After I received my first acceptance, I knew that I was going to medical school but the question remained as to where I would be attending school. At that point, I had interviewed at three of my six schools and was holding one acceptance. It was late in December and I had interview invitations from three more schools. These interviews had been scheduled, two in January and one in early February. I had taken the August MCAT (MCAT was only offered in April and August in 1997) with my first interview invitation coming at the end of October. My interview season would run from early November to early February.
By my second medical school interview, I was well seasoned in the order of the day. There was always a meeting where someone from admissions/administration would speak with the group (8 to 20 people), then Financial Aid, then the scheduled interviews with lunch and a tour. Every school followed some version of this plan. Sometimes the tours would be after lunch and sometimes the tour would be first and interviews after lunch. In any event, there was a tour. (Even at the medical school where I taught, I elected to particpate in the tour much to the delight of my student tour guide).
By my third interview, I found that I was easily annoyed by the boastful pre-med. Every interview group has one or more persons who will brag about their publications, undergraduate GPA or MCAT score i.e. their general superiority. These folks will usually "scope out" one of the quieter folks in the group and proceed to attempt to "explain the ropes" to the quieter student. I observed one fellow brag about his undergraduate school and how everyone of his friends had been accepted to multiple medical schools and how his acceptances were likely in the mail. He also bragged about how he was going into Cardiothoracic Surgery and that the particular school that we were interviewing at was not particularly good for Cardiothoracic Surgery so he hoped that he didn't get in there. I often think of this guy today because I never encountered him later. I guess his hopes that he was not accepted at my medical school came to fruition. I wonder if he every got into medical school with his abrasive personality traits and booming voice.
By my last interview, I had five schools to choose from. My first criterion was location. All of the schools that I had applied to were located on the east coast (South Atlantic Region). I didn't want to attend medical school more than 200 miles from where I had grown up. The city, where I lived, had six medical schools within a 40-mile radius and eight medical schools within two hours drive. It was not difficult for me to apply to a variety of schools and still stay fairly close to home. Location was high on my list of priorties in choosing a medical school.
My next criterion was the "vibe" that I experienced during my interview day. I wanted to attend a medical school where I knew that I could be happy on a day-to-day basis. I was looking for a medical school that had a diverse student body (ages and ethnicities) because I thought that it would be fun to interact with many different people. i was also more intested in a medical school where the atmosphere was more cooperative than competitive. I also wanted a patient population that was fairly diverse too. Three out of my six medical schools met that criterion very nicely. The other three were acceptable. Generally, an urban medical school was going to suit me better than a medical school that was located in a rural area.
I didn't care so much about curriculum or USMLE pass rates. The one thing that graduate study taught me well was the my performance on any exam was based on my preparation and not on materials presented in lectures. If one person from a particular school had passed USMLE Step I, then the school was fine. USMLE Step I was not a significant factor in my choice of school nor was the match list as the matching process is self-selecting. As long as at least one person from any of my prospective schools had matched into the specialty of their choice, I knew I would be fine.
I did listen to my uncle's and father's friends when it came to medical school selection. At my top choices, I definitely knew that these schools provided an atmosphere that was condusive to an adult learning style. I also picked the brains of a couple of my cousins who had attended medical school. I wanted to know why they chose the schools that they chose and what was great about those schools. I was also fortunate to be a resident of a state that had three excellent medical schools that were reasonably priced.
By the time it came for me to make a selection, my number one and number two schools had offered me scholarship money. This money was based on my incoming GPA and MCAT scores. I carefully weighed my choices and was heavily leaning in the direction of my top choice when my number two school offered me a full-ride scholarship. Well, my choice was made and I was very happy to accept their offer. I am happy to admit that I could be bought by a good school offering a full-ride tuition scholarship. The conditions of my scholarship were that I would have to keep a high GPA in medical school which meant that I had to start strong and stay strong.
In the end, I chose well. I attended a medical school with an excellent faculty, cooperative student body and was exposed to some of the finest medical practice in the country. I am now quite happy to be an alum. When I started my intern year, I never appreciated my medical school more because I was a definite self-starter. I knew how to take very good care of patients and how to get things done. It was not much of a step to go from fourth year medical student to intern for me.
Things that I have realized now that I have been out of school. It is not the prestige of your medical school but your performance at said school. In the end, paying $250,000 for a medical education has to be worth every penny for you and you have to make the most of your education. I am happy not to have attended a school that cost $250,000 because that kind of debt would not be worth those enormous interest payments on loans. I am happiest with my total debt of $40,000 for four years.
Any medical school in this country, provided you do well, can prepare you for any career that you want. People who do not perform well in medical school can knock themselves out of competitive specialties and the prestige of their medical school will not overcome a poor performance.
Osteopathic versus allopathic medical school is a non-issue in today's world of medicine. Either type of school can provide the teaching that will enable you to become a physician. It is a myth that graduates of osteopathic medical school must go into primary care. I have worked with every type of specialist that were osteopaths from orthopedic surgeons to ENT surgeons to neurosurgeons. If you perform well in any medical school in this country, you can enter the specialty of your choice.
In the end, choose a medical school where you know that you can excell.
31 January 2007
30 January 2007
Why Students Fail in Medical School.
One of the biggest myths in the medical school process is that once you get into medical school, it is relatively easy to STAY in medical school. Each year, approximately 5% of those who enter fail one or more courses or fail out of medical school entirely. Why does this happen after being subjected to a selection process that is very stringent?
The biggest reason for students failing a course or failing out of medical school is an inability to put in the study time that a very competitive medical school curriculum demands. A sizable proportion of freshman medical students may have been able to get through their undergraduate studies by the "last minute knowledge cram" method, only to find that they are in deep trouble fast.
Most of these students will adjust their time management skills and do well enough to pass their coursework but some are not able to make the transition from undergraduate to medical school. These folks find themselves behind their class very quickly and fail to catch up enough to pass. Courses like Gross Anatomy and Biochemistry quickly knock them out of the freshman class.
Another small proportion of students will have too many personal demands to keep up with their studies. They may be parents or spouses or they may have personal illness that actually prevent them from the mastery of their work. In these cases, a wise Dean of Students will offer a Leave of Absence before the student finds himself/herself in academic difficulty. It pays to alert your Dean of Students at the first sign of personal trouble. Often the Dean can alleviate the problem and get the student back on track. Again, sometimes the problem is so pervasive, that only a Leave of Absence will allow the student to take care of personal matters and return to academics without penalty.
Few medical students are intellectually unable to master the curriculum. While the amount of information to be mastered is massive, the difficulty of the material is fairly average. This means that the key to keeping yourself academically sound is disciplined study habits that enable you to digest this large body of information in a short period of time. Most students study daily and keep a rigorous study schedule even on weekends.
Many students will become caught in the "no one else is struggling so I must be stupid" trap. Every medical student from time to time will struggle with something. Most students figure out what they need, ask for help and get the task accomplished. Some students will become depressed and procrastinate. Procrastination is the enemy of good scholarship and leads to more depression. Again, chatting with a few classmates or the Dean of Students can often put your problems into perspective and give you new ides that get you on your way.
Here are a couple of examples that illustrate my points above:
Janet A. was newly married and entered medical school. Her husband worked as a high school teacher and had a eight-year-old daughter by his previous marrige. Two months into medical school, Janet discovered that she was pregnant. Her pregnancy zapped her energy level and made the demands of medical school more difficult. In addition, she was having difficulty getting along with her new step-daughter who was unhappy that they had moved from another state. She got behind in her studies, especially Gross Anatomy, and struggled with her other courses. She ended up failing both her Gross Anatomy lab and lecture exams and barely passed her Biochemistry exam. On top of her worsening academics, she miscarried and was absent from class for one week.
Solution: The Dean of Students recommended a medical Leave of Absence for Janet. She started with the next year's class and did very well. She was able to take the time for family counseling and was able to devote full time to her studies.
Chris P had eagerly awaited his medical school acceptance. He had been happy and enthusiastic during orientation week attending all of the social events and developed a lively group of friends and study mates. When classes started, he kept up but partied very hard on the weekends spending Saturday night in the clubs and Sundays recovering from his Saturday night partying. Few people were able to keep up with him. By the second block of exams, Chris found himself just barely passing his coursework yet he continued his active social life. He always said that he "needed to let off steam" in order to concentrate on his studies.
By the end of the first year, Chris found that he needed to take two courses in summer school in order to be promoted with his class. He was able to pass one summer course but failed the other summer course and was dismissed from his class.
Solution: Chris applied for readmission at the end of the summer and was denied. He applied for re-admission after sitting out for a year and was re-admitted. When he returned to school, his discipline and study skills were outstanding. He was able to finish medical school and enter residency.
James P had entered medical school witht he idea of becoming a child psychiatrist. He had extensive experience teaching inner city children (had been a high school teacher) and was the author of several books on innovative teaching methods for children at risk. He embraced his studies and did well on his first block of exams. About halfway through the material for the second block of exams, James decided that he was not interested in medicine at all. He went to the Dean of Students and withdrew from medical school. He later completed his Ph.D in clinical psychology and very happily practices his vocation.
The three medical students above, illustrate the most common reasons that medical students fail. It becomes very difficult to catch up with your studies if you get behind. Many people are overwhelmed with the sheer volume of material to be mastered but make the adjustments necessary to do what is needed. A small proportion of medical students do fail and fail out of school. An even smaller proportion decide that medicine is not what they thought it would be and elect to leave.
The bottom line is that medical school demands a student with good study skills and a strong work ethic. While having a photographic memory will help with pre-clinical materials, the strong work ethic will get the student through the clinical years and through residency.
The biggest reason for students failing a course or failing out of medical school is an inability to put in the study time that a very competitive medical school curriculum demands. A sizable proportion of freshman medical students may have been able to get through their undergraduate studies by the "last minute knowledge cram" method, only to find that they are in deep trouble fast.
Most of these students will adjust their time management skills and do well enough to pass their coursework but some are not able to make the transition from undergraduate to medical school. These folks find themselves behind their class very quickly and fail to catch up enough to pass. Courses like Gross Anatomy and Biochemistry quickly knock them out of the freshman class.
Another small proportion of students will have too many personal demands to keep up with their studies. They may be parents or spouses or they may have personal illness that actually prevent them from the mastery of their work. In these cases, a wise Dean of Students will offer a Leave of Absence before the student finds himself/herself in academic difficulty. It pays to alert your Dean of Students at the first sign of personal trouble. Often the Dean can alleviate the problem and get the student back on track. Again, sometimes the problem is so pervasive, that only a Leave of Absence will allow the student to take care of personal matters and return to academics without penalty.
Few medical students are intellectually unable to master the curriculum. While the amount of information to be mastered is massive, the difficulty of the material is fairly average. This means that the key to keeping yourself academically sound is disciplined study habits that enable you to digest this large body of information in a short period of time. Most students study daily and keep a rigorous study schedule even on weekends.
Many students will become caught in the "no one else is struggling so I must be stupid" trap. Every medical student from time to time will struggle with something. Most students figure out what they need, ask for help and get the task accomplished. Some students will become depressed and procrastinate. Procrastination is the enemy of good scholarship and leads to more depression. Again, chatting with a few classmates or the Dean of Students can often put your problems into perspective and give you new ides that get you on your way.
Here are a couple of examples that illustrate my points above:
Janet A. was newly married and entered medical school. Her husband worked as a high school teacher and had a eight-year-old daughter by his previous marrige. Two months into medical school, Janet discovered that she was pregnant. Her pregnancy zapped her energy level and made the demands of medical school more difficult. In addition, she was having difficulty getting along with her new step-daughter who was unhappy that they had moved from another state. She got behind in her studies, especially Gross Anatomy, and struggled with her other courses. She ended up failing both her Gross Anatomy lab and lecture exams and barely passed her Biochemistry exam. On top of her worsening academics, she miscarried and was absent from class for one week.
Solution: The Dean of Students recommended a medical Leave of Absence for Janet. She started with the next year's class and did very well. She was able to take the time for family counseling and was able to devote full time to her studies.
Chris P had eagerly awaited his medical school acceptance. He had been happy and enthusiastic during orientation week attending all of the social events and developed a lively group of friends and study mates. When classes started, he kept up but partied very hard on the weekends spending Saturday night in the clubs and Sundays recovering from his Saturday night partying. Few people were able to keep up with him. By the second block of exams, Chris found himself just barely passing his coursework yet he continued his active social life. He always said that he "needed to let off steam" in order to concentrate on his studies.
By the end of the first year, Chris found that he needed to take two courses in summer school in order to be promoted with his class. He was able to pass one summer course but failed the other summer course and was dismissed from his class.
Solution: Chris applied for readmission at the end of the summer and was denied. He applied for re-admission after sitting out for a year and was re-admitted. When he returned to school, his discipline and study skills were outstanding. He was able to finish medical school and enter residency.
James P had entered medical school witht he idea of becoming a child psychiatrist. He had extensive experience teaching inner city children (had been a high school teacher) and was the author of several books on innovative teaching methods for children at risk. He embraced his studies and did well on his first block of exams. About halfway through the material for the second block of exams, James decided that he was not interested in medicine at all. He went to the Dean of Students and withdrew from medical school. He later completed his Ph.D in clinical psychology and very happily practices his vocation.
The three medical students above, illustrate the most common reasons that medical students fail. It becomes very difficult to catch up with your studies if you get behind. Many people are overwhelmed with the sheer volume of material to be mastered but make the adjustments necessary to do what is needed. A small proportion of medical students do fail and fail out of school. An even smaller proportion decide that medicine is not what they thought it would be and elect to leave.
The bottom line is that medical school demands a student with good study skills and a strong work ethic. While having a photographic memory will help with pre-clinical materials, the strong work ethic will get the student through the clinical years and through residency.
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