Things you wish you knew in university

[MedDream]

In no particular order:

 

- learn to cram. I don't give a **** how smart you are, some exams are so goddamn specific that there is no way you will remember that **** if you learned it 2 months ago in your 'steady reading schedule' without CRAMMING LIKE A MAD MAN.

 

- Do your MCAT once. Don't be a little ***** and do a half ass job the first time. Study long, hit it once, hit it hard. A second or third summer spent preparing for a test makes you obsolete.

 

- keep your gpa balanced. 1 grade in the 70's will destroy a term full of 3.9's and 4.0's. DESTROY.

 

- **** medical school. find something you are interested in (that might even yield a career outside of medicine!) and do that LIKE A MAD MAN. at the end of the day, you will achieve WAY MORE, win MORE AWARDS, get BETTER REFERENCES, and be way more RECOGNIZED than the premed who logged 4000 hours volunteering in a goddamned emergency room. Try that stuff out a bit too, but if you want a kick ass interview and life in general, do something kick ass.

 

- Do not take bird courses. That **** is a disservice to you, your mother, and society in general. I mean some courses you take will be easy, but don't go for stuff just because its easy. Take stuff that builds on past work and makes you a smart cookie. I ****ing hate premeds.

 

- Be serious about school and your involvements outside of school, but when its time for exams, **** YOUR INVOLVEMENTS OUTSIDE OF SCHOOL and do your tests well! as others have stated, no amount of ****ing girlscout leadership **** will ever rescue your loser GPA. now I dont mean you need a 4.0 or anything, but make sure your GPA is consistently strong, and ESPECIALLY IN THE LAST 2 YEARS DON'T **** UP NEAR THE END!!!!!

 

- be an interesting and serious mother****er because the problems the world faces are interesting and serious. and NONE OF THEM will be solved by 4000 hours of nursing home volunteering.

 

- take on the big problems in your undergrad. Poverty, disease burden, quality of care, medical errors, cost of medical care, etc. Stop ****ing selling goddamned cupcakes and patting yourself on the back for raising $100 for the ronald mcdonald house. A ****ing monkey can do that. If you come up with a iphone app that sells like mad and raises money for the ronald mcdonald house, thats a different story.

 

Now GO GET SOME!!!!!!

 

And for the record, I did not have a 4.0 gpa, I only applied 1 time, got many interviews, have won many awards (NOT A DAY OF HOSPITAL VOLUNTEERING), have been accepted early, And I'm nowhere near a genius, I just have the attitude that there is important work to be done. NONE OF WHICH INVOLVES PAINTING THE SIDE OF A ****ING SCHOOL IN PERU. THEY ALREADY HAVE PAINT AND PEOPLE WHO CAN PAINT. If this is your version of saving the world, **** your ****.

 

This just made me laugh so hard! Well said. I don't have any hospital volunteering so this makes me feel a bit better

[Guest copacetic]

I wish I knew to transfer out of U of T as quickly as possible

[bored]

how much harder upper year courses are.. it doesnt get easy at all like many ppl said it would

[Larrivee]

how much harder upper year courses are.. it doesnt get easy at all like many ppl said it would

 

Doesn't get easy, but hopefully by now you've established somewhat decent study habits which make the workload more manageable. The content, at least at my school, is ever increasing in complexity and in some cases volume, but it is less stressful than first year for sure because I know what I am doing and I know roughly what teachers expect of students. Also, class sizes seem to be much smaller in upper level making it easier for me to pay attention, approach the prof, and no TAs marking papers. You also get to know a lot of people by upper level so you have a lot of people you can ask questions to if you are not understanding something.

 

For these reasons I find upper year courses somewhat "easier", or more accurately, easier to handle than first year classes.

[hking03]

Doesn't get easy, but hopefully by now you've established somewhat decent study habits which make the workload more manageable. The content, at least at my school, is ever increasing in complexity and in some cases volume, but it is less stressful than first year for sure because I know what I am doing and I know roughly what teachers expect of students. Also, class sizes seem to be much smaller in upper level making it easier for me to pay attention, approach the prof, and no TAs marking papers. You also get to know a lot of people by upper level so you have a lot of people you can ask questions to if you are not understanding something.

 

For these reasons I find upper year courses somewhat "easier", or more accurately, easier to handle than first year classes.

 

I agree with you on this one Jake.

 

It's not that the course material is easier... but rather you've become accustomed to the routine of undergraduate education. You know what study habits work for you, what the typical prof is looking for, what information to focus on... you essentially become a veteran of the education process and know what you can get away with. In a way, the whole thing does become easier because you recognize what you need to do and are comfortable with the 13 week semester, mid term, paper and final format... but like I said, the course material can be a little more challenging.

[stack444]

bump..any new thoughts on this now that exams/the year is almost done?

 

edit..im not sure if this was meant for med students or undergraduates but i just assumed the latter, oh well

[simpy]

bump..any new thoughts on this now that exams/the year is almost done?

 

edit..im not sure if this was meant for med students or undergraduates but i just assumed the latter, oh well

 

1) Do not pick the most attractive [gender you are interested in] in your lab to be your lab partner.

 

2) Do not pick the second most attractive [gender you are interested in] in your lab to be your lab partner.

 

The first mistake was made by a housemate, the second by yours truly.

 

A little more seriously, one thing I would also do is to think about ECs that might improve your interview skills. So many people focus on GPA, MCATs, etc without realizing how much weight rests on the interview. Granted, some people get multiple interviews and are likely to get in by sheer probability, but lots of people only get one or two interviews. You need to shine.

 

So get out of your box a little bit. It's uncomfortable to go by yourself to a new club you're interested in. I went to a food club event after returning to school, just randomly by myself (didn't know anyone). Some of the people I met there I now count among my dearest friends. It's also a great opportunity to build experience meeting new people.

 

Think about being an RA (or Don, or whatever it is). Great fun and excellent experience and interview prep skills.

[iicii]

sounds like you went to mac

 

 

12. Don't take more than 2 complete bird courses per year. By that I don't mean take 8 hard classes. You can take some science classes because they are supposed to be easy. But I mean don't fill your schedule with things like "Gemstones", "Natural Disasters", "Intro to Mythology", etc. Take some bird courses for fun and easy marks, but too many just makes for an ugly transcript lol.

[Renin]

I agree with you on this one Jake.

 

It's not that the course material is easier... but rather you've become accustomed to the routine of undergraduate education. You know what study habits work for you, what the typical prof is looking for, what information to focus on... you essentially become a veteran of the education process and know what you can get away with. In a way, the whole thing does become easier because you recognize what you need to do and are comfortable with the 13 week semester, mid term, paper and final format... but like I said, the course material can be a little more challenging.

 

You know; I still haven't gotten used to that stuff.

*makes quacky duck noises and flaps arms*