<p>My DD is ADHD, bright but pretty average in school. Well she wants to be a physical therapist which is a really competitive grad school with like 30 slots per year per school. She’ll have to buckle down. Yes she waits until the last minute to start a paper but something has kicked in this year and she has the highest grades she’s ever had so far for the first quarter. My advice to her - nothing but plain old studying will do. You’ll just have to buckle down, OP. Schedule everything including exercise and sleep (use a planner or a white board).</p>
<p>cm,
The best advice, agree 100%, there is nothing else there. If something is harder than other things, then take more time, put more efforts and forget if you personally like the class or not, irrelevent. My D. has spent the most of her efforts in classes that she not always liked at all (and actually disliked) and for some reason they are harder for her than for others. The big in HS was History, one of the biggest in college - Orgo. In all conceptual classes, make sure that you got concept right. Talk to prof. in case you have a slightest doubt about your understanding. One thing college kids feep forgetting, there is a lot of help out there that tuition payments are covering, it is not only lectures. People who use every help that is available to them at college, formal and informal, will get ahead…and will have other advantages, like improved communication skills and possible great LOR from a prof. who remembers you better after numerous discussions…
Happy for you D’s turnaround, cmgrayson!
Sometime it just takes a person to reach another tiny step up in maturity level…and it wil do the trick. the light at end of the tunnel -oh, all I have to do is just do the work and there is no mystery there.</p>
<p>Okay, now here is the voice of experience, what you describe fit me to a T. I coasted through school, before high school I rarely studied, did the homework I had to, and had a 4.0…and even in high school before I started hitting the upper level science and math courses, I didn’t study much, and got A’s…then the hard stuff hit, and I went down…</p>
<p>One of the problems that the people who say “bright kids can take care of themselves” don’t want to acknowledge is that the lowest common denominator approach of schools hurts kids like that, because the way the schools are set up it comes too easily. Kids like that end up in two tracks, they either zone out and coast <em>raising hand</em>, or they get bored and act up, which these days often gets them (mis) diagnosed as ADD. And it is hard, it isn’t that I am lazy, or I don’t know how to manage priorities, in my professional career on the other hand I have to juggle a lot…and am known for handling i t, working out solutions. It is why my son went to private school, they emphasized study skills along with helping him stay challenged, they made the kids do things like take notes, organize them, and show they knew how to do it, they didn’t let them get by by just coasting. The rough equivalent to that would be a piano teacher that let a student listen to them play a piece, then play it back by ear…</p>
<p>I highly recommend seeing if the school has study skills workshops, they did when I went to skill, and take it. If not, there are probably third party places that have things to help you figure out how to do it,there is an art to it. It is one of the reasons it is often better to be someone who is merely ‘intelligent’ but who has to work, than to have it ‘come easily’. This is where what Gladwell and others have said, potential, no matter how high, means little on its own, you have to work at it, the most gifted ‘natural’ musician doesn’t get anywhere without teaching and practice, in whatever form it comes.</p>
<p>Could there be other issues? Yeah, but what you write about hits really close to home…and other are correct, whether it is good or bad doesn’t matter, medical training including pre med is both rigorous and requires a lot of grunt work…Organic Chemistry is a beast, it requires a lot of memorization, it requires an approach to understand the concepts that is very different than inorganic, take it from me, and it doesn’t get any easier in biochem…and biology likewise requires that kind of work, too. A lot of med students from what MD’s have told me find that same problem, as do law students, and it is why they have study groups and such, to make it manageable. </p>
<p>I wish you luck and am rooting you on. You aren’t lazy, or stupid, you simply have to learn that relying on instincts and the ability to ‘sponge’ things in, will fail, there just is no replacing the elbow grease and sweat method. Also, with studying, as my son learned with practicing his instrument, is that it isn’t about how long you study, but effective studying. Studying 4 hours for an exam but doing it by re-reading the same crap, is prob less effective than 45 minutes of targeted studying, for example:).</p>
<p>Doing homework for every class is ALL it takes for getting straight As. I told this to my D. when she was 5 y o and she listened with the predicted results. No need for any deep thinking for seeking any kind of mysterious ways. Simple and straight forward. Here is an assignment, do it in your best possible way. If it does not look correct (or in fact, results are NOT correct), then seek help (still BEFORE the class). Works like a charm, in HS, in college even sometime in Med. School where lots of grades are very subjective.</p>
<p>Miami,</p>
<p>What I really am referring to is the “hardware vs. software” delineation, and talking about psych vs. neuro in a decades long (and decades to come) spectrum. Even things like schizophrenia were thought to be due to poor parenting, not biology (and I’m talking about as recent as the 40s and 50s). Schizophrenia still has some environmental component since it’s not 100% present in identical twins, but it’s largely biological (80% of identical twins do both have it, children of schizophrenics adopted out still more likely to get it, etc).</p>
<p>Mental illness though is definitely still not “just an imbalance.” For example PTSD still requires a stressor, and to me - and this might be overanalyzing the statement, “just an imbalance” implies a quick fix of adding more or less of something. SSRIs and antipsychotics have shown that while they can alleviate some of the suffering, they do not address all of the symptoms. Research is shifting towards neural networks as well and when you’re talking about the human psyche - an incredibly complex “organ” (especially when compared to things like the heart or GI track) it’s going to be a while before we have drugs that can treat mental illness the way we have things for heart disease or diabetes or infectious diseases.</p>
<p>Now, things like schizophrenia and PTSD and even the mood disorders (bipolar, anxiety, depression) have made major shifts in perception in terms of being “caused by biology” and what we are pointing to when we say “biology” but there are still plenty of things in the DSM for which we have very little idea (e.g. personality disorders). The fact that these things are still often shown to be genetically linked means that there is some biological aspect to them, but we don’t have anything widely accepted to point to like we do for depression (and even that, in the wake of SSRIs not being the cure they were originally thought to be has re-raised the question of whether depression is “just a serotonin imbalance”).</p>
<p>I’m in no way trying to say that neurology and psychiatry are the same field, but I do think that they are moving towards each other in a way the doctors of the early to mid 20th century would have never imagined.</p>
<p>A regular primary care MD can diagnose ADHD hyperactive, inattentive, inattentive/impulsive etc. but a psychiatrist would be best for diagnosis. There is no specific test for ADHD; a questionnaire is often used. A full neuropsychological evaluation would detect or differentiate other issues, such as problems with executive function that can resemble ADHD.</p>
<p>Whether you have a diagnosis or not, you can already avail yourself of coaching, advising, tutoring and so on, particularly for time management.</p>
<p>For my daughter, I have the clocks set ahead so when she is late, she is actually on time!!</p>
<p>Yes, time management is very hard to develop later on. If a kid has chosen to be extremely busy from the age of kindergarten, this kid would be the best prepared for the time management. While it is important in college, med. school is totally different level. Get used to juggle your time…</p>
<p>I actually hired a consultant that did a ‘study skills’ workshop when DD was in the 5th grade - I got lots of jabber about how ‘study skills will take care of themselves’ from her little church school, but I don’t think you get study skills by osmosis. So we had two former schoolteachers come, and each student paid like $20 for a 4 hour seminar. How to use a planner, how to study, what to study, time management, etc.</p>
<p>I think it helped somewhat. DD still had issues with missed assignments - so lots of reminders (read, nagging) about missed assignments and how you should never ever take a zero from a missed assignment. I think this year is the first that she has had absolutely no missed assignments. I don’t care what you do, use your charm (she has lots) and go talk to the teacher to see if you can still turn in the assignment (she’ll need that charm at college but shouldn’t count on it). So her daily routine is now coming home and she does homework from the time she gets home until bedtime (takes longer because of the ADHD but she just does it until it’s finished). Takes breaks in between for snacks or perhaps some music…it’s not too late to develop some study skills even in college.</p>
<p>Op,
Do these things:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Get the book “How to be a straight A student” by Cal Newport. It explains how to study efficiently and what things to not study in order to still get good grades and still have time to socialize with others.</p></li>
<li><p>A key thing that I did and told my D (and is in the book), is to spend a certain amount of time (say 2 hrs) studying every day in an area where you will not socialize or be disturbed (library, Starbucks, empty classroom). Then go out and socialize. Do not try to mix studying with other things because it just draws out the studying and makes it less efficient.</p></li>
<li><p>Yes, you may have ADHD, inattentive type. If you are diagnosed at take medications, it may help. But learning habits such as 1 and 2 above can help tremendously as well.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you, I just ordered the book and I have tried everything. I am a little scared of medications, especially since my parents are so against it.</p>
<p>My experience was that grades were more associated with effort than SAT and ACT test scores. Organic chemistry was the proverbial “weed-out” course for pre-meds, and a poor grade a sign that reappraisal of career goals was necessary. There were many, many very intelligent people I knew who were forced to do just that. If one likes working with people and health care, perhaps careers such as nursing, psychology, physician’s assistant, physical therapy, etc. should be considered. Medical training is all-consuming in every sense.</p>
<p>Start studying earlier, like as soon as it’s realistic and keep studying</p>
<p>I try, I really do. I just don’t know where all my time goes. I’m very worried because next quarter I’m taking History classes which I suck at and are very reading-intense.</p>
<p>I would strongly recommend that you take a leave of absence. You are having trouble with your science/math classes, and are now concerned that you will have trouble with history. You need to take time off to figure out what you want to study and why. You’ve got plenty of time to decide, and this period of time away from school will allow you the opportunity to fully analyze why studying for your classes is such a challenge.</p>
<p>It can help to force yourself to study with others. I’ve assisted one of my best friends numerous times this way.</p>
<p>I second CrankyOldMan. For your consideration: Take an immediate year-long leave of absence from college. Work with your academic adviser, financial aid and dorm people on this. View it like a delayed gap year. Plan to return next year. In the meantime, immediately seek a comprehensive neuropsych evaluation from a neuropsychologist with an education specialty to learn what’s going on. Is it ADHD, an LD, or something/s else. Knowledge (about how your brain works) is power. Follow up the testing by working with a psychologist or other therapist who’s able to understand the testing results. </p>
<p>In the meantime, consider getting into EMT training and running as an EMT for a year. Such practical experience will be a boon. Plus, it’ll help focus you, that’s for sure. </p>
<p>If you do wind up taking meds for any revealed condition, perhaps the new non-stimulant Intuniv (generic: guanfacine) would be a good option. Discuss with a psychiatrist. It might be wise to be on leave from your pre-med program while you investigate the problem and try a suite of solutions, which could also include behavior modification therapy (learning and using time management, etc.). </p>
<p>It would be nice to have a supportive counselor during all this because the experience you’re having can be emotionally painful, coming out of SE high school with such high hopes and hitting a wall. </p>
<p>You can work to overcome this set-back. Time will tell if medical school is your path. In this scenario, once you return to college, you’ll be set to give your studies an effective 50 hours a week or so. </p>
<p>Cal Newport’s strategies are excellent, BTW. </p>
<p>FWIW.</p>
<p>My husband is a physician and he says there is a huge volume to learn and discipline and focus are necessary for studying for extended hours. And in med school, you have to study even more. Even the really brilliant students were studying hard. “It’s a whipping”, he says (and he was in a Top 40 med school, not Ivy League). Obviously, you are very intelligent and your smarts allowed you to have poor studying habits (but at least you admit it), so maybe you subconsciously think your smarts will bail you out, as they always have. </p>
<p>Do whatever it takes to scare yourself into understanding that your poor study habits will fail you. Maybe talk to many physicians and when you hear the same stories, it will convince you. Plus, you will need long-term memory to become a physician because it all builds upon each other. My husband said there were so many pre-meds in college but most of them did not make it to med school. Best wishes to you in fulfilling your dream.</p>
<p>The reason you’re a bad student now is because you didn’t develop the study habits that are crucial for college. But the past is the past. Since you didn’t get those study habits before, you do need to now. You need to learn how to manage your time. Meaning no more waiting until 12 am to do your collegework. Try setting rules for yourself, like I’m not gonna go on facebook until I finish this lab or I’m not touching my cell phone until that essay is completed. If you have a big project and the deadline isn’t nearby, DO NOT WAIT LAST MINUTE. Complete little by little each day. It’s all about time management. You may have gotten by through highschool just being smart but not putting the effort but college is a completely different playing game. Good thing is you can build these habits before its too late. There’s no easy gimmick to getting out of work. Just get right to it. Go to a library or somewhere without distractions. Whenever you feel yourself not wanting to do your work just have a motivation in mind. Maybe your motivation is your love for medicine, maybe its someone who’s counting you. Whatever it is just find your motivation and do your work.</p>
<p>Study, study, study! Plan ahead and organize. Pay attention in class, take notes, and look online for more study tips.</p>
<p>If you do not develop hard working habits now, forget about Med. School. While genius is not required to be a successful Med. student, hard work is absolute must, not avoidable. Sometime you will need to study 10+ hours every day, day after day for many weeks straight. Cleanning your room will be a luxurious break that you will not be able to afford, forget gym, going out…During rotations you may not have few minutes to have a byte, you will learn to be hungry most of the time, but the hardest would be to go without a drink, whie your feet will hurt badly, but you will learn to ignore it.</p>