back at home, back at the books

[persipone]

Back from DC. The trip was pretty easy driving-wise, and there was no family angst. Saw the RENT movie with exedore and I was very impressed by it (he was less so). Spent sometime with bluedoran and got to catch up a bit- we haven't seen nearly enough of each other lately. For those of you I missed, I'll have more time over Winter Break, just as soon as I get

Comments

[chelleybelle]

Uh, from your posts you still seem like a pretty hardcore studier to me :) I think you have a really mature attitude about the whole thing, b/c honors or not, you'll all have a M.D. at the end. I think it would be a disservice to your patients if you burned yourself out and lost your enjoyment of the material, because in the long run it's the doctor who keeps up to date and continues learning because they want to, not the doctor who got straight A's for how-many years, who will be able to provide the best care.

[persipone]

Thanks! That's pretty much the attitude I take, too. But-- wow. My classmates. They come into class with their grande lattes every morning, saying how they were up till 4 am studying for that test that isn't for a week and a half. And then they start asking questions about things I didn't even know were in the textbook. It's a little daunting!

[madfedor]

Doesn't your medical experience count as a head start of sorts? I'd have expected you to breeze through some things from sheer familiarity. Besides, you're a bit older and wiser than the average med student starting right out of college.

Or am I misremembering your previous career? I dunno...

[persipone]

Well, I've got a B.S. in biochemistry, and I worked in an ER for a couple of years. So I definitely do have a leg up on a lot of other people- I'm already decent at diagnosis, and I've got biology down cold. That said, I have crammed more new information into my brain in the last four months than I think I did in all four years of undergrad. There is an awful lot to learn. And even so, what they teach you in medical school nowadays is just enough of a background that you can contninue to learn during your residency and later.

Fortunately for me, I enjoy reading scientific journals. . .

[stargazercmc]

I can remember being back in college and hitting a good stride mid-semester. Seems to me the beginning and the end of the semesters were the hard parts. The middle has such a momentum to it that it's easy to swing into your habits and not realize how much work you're doing.

Maybe it's that?

Either way, as long as it's working for you, if it ain't broke...

[persipone]

Actually, I just realized that I'm more at the end of the semester. There are two weeks of class and one week of finals between T'giving and Winter Break. Wow. Final whirlwind of studying and then I have two weeks off! I am so looking forward to it. . .

[bluedoran]

I think perhaps you should make sure that you have a set schedule for studying. I know I have slacked extremely this semester, and it's getting down to the crunch. At the same time, you are very intelligent. I remember my mother studying for hours upon hours every day and telling me she got a slightly better grade in biology than I did. My response was, you made color coded notecards. Who needs that for an intro to bio? So, try for a B in everything, and maybe you'll get an A in some things. I wouldn't settle for less than a decent best. If you really did your best, you would not sleep. Ever. So don't do that. But I never counted you among the lazy people.

[persipone]

Heh. I do have a set schedule, it's just not a very heavy schedule! Not heavy for my fellow classmates at least. 2-3 hours per night and all day on weekends before tests is pretty heavy for me!

And I agree. Really doing "my best"- studying as hard as I possibly can for medical school would put demands on me that would prevent me from doing "my best" at being an Actual Human Being. And since I don't think robots would make very good doctors, that's right out.

Oh, I am definitely one of the lazy people :-). But somehoe I still manage to get it done!