‘Weed-out’ courses stunt student growth
I’m a pre-med student; so is 12 percent of USC’s entering freshman class. But universities across the nation act as though they want that number to be much smaller.
Many science students have labeled certain courses “weed-out classes,” ones that are largely understood to filter out students hoping to attend medical school by overwhelming them with work and encouraging them to drop the classes and pursue a different area of study.
Universities aim to advertise favorable statistics about their undergraduate class, saying that a high percentage of pre-med graduates have been accepted to medical school.
Though these classes are meant to give students solid foundations in the sciences, they are also tools that universities use to improve the school’s rankings and reputation. And as USC looks to consistently improve upon both, it seems to have also embraced that competitive attitude when it comes to pre-med students.
Pre-med courses seem focused first and foremost around the process of filtration: separating the promising future medical student from those who would perhaps be better off in another field. Grading is all about relativity — the curve means everything in pre-med courses. Your score is dependent on the successes and failures of other students, a model which fosters competition rather than scholarship.
After exams, not only is the class average released, but often so is the minimum score. Invariably, students who see that they rank at the bottom of their class will want to drop the course and even switch career paths.
This means that the university is spared from including those students in its graduating pre-med student statistics.
There’s something very flawed with this approach. An introductory biology, chemistry or physics class is not necessarily an adequate reflection of what medical school and the medical profession will be like. When dealing with a patient, a knowledge of taxonomy or electron orbitals have marginal importance.
Memorization and regurgitation — skills that can guarantee good grades in introductory science classes — do not necessarily make good doctors. It’s time for USC and other schools to stop judging students based on their grades in lower division classes.
Many USC pre-med students are being indirectly told that they are unfit for the medical field based on their performance in such classes.
University officials encourage students to experiment and take different classes. But students interested in medical school are subliminally discouraged from taking introductory science courses simply because it’s so difficult to do well in these classes. Non-pre-med students who have interests in the sciences don’t take these courses for these reasons.
USC administrators need to approach their pre-med students with the students’ best interests in mind, instead of compromising their career aspirations for good statistics. Competitive classes should be restructured so that learning takes precedence over statistics.
Adeel Mohammadi is a freshman majoring in biological sciences.
Who on earth wants to be a doctor these days, anyway????
All you guys will end up going into specialties, where you think the money is, and there are far too many specialists out there already. All you guys will do is order procedures, procedures, and more procedures, because, again, that’s where the money is and you’ll need lots of it to pay off your student loans, and, coincidentally, it’s why our health care system is completely broken.
You will pay more in overhead for personnel to file claims and dun people for money than you will in any other expense, even malpractice insurance.
Many of you will start flogging for Big Pharma to make even more money, to make up for what you think you’re not getting but deserve, given all the hubris demonstrated above. Maybe you’ll even sign your name to bad research conducted and ghost-written by Big Pharma. Who knows? If trends continue, many of you will.
“Physician prestige” is going the way of the dinosaurs, kids. You’re on a career path to being a robot. Use those fine minds for something useful, instead.
cool story bro
There are weed out courses, and it would be much better if some of the students at the top of the classes were weeded out based on personality, some MD’s belong in research and never near pt’s. Either way, medicine is a mess and anyone that is weeded out should not regret it, they may be much happier doing something else.
After having worked in healthcare for 30 years, we talked our son out of going to med school. He would have made a great physician and surgeon, but the hassles of medicine are not worth the price paid in hours and dollars.
Those that think Dr’s make a lot of money need to pay attention, the physicians in the front line (primary care) are having problems surviving, and all physicians are having constant issues getting paid from insurance. The hassles of being in medicine these days are beginning to outweigh the benefits. Too many physicians would do something else if they could even though they like the medicine part, the rest of it is driving them nuts. So those that are weeded out, it may be a blessing!
I know little to nothing about the med school route, but relevant or not, I’d prefer my doctors to be of above average intelligence and not at the bottom of the curve in undergrad, LOWER division basic courses. I would also want my doctor to be competent in the sense that they are able to be resourceful. What I mean by this is that if you don’t know the answer, be willing to admit it and bust your butt trying to find the answer. If someone at the bottom of the curve put their absolute all into the class (got tutoring, went to office hours, etc.) and still was at the bottom, then maybe the medical field is not for them. Understanding concepts on the most basic level is imperative in any field, whether the information is perceived as relevant or not. On the other end of the spectrum, if the person at the bottom wasn’t resourceful and proactive, then I wouldn’t want them as my doctor, either. Doctors hold people’s lives in their hands, and I don’t take that lightly. A misdiagnosis can mean a person’s life; so frankly, I don’t care if people are “weeded out.” If a person can be weeded out by one tough class, then they shouldn’t be in the medical profession. Regardless of the university’s statistical intentions, it’s up to the person to step it up a notch and fight through it, and if they get discouraged by one lower division course, then I can’t see them getting through the next 7 years or however long it takes to become a doctor.
beautifully put!
You are hilarious. Just switch out, clearly you can’t handle being a pre-med, and most definitely won’t handle med school (as if you would have gotten in). The days of handholding are over. I hear Annenberg has openings, they’ll welcome people like you in open arms!
Don’t be so condescending. Some people’s passion isn’t med-school. Not everyone is obsessed with the titular prestige of “MD” or the big pay that goes along with it. Different strokes for different folks.
My cousin went to Cal Berkely as an undergrad. She was among of the top of her high school senior class (at a public high school putative for being academically very competitive (Pen High, Palos Verdes)); scored near perfect on her SATs (when it was the 1600 scale); took all honors/AP courses, etc. The O-chem and physics classes at Cal weeded her out. She switched to a “slacker” major, i.e. pyschology with an minor in Asian languages.
Listen, not everyone is meant to be a physician. Pred-med is the most dreaded academic route, with engineering 2nd. Look at the average GPAs and MCAT scores of people admitted to med-schools.
Sure, you probably aced high school level math and sciences courses…But this is collegiate level. All the people who couldn’t hack pre-med go to Marshall; at the UCs it’s either “management science” i.e. econ, or some useless liberal arts.
Oh now naive and cute you are… Competition is reality. Adjust now and stop writing about it. Classes don’t weed people out. There are just smart people and not so smart people. Medical school also has basic science courses. If one can’t succeed in undergraduate Chem 101, one will likely not succeed in the first year medical courses. As a biology instructor, seeing so many premed students make it to senior year and THEN get weeded out when they apply to medical school and are not accepted is pretty sad for me to watch–especially when they have no interest in science except to get into medical school. I think there should be an entrance exam to pre-med programs in undergraduate schools, or even more rigorous benchmarks along the way–barrier exams, for example–music schools have them–why not pre-med programs? This could fix a lot of senior year heart breaks…
Competition is not what the author is talking about. Competition is good. But competition where only 8% are allowed to get A’s, no matter how well one does or how much one learns, is plain ridiculous. I’ve been in these courses and seen the students, and trust me, they don’t learn anything. The one’s that get A’s, except for maybe a few, are the ones who have learned to game the system, find the answers, or just memorize for test questions. They are not learning anything.
Furthermore, more than half of the stuff you learn in these premed classes have nothing to do with medicine and are hardly needed, and that is acknowledged by almost everyone.
Yes, one who can’t succeed in CHEM 101 might not succeed in Med School. But when success means franticly beating out other students by studying for the test, cheating, or manipulating, then we’re no longer on the same page.
Thanks for the input bio instructor, but stick to teaching about the cell cycle and other useless things that most of your premed students will learn and unlearn as soon as they step out your class.
You’re right—you OBVIOUSLY know what you’re talking about… Thanks for totally changing my perspective.
You sound like a GREAT professor…..
I disagree. You’re adept at rationalizing. Perhaps you should switch to philosophy as your major.
I’m a med student at Keck from USC undergrad, and let’s not kid ourselves- this article is idiotic and the people who support the author are just as much so. Stop complaining and do the work. There are a limited number of seats for medical school with more people wanting to attend. Competition is inevitable… not only here, but in medical school and in your professional/personal life. The AMCAS obviously takes academics as a major factor, but they require numerous essays, letters of recommendations and a face to face interview before you’re even granted a seat. So if for some reason you can’t handle the mean, bad system, you can show them your other redeeming factors. But then again, this is medicine, and the AMCAS cites supporting literature on how science GPA and your MCAT is a strong predictor of medical school success.
The pre-meds who can’t handle a curved class do not belong in medical school, plain and simple. Heck, with the few exams I’ve already taken, I’ve already been weeded out from dermatology/opthamology (2 residency seats at USC for example, for the thousands of medical students who apply). Do I blame the system? Sure as heck no, if it’s anybody’s fault, it’s my own.
Well written. I commend those who even make it into med-school because even the pre-med level is ultra difficult. My friend went to Vanderbilt for med-school, UCLA as an undergrad. He told me dermatology was up there when it came to “physician prestige” aka “big money,” lol! I wish I wasn’t so chicken about pursuing pre-med. Oh wells, I hope people like you raise the prestige of Keck med school; I read it rose in ranks recently. Good luck in everything.