It’s crazy cuz I know doctors well into their 60s who said straight up that their exam score wouldn’t have gotten them into med school today but they’re such great doctors!!
Vast majority of learning and quality comes from doing the actual job, so much of training now is to weed out people who aren't able to deal with learning excessive amounts of knowledge that has no relevance to being a doctor.
they’re great doctors because they came out of med school knowing what they knew at that time, and today, have accumulated so much knowledge over their years of practice to thrive in their fields. It’s absolutely insane how many new skills they have acquired.
Hmm dunno. The “brightest” student in my cohort has zero empathy for people and is a know it all. If he discovers that someone scored higher than him on an exam he starts to despise them. I’m scared for his future patients 😅
Medical school was definitely easier back then but the odd factor is how much longer they worked during residency. Patients literally had to die before hospitals/regulations got the picture that working 100+ hours a week may not be "good".
My mentor Dr. Welch talked about getting into Columbia in 1956. He called their office and asked for an interview, they looked at his GPA and interviewed him and then they liked him enough to offer him an acceptance. He just retired after 52 years of general surgery.
I will speak as a current Ms1, my school has focused on learning the most important material which has been made it much more manageable than I imagine for the classes that came before me. This being said there is still tons of material and I imagine as I go forward it’ll get harder with learning all the new advancements coming out
Older guy here. I would say admissions were easier and less people wanted to become doctors. I would also say the school work was harder, but the newer programs work is not really harder; I think the younger generation are doing more work. Honestly, I think med school is going backwards.
As a Canadian medical student, I can say that the recent emphasis on high-yield study resources has made things a good bit easier for most students. At my school, we have several curriculum-based Anki decks, free access to Osmosis, and student groups/workshops that introduce such strategies to everyone. It may be harder than ever to score consistent A+s (though unnecessary in P/F) and harder to get into med school, however being here hasn’t been as hard as I thought - yet ;)
Hi! That's great to hear about your school! I am a Canadian undergraduate student looking into applying for medical schools in a couple years. Just curious which school you go to?
One of my mentors once told me that unlike every other branch of science, medicine is the only one where Koch's postulates don't apply, because one result is not always readily demonstrable on another independent but similar subject. Why does one guy have BPH at age 50 and another at age 65? We don't know. More than remembering the entirety of Robbins Pathological Basis of Disease or Harrison, it's always best to improve your clinical skills and acquire as much hands-on experience as you can as early as you can. That's what makes a great doctor, not someone who can recite which genes are implicated in familial adenomatous polyposis or something.
The only thing big thing that harder back then was the studying techniques. Cost, acceptance, competition, and more material to learn make nowadays easily harder then it was 50 year ago.
Competition is the driving factor for all other factors. When positions are limited but interest in medicine isn't, you have to find ways to weed out the most competitive and interested individuals.
I teach at a medical school now in the preclinical curriculum, and when I was a graduate student in the 1980s we actually took several courses with medical students (e.g., physiology and pharmacology which in those days were actually separate courses). I don't entirely agree with everything in this video. It is absolutely true that the totality of medical knowledge has increased but it is also true that a much smaller percentage of that knowledge is imparted to students during the four years of medical school. In addition, especially in the preclinical curriculum, the material that is taught is much more focused on very specifically clinically applicable things. In the 1980s medical students were taught aspects of basic science that were of dubious clinical utility. Also, the preclinical curriculum is more compressed in time now. The video says the preclinical curriculum lasts for 2 years, but there are some places where it is only a year and a half. Almost by definition that means that the totality of that material is reduced. There were things we had to learn in a medical physiology course in the 1980s that simply wouldn't be covered now, at least not in detail. At the end of the day humans have a finite capacity to learn material in a particular time span. Medical school throughout history has pushed right to the limit of that. So I would say that it is difficult to say that medical school is more difficult now than it was in the past. Or vice versa. With that said, I think it has been part of human culture since a Intiquity that aging members of a particular generation complain that young people are soft, and young people think that old people are out of touch. Galen's students probably thought that.
Well yea, today was the hardest in terms of the length of years and curriculum you have now but everything is already developed or enhanced. Way back then, medical health practice first started by intuition until they discover and provide health care. and in diagnosis it's to provide because of lacking in technology. New things was just discovered and develop
Medicine is science and art combined! there is ever improving scientific knowledge which is easier than ever to accees due to online courses and conferences! And the more personal clinical experience growth which is ther medical art that comes with years of experience
Pls doctor jubbal,I am an international student who wants to get an admission into medical school in USA but people keep telling is difficult and I don't want to believe it,pls help me out
Come on! It's not like we have to learn all the new information coming out every 2-3 months :D Med school is no easier or harder then it was back then. It always was, is and forever will be a grind. Stop whining and go back to your books ;)
Join committees, sports clubs, councils, some volunteering opportunities let you be a leader. Need an open mind and general interest in leadership in order to find it.
