Guest Blackbird15 Posted July 19, 2003 Report Share Posted July 19, 2003 Hey medicator, I was hoping you could answer some questions/concerns. See, I was watching Legally Blonde (for perhaps the fifth time) last night, and since I am the kind of person who thinks that real life is exactly like in the movies, I started getting worried... See, our heroine, Elle Woods, follows her college ex-boyfriend to Harvard Law school on a whim. She shows up to the first day of class ill-equipped and ill-prepared, and the target of jokes by her hyper-ambitious, overachieving classmates. I started thinking to myself, 'would the same thing happen to me?' What can I do to avoid Elle's predicament? Should I already be shopping for textbooks and buying the 4-volume set of Fun! Fun! Fun! Physiology! and Absolutely Outrageous Anatomy! Is a laptop a must-have accessory for all up and coming first year med students? Also, poor Elle majored in Fashion Design, which was an obviously inadequate preparation for law school. I'm beginning to worry that my own undergrad course selection of ecology and wildlife biology may not have prepared me any better for med school. How do the students with 'non-traditional' undergrad degrees fare at McGill? Finally, while Elle's parent's were rich Bel Air socialites who could foot the bill for Elle's expensive impulses, mine are going to be somewhat less helpful. How do the students pay for everything? What bank gives students the best deal? Any insights or answers to any of these questions would be greatly appreciated. In any case, I just have to remember that our plucky heroine triumphs in the end and hopefully, so will I. take care, Blackbird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jbish Posted July 19, 2003 Report Share Posted July 19, 2003 Ok, I don't really have any advice for this since I am an M-zero as well, but I just wanted to say how much I love this movie. It may stem from the fact that I, like Elle, wear a lot of pink. I can, however, tell you that I am not doing any studying/prepping for class so at least one other person will be on page 1 on Aug. 18. And, if you did well enough on the MCAT to get in, your science background is just fine. I do own a laptop, but it- along with my fuzzy heart-shaped notebook- will be staying at home for lectures. As for money--I'm taking out big student loans and looking forward to years of debt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest medicator007 Posted July 20, 2003 Report Share Posted July 20, 2003 Hey Blackbird (and others), It's a good thing you provided a synopsis of the film b/c I can safely say that I havent seen it. However, here are my answers to your perfectly valid (AND normal) questions: As a preview to a speech you'll receive from the Dean on your first day... " The admissions committee does not make mistakes, if you are here right now its b/c you deserve to be" That being said there are plenty of people with "un-traditional" degrees in my class (physics, engineering, eng lit, music) and all are getting by just fine. On a more specific note to you, I did my undergraduate degree in Organismal (largely parasite) Biology and so my only exposure to physiology was in turtles, tapeworms and various protozoans. My undergrad is JUST as non-traditional as yours and I made it to second year just fine! While several of my colleagues with physiology,biochem or microbio degrees found certain topics easier, in the end everyone in the class does ok. There are times when you will feel that they have made a mistake in taking you: Typically in the middle of February when the weather is horrible and you are stressed about learning zillions of enzyme pathways; but I assure you that EVERYONE is feeling that way. Textbooks: While everyone learns differently, the best advice I received from friends in Upper Years was NOT to by many books. The faculty will reccommend tons of books that can well cost you several thousand dollars if you buy them all. Certain books are definately worth it (such as Netter for anatomy, Robbins for patho, Clinical Microbio made ridiculously easy)... but by and large I found that by studying the course notes you can easilly pass any unit. Laptop: This is by no means necessary. I personally own one due to work requirements, but many of my friends have gotten by just fine without one. To the best of my recollection there was only one time when we needed to have laptops in small groups and in that case you can be sure that one of the students will have one. However, you really want to make sure you have internet access! We get loads of emails from the faculty with important information, as well the e-curriculum (you'll hear more about this at orientation) can be pretty useful, library has many great online resources as well. While there is a GREAT computer lab at the McIntyre building... having internet access at home is a great perk. Money: I'm really not the best person to ask about this, having worked more or less full-time for the past several years I am currently hitting the savings for my funding. I know that most of my classmates do the LOC deal and my annecdotal hearing says that TD-Canada Trust seems to be quite popular. Hope that helps, and while the heroine may have succeeded; more importantly.... you will ALL make it to second year!!! Medicator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest faraway03 Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 Hello Blackbird15, Similarly, I sometimes also believe that real life is like 'reel' life. I watched Legally Blonde while preparing for my finals in 2001, and I was feeling really de-motivated and just couldn't bring myself to continue studying.....so I took a break and watched Legally Blonde. Ironically, it was Elle Woods who inspired me to pick up that textbook and really give my all for the exams! Mainly because if Elle Woods, a girl who is so clueless about life, could just turn things around, even when she hated where she was (Harvard) and get a JD in the end, what do I have to complain about a final! :\ Hmmm.......I am residing in a country that is just miles and miles from Canada, and so it seems practically for me to start thinking about a few textbooks before going to Montreal. I just might get textbooks cheaper from where I am, since I enjoy a cheaper dollar. But there would be a limit to the number of books i can bring across the Pacific Ocean because carrying a whole suitcase of books is no fun at all! So any advice on which books would be excellent buys, apart from Netters, Robbins and Berne/Levy? And I have an old laptop from my undergrad days which I'm bringing along with me. Can't afford sleek-looking laptops like Elle does. I wonder how Legally Blonde 2 is going to be like. But other than that......I have not done any Med-0 studying for Med-1. I think its going to be a laborious, tough and gruelling 4 years so I'm just enjoying life before I face the music. And as for Pre-medical training, as Medicator has said, if we did fine in the MCAT and the admissions committee chose us, I think we should have faith that we will all get by in the end. And though I majored in Physiology, the other day, my friend was pointing to her chest and asked me, "is this where my heart is?" and I froze for like 10 seconds before finally saying, "it's actually on your ri...left, dear...." So much for pursuing a traditional major :rollin . I think it is just going to be difficult for all of us in one way or another. I am probably going to have difficulties distinguishing between pathways too, I have been out of school for about a year. :eek See all of you real soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dfenst Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 I'm approaching the end of my masters (4 days left woohoo!) and so I've gotten to thinking about next month and how I only have 2 weeks b/w the end of one grueling program and the start of an even more grueling one. I'm looking forward to it very much, but hope this past year doesn't count towards reducing my burnout threshold. :\ I don't think the MCAT is a great indicator of how we'll do in med school, but maybe that's because I didn't do so hot on it and I'm in need of an excuse . I think it's more a marker of how we do on standardized exams and having to read lots of dense information quickly. When we're studying for our med exams, we won't be on the clock as much as on MCATs or USMLEs. I also come from a non traditional undergrad (BCom in infotech) and, starting my grad year this year (a course-based masters covering most first year med classes - Histo, Biochem, Anatomy, Physiology, Neuro, Embryo), I was worried that I would be behind others who had done pure science undergrads. This was not the case. While the information is thick and requires a lot of patience and diligence, it's not (for the most part) terribly confusing. There is just a lot of memorizing and being able to apply these memorized facts to new situations. Without having had a science background but having studied for the MCAT, we won't necessarily be experts on cell bio, but we'll know the organelles, organs, and main physiological systems by name and probably what their main function is. We won't necessarily know every nerve or blood vessel by name, but that's why we're going to learn so much this year! I think we'll be fine and when we're done our first unit, we'll be so numb from studying, passing, and drinking off our first mcgill med exam, that the fears we had on day 1 will long be forgotten. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blackbird15 Posted July 21, 2003 Report Share Posted July 21, 2003 Hey medicator and co. Thanks for the replies and info! Particularly the part about my admission into meds not being a colossal mistake... When I got my acceptance letter, I actually thought about taking a summer course in physiology to prep a bit, but none was offered at concordia or mcgill. Just as well. I went travelling instead and had a great time! As for the money issue, there's a really good post on the LOC topic in the Dalhousie thread. Allright, less than four weeks left... Hopefully Meds will be just like undergrad, but, like, funner! take care, Blackbird P.S. Faraway, I'll take a guess and say that you're in...Australia/new zealand! Also, Legally Blonde 2 wasn't nearly as good as the first one... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest faraway03 Posted July 22, 2003 Report Share Posted July 22, 2003 I totally agree that performance of standardised tests don't correlate well with performance in school or in our situation, certainly doesn't predict our success as doctors. Hahaha, maybe I'm comforting myself for not getting a really stellar MCAT score tool! I guess what I meant was if we satisfied the pre-requisites for the medical program, which probably found its way to helping us for the MCAT, and got selected by the admissions committee, we probably will work our way through med school in some way or another and possibly do just fine at the end of the road! And more on Med-0 preparations....for a guy who never learnt french till post-adolescence..and as a result haven't got very far in this 3rd language, I decided to spend the last few months re-taking some evening classes in French . dfenst, your course-based masters does sound like a great prelude to the entire med-1....looks like u just might be cruisin' through med-1 :smokin ! I really dread all the memory work that has to be done.....and i don't disagree that at times, the only way to go about things is to just commit the content to memory....sadly :\ .....And having been out of school for many months, i think it's going to be tough getting into the swing of things for me and working that rusty brain of mine. so i'm really looking forward to getting pass Unit 1, I bet, by the end of September, we would have a whole new perspective to what we thought was medical school! Hope it wouldn't be a demoralising perspective . Blackbird15, I think travelling and taking a break might be just the right preparation for medical school, myself included! Going to McGill for medicine is in fact a huge 'travel stint' for me. I am actually in Singapore...a little more North and tropical than the locations you have guessed. And I will be catching LB2 before departing for montreal and judge for myself if its a big let down. See u all soon 8o ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.