Is med school really all that hard?

[Global Warming]

So then what is the purpose of saying 6 hours a day? You seem to be ignorant of the fact that ultimately everyone in this thread DID post different ranges. The comment was pointless, that was what I was saying from the beginning.



This is coming from the guy who is nerd raging over a discussion over medical school studying time? Ooooooook....



Why the e-rage? It's not THAT big of a deal. You seem to have difficulty admitting you may have just misinterpreted what somebody said. If you want to talk about being a complete douche, take a look at your last few posts and how worked up you're getting. You strike me as that dude in real life that gets angry over every little disagreement and just can't let it go.


I like people that say "epic ****ing win", because they tend to be the same kinds of people who spend their Friday nights high-fiving each other over some "e-ownage". Can you nut hug any harder?



lol, the irony, the same guy lecturing about pre-med personalities is the same one that spent his saturday studying and getting broken up with.

Good day, bro's.

Getting broken up is truly something that most people will experience (including you) and is no measurement of my being. Did you know that a girl broke up with Will Smith before Will Smith became Will Smith? He used that as steam to power his acting career and now he's a legend. The point is, everybody experiences a break up. Since you and I are truly in the same boat (the boat that requires us to devote large amounts of time to our careers), I forsee you going through what I'm going through (if you haven't already). Im no Miss. Cleo, but I will guarantee this!

Cheers!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[tncekm]

That doesn't look that bad for two/three months worth of work.

Those are "notes". I don't think I took that many notes in all of undergrad. You'll see when you get to med school, it's a decent amount of work. Not "hard", just "lots".

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I think 4-6 sounds like a pretty reasonable estimate for standard per-day studying time on top of class. I usually study a little bit less (3 hours, maybe), but I'm not shooting for A's and typically study more efficiently than most.

Al is all about just gettin' by.

So does Kim Peak (the real person who the movie "The Rain Man" is based on). I think he is considered to be mentally ******ed.

Quite the opposite. While Mr. Peek most likely has some social and emotional developmental issues, his intellectual ability is astounding. Intelligence isn't really a concrete thing, but more of an amorphous construct. He'd probably beat the pants off of 99.99% of med students in retaining and regurgitating information, though synthesis and application would probably prove more challenging.

 

[mmmcdowe]

I probably study on averge 2-3 hour a week night here. Part of that is just due to my ECs that I am pursuing. I cram a lot of studying on the weekend (basically I do all of my anatomy then and any other catch up work that I have). I am also like Al, but mostly because my school has no grades or rankings during pre-clinicals so I can chill and not freak out if I'm not at the top of the pack on every exam.

 

[Brando989]

Those are "notes". I don't think I took that many notes in all of undergrad. You'll see when you get to med school, it's a decent amount of work. Not "hard", just "lots".

Is it true that in the lectures they have a stenographer record the notes for you and you just pick them up after class? Or do you have to write out all your notes?

 

[MilkmanAl]

For us, the PowerPoint presentations are available online, and there are people in class who take notes on them and post them on our class website. Hard copies of the slides are also available.

 

[Brando989]

For us, the PowerPoint presentations are available online, and there are people in class who take notes on them and post them on our class website. Hard copies of the slides are also available.

That's similar to how I get my notes now.

 

[jvanewportnews]

psh....Bring it on!

I eat Gray's Anatomy for breakfast...

See what you started?

 

[Brando989]

See what you started?

It's unfortunate that most of these people thought I was talking about the show "Grey's anatomy" and not the anatomical text by Henry Gray.

And apparently they don't teach you how to take a joke in med school..

 

[jvanewportnews]

Ha well it was interesting to read this thread nonetheless.

 

[fahimaz7]

That's similar to how I get my notes now.

In high school?

 

[ZeusonRoids]

Al is all about just gettin' by.



Quite the opposite. While Mr. Peek most likely has some social and emotional developmental issues, his intellectual ability is astounding. Intelligence isn't really a concrete thing, but more of an amorphous construct. He'd probably beat the pants off of 99.99% of med students in retaining and regurgitating information, though synthesis and application would probably prove more challenging.

Exactly my point!

Medical school is not memorizing the stuff...it is applying the information you have learned. You could memorize everything in the notes and you would have only 20% of the questions right on the exam at my school...the other 80% is being able to synthesize the material. Yeah you need to remember it...but it is pointless unless you can apply it to cases

 

[TRN1983]

Is it true that in the lectures they have a stenographer record the notes for you and you just pick them up after class? Or do you have to write out all your notes?

We have notes posted online. No stenographers.

 

[FutureMDer]

Medical school is not "hard" to comprehend, however, it is hard to deal with. You have endless amounts of work and depending on the school's style of grading, you can find yourself studying forever. That's why if you're given a choice between a real pass fail school to a pseudo A, B, C D, F (Honors, High Pass, Pass, Low Pass and Fail) grading system, you choose the Pass/Fail.

The work load is 10x more than college. The best way to describe it is imagine taking 5 science classes, but doing them all within a month or so. That's about the amount of work one gets in medical school.

Also, it can be hard to balance a life with medicine too. You really have to gauge what's important to you and how hard you're willing to work/play. That is another reason for attending a completely pass/fail school, those students tend to have more balanced lives and are more happy.

 

[tncekm]

The work load is 10x more than college. The best way to describe it is imagine taking 5 science classes, but doing them all within a month or so. That's about the amount of work one gets in medical school.

Yeah, no kidding. I'd say about 5x more than college, but then when you cram it can feel like 20x more. I recently put off a tough topic for a LOOOOONG time and had to cram (well, 6 days) it all. I probably put in about 45-50hrs in the following 6 days on that particular topic and still felt very uncomfortable on the exam.

Undergrad: biochem final = 5hrs before class starts. lol BIG difference.

 

[tncekm]

Exactly my point!

Medical school is not memorizing the stuff...it is applying the information you have learned. You could memorize everything in the notes and you would have only 20% of the questions right on the exam at my school...the other 80% is being able to synthesize the material. Yeah you need to remember it...but it is pointless unless you can apply it to cases

So far the 1st year is mostly memorization IMHO. The concepts we need to understand aren't too difficult b/c we've ween them 80000x over in undergrad. E.g. signal propagation down a myelated axon. We know what causes ions to move, we understand the concept of resistance (axoplasm), capacitance (myelin sheats), "charging" (Na-K ATPase as a battery and the relationship between surface area and distance across an insulated in determining capacitance), conformational changes (voltage gated Ca++ channels responding to an AP), etc, etc, etc. We just need to know the steps. So far nothing has been foreign, just new. It's already language we know IMHO.

 

[ZeusonRoids]

So far the 1st year is mostly memorization IMHO. The concepts we need to understand aren't too difficult b/c we've ween them 80000x over in undergrad. E.g. signal propagation down a myelated axon. We know what causes ions to move, we understand the concept of resistance (axoplasm), capacitance (myelin sheats), "charging" (Na-K ATPase as a battery and the relationship between surface area and distance across an insulated in determining capacitance), conformational changes (voltage gated Ca++ channels responding to an AP), etc, etc, etc. We just need to know the steps. So far nothing has been foreign, just new. It's already language we know IMHO.

My school does more concept based questions on the exams...you need to memorize...but if that is all you do, you will fail out of school. You need to be able to USE the information you learn.

 

[Brando989]

In high school?

heck yea... I do independent/online school

 

[RySerr21]

Is it true that in the lectures they have a stenographer record the notes for you and you just pick them up after class? Or do you have to write out all your notes?

We are given all powerpoint lectures before class and each professor has a set of "core notes" which is basically like a mini textbook on whatever subject they are teaching. You can also print out the powerpoint slides. Every lecture is recorded and linked up to the powerpoint. If you want to take notes, you have to take them yourself. But they make life pretty easy and straight forward for us.

 

[Pet of the Week]

heck yea... I do independent/online school

That's interesting. Do you get to interact with other students in any way besides online?

If so, let's assume you are brilliant. Everything comes easy to you. Straight A's without cracking a book, and ridiculously high standardized test scores. And let's also assume that everyone around you seems like a complete **** compared to you. They study all hours of the day just to pass. If all this is true, I have some sad news for you. It's exactly the same in med school. I still can't believe how slow most of the people in my class were. They couldn't make connections between tests or subjects and couldn't remember things we just learned. I'd make A's without studying, and they'd fail tests left and right. But guess what? I'm the one who got my butt kicked out. (For being sick and missing class, not failing classes.) So maybe we brilliant slackers shouldn't be so judgmental of the overworked *****. They will be doctors by the time I start med school again....if I can get back in.

So my verdict once again is that med school is easy for some of us. However, it's difficult to get in, and in my case, difficult to stay in , but easy to make A's in. Studying 4-6 hours a day is not necessary for everyone, especially not for those of us with these handy photographic memories.

That person who posted that class 8-5, study 6-12 might need to do that (or just want to), but I'd have literally failed out if I did that. I need my 8 to 10 hours of sleep.

And someone posted something about biochem. Medical biochem is much easier than undergrad biochem in my opinion. <- Observe the word opinion. Don't lecture me on anecdotes/ebm. I don't care. This a discussion, not a science class.

Oh, and I completely understand what feralisex whatever is saying. But some of you never will, so don't worry about it. Just go back to your studying. Get those hours in.

 

[Brando989]

Oh, and I completely understand what feralisex whatever is saying. But some of you never will, so don't worry about it. Just go back to your studying. Get those hours in.

Hahaha....Now that's funny..

 

[Brando989]

That's interesting. Do you get to interact with other students in any way besides online?

Pretty much just through my church and volunteering.. It's kinda lame sometimes, but w/e. Doesn't bother me

 

[Electrophile]

On a difficulty scale:

Vet med school>>>>>>>>grad school>>>undergrad>>high school

Whoever said the hardest thing is getting in is LYING. The time spent studying all depends on how efficient you are, not really how smart you are. It also helps if you can grasp things well in class the first time.

Also, I threw out my back about 2 months ago and had to go in to get muscle relaxers and some Tylenol 3 from my physician, who suspected a herniated disc in my back based on signs (I literally do not have time to get an MRI done, so nothing was found on rads). I took a Flexeril and a Tylenol 3 right before I started studying for an exam the next day (first time I had looked back at my notes) because I was in pain, fell fast asleep in like half an hour for the rest of the night, and still got a low B on the test the next day even though I probably should have failed. The point is, there's plenty of test questions where you'll feel that even if you had more time to study, it would not have helped one iota.

 

[MSSM2013]

That's interesting. Do you get to interact with other students in any way besides online?

If so, let's assume you are brilliant. Everything comes easy to you. Straight A's without cracking a book, and ridiculously high standardized test scores. And let's also assume that everyone around you seems like a complete **** compared to you. They study all hours of the day just to pass. If all this is true, I have some sad news for you. It's exactly the same in med school. I still can't believe how slow most of the people in my class were. They couldn't make connections between tests or subjects and couldn't remember things we just learned. I'd make A's without studying, and they'd fail tests left and right. But guess what? I'm the one who got my butt kicked out. (For being sick and missing class, not failing classes.) So maybe we brilliant slackers shouldn't be so judgmental of the overworked *****. They will be doctors by the time I start med school again....if I can get back in.

So my verdict once again is that med school is easy for some of us. However, it's difficult to get in, and in my case, difficult to stay in , but easy to make A's in. Studying 4-6 hours a day is not necessary for everyone, especially not for those of us with these handy photographic memories.

That person who posted that class 8-5, study 6-12 might need to do that (or just want to), but I'd have literally failed out if I did that. I need my 8 to 10 hours of sleep.

And someone posted something about biochem. Medical biochem is much easier than undergrad biochem in my opinion. <- Observe the word opinion. Don't lecture me on anecdotes/ebm. I don't care. This a discussion, not a science class.

Oh, and I completely understand what feralisex whatever is saying. But some of you never will, so don't worry about it. Just go back to your studying. Get those hours in.

no med school would kick you out for missing classes if you are really acing all of them.

 

[tncekm]

My school does more concept based questions on the exams...you need to memorize...but if that is all you do, you will fail out of school. You need to be able to USE the information you learn.

I'm confident that your school isn't much different than any other med school in that regard. And, whatever my school is doing, I'm not too concerned about. Our class average is typically a good deal above the national mean on the boards.

I just find that the concepts are easier to get than the memorization because, for the most part, after a couple years of our pre-req classes and studying for the MCAT, we get a good idea of how things work. E.g. the "how" of the starling mechanism just makes sense, but the memorization of all the different proteins involved in contraction and force transduction, and the various isoforms, takes a hell of a lot more time (especially if the proteins have non-standard names).

 

[tncekm]

no med school would kick you out for missing classes if you are really acing all of them.

Nope. I miss essentially every single class, except for mandatory ones. I usually do above the mean, and I have a lot more time to relax than many of my stressed-out classmates. (Don't get me wrong, I still put in plenty of study time when I need to!)

 

[RySerr21]

This pretty much somes it up.

http://rumorsweretrue.wordpress.com/2006/11/01/pancakes-every-morning/

 

[Shinobiz11]

Lol, I eat those binders for breakfast!!!

No jk, this debate has gone really out of hand. Here is the main point, MED SCHOOL IS HARD!!! Quit being stupid and just accept the fact.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

On a difficulty scale:

Vet med school>>>>>>>>grad school>>>undergrad>>high school

I'd argue grad school is equitable in difficulty, given that it is much more of a marathon than a sprint, and a fraction of people actually are able to get into it and complete it. I'm on the 8 year plan currently, and I'm starting to see why people go ABD (though I'm done).

 

[Electrophile]

I'd argue grad school is equitable in difficulty, given that it is much more of a marathon than a sprint, and a fraction of people actually are able to get into it and complete it. I'm on the 8 year plan currently, and I'm starting to see why people go ABD (though I'm done).

Having done a three year research based masters thesis in biology versus being in my third year (of four) of vet med school, vet med school is waaaaaaaay more difficult. Don't get me wrong. Grad school wasn't a cakewalk and you have to do a bit more multitasking with research, teaching, and your own classes, overall I'd say it was not as stressful or as difficult as vet med school. Plus in grad school, you get to take mostly classes that you're interested in and that pertain to your research project. Not a ton of superfluous crap like histology, anatomy, and so on. Before I started, I figured the same as you did that it would be about the same level of difficulty and intensity as grad school. I am unhappy to say I was wrong. So I've done four years of undergrad, three years of grad school, two and a half years of vet med school with a year and a half to go, which sure doesn't seem like a sprint to me.

 

[tncekm]

I'd argue grad school is equitable in difficulty, given that it is much more of a marathon than a sprint, and a fraction of people actually are able to get into it and complete it. I'm on the 8 year plan currently, and I'm starting to see why people go ABD (though I'm done).

Yeah, the majority of people I've ever seen who have done their PhD's and their MD's (or similar's) separately said that it was much more work, just much more intense overall, doing through med school. But, they also say that the work is way different.

 

[fahimaz7]

I'd argue grad school is equitable in difficulty, given that it is much more of a marathon than a sprint, and a fraction of people actually are able to get into it and complete it. I'm on the 8 year plan currently, and I'm starting to see why people go ABD (though I'm done).

My grad school was a lot easier than medical school (time wise).

I was in a PHD program and was past prelims in Cell and Molecular Biology.

 

[corbis11]

This pretty much somes it up.

http://rumorsweretrue.wordpress.com/2006/11/01/pancakes-every-morning/

haha, this is pretty spot on

 

[bigal40]

But yet, you can make that blanket statement. If you're not going to study at least 3-4 hours a day, usually more, especially during the week before the exam then you will, in 95% of the cases, fall behind, fail, and if it gets too bad... remediate or leave the program.

Your an idiot, of course he can make a blanket statement saying that you shouldn't make blanket statements.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Your an idiot, of course he can make a blanket statement saying that you shouldn't make blanket statements.

*MOD NOTE: Please refrain from name calling, as it is unprofessional and violates SDN policy. -t4c*

By the way, it is "You're", as "Your" implies possession, and Bacchus is not in possession of an idiot.

 

[Omzy]

Can someone remind me why I bumped this thread?

 

[sumstorm]

All I can say from my experience of coming back to vet med as a non trad is that there are 4 major features for me: 1) sheer volume of material, 2) duration of the working day 3) level of detail that does include sheer memorization (particularly vocab/mechanisms) 4) connection of concepts.

I believe I am at a disadvantage because I haven't touched a chem or bio book in nearly a decade. The two biggest challenges for me are the details and the duration of the day. After I have been in classes from 8am-6pm (with an optional or mandatory lunch meeting on some other topic related to the field) I am pretty exhausted. I get home, walk the dogs, eat dinner, then do another couple of hours of studying. I do not know how comparative med school is, but I do know that the vet schools vary greatly in length of day, courses in each year, etc. I also elected to pursue zoo med, which tags the extra hours on as well.

I would estimate that 3-6 hours is the average range of time spent each night by the majority of students in my program with half the weekend committed as well. I would say that the biggest stumbling block for me is that I have a very difficult time 'tagging' labels onto things; I may be able to see things in great detail and be able to point out where they attach and such, but not be able to remember the exact name of this particular tubercle or foramen. Also, for me, I struggle with some confusion over comparative stuff. I conceptually grasp the differences in dental formulas across omnivorous species....but that doesn't mean I can skip memorizing each dental formula. Also, while we do have 'concept' questions, we also have 'draw and diagram' and tiny random detail questions and compare/contrast questions across species. I guess I am finding my lack of natural linguistics a bit disruptive to my studies!

 

[ButImLETired]

The problem with this thread actually is the fact that if you guys are in high school, you really don't have a basis for comparison.

Like, I can tell my college friends that in a lot of ways med school to me feels like having a final every 2 weeks. The stuff they teach you is so incredibly detailed and dense that it basically takes you a full week to actually get it down to a good extent, but you never have a whole week because you're getting more and more new material every day, and so you just get increasingly buried. And then bam- next thing you know, it's an exam, and it has as much material as you would have had after a whole semester in college. And this time, there's no curve. Oh, and your classmates are all totally brilliant and know 10 times as much as you do. Have fun.

Unfortunately when you're in high school you don't really have a good baseline. It's hard enough to understand when you're in college- I know I didn't- but I remember high school sort of vaguely studying an hour-ish a day on a bad day and the rest of the time merely having "homework", a concept that all but dies once you're in college, and is definitely gone by the time you're in med school. Things like pop quizzes still existed, which don't exist now. Books were the main source of knowledge, and now they're just a reference. I used to have to memorize dates for history, and random vocab for latin, and now I have to memorize whole books worth of information, integrate it in my head, regurgitate it, and then the next day intake another book's worth. I don't know how else to describe it. It's a trip.

 

[PranBobbyJohnny]

Med school isn't hard if you are just trying to pass. I'd say it's easier than trying to get a 3.9 at a reasonably hard undergrad. If you want to be at the top of your class, then yes it will be hard.