Do professional school students feel that undergrad prepared them for school?

[Lana_]

This might be a dumb question, but is professional school harder than undergrad, or about the same? Seeing as you have to work hard to attain a high GPA in undergrad... just wondering if it's even harder to pass professional school with the same amount of effort as it took to do that well in undergrad...

 

(Hopefully you know what I mean... If not I'll try to clarify myself...)

[rogerroger]

Well I don't know if this applies to professional school in general, but I can speak for pre-clerkship of medical school.

 

I found undergrad harder. Undergrad was much more intellectual. I also had to develop a whole new skill set to handle large volumes of work under pressure etc. during undergrad.

 

Medical school is very different from undergrad. Sure you still need to digest large volumes of information. However, in medical school there is a very real hands on component. Also social skills are further developed in medical school. You have to work with lots of different types of people. Either through your colleagues or during interactions with patients. So the major challenges are different from what you find during undergrad. It is best to think of pre-clerkship of medical school as having old undergrad types of challenges but with extra new challenges added on top.

 

Also if one's goal as a medical student is to "pass" medical school than I think they are approaching their medical education from the wrong stand point. In medical school how much you learn and how well you learn it is largely dependent on your own drive and will to learn. Heck, most schools have pass/fail. Pass = competent. However, I think most medical students and doctors have higher personal standards. Most don't want to just get by. I think most wish to deliver the best care they personally can deliver and to excel in the art of medicine.

[medschool_hopeful]

Wow rogerroger, great information.

I've got a question for you about what you have said though.

 

You say you had to develop new skills. Could you give us some examples on what these skills were? What helped you to be successful during your undergrad?

 

Thanks in advance