How did you find med school work if you were humanities major?

[brotherbloat]

If you were a humanities major, who took little science except your pre-reqs, how did you find the nature of med school work? Did you feel like you could do as well as your science major peers? Did you find you could handle the memorization ok?

I was an English major, I'd love to hear responses. I kind of have three major negatives going for me as a pre-med: a) English major--can I keep up with the science people? b) 28--non-trad--can I keep up with the youngins? c) married and want kids soon--can I be a good med student and a mom?

thanks,

bloat

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[doc05]

(a) of course. med school is about memorizing, not about being a scientist.
(b) absolutely. 28 isn't old.
(c) maybe. ms1 and ms2 years aren't all that difficult. the studying is tiring and requires lots of discipline, but it's doable. your clinical training and residency are where your social and family life will take a hit. this can be a hugely negative factor in a medical career.

 

[thackl]

a.) you will be insecure about it for the first few weeks while everyone else seems to be seeing this stuff for the 2nd or 3rd time...... then you will find you are way better off than the premeds. I honestly believe premed doesn't prepare you well for med school at all. The Engineers, humanities, business, etc seem to be doing well and handling it better.

b.)No problem. I'm 31. The old folks in my class are doing fine.

c.)Lots of people do it. Having kids is tough/demanding on you and the marraige without being in school. This will be a tough decision. Get thhrough a couple semesters and see how it feels.

 

[Elysium]

Be sure to do a search on this, because I know it's been talked about before on this board.

Personally, as a film major, I feel like I have been at a disadvantage during first year. I think it's a lot easier to re-learn something than to learn it for the first time. Example: I was a personal trainer, and had to take several nutrition courses, so that part of phys (liver/nutrition) was no problem for me and I only had to spend a few hours reviewing it. My classmates who hadn't had those classes spent more time and did far worse on the test. My classmates who have a good anatomy course are doing much better than the people who never had anatomy. They just don't have to spend as much time on it, so they can dedicate themselves to the 15,098 other courses we have instead (like neuro! or histo! or phys!). Also, I'm not used to thinking like a science person - I'm still in the mode of trying to read and understand things (like I did in my history classes), which is a TOTAL waste of time in med school. You just memorize it and that's it. Nothing else. And it BLOWS.

 

[tcfunnybone]

I also was a non-trad student -- English major and took years off.

Don't worry about the courseload. You're fine. The pre-med pre-reqs prepare you enough. I think the MCAT is also a good test of your memorize and regurgitate abilities.

As for finding med-related work as a non-science major -- well, overall, it's not easy finding a good-paying job for the 1-2 years before med school. Personally, I was working for a tiny not-for-profit organization that focused on healthcare for disadvantaged populations. (They are financially bankrupt now, so don't bother asking me for their info). But the lesson being, you don't HAVE to do a health care related job, per se. Perhaps find work in a not-for-profit "I-love-helping-people" type of arena. You can always volunteer at a clinic in your off-time.

Hope his helps!