Question re: Med School schedule

I have a question for those who have been through all four years of medical school. I understand the daily schedule for classes can vary depending on which school one attends. For example, some class schedules (years 1 & 2) only go until noon, while others are equivalent to a full work day. Would someone be willing to give a breakdown of what their week looks like for each year of school–from classes to clinicals? I’ve seen general info about what each year entails, as far as either didactic or clinicals, but not a specific schedule.


Thanks!

You can view the University of Washington’s class schedule for first and second year students here:


http://uwmedicine.washington.edu/Education/MD-Prog…


Click on either first year or second year, and then scroll down to the quarter you want to look at and click on the link for the “planning schedule”. The calendar link requires at UW login, but the planning schedule anyone can see. Looks like second year students don’t start until noon most days and first year students go most of the day

Not trying to be facetious here, but what exactly are you looking for?


As you said, schedules are extremely variable. I could give you my specific day to day schedule (as well as I remember it, anyways), but its only my schedule. Even students on the same rotation can have widely different schedules. For example, on ambulatory medicine, I worked with a doc who only had office hours from 1-5 in the afternoon (he saw hospital patients in the morning). I would come in and work with his NP on Monday and Wednesday, so my M/W was generally 9-5, Tues/Thurs 1-5, no Fridays. Some of my other students were with preceptors who were in the office from 8-6 (or later). Same with surgery - I was on a rotation where our surgeon would often operate past 10pm 2-3 nights a week, so we would come in around 5 am and rarely leave before 6-7 pm. Other students had more 7-5 hours or often got to go home before that. Some people didn’t have to go in on weekends unless they had assigned “call” - I usually had to go in and round at least one day per weekend. Psych - my hours were 7-5:30 with my preceptor. Other students on the same floor with a different preceptor would come in at 8ish, round with the attending around 9, and pretty much be done by noon (I would literally see them for maybe 2 hours out of the day - One day, they came to 1pm lecture after being at the gym).


Fourth year rotations vary even more, because people are taking so many different rotations.


Are there specific questions you have?

Thanks to each of you for your responses. I know this is a difficult question to ask b/c of the schedule variability from school to school and person to person. If you could even just give your individual schedule for each year of school, that would be helpful. If given a variety of possible schedules, I hope to gain an idea of what my life “might” look like during those four years. I know it’s hard to give an exact answer representative of everyone, but I’m just looking for individual responses.


The fourth year is the one which eludes me the most, because I’ve heard most people say that 4th year is a cake walk compared to the other 3. Is this really true? And exactly what is a cake walk in comparison? :slight_smile:


Thanks again!

What “life” looks like in med school…try not sleeping for at least 30hrs and then napping in a chair or with your face in a book. Also, avoid seeing your family more than a few hurried short periods of time per day for months on end.


Not to be sarcastic, until you have walked in our shoes, the experience cannot be described in any manner that wold be meaningful to you. Why? A multitude of reasons far beyond “schedule variability” b/t programs. Primarily it will have much to do with how you deal with stress, fatigue, high-intensity learning at a blazing pace and demanding, intense emotionally investing situations…oh, and let’s not forget the substantial competition between class members.


I am not trying to make it sound like prison or “Shutter Island”. If you have chosen correctly & ‘get off’ by being pushed to the limits of your intellectual abilities - you will love it. You will be simultaneously challenged and rewarded at a level different than anything you have experienced.


But, it is damned hard…VERY damned hard. It is frought with pitfalls and hazards to your sanity the sanctity of your relationships and your ethics that you hold near & dear. In a word, it is humbling to even the most brilliant people surrounding you.

I concur with OMD

  • In reply to:
I concur with OMD

Tara Cook, MD

United States Military Academy, Class of 1995

Towson University, Post-bacc 2000-2001

University of Maryland School of Medicine, Class of 2006

General Medicine Interniship, University of Maryland Medical Center, 2006-2007

Neurology Residency, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, 2007-2010



Note the previous poster went thru the rigors of the United States Military Academy at West Point. With that comparison in mind, tec's view of a med school schedule and life should be taken most seriously.

BTW, tec will is on the final stretch on her path. Residency end will end in June for Dr. Cook

Way to go Tara!

Thanks Rich


I consider myself someone who had experienced a lot of situations that would prepare me for med school and residency, and there were still situations that took me to my limits and beyond (almost quit residency 3 times, never thought about quitting West Point).

  • OldManDave Said:
What "life" looks like in med school...try not sleeping for at least 30hrs and then napping in a chair or with your face in a book. Also, avoid seeing your family more than a few hurried short periods of time per day for months on end.

Not to be sarcastic, until you have walked in our shoes, the experience cannot be described in any manner that wold be meaningful to you. Why? A multitude of reasons far beyond "schedule variability" b/t programs. Primarily it will have much to do with how you deal with stress, fatigue, high-intensity learning at a blazing pace and demanding, intense emotionally investing situations...oh, and let's not forget the substantial competition between class members.

I am not trying to make it sound like prison or "Shutter Island". If you have chosen correctly & 'get off' by being pushed to the limits of your intellectual abilities - you will love it. You will be simultaneously challenged and rewarded at a level different than anything you have experienced.

But, it is damned hard...VERY damned hard. It is frought with pitfalls and hazards to your sanity the sanctity of your relationships and your ethics that you hold near & dear. In a word, it is humbling to even the most brilliant people surrounding you.



and your family members won't understand why you can't do certain tasks because 'all you're doing is studying'....which they equate to preparing for a university level course....in med school when the prof says have a casual familiarity with a desk, he wants you to be able to tell him whether the screw on desk #4 against the library window has a right or left hand twist, what the dimensions on the screw are, where the majority of the screws are manufactured, what sort of process is used in the manufacturing, and which mine the ore came from and who, in general, mines the ore for the mining company and how much they're paid on an hourly basis and whether or not the pay qualifies for social security......

and that's a cursory knowledge of desks......

Without taking anything away from the men and women who have gone through the POW experience, I liken it to 'brainwashing'....you subject the person to sleep deprivation, then yank them out of their environment and place them in a strange, new environment with objectives and standards that keep being changed on a daily basis, subject them to embarassment in front of their peers for failing at a particular mundane task (in this case, memorizing the factoid of the day that THIS particular attending thinks is important for the board exams) and always have the threat of doing lousy on boards or flunking out hanging over their head as the background, subtle stress inducer.....you now have a pliable individual who is ready to accept whatever you tell them in that mental state so you can build them up into whatever you want them to be.....

The schedule on it's face looks doable...it's just that what you mean by 'studying' and what medical school means by 'studying' are two entirely different beasts.....