How hard is med school?

Maradona · 07-31-2005, 03:10 AM

In med school how hard do you have to work?, like many people i know who went to med school return with alot of weight.. what my question is, is med school as intimidating as people say it is, like you get like 3 hours of sleep and constant studying of the materials or do you have time to do things like exercise or play some soccer?

impactangel · 08-01-2005, 09:09 PM

It depends on your goals. If you just want to pass (70 at most schools), I think an hour a day every day might get you through (and you'll really be scraping close to the limit).

If you want honors (typically 90 and up), you'll probably have to push that to 5 hours a day (with one or two days off).

And of course, during exam weeks, I think most people hit the books really hard and just get that 3 hours of sleep

Maradona · 08-02-2005, 12:48 AM

nice, 5 hours dosent seem too rough.

glucose101 · 08-02-2005, 01:37 AM

But all in all, both the regulars and honors people end up becoming doctors....right?

CDN_dancer · 08-02-2005, 02:04 AM

I think your grades will be one of the factors affecting where you are accepted for residency. If you want to get into a competitive residency, then you'll need the grades, as well as a good score on the USMLE exams.

impactangel · 08-02-2005, 08:24 AM

If you pass, you can become a doctor. What I would recommend is to aim for honors so even if you don't get that, at least you'll pass.

imacrazyscientist · 08-02-2005, 12:56 PM

I imagine people do make time for exercise and such, but still only go to sleep for three hours. I'd still make time for that stuff because it's good to have a break once and awhile to relieve the stress and tension, but I imagine med school is going to add on 10 yrs of age I don't have. hehe>>

kenos · 08-02-2005, 01:31 PM

I want to go into medicine too or maybe someother medical field (like radiology)...what's a good school in New york or Texas to attend

Doogie311 · 08-02-2005, 01:36 PM

pre-med or medical school?

Dude for pre-med just go anywhere and do very well.

imacrazyscientist · 08-02-2005, 01:38 PM

Texas- 1) Rice is number one of course....Rice/Baylor med program
2) UT Austin
New York-
1) Cornell

imacrazyscientist · 08-02-2005, 01:44 PM

Doogie have you been to pre-med school?

Doogie311 · 08-02-2005, 01:46 PM

why do u ask

snowbardot · 10-02-2006, 07:27 PM

Hi -- my name is Heather, and I found your post.

Most importantly, are you in med school or just speaking from what you've heard?

I am finished with a BSN (4-year nursing degree) in May, and I'm just thinking this is NOT it. I am considering med school.

Are you someone who never studied in your undergrad and got a 4.0? I'm one of the top 3 in my nursing class, I study at least 1/3 of what most people study, and my best friend and the person with whom I perform most similarly on tests took a year of med school (got Bs), then quit because she was pregnant.

This is probably way more than you want to know, but I fear getting in over my head.

Thanks for any input you can give me -- I like to hear things "from the horse's mouth" so to speak.

kenos · 10-04-2006, 10:08 PM

Wow That Message Was Posted So Long Ago When I Was Trying To Figure Out What To Do .... And I'm Now Actually In School. It Isn't That Difficult Yes U Have To Study Hard As With Any Other Feild But Just Being Organized Helps .... And Remaining Focused. Med Is Quite A Step Up Fom Nursing And Maintaining Ur Gpa Is Key But With A Foundation In It Things Will Be Fine

Bigredmed · 10-05-2006, 12:50 AM

actual medical school is a lot harder than anyone's made it out to be. There are people in my class who literally study for 8-10 hours a day. While I'm not that dedicated, I'll routinely study for 3-4 hours a day on non-test weeks and then ratchet it up several notches on test weeks (we have a basic science core test about every three weeks). today I studied for about 6.5 hours, yesterday was closer to 8, and tommorow, I should probably put in about another 8 (we'll see if that happens...I'm a great procrastinator). And all this is with 4 hours of class in the morning, every morning (even the day before a test).

It's not that the material is particularly hard, but the required depth is deeper than undergrad and there's a lot more information covered in three weeks than undergrad.

As for comparison to actual upper level nursing courses...it's harder, simply because doctor's do have to know more. In comparing to my nursing friends, I've got a lot greater depth of knowledge in the various physiologies, genetics biochem, anatomy, pharmacology, microbiology, and immunology. That's not to say that I'm better than nurses, b/c doctors couldn't survive without nurses, but it's just different knowledge. Nurses are at least during their schooling portions, much more relevant to what their job description is.

A med school dean once told me that nurses know what to do, and why they do it, but they don't understand the mechanism of what they've done. I'm not sure if that's true, but I suppose it might be, and if it is then it illustrates a key point. If a patient codes, a nurse will definitely know to give this drug and what that drug does, thus why they give it, but a doctor would know (or at least knew for a test at one point) that it acts on this receptor and causes this pathway to get the end result.