Work load in top 10 undergrad vs any medical school?

Started by hugh2012
Showcase Professionalism with the PREview® Exam
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

Browse articles Compare schools My application plan Read Interview Feedback
Practice for interviews Ask an Advisor
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Cotterpin said:
What, is that anecdote supposed to prove that med school is objectively harder than manual labor or something? They're two completely different kinds of "hard" work. I think allantois's main point was that what you find most difficult is subjective and dependent on how much you enjoy doing the work.
Click to expand...

No but this one anecdote is better than your zero anecdotes. Of course they're completely different kinds of work and it makes no sense to compare them. But if someone is going to try to compare them, we actually have someone who posted here for years and gave us their perspective on both. I'm going to trust the guy who did both over the mouthy premed who has done neither.
 
Psai said:
ORLY? YOU WOULD? I doubt you've done hard labor a single day of your life. Just look at circulus vitios, dude never stopped talking about how hard his job was and how easy medical school would be in comparison. Working 36 hour days on a ship in the hot sun or whatever it was he did. Went on about it in every other post. Didn't even last a single semester in medical school before he dropped out.
Click to expand...
Didn't know that was the epilogue to circulos' story. In fairness, it was never clear to me why that dood, who pretty much hated everything about modern medicine, went to med school to start with...
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
the thread's question is superficial. The only people who are going to have an easy time are those that were stellar people recognized at national level in high school. They have just been sifted through undergrad but had they come straight from HS instead of top 10, they would have still been great.
 
mimelim said:
Clinical years is a different story. There are a lot of people that find them "harder", because things aren't as simple as, "learn this, regurgitate, if you did it right, you get an A." You have to learn the expectations. You have to learn to be a part of a team. You have to be proactive, rather than passive. Most people that have held jobs in the past or adapt to these types of circumstances shine, because frankly, that is how the real world really works.

*shrug* everyone is different.
Click to expand...

Working in a healthcare environment specifically will help. I have dealt with A LOT of rude people as of late and I have learned one thing "you need to stand your ground". A lot of the folks I meet and who personally take a tiff on you even if you're an outgoing introvert (oxymoron but someone who naturally likes to harbor a friendly environment when needed) are those insecure about their position/standing/promotion. You learn quickly who to talk to and who you shouldn't. Everyone wants to show that you're incompetent and that they are always right...and everyone in the real world will want to come over and teach you their way and show how great of mentor they are when in reality it looks like you are dumb (throw that diploma lol) and don't know anything and can't possibly function without the help of an unwanted person who questions your words and hard-work. I used to have a lot of misunderstandings of why certain people were like this and that in healthcare, now I know and there is that fear and alertness that sits in an experienced person that would take a student who has never worked for surprise. Clinical years are basically like work. If you piss people off, your evals can be terrible (I've had that happen in my undergrad where we did something similar and even if I speak with higher authority about it, the evaluator always wins). Even if you come on time and listen and do what they say, evals can be a joke since there are so many personal hoops you have to insure from not tripping up on.
 
Psai said:
No but this one anecdote is better than your zero anecdotes. Of course they're completely different kinds of work and it makes no sense to compare them. But if someone is going to try to compare them, we actually have someone who posted here for years and gave us their perspective on both. I'm going to trust the guy who did both over the mouthy premed who has done neither.
Click to expand...

That's dumb. If you only have one anecdote to base your beliefs off of, why not just say "I don't know"?
 
J Senpai said:
Huge difference. UG is probably as ubiquitous as med school, in terms of potential work load and depending on major. The busiest majors I know are engineering kids, and they still play video games most of the day. Med students I talk to go to class in the mornings and study in the evenings, often well into the night.
Click to expand...
I disagree. The engineering majors I knew were brilliant and could pull off a 3.8 by going through problem sets once. Those who pursued PhDs in engineering were shocked when they had to work really hard. Those who majored in biological sciences and were equally brilliant but had to memorize a lot while doing research and volunteering had a much heavier workload as undergraduates.

I don't think it's possible to compare experiences. In undergrad, I supported myself financially while doing the typical pre-med thing. Going back to work was a vacation. Now I'm working and supporting a family while taking a full graduate courseload to demonstrate to medical schools that I can still ace hard science classes. My interviewers have all told me that medical school WILL be like a vacation for me, unless I plan to keep working.
 
njtrimed said:
I disagree. The engineering majors I knew were brilliant and could pull off a 3.8 by going through problem sets once. Those who pursued PhDs in engineering were shocked when they had to work really hard. Those who majored in biological sciences and were equally brilliant but had to memorize a lot while doing research and volunteering had a much heavier workload as undergraduates.

I don't think it's possible to compare experiences. In undergrad, I supported myself financially while doing the typical pre-med thing. Going back to work was a vacation. Now I'm working and supporting a family while taking a full graduate courseload to demonstrate to medical schools that I can still ace hard science classes. My interviewers have all told me that medical school WILL be like a vacation for me, unless I plan to keep working.
Click to expand...
That's why I was trying to talk about it population-wise. What I'm saying is that med school will be harder than UG, on average, with the ranking of either the UG institution or med school being irrelevant.
 
Cotterpin said:
That's dumb. If you only have one anecdote to base your beliefs off of, why not just say "I don't know"?
Click to expand...

No, I have a belief as I have worked and I have done medical school and this anecdote supports it. You haven't done work and you haven't done medical school. What do you want, a double blinded randomized control trial measured over decades? Pipe down kid.
 
Psai said:
No, I have a belief as I have worked and I have done medical school and this anecdote supports it. You haven't done work and you haven't done medical school. What do you want, a double blinded randomized control trial measured over decades? Pipe down kid.
Click to expand...

:laugh: How old are you? Seriously. I want to know. Don't assume things about people you've never met.

Btw, you've lost the plot here. I just pointed out that allantois post wasn't saying that manual labor is harder than medical school. Nobody said that. The only point anybody was making is that what you find most difficult is going to be personal, dependent on your own strengths and interests. You're the one making it into something it's not.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
njtrimed said:
I disagree. The engineering majors I knew were brilliant and could pull off a 3.8 by going through problem sets once. Those who pursued PhDs in engineering were shocked when they had to work really hard. Those who majored in biological sciences and were equally brilliant but had to memorize a lot while doing research and volunteering had a much heavier workload as undergraduates.

I don't think it's possible to compare experiences. In undergrad, I supported myself financially while doing the typical pre-med thing. Going back to work was a vacation. Now I'm working and supporting a family while taking a full graduate courseload to demonstrate to medical schools that I can still ace hard science classes. My interviewers have all told me that medical school WILL be like a vacation for me, unless I plan to keep working.
Click to expand...
Ehh that sounds like a crappy vacation to me, but yes you will probably have more free time if you study efficiently.
 
Cotterpin said:
:laugh: How old are you? Seriously. I want to know. Don't assume things about people you've never met.

Btw, you've lost the plot here. I just pointed out that allantois post wasn't saying that manual labor is harder than medical school. Nobody said that. The only point anybody was making is that what you find most difficult is going to be personal, dependent on your own strengths and interests. You're the one making it into something it's not.
Click to expand...

Difficult things are difficult. Theoretical physics is difficult. Investment banking is difficult. These are pretty widely agreed upon without any special consideration of your strengths and interests despite your disdain for anecdotes. Doing interesting things is not as hard as doing not interesting hard things. Yeah, thanks for that insight allantois.
 
Psai said:
Difficult things are difficult. Theoretical physics is difficult. Investment banking is difficult. These are pretty widely agreed upon without any special consideration of your strengths and interests despite your disdain for anecdotes. Doing interesting things is not as hard as doing not interesting hard things. Yeah, thanks for that insight allantois.
Click to expand...

If it's such a harmless and obvious "insight," why did you get so fired up about it earlier? Pipe down, kid. :laugh:
 
Top 5'er here, (hey allow it plz -.-)

While UG was certainly rigorous & stressful, it nevertheless pales in comparison to med school in these following ways:

* UG: learn, chill (fifa anyone? ^_^), cram night before exam, exam, dump // MS: learn, exam, learn, exam, exam, learn, exam...
* UG: can get by with some lack of lifeskill // MS: you better be at least half decent at every aspect of life (cooking, set time for workout, avoid getting sick, keeping in touch with fam&friends, mental health, etc...)
* Everyone mentioned pace & volume difference, so yeah, pace & volume...
* UG: long period for adjustment // MS: better hit the ground running or you gonna get thrown off of the treadmill (though, once you adjust, it's not nearly as bad, but there will be turbulences that throw you off every now and then no matter how good of a runner you are)

Personally:
* UG: more stressful, less fulfilled
* MS: working my ass off but lower stress, way more fulfillment ^_^

So I've seen it go both ways. We have students 4.0'ing in med school from colleges I've never even heard of once. Then there are ivy leaguers who are just trying to poke head above water. Basically every combination of prestige and MS academic performance. If you a top ivy leaguer like me, be proud of your past accomplishment, but plz leave it all behind once you embark upon your med school journey.
 
Psai said:
Not sure what you're trying to say here kiddo but okay
Click to expand...

I'm saying you're overreacting. And I'm I also saying to please stop making baseless assumptions about people and situations you know nothing about. I'm probably a lot older than you and, for the record, I have worked lots of physically taxing jobs. Don't talk down to me and treat me like a kid just because your SDN profile says "medical student." I'm not impressed by you.
 
In the pre-clinical years I found that my time was much more my own compared to college. I had a lot more "freedom" in the sense that I seldom went to class and did the med school-at-home program. I found the academics more difficult because of the pace and the volume, but I thought my quality of life was better at that time than in college (with some exceptions).

Clinical years are tough because your time is no longer your own. I was a lot busier and worn down during rotations than I was during the pre-clinical years. However, it was a lot more enjoyable and I enjoy being in the "work" environment more than studying endlessly.

Different parts of medical school will be difficult for different people for different reasons. You can't generalize and say that for everyone X will be easier than Y.
 
Cotterpin said:
I'm saying you're overreacting. And I'm I also saying to please stop making baseless assumptions about people and situations you know nothing about. I'm probably a lot older than you and, for the record, I have worked lots of physically taxing jobs. Don't treat me like a kid just because your SDN profile says "medical student." I'm not impressed by you.
Click to expand...

>has a Pokemon as an avatar
>please don't treat me like a kid

I lol'd.
 
NickNaylor said:
>has a Pokemon as an avatar
>please don't treat me like a kid

I lol'd.
Click to expand...

:laugh: Don't judge a book by its cover. I'm just doing the whole "2015/2016 applicants with Pokeman avatars" game. I have actually never played Pokemon in my life.
 
Cotterpin said:
I'm saying you're overreacting. And I'm I also saying to please stop making baseless assumptions about people and situations you know nothing about. I'm probably a lot older than you and, for the record, I have worked lots of physically taxing jobs. Don't talk down to me and treat me like a kid just because your SDN profile says "medical student." I'm not impressed by you.
Click to expand...
I'm impressed by you, @Psai
 
Cyberdyne 101 said:
Wow, and you're at a school with a 1 year pre-clinical curriculum.
Click to expand...
I was a very average student at my unknown undergrad, and I'm above average in my pretty well-respected med school. I'm convinced the idea that top-10 undergrad schools are harder than respectable unranked institutions is nonsense once the weak students have been weeded out. The prestige of your undergrad indicates how impressive you were in high school. In my experience, that generally seems to be a stronger measure of how wealthy and educated one's parents were than how bright he actually is.

None of that means that pedigree isn't important or that top schools don't offer better opportunities than others; they absolutely do. But, I think there's a very good reason adcoms tend to prefer a 3.9 from Podunk State U. over a 3.5 from Penn.
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
Psai said:
It's interesting how the people at the top of my class come from regional schools that most people have never heard of.
Click to expand...
To be fair, there are a lot more of those than there are top schools. It could be a "guy reading a book on physics is more likely to be a truck driver than a physics professor" situation.
 
I went to a top quarter system school and every alum I talked to said that it was much easier for them to make the transition to medical school than their classmates (they didn't say med school was easier for them, just that it took them less adjusting). That isn't surprising since you can't really take breaks in a quarter system or you'll fall far behind.

I took a full-load of science courses (including physics and ochem with labs) for a year and worked part-time. I don't think med school will be easy, but I don't believe I'll feel as overwhelmed as my classmates at the beginning.
 
A lot of it depends on your major too, not just if top 10. And top 10 really isn't the best metric. Some state schools for example aren't top 10 (well, NO state school breaks the top 20 except Cal at 20), but are just as hard if not harder than some top 10 schools for same majors.

But generally, yeah, med school is way harder. I had an easy major in college. By comparison every week of med school feels like finals week of college.
 
I don't think going to a top 20 undergrad makes much of a difference, just gives you more debt.
 
Psai said:
They have molecular engineering. That counts, right guys? Guys?
Click to expand...

Lol "molecular" is just an adjective. "Molecular" what? Molecular Biology eng concen. sounds like a major but "molec. eng" is deff something some lazy dean made up 10 mins before his proposal for a new major was due.
 
along900 said:
I don't think going to a top 20 undergrad makes much of a difference, just gives you more debt.
Click to expand...

Given that almost all (if not all) of the top 20 provide excellent need based or need blind aid, the students actually have very little UG debt. And as much as people like to say it doesn't matter where you go, people who kill it at places like Duke or Northwestern will usually be looked on far more favorably when applying to top programs.
 
Yadster101 said:
Lol "molecular" is just an adjective. "Molecular" what? Molecular Biology eng concen. sounds like a major but "molec. eng" is deff something some lazy dean made up 10 mins before his proposal for a new major was due.
Click to expand...
I think the point is that it isn't supposed to be just biology. It's supposed to involve chemistry, physics, geoscience, and biology. So you could research proteins or you could do research on energy-related stuff- just at a molecular level

Edit: also biological, chemical, mechanical etc are adjectives
 
Last edited:
Krupke said:
I think the point is that it isn't supposed to be just biology. It's supposed to involve chemistry, physics, geoscience, and biology. So you could research proteins or you could do research on energy-related stuff- just at a molecular level

Edit: also biological, chemical, mechanical etc are adjectives
Click to expand...

Exactly. This is why I've always called them biology engineering, chemistry engineering, mechanic engineering, etc.
 
I know a couple people in my class who had notoriously hard majors that say undergrad has been more challenging; they study less overall for medical school. It really depends on the specific situation. For me, med school is "harder" (i.e. more study time daily). No concept so far is too difficult to grasp though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

U
Are Admissions to Top Undergrad or Top Med School Harder?
Replies
3
Views
3K
eigen
eigen
Angler
New Medical School in Nor Cal
Replies
2
Views
805
Goro
Goro
G
Medical Assistant vs Scribe
Replies
3
Views
789
GoSpursGo
GoSpursGo
olofmeister
Handwritten note taking in medical school
Replies
10
Views
3K
RockClimberMed
R
O
  • Question Question
How do top Medical Schools view top MCAT scores
Replies
5
Views
5K
EEqualsRx2
E