Is med school hard or is just like studying for any other course?

Question

I'm at uni but have released that i want to be a doctor but I'm not good in chemistry. am i gonna have a hard time at med school? for now I'm studying a combined studies course but desperately want to be a doctor what can i do to get into med school.

Answer 1

First of all, if you even want to try to get into med school, you need to get into an appropriate undergrad program.  Med school has a lot of very specific requirements.

And yes, depending on what sort of medicine you want to get into, quite a bit of chemistry is required, and you do have to understand it.

Med school is hard for a reason.  You wouldn't want someone who BSed their way through school poking around at your innards with pointy objects and lasers, now would you?

Answer 2

Most medical schools in the US require FIVE chemistry courses as the minimum for entry to med school:  2 semesters of general inorganic chemistry, 2 semesters of organic chemistry, and 1 semester of biochemistry.  You can't fake your way through these classes - the material is much too difficult, too detailed, and too important.  And yes, when you get into medical school, your professors are going to assume that you not only TOOK your chemistry classes, but that you LEARNED and UNDERSTAND the material.

The human body has thousands of chemical processes going on every second of every day.  A doctor needs a good grasp of chemistry to understand what the body is doing, why it does it, what can go wrong, why things go wrong, and how to treat the processes that are out of balance or not working.

Talk to your chemistry professor about tutoring.  If you need to take a chemistry class a second time in order to understand it, then take it that second time.  Find classmates to study with.  Find more advanced students who can tutor you, or hire a private tutor.  

If you really want to be a doctor, you CAN.  It's just going to take more work for you to slay that chemistry dragon.   But you can do it, if you are willing to put in the extra time and effort.

After my third semester of chemistry, I changed my major and decided that becoming a doctor or a physician assistant wasn't a reasonable career goal.  For me, I don't want ANYTHING badly enough to suffer through any more chemistry classes!

Answer 3

Chemistry course is most confusing course that students find, if you don't like chemistry, it will be tough for you. almost half of the students in chem class don't know what the h**l is going on. Other than Chem, if you are good at memorizing you are fine... but if not... prepare to... DIE

Answer 4

my cousin is in med school right now.

she has her B.A. in english, and claims that she 'never really understood organic chemistry.'

i have my B.S. in chemistry so i sorta wanted to kick her.

depending on the degree you're pursuing (probably something in the biological sciences area) o-chem will probably be as high as you have to go in chemistry, and it is the easiest chem class you'll get. it's all memorizing reactions. you'll probably have to take a biochem class or two along the way also, which are also not difficult.