Med Student Thread

[Angelus]

Hey i've got my 2nd year exams at the moment but the other day it got me thinking back on the last two years of med school. I guess i started this thread to see what other med students, or in fact any other health professionals, think of their time in college.
What do you love and what do you have a disliking for?
Personally, i only have my pre-clinical years to speak about but in 1st year i loved physiology and anatomy and passionately hated biochemistry(i didn't hate the subject but the way it was thought,it was the bane of my life).
This year we had neuroanatomy and embryology which was interesting but at the same time chronic as the year progressed. I guess what i have found the hardest to deal with is that in our two years we have had nearly zero patient contact. I understand that one must become proficient in the scientific underpinnings of med first but i find that it's very easy to get lost in the that sea of knowledge.

Another thing i love about my course is that i have met so many wonderful international students.

So thats the thread, if there are med students here please share the trials and tribulations of your medical education.

[wdlove]

I'm a Registered Nurse, I enjoyed all my classes. I was the only male in my class, so being a gentleman was the last to enter when we went somewhere as a group. Got along well with classmates.

You are correct it's very important to get the fundamentals down first. Using that knowledge with patient care brings it all together. You should visit the "Making A Better Doctor" in the Current Events Thread.

[baby duck monge]

i guess this is not exactly what this thread is for, but if i'm going to have a bunch of people in/who have been in med school here, i might as well ask...

i'm still an undergrad right now (junior), and had been planning on going to lawschool after finishing up here. recently i have gotten an idea that i might want to switch focus and go to med school. to do this, i would basically need to go to school again after i graduate since i would not be prepared for the mcats, nor do i have the prerequisites even to apply to med school.

so my question is this...
if i decide to really do this, what things do you feel are the most important/helpful to do ahead or time to be the most successful in med school? are there any classes you wish you took? any that were a waste of time? (these are before med school, not during). any other input or advise?

sorry to threadjack, but hopefully this will fit in. thanks for your help!!

[Angelus]

I'm not sure if my advice will be worth much to you since the system is a bit different here in ireland. We don't have to get a degree before entering med school ie. i did my finals in high school and the following autumn started med school. This meant that you had to get really high marks to be eligible and so here in ireland the 1st thought that comes to everyones mind is that to do med you must be really smart. While this is true in some ways the one thing that will help you get ahead in med is a good work ethic. In the pre-clinical years you are bombarded with information from all directions and it is alot of hard work but the ones who are consistently working are the ones who get ahead.

[FlamDrag]

I'm not in Med School but my wife will be graduating in a month, so I feel like I have plenty to add to the discussion.

Med School boils down to study habits and time management. Organic Chemistry seems to give a lot of students some trouble. Students at my wife's school come from a surprisingly wide range of backgrounds.

My wife would probably agree with the first post. She really wanted to get in touch with the patients much sooner, as the book work felt like a continuation of undergrad to her. At her school, they stress bedside manner and patient interaction more than many -- but still not as much as what I hear about D.O. school -- which she enjoyed, but seeing patients more during 3rd year was probably the best for her.