Worst part of med school?

[Ismet]

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Probably getting into it.

Uhh...no.

 

[mrh125]

Uhh...no.

that's what I keep hearing and if it is even remotely the case that would help a lot of us premeds out is all i'm saying.

 

[tiedyeddog]

that's what I keep hearing and if it is even remotely the case that would help a lot of us premeds out is all i'm saying.

Yeah, it can be true depending on your life goals.

Want to get into family med in Idaho? Sure, medical school can be easy for that person. Barely pass your classes, get a 190 on step 1, don't get any honors or high passes, don't do any aways.

Want to get into a competitive speciality or go to a top ten program in your field? Then no, medical school itself will be harder than getting in

 

[Ismet]

that's what I keep hearing and if it is even remotely the case that would help a lot of us premeds out is all i'm saying.

It depends on the person and their goals, but for the most part, that's not the case. The MCAT pales in comparison to boards. The material is presented at an incredibly fast pace, and you'll never know everything necessary for an exam. Many have to study a lot more but perform worse than they're used to (going from being an A student to an average student takes a psychological/emotional/mental toll).

I think you gradually get used to things, getting smarter and stronger as you go through them. When I was a pre-med, yes the MCAT was daunting and the waiting during the application cycle was torture. But IMO that was a cakewalk compared to having to drastically change how I studied and coming to terms with not being at the top of the class anymore once MS1 hit. Then studying for boards made all those little MS1 exams seem like nothing. It's a matter of perspective, and pre-meds don't yet have the perspective of what's ahead. I'm not saying that what you're going through isn't difficult, but just be prepared that it's probably not the most difficult thing you've gone through so far.

 

[Venko]

that's what I keep hearing and if it is even remotely the case that would help a lot of us premeds out is all i'm saying.

If you think of difficulty as a static level then medical school is harder than premed in every respect (in my opinion).

However, if you look at difficulty as a function of the level of challenge with respect to your ability then it's not terribly different (in my retrospectoscope).

Just as residency is more difficult overall but the challenge relative to the increased ability of one who has conquered medical school is only a little bit more challenging.

Kind of like exercising a muscle... You keep increasing the resistance or weight because the muscle is getting stronger. Yes it's harder to curl more weight but it may not be more of a challenge to someone who has conquered the weight right before it.

You'll be ready for it when it comes but don't expect it to be easy. Enjoy the challenge and you'll savor looking back on what you've accomplished.

 

[Ismet]

If you think of difficulty as a static level then medical school is harder than premed in every respect (in my opinion).

However, if you look at difficulty as a function of the level of challenge with respect to your ability then it's not terribly different (in my retrospectoscope).

Just as residency is more difficult overall but the challenge relative to the increased ability of one who has conquered medical school is only a little bit more challenging.

Kind of like exercising a muscle... You keep increasing the resistance or weight because the muscle is getting stronger. Yes it's harder to curl more weight but it may not be more of a challenge to someone who has conquered the weight right before it.

You'll be ready for it when it comes but don't expect it to be easy. Enjoy the challenge and you'll savor looking back on what you've accomplished.

Excellent analogy.

 

[DermViser]

For me it was the fear of making a personal commitment to something big in terms of time, money, and not knowing what the outcome would be. Would I match into the specialty of my choosing? Would I match at all? Would I be happy with the outcome. The uncertainty but yet required lifestyle change was the hardest part

I am curious about the vascular surgeon who felt that anatomy, cardiophys, micro anatomy, were a waste of time and not relevant to his or her practice? Seems shocking to me but I cannot discount their opinion, just very very surprised.

As for me, the preclinical years are mostly quite relevant. I use my neuroanatomy, anatomy, cardio phys, pulmonary phys, etc nearly every shift as an emergency physician. Even biochem becomes rather relevant when we talk about cyanide toxicity, carbon monoxide poisoning, Tylenol overdoses, infiltration of desiccant medications, etc.

For me in my practice and my specialty the preclinical classes are highly relevant.

Anyway, my answer to te OP is the uncertainty weighing against the effort in lifestyle change. If there is uncertainty but I don't have to sacrifice anything or minimally it's not a big deal.

Yes, it always amazes me those who quickly disqualify basic sciences esp. when you're in a field like Vascular Surgery that applies that basic science: Gross Anatomy, Cardiovascular Phys/Gross/Histo every day. I'm not in the field, but I'm just as surprised as well. If he was an EM doctor then I could maybe understand if he thought Histology was useless.

 

[Venko]

Yes, it always amazes me those who quickly disqualify basic sciences esp. when you're in a field like Vascular Surgery that applies that basic science: Gross Anatomy, Cardiovascular Phys/Gross/Histo every day. I'm not in the field, but I'm just as surprised as well. If he was an EM doctor then I could maybe understand if he thought Histology was useless.

I could see an EM practice being okay without histology, but I can also see the correlates. When I care for someone with a STEMI, it's helpful to think of the cellular changes and damage occurring within the myocardium. I like remembering the appearance of HOCM, of dust cells in frothy sputum, of red cell morphology problems in thalassemia, and sickle cell disease etc. I know this is all mainly pathology, but I appreciate the pathology so much more after knowing my histology. It probably doesn't make my skills much better but it certainly keeps me engaged and excited as a teacher and physician.

 

[DermViser]

I could see an EM practice being okay without histology, but I can also see the correlates. When I care for someone with a STEMI, it's helpful to think of the cellular changes and damage occurring within the myocardium. I like remembering the appearance of HOCM, of dust cells in frothy sputum, of red cell morphology problems in thalassemia, and sickle cell disease etc. I know this is all mainly pathology, but I appreciate the pathology so much more after knowing my histology. It probably doesn't make my skills much better but it certainly keeps me engaged and excited as a teacher and physician.

Exactly. Histology may not have direct real clinical application (meaning if you didn't know it, you may not be worse off from a clinical practice management standpoint). I'm a very visual type of person, so it was helpful for me to understand intellectually the underlying things happening, like in myocardial infarction, which is a big testable topic on Step 1, bc it can be tested in so many ways, across nearly all the basic science subjects.

I guess that's why I loved Goljan (which I guess people don't use much anymore, now with Pathoma), he explained things in a way, which made you love the subject and so many mind lightbulbs going off from understanding, rather than rote memorization. If you're someone that likes learning and teaching residents and med students application of concepts to clinical medicine, instead of just wanting to go through the motions, it can be very rewarding.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

If my few 80+ hr/week semesters in college taught me anything, I'll be a stick haha. I'm like a balloon. If I work out steadily for a few months and eat right, I'm in good shape. If I let work take over, I drop down to one meal a day and embody the classic "skinny fat." I'll be pretty old by MS3, so maybe the "skinny" part will be gone too...

Hahaha, awesome avatar. Life imitates art or art imitates life? Either way, word.

 

[EMDO2018]

If you think of difficulty as a static level then medical school is harder than premed in every respect (in my opinion).

However, if you look at difficulty as a function of the level of challenge with respect to your ability then it's not terribly different (in my retrospectoscope).

Just as residency is more difficult overall but the challenge relative to the increased ability of one who has conquered medical school is only a little bit more challenging.

Kind of like exercising a muscle... You keep increasing the resistance or weight because the muscle is getting stronger. Yes it's harder to curl more weight but it may not be more of a challenge to someone who has conquered the weight right before it.

You'll be ready for it when it comes but don't expect it to be easy. Enjoy the challenge and you'll savor looking back on what you've accomplished.

I nominate this guy for president of SDN.

 

[DermViser]

obgyn was one of my favorite rotations personally, but then again im going into neurosurgery and they both have the lowest lifestyle satisfaction ratings so take that for what it is.

If you can handle neurosurgery or OB-Gyn, you can truly handle anything.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

SDN = Oligarchy

Fixed that for you.

 

[mimelim]

Yes, it always amazes me those who quickly disqualify basic sciences esp. when you're in a field like Vascular Surgery that applies that basic science: Gross Anatomy, Cardiovascular Phys/Gross/Histo every day. I'm not in the field, but I'm just as surprised as well. If he was an EM doctor then I could maybe understand if he thought Histology was useless.

I never said that basic science was not important to understand to practice medicine in any field. I said that pre-clinical education, like pre-med was not applicable. How much real anatomy, physiology etc did I learn as an MS1/2? Virtually none. You learn what can be easily tested, not what is actually used in the real world. You cover the topics that you use on a daily basis, but it isn't taught so that you understand things that can be used on the wards. The purpose of pre-clinicals is to prepare people for Step 1, which for the most part is not relavent to the practice of medicine. There is virtually no foundation for what you learn as a clinical student and resident, which means you have to build up from the ground up when you hit the wards. In my experience, you learn medicine by being exposed to something and then reading/learning about it. The students and residents that tend to be over confident and get into trouble are the ones that think that a textbook is a replacement for actual bedside experience.

 

[WingedOx]

the entire 3rd year. You go from being evaluated on concrete ability to demonstrate knowledge to your demonstration of enthusiasm for doing assorted scutwork. In hindsight I can laugh at getting a poor grade/evaluation for a rotation where the students were instructed to act as human easels holding up the paper charts for the attendings so they could sign notes on rounds, but at the time it was infuriating. Even for the rotation in my chosen specialty I drew two of the cattiest residents I've ever met outside of OBGyn. It was always comforting knowing that the whole time I was being evaluated on my professional behavior while they sat around all day and talked sh-t about the other residents in the program.

The amount of work I had to do as a resident was WAY more than that of any time in medical school, but at least it was my own work to do. I went to work every day, got my **** done, and went home knowing at the end of the day my job was to do enough work not to screw over the next resident to take over and that's it. Whether or not I "demonstrate enthusiasm" while sitting in the work room is irrelevant. I'll take the most call-heavy Q3 night portions of intern year over even the easiest rotations of M3.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

I would be the main target for such comments. lolz

You're so studly and muscular. We're in awe, really. All of us on this anonymous internet forum that use avatars and s/ns for identity. 👍