2 ms·

It sounds like you are in a pre-med class? My SO once TA'd for a pre-med class. Holy hell, the students were something else as compared to other disciplines. T

It sounds like you are in a pre-med class? My SO once TA'd for a pre-med class. Holy hell, the students were something else as compared to other disciplines. They literally would not leave my SO's office until they had argued up their grades on every assignment. My SO had to get security to escort them out, I am not joking. If they forgot, say, to multiply by 2 and then got the answer wrong, they still argued for full credit despite the very clear error. There was no shame whatsoever. We figured the other Profs and TAs just didn't want to deal with them, so the pre-meds learned to just wait out the graders to get their grades. To be clear, this was maybe ~15% of the class, but still a lot of students. The Prof was no help with this either and just advised to pass them along. What a mess. I understand that med school admissions is about as cut-throat as it gets, but my lord! It's these pressure cookers that lead to MD burnout and mis-selection. After all those shameless hours in undergrad, then med school hell, you finally get to practice on people just looking for their preferred opioid. Sorry to hear about the mess you are in, but you are right, it's systemic.

labcomputer 6y ago
I experienced the same thing while TAing physics for biosciences for a few semesters (which was 90% pre-meds), though I never had to call security. One apparently needs close to a 4.0 GPA, plus many extracurricular volunteer hours to qualify for medical school, plus glowing letters of recommendation. I also overheard a number of stories about pre-med students intentionally sabotaging other students by misleading them to think that private group tutoring sessions (to study for the MCAT) had been canceled. That experience helped form my beliefs about the driver high cost of medical care in the US. Specifically, that there is no shortage of people who are willing and qualified to be medical doctors, but that doctors and medical schools collude to artificially limit the supply of credentialed medical doctors as a means to increase doctor salaries. As you alluded to, I think it also creates an adverse selection problem, where the people who become doctors are mostly not those with excellent diagnosis skills or bedside manor or ethics, but those who are the most cutthroat and desperate to get into a high-paying career.
- 908B64B197 6y ago
  > I also overheard a number of stories about pre-med students intentionally sabotaging other students by misleading them to think that private group tutoring sessions (to study for the MCAT) had been canceled. These aren't rumors. Pre-meds hate other pre-meds and are conditioned to play a zero sum game against one another. We then expect them to completely flip their attitude and become teams players. Collaborate with other medical professionals (former pre-meds), nurses and social workers. No wonder healthcare is so dysfunctional.

labcomputer 6y ago

I experienced the same thing while TAing physics for biosciences for a few semesters (which was 90% pre-meds), though I never had to call security. One apparently needs close to a 4.0 GPA, plus many extracurricular volunteer hours to qualify for medical school, plus glowing letters of recommendation. I also overheard a number of stories about pre-med students intentionally sabotaging other students by misleading them to think that private group tutoring sessions (to study for the MCAT) had been canceled. That experience helped form my beliefs about the driver high cost of medical care in the US. Specifically, that there is no shortage of people who are willing and qualified to be medical doctors, but that doctors and medical schools collude to artificially limit the supply of credentialed medical doctors as a means to increase doctor salaries. As you alluded to, I think it also creates an adverse selection problem, where the people who become doctors are mostly not those with excellent diagnosis skills or bedside manor or ethics, but those who are the most cutthroat and desperate to get into a high-paying career.

908B64B197 6y ago
> I also overheard a number of stories about pre-med students intentionally sabotaging other students by misleading them to think that private group tutoring sessions (to study for the MCAT) had been canceled. These aren't rumors. Pre-meds hate other pre-meds and are conditioned to play a zero sum game against one another. We then expect them to completely flip their attitude and become teams players. Collaborate with other medical professionals (former pre-meds), nurses and social workers. No wonder healthcare is so dysfunctional.