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Medical School

post #1 of 100
2/6/12 at 5:21pm
Thread Starter 
Anyone else going to Medical School right now? Finishing up with my 2nd year in less than a week, then it's off to USMLE Step 1 Prep. icon_gu_b_slayer[1].gif
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post #2 of 100
2/6/12 at 5:39pm
Funny,

I've been lurking through the student doctor network forum, especially under non-traditional sub forum, as I did not complete a pre-medical program but have a BA.

Don't want to turn this into a Q and A for you, but I wonder how difficult did you really think getting into medical school was?

I realize it should be difficult, but from what I have read there and talked to people, if feels like you have to write a mangum opus for the opera and volunteer 2000 hours at several orphanages and score really well on MCATS just to "impress." and stand out.

I hear how overworked physicians are and that there is a need for physicians in undeserved communities, so I thought, maybe it's not to late to go to med school....

decisions decisions....
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post #3 of 100
2/6/12 at 5:43pm
what'd you do for ECs?
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post #4 of 100
2/6/12 at 5:44pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by bringusingoodale View Post

Funny,
I've been lurking through the student doctor network forum, especially under non-traditional sub forum, as I did not complete a pre-medical program but have a BA.
Don't want to turn this into a Q and A for you, but I wonder how difficult did you really think getting into medical school was?
I realize it should be difficult, but from what I have read there and talked to people, if feels like you have to write a mangum opus for the opera and volunteer 2000 hours at several orphanages and score really well on MCATS just to "impress." and stand out.
I hear how overworked physicians are and that there is a need for physicians in undeserved communities, so I thought, maybe it's not to late to go to med school....
decisions decisions....

Eh, it was decently difficult. My resume was nothing special, besides a ton of work and research experience. My MCAT was a pedestrian 30, and my GPA was an unimpressive 3.5. The biggest thing that made me stand out was interviewing abilities.

And if you're thinking about going now, realize that nowadays that's the norm rather than the exception. I'm one of the youngest people in my class at 23 years old. We have several at 30+(oldest is 33) with kids at home.
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post #5 of 100
2/6/12 at 6:16pm
work experience?
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post #6 of 100
2/6/12 at 6:18pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by indesertum View Post

work experience?

At any given time during college I worked two jobs, some science, some non-science. None of them healthcare related.
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post #7 of 100
2/6/12 at 6:27pm
do you mind me asking what you did?

how'd you go about shadowing doctors if you did at all?
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post #8 of 100
2/6/12 at 6:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by indesertum View Post

do you mind me asking what you did?
how'd you go about shadowing doctors if you did at all?

So I wasn't exactly intending this to be a pre-med thread, but I guess I don't mind answering a few questions.

In college, my jobs were: grocery bagger, marina dockhand, dining hall assistant manager, lab technician, and animal husbandry worker.

For shadowing, I called a local podiatrist and asked him. Shadowed him about 100 hours. Was simple as that.
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post #9 of 100
2/6/12 at 6:50pm
Medical school sucked horribly. Residency was a much better fit for me.

I would definitely encourage people who are interested in medicine undergo a volunteer experience. I really dislike sick children and their parents. I spent a lot of time taking care of the elderly, and even when I finished my first two years of medical school, I was still unsure about life in a clinical pathway.
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post #10 of 100
2/6/12 at 7:03pm
thanks for the answers

^what're you doing now?
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post #11 of 100
2/6/12 at 7:16pm
Quote:
So I wasn't exactly intending this to be a pre-med thread, but I guess I don't mind answering a few questions.

shog[1].gif

Sorry.

I think there are some MDs on here and there have got to be some medical students as well. I hope they comment as well.
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post #12 of 100
2/6/12 at 7:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by norcaltransplant View Post

Medical school sucked horribly. Residency was a much better fit for me.
I would definitely encourage people who are interested in medicine undergo a volunteer experience. I really dislike sick children and their parents. I spent a lot of time taking care of the elderly, and even when I finished my first two years of medical school, I was still unsure about life in a clinical pathway.
I'm surprised to hear you say that medical school sucked horribly. Medical school was, without a doubt, the greatest 4 years of my life. With the exception of my best friend since I was 9 years old and my wife, my 10 closest friends came from medical school. We worked hard intermittently but it wasn't full throttle for four years. The first two years of residency and four months of residency (the junior residency rotations) were probably the absolute most miserable of my life because there was little meaningful participation in surgery.

To people considering going into medicine, as long as you have reasonable expectations for what the future holds and don't expect that you'll have the life that 40-50 year old neurosurgeons and cardiac surgeons had in the 80s and 90s then I think you'll be happy.
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post #13 of 100
2/6/12 at 7:32pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by hopkins_student View Post

I'm surprised to hear you say that medical school sucked horribly. Medical school was, without a doubt, the greatest 4 years of my life. With the exception of my best friend since I was 9 years old and my wife, my 10 closest friends came from medical school. We worked hard intermittently but it wasn't full throttle for four years. The first two years of residency and four months of residency (the junior residency rotations) were probably the absolute most miserable of my life because there was little meaningful participation in surgery.
To people considering going into medicine, as long as you have reasonable expectations for what the future holds and don't expect that you'll have the life that 40-50 year old neurosurgeons and cardiac surgeons had in the 80s and 90s then I think you'll be happy.

Honestly, the first 2 years of medical school have been absolutely horrendous for me. Not the work load, per se, but rather the people. I have a non-traditional curriculum that requires a lot of group work and time spent at school. Most the people are straight up Type A, completely full of themselves, and only find humor in putting others down. Many of them are ultra-political and can't carry on a conversation without it regressing into something about Republicans or how much they hate Christianity or how they'd work for $50k/year if schools were better bla bla bla. I cannot wait for my clinical years to finally get a break from them. The workload has been very manageable and less extreme than what I expected coming in. The 12 hour study days aren't nearly as bad as people made them out to be.
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post #14 of 100
2/6/12 at 7:41pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by TKJTG View Post

Honestly, the first 2 years of medical school have been absolutely horrendous for me. Not the work load, per se, but rather the people. I have a non-traditional curriculum that requires a lot of group work and time spent at school. Most the people are straight up Type A, completely full of themselves, and only find humor in putting others down. Many of them are ultra-political and can't carry on a conversation without it regressing into something about Republicans or how much they hate Christianity or how they'd work for $50k/year if schools were better bla bla bla. I cannot wait for my clinical years to finally get a break from them. The workload has been very manageable and less extreme than what I expected coming in. The 12 hour study days aren't nearly as bad as people made them out to be.
I'm pretty sure I was the first Republican some of my friends had ever met and some of them assumed that meant I was evil, but the fun part was this group was still open minded enough to overcome their prejudices. We had a tremendous amount of group work but we were also in a pass-fail system so nobody benefited from anybody else doing worse. It couldn't have been better. I think the workload is pretty overblown. I can count the number of 12 hour study days on one hand. However, residency is a beast that nobody who hasn't done it can comprehend.
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post #15 of 100
2/6/12 at 7:42pm
Wow. I have read through so many posts on other forums with the same comment about the general asshole-ry of med students.

It makes sense, It's a self-selecting bias I suppose. Not to mention the degree to which the professing of a practicing Physician is perceived as the most prestigious and noble, which lets face it, is probably a major factor to why people choose to pursue a medical degree.
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