Feeling dumb in Med school, how to not compare yourself to others.

Kgpremed12 wrote:

Its just that all these kids are brilliant and I'm in the bottom quartile of the class even though I'm not dumb or lazy. There are people here who have worked for NASA, done research at MIT, won national academic contest, and I just feel dumb compared to them.

First, I am going to say this is an "Elite" problem. Secondly, you've heard what I'm about to say next from your mentors and parentals in the past. What you need to do is concentrate on improving yourself before even thinking about the resume's of others. If you improve yourself the results will come. Just like running did for you.

If you improve your current status from the bottom quartile to say the third and finally second quartiles I think you'd be very satisfied.

Obviously you've gotten into med school so you must be a standout on most levels. You need to become one with your mind and decide that you belong here and you're willing to work harder than anyone else to achieve the results you desire. I think a journey of self discovery is due. And remember, the common denominator in every realistic success story is hard work.

Get to it brother.

There are people here who have worked for NASA, done research at MIT, won national academic contest, and I just feel dumb compared to them.

All this does not really measure intelligence.

Take an IQ test and score 130. That proves you are not dumb even in the best schools.

You're a loser.

Kgpremed12 wrote:

Its just that all these kids are brilliant and I'm in the bottom quartile of the class even though I'm not dumb or lazy. There are people here who have worked for NASA, done research at MIT, won national academic contest, and I just feel dumb compared to them.

Here's how you equalize:

1. Buy plane ticket to Boston.

2. Take taxi to MIT.

3. Spend a few hours reading some books in an MIT library. Make sure to take notes.

This will enable you to claim to have done research at MIT.

You will then join the ranks of those you have decided are the elite. Once you've put yourself on the pedestal you've put them on, success should be automatic just like you imagine it should be for them.

Seriously, consider that you are already in the "elite" just having made it into med school. Of course we all like to be competitive but perhaps school is just not your thing. Work at improving and graduating knowing you did your best. Then take your perseverence into your career and you may be surprised to find out you will quickly overtake your "elite" peers as their towering egos set them up for a huge letdown once they are just another working stiff like you. Academics often stop working hard once there is no grading system to give them an incentive to compete. They get tired and start coasting. If you maintain a solid work ethic throughout your career, you will zoom right past 95% of these people.

Sincerely,

Failed premed student, dropout of elite university, low GPA grad of state U engineering program, overlooked by the "in" companies, who took the least sexy possible job, worked butt off, and helped revolutionize an industry (now very sexy) that is in the news everyday and made me more $ than the Google and Facebook workerbee crowd could ever dream of.

Where do you go to med school? Nobody in my class was all that brilliant, including me. About half the people in my class were total morons. If you're really at a school that is that good, you'll be fine anyway. Also, the qualities that make one a good first/second year student have little to do with success in 3rd year and residency.

Blaming lack of intelligence is a cop out. Students who say "I guess I'm just not smart enough for this" are choosing to blame their difficulties on something they can't change instead of taking control of the things they can change.

You don't have to be a genius to succeed in med school. Nothing you learn is outrageously complicated. It's just that there is an incredible amount of information to learn. It may take some time to figure out what study strategies work for you.

Of course med school is easier for the photographic memory freak who can read through the lecture notes once and be ready for the exam, but that type is a rarity. Most med students are just like you and me: reasonably bright people who have to work incredibly hard to get by.

Forget about your intelligence. You can't change it, so there's no benefit to worrying about it. Just figure out what study strategies work for you.

OP,

I am am MS2 at an allopathic school. Based-off your classmates' accomplishments you're probably at a higher ranked medical school than me.

In terms of IQ I believe myself to be in the lower quartile of the class, but my grades put me in the middle of the class. I have found that people who aren't that bright need to rely heavily on memorization. I memorize 90% of the powerpoint slides because if I don't I fail exams. This is an incredibly time-consuming process meaning I study 10-12 hours a day and the week before a test I put in 100 hour weeks.

Except for the outliers, a lot of my classmates work as hard as me. People in medical school are driven, workaholics. I'm not going to lie: I have hated medical school because of the personal sacrifices. I don't have time to date and haven't got laid in over a year. For a physically fit person in their 20s that's pathetic.

The advantage of being a "dumber" medical school student often means you don't have an ego and typically are a kinder more personable student doctor. A lot of my classmates are jerks and/or are socially awkward. I've been told just to survive the first 2 years at all costs and it will get better. Especially for the weaker, nicer students like myself.

This comes to my advice for OP:

#1 Medical students are liars in terms of how hard they work and the sacrifice. Some lie because they are malicious, others lie because its a coping mechanisms to pretend that they have normal lives, others lie because its embarrassing how much they work and how shitty their personal lives are. I am honest about how hard I work (but would never admit to not getting laid in a year obviously).

#2 Pay attention to yourself. As a runner I learned to never compare myself to those around me because genetics plays such a huge factor. Focus on yourself and keep plugging away. I find staying away from classmates helps me with this; otherwise, I get super anxious.

#3 Keep exercising and participate in hobbies. The reason I don't have a good social life is because the precious time I have is spent on keeping myself sane on what I liked before matriculating.

Oddly, despite how sad my life may seem I am quite happy because I have decided to march to the beat of my own drum and do what I need to stay sane. I also am becoming ridiculously optimistic because staying angry and pessimistic only made me more frustrated. I can't stress enough how important staying optimistic is (unfortunately I can't help you with looking on the bright side of things only you can do that).

I sincerely wish you the best OP. Good luck!

You sound so insecure in your own abilities. I feel bad for you.

As sprinters say, keep it in your own lane.

Davey Gravy wrote:

If you're really at a school that is that good, you'll be fine anyway.

People who get a DO from East Podunk State or the Universtiy of the Canary Islands or wherever do fine.

Also, how hard are you studying? I felt mediocre when I started law school. Then I started doing some serious studying and all of a sudden the other kids didn't seem so bright any more.

When I got to college, I felt something like that at first, because all my fellow students seemed to be either preternatural geniuses or highly cultured, brilliant prep schoolers with national awards and superior athletic ability as well. And that was in fact true. But you can't get caught up on past achievements. There's a clean slate when you enter a new program and you just have to develop the habits that will allow you to succeed. If anything, you can let it work for you positively, instead of negatively, saying that you can beat them anyway. For studying in medical school, I'd suggest that mnemonic practices, such as a memory palace and especially live models to demonstrate for you all the relevant anatomy in 3-D.

cut out the word 'that'.

sounds like you're at an elite medical school. Don't let that discourage you. Like many of the other posters, I studied 10-12 hours a day on top of 4 hours of lecture on my weekdays. I had to learn this incredibly quickly about 2 months into my first term. Everyone needs to find a method.

We had PPTs for every lecture- tests and USMLE were largely based off of these. Often, there weren't many concepts to wrap my head around (maybe a few in physiology) which is vastly different from college. Instead, you need to memorize staggering amounts of information, like drinking water through a fire hose. This requires less intelligence.

I would start studying every day after lecture like this: Read the first slide. Understand it, close my eyes, repeat it, and recheck the slide to see if I missed any details. Move on to slide 2. Do the same, but when I finish re-repeat slide 1 with my eyes closed and re-check it. SLide 3. Then repeat 1 and 2. and so forth. By the time I got to the end of the lecture (around 30 slides) I had it all committed to memory. I would then do the days next lectures this way.

When I finished this, I would then start from the lectures 2 days prior, but since I had spent 3 hours memorizing it 2 days ago and the day before repeating it, I would regurgitate the entire PPT and check what I missed in a grand total of 30 mins. then I would do this for the day priors of lectures. Then I would do every lecture from the week over saturday, and then the week before that on sunday. I always had every lecture memorized for the past 2 weeks. total study time per day: 10-12 hours a day, not including a run and a few breaks every 3-4 hours for 15 mins of chatting with other neurotic students.

It was a slow grind, yes. But the benefits of this method are a few: one, you make studying a competition with yourself. It feels so good when you are able to rattle off an entire lecture in 20 mins with all the details. Second, you are always up to date and do NOT have to cram before exams. You always feel in control. WHen everyone else is freaking out you can repeat every detail of every slide the day before the exam. So not only are you retaining tons of information most of your classmates are not, but you are also encouraging yourself and building confidence every single day. It feeds back on itself and you feel excellent about how you're doing, and this is certainly worth the time and effort you put in every day. Also, break up this with a 45-60 min run and dinner every day, it helps immensely.

Step 1 and 2: mid 250's. Graduated Summa. Currently- EM resident (but could have matched whatever I wanted)

Good luck and do not be discouraged. You're going to be a fantastic doctor, I would bet $$ on it.

You're an inspiration, thanks

humble brag. Nice work.

0/10

Kgpremed12 wrote:

Its just that all these kids are brilliant and I'm in the bottom quartile of the class even though I'm not dumb or lazy. There are people here who have worked for NASA, done research at MIT, won national academic contest, and I just feel dumb compared to them.

reality alert.... everyone in med or grad school feels dumb. fake it till u make it.

You know what you call the person who finishes last in his/her medical school class?

Doctor... (okay maybe not technically)

Since this is a running forum, have you learned nothing from running? There are two general types of people, those that are gifted and those that have to work their a$$ off to achieve the same goal. Remember where the gifted kids that never trained in high school ended up by the end of college? In the end hard work usually beats under utilized talent. The people you mentioned are the gifted ones, things have probably come easy for them and they have gotten by without having to work ultra hard. When the workload becomes tough those people usually falter. Work hard and try to make your self a little better every day, put in all of the extra work and you will make it.

I was in a similar position in graduate school. By the end I had a thesis that I could be proud of.

I'll be honest with you, when I started medical school a lot of my classmates made sure to inform everyone about all the "impressive" things they had done in the past - their Ivy league schools, research, mission trips to Africa, awards, etc.

None of that matters, not even a little bit. I didn't do anything in college but run cross country and track, and drink beer. I studied reasonably hard and did well in my classes. I felt really outclassed and kind of inadequate when I got to medical school and compared myself to everyone else.

As it turns out, I ended up doing just fine in medical school and scored really well on my Step 1 boards exam. So relax. Medical students, on the whole, are a bit narcissistic and way too eager to impress. Most of them are full of crap. Just study hard and do the best you can. Don't worry about comparing yourself to anyone else.