Do people over exaggerate the difficulty of medical school? Overthinking vs. action

[Giantfan]

Do people over exaggerate the difficulty of medical school?

There seems to be a tendency for people to exaggerate when they speak of difficult things. It's sort of an ego or pride thing, trying to boost the significance of it all, or it can come from just letting lose, and writing it all out in a cleansing effort. There's nothing wrong with any of this, but it can and does happen.

It's not always the writer's fault either. The reader can interpret it in too much of a serious or literal way. And with no perspective on the topic itself, except for imagination, it can really be interpreted in an inaccurate way.

I've done this before myself, when either writing about something, or interpreting something written by someone else, so that's why I am looking into this question.

I want to go to medical school, and as I do my research, it gets exhausting. There are days when I feel really confident about my plan to embark on this journey, and then there are days when "reality" hits, or I read too much negative stuff, and I start to question myself.

And then I think maybe I am just thinking too much and taking everything too seriously.

Sometimes it's good to be prepared, and sometimes it's good just to jump into something and react as you go along.

Too much reading, too much thinking, too much preparing can cause anxiety, self doubt, and even avoidance of doing the thing that you wanted to do, which can result in doing nothing at all in the end.

So sometimes it may be best to maintain your original "dreams" and inspiration from them, and just go for it. Let the chips fall where they may.

Maybe some of you can give me your thoughts on this, in a general sense, and also as it related to medical school etc.

[thinker123]

It is difficult, however, some schools allow you to get through things easier than others.

[DocSAMMD]

in the carib we had to do anatomy in 3 months vs overseas poland, mid east , india where many take it over 2-3 semesters.

Plus again engineering Creativity come on its just numbers and math? I was a fellow engineer when i started undergrad I found it a joke/ that might be harsh yet once u get the hang of it easy. Thats why i entered med school honestly for the challenge plus i wanted to see numbers on a paycheck... in retrospect the numbers now are much lower lool.

Vet school i know is tough and i am not commenting on that. Yet most other fields out there are nothing comparing to med.

[JetBlack]

Yeah, however, in engineering, people are just straight forward and simple. In medicine, you have more sneaky socially manipulative people. They pull a lot of crap I guess, however at the same time you have a lot of very nice people.

[devildoc8404]

Medical with a spouse is easier. What are u talking about a good home cooked meal, laundry and some lovin at night most of my married friends survived med school just because they where married

Easier in some ways... and infinitely harder in others. I have friends whose marriages did not survive med school and/or residency. Then again, if you aren't married, then you might be forgiven for expecting that being a married med student is all about having someone cook for you, do the laundry, and share the same sack. It's not all one-sided, believe it or not, and it can't be if you want to stay married.

Plus, if you add kids to the equation? PLEASE. That is not easier any way you look at it.

[DocSAMMD]

I say get married NO KIDS in MD school awesome support structure

[Molecule of Life]

Yes it is.
Medicine is just memorization and understanding.

However, NO ONE. and I mean NO ONE. Can compensate for the creativity and thought that goes into engineering. Engineering takes thought, application of very complex concepts, memorization, AND understanding. Medicine is just applying memorized algorithms to solve cases.

What makes medicine difficult is the social aspect of it. If you say anything against the doctor clique, they will turn on you in groups. It is a select field because of its social aspect. Only a doctor that has never done engineering will say that medicine is harder than engineering. It is pure ignorance...

Firstly, engineering, although requiring creativity and understanding, is much less demanding in creativity when compared to medicine. Engineering takes physical concepts and applies them to predictable situations... It's mostly a matter of whether or not the math has been applied correctly in the right situation. But with medicine and the infinitely more complicated human body, there's a lot more going on, which makes you more responsive to a wider variety of knowledge. This includes being able to connect the dots even when at face value there seems to be no connection between them. The wider knowledge base also demands a wider creativity base as a result. Even ordering the right diagnostic test to get an idea of the illness is a creative decision per se. Don't view medicine as a linear career because it's not- in fact I would say it's the most flexible, requiring an insightful mind with an innate curiosity and plentiful imagination. In short, the best career choice one could ever choose. So, when it comes to defending ourselves, this is why we jump on you like a pack of hounds (of course, I use the word 'we' lightly).

[rokshana]

Yes it is.
Medicine is just memorization and understanding. Clearly doctors do not remember everything they learn in school... just a very small subset of the knowledge. Computers can compensate for a lot of fields doctors are involved in....

However, NO ONE. and I mean NO ONE. Can compensate for the creativity and thought that goes into engineering. Engineering takes thought, application of very complex concepts, memorization, AND understanding. Medicine is just applying memorized algorithms to solve cases.

What makes medicine difficult is the social aspect of it. If you say anything against the doctor clique, they will turn on you in groups. It is a select field because of its social aspect. Only a doctor that has never done engineering will say that medicine is harder than engineering. It is pure ignorance...

you are obviously not beyond the 1st year (maybe in 2nd) yr of med school...trust me if all you can do is memorize, you will be introuble later down the line...it is not just algorithms...do that you WILL kill people.

[MaxPower311]

Firstly, engineering, although requiring creativity and understanding, is much less demanding in creativity when compared to medicine. Engineering takes physical concepts and applies them to predictable situations... It's mostly a matter of whether or not the math has been applied correctly in the right situation. But with medicine and the infinitely more complicated human body, there's a lot more going on, which makes you more responsive to a wider variety of knowledge. This includes being able to connect the dots even when at face value there seems to be no connection between them. The wider knowledge base also demands a wider creativity base as a result. Even ordering the right diagnostic test to get an idea of the illness is a creative decision per se. Don't view medicine as a linear career because it's not- in fact I would say it's the most flexible, requiring an insightful mind with an innate curiosity and plentiful imagination. In short, the best career choice one could ever choose. So, when it comes to defending ourselves, this is why we jump on you like a pack of hounds (of course, I use the word 'we' lightly).

I spent 2 years in Chem Engineering. It takes a lot of creativity. They don't give you formulas to plug numbers into. That's not how it works. They say "design this, fix this" and it's up to you to do the rest. You have to pull from 4 years of Chemistry, Math, Bio, etc and choose which route to take.

[Giantfan]

Hey guys. Let's get back to the topic.

[DocSAMMD]

I spent 2 years in Chem Engineering. It takes a lot of creativity. They don't give you formulas to plug numbers into. That's not how it works. They say "design this, fix this" and it's up to you to do the rest. You have to pull from 4 years of Chemistry, Math, Bio, etc and choose which route to take.

Sorry still not impressed. Especially when as an engineer there is a ton of trial and error. On patients error is not an option.