What are your thoughts on...

[bubblebath]

10characters

[Jochi1543]

I honestly don't really care, I just focus on myself and my friends.

[Kathryn]

What Jochi said. You've clearly got a good heart, but you can't save everyone. Just worry about yourself. Most of 'em won't even be interested in meds anymore by the time they're done undergrad.

[Octavius]

What Jochi said. You've clearly got a good heart, but you can't save everyone. Just worry about yourself. Most of 'em won't even be interested in meds anymore by the time they're done undergrad.

Most people in my program were sociable, but not many gunning for med (opposite). I see people like this in sci class, not my problem. =) Most people drop out of the med race pretty quickly.

[silvermen85]

there are far less available spots for medical than the people who are interested in it. The process itself will eliminate those who aren't qualified/fit for the profession, although not perfect.

[iwh333]

yeah i use to think like you too, but really just worry about yourself and not anyone else. i in the end, the adcom will be the one weeding out those that they think are not suitable to be in this profession and not you.

[DOC_Ma]

remember marks are cumulative over 4 years which you can't fake but social skills can be trained quickly and anyone can fake well for about 1 hour of interview......However I don't recommend having no social skills but those kids with high marks will most likely get in despite of their real social skills.....the world is unfair what can we do?

[Lactic Folly]

If someone truly has a serious social skills deficit, one has to think about the causes - it will likely take work to remedy and is unlikely to happen quickly. If they are able to pick things quickly enough to do well in the interview, I don't see why they can't continue on to succeed in medical school. It also depends on what type of difficulty is encountered in conversation - you don't necessarily need to joke/socialize with patients but you do need to be able to listen/communicate effectively/make them feel comfortable.

[Kathryn]

I was better at work. I was miss social butterfly when I was seeing patients on the morning lab rounds, but once I left the hospital I couldn't function in the real world. My colleagues thought I was awesome and my family/friends think I'm a loser. Hah.

[NewfieMike]

I generally seem to find a common trend that the people who complain about med gunners with sick GPA's and no social abilities tend to have bad marks and think they have something to compensate because they get loaded both nights every weekend.

 

And the "don't worry about anyone else, only worry about yourself" doesn't make much sense to me as a premed attitude. People who are content with "their personal best" seem to have lost grip from the fact that this is a COMPETITION. Spend time worrying about getting yourself above everyone else.

 

In the end, the majority of the people that get in will have both high marks AND good social abilities. There's no trade-off

[sparkles3288]

I generally seem to find a common trend that the people who complain about med gunners with sick GPA's and no social abilities tend to have bad marks and think they have something to compensate because they get loaded both nights every weekend.

 

And the "don't worry about anyone else, only worry about yourself" doesn't make much sense to me as a premed attitude. People who are content with "their personal best" seem to have lost grip from the fact that this is a COMPETITION. Spend time worrying about getting yourself above everyone else.

 

In the end, the majority of the people that get in will have both high marks AND good social abilities. There's no trade-off

 

Yes it's a competition but what good can it do about worrying about someone else? You can't change their grades, mcat score, ec's, etc. You can only work on improving yourself so that you stand out more as an applicant than perhaps the others do.

[mdDave]

There are a ton of kids in my classes who are gunning for meds, and while they get the marks and everything, they have zero social skills. It is seriously painful to talk to them and I can't imagine having one of them as my doctor. I feel like a lot of them are only wanting to go to med school due to their parents' influence.

 

Do you feel sorry for them? Cause I kind of do... they'll have spent so many years studying hard, but once they get to the interview stage, they will have trouble and I question whether they will even get in.

 

You sound like one of those people who doesn't have great marks and tries to make him or herself feel better by believing they have above average social skills. Before you feel sorry for anyone realize that grades are THE most important part of applications.

Don't judge and feel superior to anyone until you get in.

[iwh333]

 

And the "don't worry about anyone else, only worry about yourself" doesn't make much sense to me as a premed attitude. People who are content with "their personal best" seem to have lost grip from the fact that this is a COMPETITION. Spend time worrying about getting yourself above everyone else.

 

 

you are misinterpreting. it's not about being content with your personal best, in fact it's not about being complacent at all. the fact is, there's no point in worrying about someone else, because what good would it do to you? can you change what they have? No.

[Jamer]

Holy crap people, take it easy. Stop making assumptions! It frightens me to think of some of the pre-meds I know being a doctor, and I can assure you it's not because my grades or application in general are poor. Then about 15 seconds later I stop caring because it has no effect on me and I just hope the ad-com will feel the same way I do

[Jochi1543]

Holy crap people, take it easy. Stop making assumptions! It frightens me to think of some of the pre-meds I know being a doctor, and I can assure you it's not because my grades or application in general are poor. Then about 15 seconds later I stop caring because it has no effect on me and I just hope the ad-com will feel the same way I do

 

 

Honestly, sometimes I wonder about how much of this we will deal with in med school/residency if accepted. It seems that some people definitely have a vested interest in bringing other people down for the sake of competition. How big of a step is it from thinking to doing? I'm sure we've all heard stories of premeds spitting in each other's petri dishes and other tales of horror.

[supafield]

Or take Kin or Health Sciences where your encounters with pre-meds are much less frequent.

[A-Stark]

Honestly, sometimes I wonder about how much of this we will deal with in med school/residency if accepted. It seems that some people definitely have a vested interest in bringing other people down for the sake of competition. How big of a step is it from thinking to doing? I'm sure we've all heard stories of premeds spitting in each other's petri dishes and other tales of horror.

 

Not much from my experience. It's very non-competitive, possibly due to pass/fail, though I can't be sure there.

[alnew]

In the end, the majority of the people that get in will have both high marks AND good social abilities. There's no trade-off

 

Yeah, all med students I've met are very interesting and kind people....save for this one guy - he's like the male version of "Debbie Downer", I kid you not. He seems to be single handedly perpetuating the stereotype. Don't you hate it when one guy ruins it for all of us.

[n00b]

don't feel so sorry for him....he might get in over you

[NewfieMike]

I didn't mean that you should constantly be checking the progress of everyone around you. My point was simply that you should be aware of where you stand w.r.t. the competition. why does everyone post their stats? Same reason

[Jochi1543]

Not much from my experience. It's very non-competitive, possibly due to pass/fail, though I can't be sure there.

 

Yeah, all med students I've met are very interesting and kind people....save for this one guy - he's like the male version of "Debbie Downer", I kid you not. He seems to be single handedly perpetuating the stereotype. Don't you hate it when one guy ruins it for all of us.

 

That's comforting.

[n00b]

everything is meaningless unless you get in

[DOC_Ma]

everything is meaningless unless you get in

 

word......................

[bj89]

lets all just get wasted/blitzed this weekend and screw the med school dream

[Wolvenstar]

You sound like one of those people who doesn't have great marks and tries to make him or herself feel better by believing they have above average social skills. Before you feel sorry for anyone realize that grades are THE most important part of applications.

Don't judge and feel superior to anyone until you get in.

 

I generally seem to find a common trend that the people who complain about med gunners with sick GPA's and no social abilities tend to have bad marks and think they have something to compensate because they get loaded both nights every weekend.

 

And the "don't worry about anyone else, only worry about yourself" doesn't make much sense to me as a premed attitude. People who are content with "their personal best" seem to have lost grip from the fact that this is a COMPETITION. Spend time worrying about getting yourself above everyone else.

 

In the end, the majority of the people that get in will have both high marks AND good social abilities. There's no trade-off

 

 

 

Lol growing up in a household that emphasized my having friends, volunteering in my community, while still getting good grades, meant that while I am smart and do get good grades (my average being a 3.6something right now, thank you health sci classes), I am also rather social. I don't do random volunteering but rather pick volunteering opportunities for programs I think are useful and it usually involved me interacting and speaking with many people.

 

Really the importance is balance, You have to get decent grades because at the end of the day it doesn't matter if people are comfortable around you if you don't know what you are doing.

 

However you can be a decent doctor doing what you are doing, but unless you are House, or the next einstein medical researcher, if your patients think you are a big ass, your usefullness to the medical profession and society will diminish.

 

Still though my biggest pet peeve is people that the two of you remind me of. You are very smart, excell at most of your classes and most subjects, but lack horribly in the social skills department. However you don't think this matters a twit because you are smart and therefore better than everyone else. This profession is about more than just marks, and most of what we learn in our undergrad means **** anyways. I don't really care what your GPA was in comparison to mine, because when we are in med school our undergrad GPA means nothing, but my social skills mean something. You might of had an advantage if I was some rig pig with a grade nine education, but If we are both in med school, that means we are both considered to be rather smart by the standards of society. However now you have no social skills, whereas I can actually connect with my patients, and make them feel comfortable around me, and a I can function in society.

 

I would trade in a stellar GPA, and accept a mediocre one if it meant that I could do that anyday.