lives, I'd better study me @$$ off)

or

is it just the workload.. and its a constant struggle. I mean, do students simply strive to "pass" or get by... or do you genuinely try to do well and understand everything.

You will find people who study hard to do well because they have some target (a top notch residency), you will find others who have to study hard because they are inefficient and need to put in a lot of hours to keep pace. And you will have people in your class who are struggling and have to put in long hours to keep from repeating courses/years. While I think everybody has those "big responsibility" moments, that isn't really in your mind that much during the pre-clinical classes because you are often fairly far removed from patient related things.

 

[Ashers]

From what I hear, just studying (as tough as it is during M1/M2) is a cake walk from the actually working during the clinical years and residency ( panda bear seems to think so anyway)

I thought studying M1/M2 year was sheer drudgery.

Right now I'm on my first rotation -- psych, and it's supposed to be our easiest rotation. However, I just got done with an 11 hour day, meaning I just got back from the hospital. I'm gonna read up on patient's I'll be working on admits for tomorrow, and then hopefully sleep soon, because I have to get back to the hospital really early. I think it's way less intensive studying, and way more fun than M1/M2 year (but then, I haven't done OB/gyn or peds yet).

 

[akpete]

Because they are in medschool...dummy dumb boy

Thank you.

And yeah, med school takes more work than undergrad, but by no means did I study all the time. Now that I'm in 3rd year, I'm probably putting in 10 times the hours.

Studying in med school is highly individual.

 

[Law2Doc]

Studying in med school is highly individual.

Absolutely. But the norm is people who study a lot -- either by choice, goal or necessity. So anyone coming into med school should assume they will be logging huge hours. Some will get by on less but you can do more damage than good assuming that will be you.

And as the above poster indicates the clinical years, while not classroom oriented, will require you to be working long hours and then reading/studying/writing up presentations in your couple of minutes of spare time, and hopefully finding time to eat and sleep. Not a lot of time for significant goofing off at that point.