My thoughts after the first week of med school.....

[Explosivo]

Originally posted by DW
another 2 percent of a dollar:

all those people who told me "medical school will fly by" I now realize must be smoking some really cheap crack. we've had four weeks of class so far, and I feel as though I've been here for at least a year.


DW----->

<-----med school

*Explosivo reads of DWs travails in med school and trembles in fear of being ripped out of his pre-med womb in a week. *

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[buglady]

Originally posted by tBw
well it is like flying...its expensive, we have cramped seats, poor food, I constantly choose between sleeping or watching the in-flight presentation, and every so often I feel extremely nauseous....

well put, tbw.

 

[DW]

Originally posted by tBw
well it is like flying...its expensive, we have cramped seats, poor food, I constantly choose between sleeping or watching the in-flight presentation, and every so often I feel extremely nauseous....

thats maybe the greatest analogy i've ever heard. someone get this man a nobel prize

 

[::Seabass::]

Originally posted by DW
another 2 percent of a dollar:

all those people who told me "medical school will fly by" I now realize must be smoking some really cheap crack. we've had four weeks of class so far, and I feel as though I've been here for at least a year.

whoa, my time is flying by and most of my classmates agree. maybe there is something to be said for having to go to class all day I think once you get into gross lab time will start picking up the pace.

one thing I didn't realize is even after buying the syllabus packets I would still have to be constantly printing and copying.

 

[Street Philosopher]

this has been like... the slowest 7 weeks of my life

 

[manicmaven]

I've been gone so long.

Med school has been limited to a four block radius from my apartment, to the med school to walgreens. Doc Ivy probably knows what I'm talking about. Unless she's managing to get out more than me....I hope I hope. Oh...and the once a week drunken blur that is bar hopping. Dear god.

 

[Samoa]

I notice that I'm now saying "I WAS a pharmacist" rather than "I AM a pharmacist."

Last Thursday I went to visit my community preceptor (a community physician who's agreed to let us see patients with him for an afternoon every 6 weeks or so). It was SOOOOO much fun! Definitely the funnest thing I've done so far in medical school. My guy is a pediatrician, which is what I requested since all my pharmacist experience is with adult patients. He kept introducing me as "Dr.", which although technically not incorrect, is certainly misleading. So I had to keep mentioning that I was just a first-year medical student.

I got to see patients with scoliosis, Wilm's tumor, cafe au lait spots, urinary tract infections, and a bunch of other things. Also a lot of worried parents of perfectly healthy kids. I was amazed to discover that the visits were mostly chitchat punctuated with a very directed and low-key physical exam.

Anyway, it was very cool. Everything just flowed, and there was no sense of pointlessness to anything I was doing. SOOO different from the uptight, self-conscious hair-splitting exercises in futility of my work as a pharmacist. Defintely no regrets here!

 

[BushBaby]

Originally posted by Street Philosopher
this has been like... the slowest 7 weeks of my life

suck it up

 

[DW]

how many different lecturers will you have in a given week at your respective med schools? do you usually have some person lecture for a bunch of consecutive lectures, intermittently? and does anyone else have (at least I feel here) a gross disparity in quality of lecturers, some are really good, some are awful? i've got to start getting a better idea of whose lectures are worth going to (cough, cough, breslow, cough......)

 

[Resident Alien]

Originally posted by relatively prime
I would just like to say that to my pleasant surprise, CWRU rules. Everything is taped, documented, noted, and outlined for us... and it's ALL online on ONE website. They do everything save take the test for us. It's beautiful. During biochem they've had patients come in at least once a week to talk to us about rare and or serious illnesses/conditions they have. They're always bringing it back to the clinical setting.

You should thank the second years for that I personally believe our faculty were over-paranoid till our incessant urgings knocked it into them that watching videos is actually a good thing. Dont even ask about post-exam test viewing. And you will soon discover the biochem committee is the most well organized committee that does what you mentioned, the rest really dont live upto them.

 

[::Seabass::]

still printing....

 

[Entei]

Every class uses a different system for lectures. For the "umbrella" Science Basic to the Practice of Medicine class, we basically have a different lecturer almost every time. I admit that the lectures are of varying quality, although I think they've been pretty good for the most part. For anatomy our lectures are mostly given by one professor, and I think they are of outstanding quality. Of course, I'm a big fan of going to lectures anyway, so I might be a little biased.

I our curriculum here.

Originally posted by DW
how many different lecturers will you have in a given week at your respective med schools? do you usually have some person lecture for a bunch of consecutive lectures, intermittently? and does anyone else have (at least I feel here) a gross disparity in quality of lecturers, some are really good, some are awful? i've got to start getting a better idea of whose lectures are worth going to (cough, cough, breslow, cough......)

 

[isis]

Originally posted by DW
I've always wanted to help people in need and to use my analytical skills to save lives. On day while walking to the supermarket a woman and her 3 gravely sick children staggered out of their home and crawled towards me on the sidewalk. Like nomads crossing the sahara yearning for a refreshing oasis, they beckoned me to relay them the crucial information that would save their lives......"Please, tell us what is the only achiral amino acid? what is the pka of the side group of tyrosine? Using the Henderson Hasselbach equation, calculate the final pH of adding 1.3 ml of 1 M HCL to a 1 liter solution of imidazole buffe at ph 7.7!!! Give us the exact mechanism for the Schiff base formation between Isoniazid and pyridoxal phosphate!!!! Please, help us!!! Please!!!!!!"

I stood there, and a unexplainable feeling of helplessness overwhelmed me. The begged and pleaded, but without this crucial information, they collapsed and died right at my feet, and I wept. at this moment, I knew med school was for me........

.. ..

 

[DW]

Originally posted by Entei
Of course, I'm a big fan of going to lectures anyway, so I might be a little biased

yup....this is the difference between you and I and the reason why we picked our respective schools in all honesty, i'm hard to please in lecture since i simply dont like it.....some people seem to love most of our lecturers, but i cant say i always agree

 

[16846]

I hated our mandatory attendance policy until I conducted a little experiment (Yes, I am a nerd )

For a week I paid attention to the lecturers, didn't look at my books, and took the quizzes at the end of the week scoring relatively well (75-80 %)

The following week I brought my computer with me to class and surfed SDN while playing on-line games all day (wireless intranet rocks!) and didn't listen to a single word of what the lecturers said, studied like mad at night, and scored rather poorly on the quizzes at the end of the week (< 60 %)

Apparently, in order to learn the material, I have to attend class, even though it?s a pain. I hate it much less now that I realize it is actually helping me comprehend the material. However, its still a bitch to get ripped from my nice, warm bed at 6:00 am to listen to lectures about vesicular transport and the Brachial Plexus...

-Mike

 

[DW]

bumping this guy up from a 10 month hiatus

just to see if anyone's opinions have changed

 

[Kev (UK)]

Brachial Plexus...

Do NOT mention those words!!!!

 

[tatabox80]

Hmmm, I'm done with my M1 year and I remember when I started this post. Actually, my feelings are pretty much the same, except, medical school isn't scary anymore and Biochem doesn't suck A$$ anymore either! Yeah for me!

 

[buglady]

Here are my thoughts in regards to the past month of school....

Marginal Pass and Pass are beautiful things...

The people who have to sit in the same f*cking seat everyday in our lecture hall are the same ones who are complaining about not getting honors in our first module, "Introduction to Clinical Decision Making". Puh-lease, if they're worrying about getting honors already, lord only knows what shape they'll be in next year....

I don't understand why people complain about not having time to go and do things like exercise or do stuff on the weekends. Our curriculum allows us SOOOO much time for personal time, it's almost laughable. Yes, the material we are getting is voluminous and intense, but you will not find me camped out in the library 15 seconds after lecture ends, studying intensely for 5 hours....

We don't have too many gunners, but the few ones we have are way too vocal....and hostile!

Other than that, I find med school and the town in which my med school is located to be WAY FUN!

Goodness, I think I became one of those people who sat in the same seat....but in the back of the classroom where the "cool" people sat (kidding) and only because no one with a big head sat in front of me.

Closet gunners are funny beings.

My exercise regimine was maintained, even with sub-zero temps and gross anatomy getting in the way. I was even able to train for and race a decent marathon time.

Vermont is still super duper kick-back and a great place to live (if you don't want the busy city life)...

Pass is still a wonderful thing...

I almost know how to do a full physical examination, all by myself....love the neurological portion of it....my reflex hammer and I get along quite nicely.

 

[SaltySqueegee]

I almost know how to do a full physical examination, all by myself....love the neurological portion of it....my reflex hammer and I get along quite nicely.

God help my wife when I have to start practicing physical exams.

... Uh, honey just one more breast exam? ...

... NO! Try the cat this time... hehe ...

Looking forward to adding more to this thread in August.

I love DW's Personal Statement by the way.

 

[EMDrMoe]

I haven't been at SDN for a bit until the Step 1 monster started breathing down my neck. This is an awesome thread. It's so great to see that I'm not alone

 

[Samoa]

After a year of med school, I've learned:

1) I am not the smartest person in my class. Nor am I the stupidest, or the craziest, the most alcoholic, best dressed, prettiest...
2) How to behave professionally and still be me (an ongoing lesson).
3) Coffee shops are good places to study.
3a) You really can overdose on caffeine, and it's kinda unpleasant.
3b) Which coffee shops will give you ice water for free (YAY!)
4) The definition of mandatory depends on the instructor.
5) Studying in groups is only helpful if you're studying the right material.
6) Small town social rules apply.
7) There are lots of details you really don't need to know, like what class you're signed up for that starts next week. Just show up at the appointed time and place, and you'll find out when you get there.
7a) How not to worry about stuff that hasn't happened yet.
8) The worst is over (I hope).