With four weeks until the end of semester and taking a break from physics exam review I thought I’d post about this thing that is a bit of a thorn. I have not met a single trad premed who has any real clue of what it takes to get into med school. Heck even pre-PA’s are clueless. Kids struggling in calculus deciding that medicine isn’t for them…or taking it because it is mandatory at “every school they plan to apply to.” The topic has to do with how these kids are incredible at texting but don’t know the first thing about google and trust what “a friend” said versus looking for the info. I mean, man alive! Premed advisor’s who don’t communicate and when they do I can somewhat understand why they give such bogus advice. If you cannot even take the time to figure out what is required to get into med school, that says a lot. A list of what I’ve counseled these kids on:
-an undergrad is required which means bachelors not associates
-all bad grades aren’t replaced by good ones
-your state school has to accept you and stats don’t matter
-calc isn’t a universal requirement
-being Black/Brown is a guaranteed acceptance
-what’s DO?
-med school is 2 years, PA school is 4
-…there’s more I just don’t remember right now
A few of these kids went back and forth with me about the med school prereqs and how they “know” this school requires this or that, one being A&P. I pulled out my iPad and went on the sites to show them what was required. The look on their faces was like “what is this crazy magic contraption and what is the secret combination to arrive at these magical pictures of info?” In class they are texting a mile a minute but can’t seem to use their smart devices to search for what they are in school for…?
I’m just amazed. I thought this was limited to my nephews/nieces but not at all. Just leaves me speechless. Heck I had a classmate friend me on Facebook who wanted to have a “heart-to-heart” as to why I as a Latino I was Muslim. Muslim? Where’d you get that idea? I saw your post on FB… So not only is googling too much but it seems actually reading is a bit much. I’ve been outraged at my family kids behaving this way but it’s not just in my family.
Cranky middle-aged old fart rant over.
Silver lining - these are the same kids who show up to interview day in jeans or casual dress. And that makes them one less person we’re competing with for a seat.
But I know what you mean. The very basics I’ve found classmates don’t know: what the 3 sections of the MCAT are, that you’re not allowed to use a calculator, what a DO is, that you need a year to apply to med school in general.
It’s just nuts. I won’t even get into how entitled many of them are…we old foogies ain’t perfect, I’m just tired at how “tech savvy” they claim to be and yet aren’t willing to use the tech for anything more than what amounts to gossip. Heck that is essentially what I’m doing here however I also know how to jump on the google and find the info I need and even find phone numbers to call a school or send them an email for more information… but a “friend” trumps that info apparently. Shheeeesh!
Well off to ace a physics exam…Lord-willing and the creek don’t rise.
It is very strange indeed the gaps in knowledge/drive/informati on. During the day I teach grades 6 -12 at a high school and I also teach adjunct at a community college. While I have come across some really savvy students , far and large students want you to hand them the information and look up everything for them. They don’t read critically and if something takes more than a minute or two to look up they want to give up. For these reasons I have started building assignments that force them to do these sorts of things. They fight this despite the fact that my high school is a 1:1 laptop school.