# Who here went straight from high school to PAK med school? Input plz



## cooldude89 (Feb 14, 2007)

Who here went straight from high school to PK med school?

Was it hard adjusting to school over their by not having a college education.

People say that med school is harder in Pakistan as compared to America, but don't u have to memorize the same things and give the same amount of effort, what is harder then? The test?

How much free time does one have over their, or is it all study, study, study?


----------



## MedGrunt (Feb 21, 2007)

cooldude89 said:


> Who here went straight from high school to PK med school? Was it hard adjusting to school over their by not having a college education.


well i spent a year in college before i came here, but in terms of education only a couple of things have come in handy from college chem classes. nothing that you can't pick up easily.

the biggest difference that i notice is that people that come straight from high school tend to be more "mummy daddy" as they call it here---they basically aren't used to living on their own and act rather immature. not to worry though because a lot of the locals are very immature so these students are welcomed with open arms.



cooldude89 said:


> People say that med school is harder in Pakistan as compared to America, but don't u have to memorize the same things and give the same amount of effort, what is harder then? The test?


hmm...well i've heard that we study anatomy longer(we spend 2 years) than American schools.
also, Pakistanis are a big fan of memorization so they want students to know *every* little detail in the books---i'm not sure if American med schools place the same emphasis on this.



cooldude89 said:


> How much free time does one have over their, or is it all study, study, study?


unless you're an absolute book worm you'll find that you have plenty of free time. i go to all of the classes and try to just quickly go over the material that we cover each day at home. but unless there's a test or something coming up i don't spend too much time studying. plus you'll realize that there isn't THAT much to do in pakistan so when you actually do need to buckle down and study around test time it makes it a lot easier.


----------



## maik7upurz (Feb 28, 2006)

cooldude89 said:


> Who here went straight from high school to PK med school?
> 
> Was it hard adjusting to school over their by not having a college education.
> 
> ...


I think in a way it would be better coming straight out of high school because you dont have a proper college education to compare Pakistan with. I went to college in USA for 2-3 years before coming to Pakistan and after seeing a real university in USA, these pakistani government medical colleges look like shacks setup with like pocket change comparatively!!!

As far as harder or easier is concerned, it depends on the way you look at it. Its harder to get used to it, they study in more detail as well. But I'm sure in USA it has its own difficulties but in USA you spend 4 years preparing for medical school before joining in the first place. The exam system is super biased and totally unbased upon actual relevant knowledge though.

There is plenty of time to do the things you want to do though but ya in the end you'll find that most local sstudy study study


----------



## MedGrunt (Feb 21, 2007)

maik7upurz said:


> I think in a way it would be better coming straight out of high school because you dont have a proper college education to compare Pakistan with. I went to college in USA for 2-3 years before coming to Pakistan and after seeing a real university in USA, these pakistani government medical colleges look like shacks setup with like pocket change comparatively!!!


hahaha...it's true. whenever i study in the measly little library here i can't help but think about the fact that the library at my old school was bigger than Shifa(the college portion of Shifa that is).


----------



## danny (May 26, 2007)

You’re coming to a competitive field… and a very professional one too.. so do expect some hardship… other then that, from my experience alone, there’s enuff time for leisure, given that you manage your time properly


----------



## Smeer (Jan 29, 2006)

Salam,

I think it also depends on what types of classes you took in high school and how dedicated you were during that time. I recently talked to a friend of mine who attends AIMC, and he told me when it comes time to study for a test, it's pretty much like buckling down and studying for AP tests. Now, if you're someone who never took AP classes and got through high school taking easy classes and getting good grades that way, the odds are going to med. school in Pakistan will be really difficult because you do actually need to study and work hard to get good marks. On the other hand, if you took rigorous courses (like AP, IB, etc.), then chances are it won't be as bad as not having taken such courses. I'm not saying for those who took advanced courses that it will be a walk in the park. In fact, some people go through AP courses without stressing much and just barely passing -- they don't learn the info, but they just rely on review books to "pass the test" without trying hard all year. For such people it's going to be hard to adjust to because from what I understand, it's much harder to slide by like that without actually learning the material.

My point is, the best way to know how hard it will be is to assess what kind of a student you were in high school. If you felt that you truly worked really hard and had a good study ethic, you shouldn't worry too much. If you're accustomed to finding the shortcut to get good grades without studying much (because it is EXTREMELY easy to do that in U.S. high schools), you want to seriously consider whether med. school in Pakistan (or any med. school for that matter) is the right thing for you.


----------

