As you’re already well aware, there’s a lot of science that you need to learn as a pre-med student. From physics to chemistry to biology, the number of laws, equations and concepts for you to understand and memorize can seem daunting, so it’s important that you find an easy and effective way to internalize those facts. While many students turn to handy mnemonics like RED CAT (for electrochemistry) and Kung Pao Chicken Over Fresh Green Sprouts (for taxonomy), I find that many students also enjoy learning about the stories behind how a certain principle or phenomenon was discovered and understood. While it’s often debatable whether these events actually happened, these stories provide an amusing diversion from your normal studies and may even help you remember your science lessons better.

Archimedes takes a bath

One of the most oft repeated stories of scientific discovery tells the tale of Archimedes discovering the principle of displacement. According to the common version, an ancient king supplied a quantity of gold to a blacksmith in order to create a special crown. Upon its delivery, the king suspected that the blacksmith had stolen some of the gold, but could not accurately measure the volume of the crown due to its irregular shape. The king tasked Archimedes with solving the seemingly unsolvable puzzle. One day while climbing into the bath, Archimedes noticed that the water level rose as his body displaced the fluid; he realize that by immersing the crown in water and measuring the change in volume, he could effectively measure the crown and prove the blacksmith’s treachery. Archimedes was so elated by his discovery that he leapt from the tub and ran naked through the streets shouting “Eureka!” (“I have found it!”).

Galileo climbs a tower

The idea of constant acceleration due to gravity is typically a difficult one for introductory physics students to grasp – after all, there’s no question that a feather falls more slowly than a rock! However, I’ve found that no story better is a better example of this phenomenon than Galileo’s visit to the Tower of Pisa. The story goes that Galileo had a suspicion about this principle, but wanted to prove his point in a dramatic way. Using two balls of equal volume and shape, but different mass (one was lead while the other was wood), Galileo climbed to the top of the Tower and dropped the balls at the same time. While popular opinion (based on the beliefs of none other than Aristotle) held that the heavier ball should fall faster, the experiment showed that this wasn’t the case, as the balls hit the ground at the same time.

Fleming paints the future of medicine

While the previous two stories have certainly been embellished over the centuries, one of my favorite stories in science is much more firmly founded in truth.  In 1928, Alexander Fleming was a little known biologist who had the unusual hobby of creating “paintings” in petri dishes by seeding them with specific bacteria that grew in various colors. One morning Fleming returned to his lab and, to his dismay, found that one of his most recent works had been ruined through the contamination of a rogue mold. Curiously, the area around the mold growth showed a halo of bacteria free medium, and Fleming concluded that the mold was releasing a substance that was toxic to the bacteria. The subsequent purification of the Penicillium mold and the birth of the age of antibiotics was enough to eventually earn Fleming a Nobel Prize.

Of course, there are many more amusing and amazing stories of scientific discovery out there – too many to list them all here. Not only do these tales help us to better understand and remember the principles at work in our everyday world, but they remind us that, as scientists, we too are part of the process of discovery.

“So tell me about yourself.”

It’s not even a question.  It’s a request, and in the opening moments of your medical school interview, it may sound more like a hostile command.   But it is perhaps one of the most common ways in which your med school interviewers may invite you to join in conversation with them.  How would you respond to this non-question question?  It doesn’t seem easy, as I’m sure you’re well aware.  Because it’s so open-ended, we tend to hem-and-haw and sputter out the first thing that comes to mind, and our response usually starts with, “Well, I was born in…”  Ugh!  No!  You’re missing the point of the interviewers’ request.  They don’t care where, when, or how you were born; or where you lived until you were seven; or that you currently own a hamster.   (On the other hand, if you and your hamster have achieved world fame as a banjo duo, then you might want to mention that.)

What is the point, then, of this non-question question that so often gets us out of sorts? Well, that’s actually sort of the point:  they want to see how you respond to an unstructured situation.  Rambling on, creating one big messy non sequitur, or – worst of all – asking of your interviewers, “What do you want to know?” all point to the same problem:  a lack of both forethought and reflection.  Both are essential for being prepared to effectively manage unstructured or ambiguous situations.   You mistake their intention if you believe that they really only want to get to know you personally.  Sure, this is an opportunity to share personal information (more in a moment on what that means); but what you opt to share in response to the invitation reveals as much – if not more – about you as the actual details of your response.  Let me provide an example, but one that is so extreme, I’m guaranteeing you’ll get my point.  Saying, “Well, I love to get raging drunk every night.” reveals something about you.  And actually deciding that it would be appropriate to say, “Well, I love to get raging drunk every night.” as your opening line in a med school interview also says something – far worse – about you.

Med school interviewers rely on “So tell me about yourself.” because it is unstructured and open ended, and they know that how you respond will reveal not just some of your life details (no matter how banal or interesting) but also some of your character and values.   So give some forethought to your response by reflecting on the personal qualities you possess that are most appropriate to share with your med school interviewers.  Keep the following in mind:

1.  Your med school interview is a job interview; it’s not a first date.  Make sure the information you share is relevant to the primary goal of the interview:  to determine whether you and that medical school are a good fit.

2.  This is only the opening moment of the interview.  Keep your response short and to the point.  It should only take a minute or so to answer this question.  Like a good movie preview or a well written prologue, your response should capture your interviewers’ attention, draw them in, and get them excited to hear more from you.

3.  You can take control of the interview conversation by sharing information relevant to topics that your interviewers will be compelled to return to later (because you’ve given them a hint of something interesting about you that they just can’t wait to know more about).

4.  Remember that the interview is a continuation of a conversation that began months earlier with the AMCAS primary application, the personal statement, the secondary application essays, and the letters of recommendation.  Of course depending on whether your interview is based on an “open” or “closed” file, your interviewers will already know a lot , very little, or nothing at all about you.  Regardless, highlight a few accomplishments or qualities and illustrate them with a couple of short memorable stories.  People love stories, but only if they’re told well, so practice telling your stories before your interviews.

You’re going to be faced with this question.  Don’t fear it!  Look forward to it, and be prepared.

So, now that you know more about this question, tell me about yourself.

In my last post we discussed some of the important questions that you’ll need to consider when deciding when to take the MCAT. While it’s vital to determine early what time of year you’ll be taking the exam, choosing the specific administration that’s right for you can be equally as important. After months and months of studying and preparation, you owe it to yourself to choose the test time and location that will give you your best possible chance of success. With that in mind, here are a few additional questions to consider.

Do I want a morning or an afternoon administration?

In a recent poll of students, I found a pretty even split on preference for an early exam vs. a late one. The reasons given by each side were relatively straightforward, and essentially came down to a matter of personal habit; morning test takers felt that they were more alert in the early hours and wanted to get the test out of the way, while afternoon testers looked forward to a leisurely morning sleeping in followed by last minute review. Whatever your preference, remember that the MCAT is a long exam that will stretch throughout the day no matter when you start it.

Do I want a weekday or a weekend test?

The answer to this question usually hinges on whether or not you’ll be taking classes at the time of your MCAT. During the winter and spring most students prefer a weekend administration so that they don’t have to miss classes, while the summer months offer a bit more flexibility. Still, other obligations beyond the classroom can affect this decision as well; volunteer work, lab hours, and work schedules can all nudge you one way or another in a given week.

What important events are scheduled around the test?

Make sure that you consider your entire calendar when choosing your specific test date. While it’s probably obvious that you don’t want to schedule your MCAT for the middle of finals week, it can be easy to forget about other commitments like weddings, family vacations, or even graduation. You’ll want to the last week before your exam open to dedicate solely to your final preparations, so plan accordingly.

Where are the Testing Centers near me?

This is an important question to consider early, since it can negate any other preferences you may have. Because the MCAT is a computer-based test, it can only be administered at an official testing center; fortunately, there are so many of these centers throughout the U.S. and Canada that there’s likely one near you. The catch, however, is whether or not there will be a seat available at that testing center for your preferred administration of the exam when you go to register. Every year I see students who delay registering for the MCAT and then have to change their plans after registration fills early; it’s not uncommon for these students to have to travel to another city, if not to another state, in order to find a Center that can accommodate them.

As you can see, there’s a lot of thought and preparation that goes into planning for your MCAT. The key to the process, as with studying for the exam, is to get started early; the sooner you know when and where you’re taking the test, the sooner you can get registered and not have to worry about it anymore.

One of the more common questions I see from students is, “When should I take the MCAT?” Most pre-meds have heard horror stories from their older peers about the exam, and have a rough idea that the test should be taken sometime in their Junior year. However, I often find that students are either misinformed about or flat-out missing key information that shapes the answer to this question. With the announcement of the 2012 MCAT test dates last week, now is the perfect time to consider your unique situation and ensure that you’re crafting a plan that will put you in the best position for test day success. Here are a few crucial questions that will help you find the proper approach to the MCAT:

What time of year should I take the exam?

Each year the MCAT is offered in roughly 28 different administrations, spread across four different “testing windows”: the Winter (late January), the Spring (March through May), the Summer (June and July), and the Fall (August and September). While the majority of students do take the exam during the Spring window, it’s important to understand why. Many pre-meds are still taking prerequisite courses throughout their Junior year – typically Organic Chemistry or Physics – and thus aren’t prepared to take the exam in the Winter window. However, because the AMCAS and AACOMAS applications cycles start in June (and it takes 30 days to receive your MCAT scores), taking a Summer exam also isn’t an option. The Spring window offers the ideal balance of taking the test late enough to master all of the material while still getting your application in at the start of the cycle.

That being said, a Spring MCAT isn’t ideal for everyone. Students who are confident in their mastery of the sciences can choose to prepare throughout the fall for one of the Winter exams, thereby getting the test out of the way early and leaving extra time in the spring to focus on other elements of the application. Alternatively, students who don’t feel that they can balance a normal course load with MCAT studies may choose to postpone their prep until the summer – but be warned, this puts your application at a disadvantage for schools that use a rolling admissions process.

When should I start studying for the MCAT?

The AAMC recommends studying for at least 3 months prior to sitting the MCAT; in our own research, we’ve found that most students need to spend 250-350 hours preparing in order to feel confident for test day. As a busy pre-med however, the question becomes how you will fit those 350 hours into your schedule; on a 3 month timeline, that comes out to approximately 25 hours of dedicated MCAT studying each week – a tall order when you’re also attending classes, volunteering at the hospital, and attempting to have something resembling a social life.

Clearly, it’s a good idea to start your studying earlier rather than later; changing your 3 month timeline to 4, 5, or even 6 months will drastically reduce your weekly workload and, as a result, help you feel less stressed about the exam. However, you also need to consider how your MCAT prep will affect other aspects of your application; if you’re taking a heavy course load of important classes this fall, it might not be the best time to add another piece to the puzzle.

Now that you’ve got a general sense of when you should be planning to take the exam, check back next week for Part 2 of this article, in which we’ll discuss choosing the right date and time for your exam.

By Patrick Boyle, Kaplan Elite MCAT Instructor

In our recent post MCAT Study Skills: You are what you eat, we discussed the importance of nutrition and how this can play a critical role in effective studying. As much as you are what you eat, you are also what you drink. Anything that we consume is going to have an effect on the body in some way. Take a walk into the library during midterms and the tables will be covered with coffee, tea, and energy drinks. Caffeine and stimulants have become common place in our studying environments. These magical elixirs are certainly not the fountain of endless studying, but could they be the key to more effective studying?

Caffeine is a bitter, white crystalline xanthine alkaloid that acts as a stimulant. It is found naturally in varying quantities in many different substances. A little history lesson: caffeine was first isolated from coffee in 1820; Pierre Pelletier, one of the contributing French scientists, coined the word “caffeine” from the French word for coffee (café), and this became the English word “caffeine.” Since then caffeine has been used and abused all over the world. The most interesting thing about caffeine is that it affects individuals in several different ways. The positives effects largely outweigh the negatives; it increases attention and memory performance, but when taken in too large of a dosage it can cause nervousness, restlessness, and palpitations. So, with almost 90% of adults in North America consuming caffeine on a daily basis, what is the most effective way to self-administer caffeine?

People receive their daily caffeine in a number of ways, most of which are no surprise - coffee, energy drinks, and tea are all common, while caffeine pills are less so. No matter which way you consume your caffeine, studies are beginning to show that the best way to use caffeine to stay awake is to consume moderate doses over extended periods of time. Check out this study by researchers from Rush University Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. It explains how caffeine interrupts one of the two physiological systems that govern the human sleep-wake cycle. Most people are what are described as morning “big gulp” coffee drinkers or late night, red bull “sippers”. This study is suggesting no matter which way you take your caffeine, you want to spread the dosage throughout the day.

Coffee, tea, and other caffeine-containing beverages should be thought of as tools. There is no need to drink them in large quantities if you don’t need to maintain the high feeling of wakefulness. There are going to be times during late night study sessions, long nights spent in the lab, and those marathon MCAT practice tests that caffeine will be a fantastic tool to use to increase your efficiency in studying, but don’t forget the natural restorative powers of sleep. The body needs sleep, and no matter how much caffeine you are able to consume, nothing will take the place of a good night’s rest. As the expression goes: “If you burn the candle at both ends for too long, chances are the light is going to go out.”

If you’re like most pre-medical students, you’ve felt lost at some point on your path towards becoming a physician. Whether it’s been when choosing your courses for the next two years, putting together a plan for the MCAT, or figuring out how to get letters of recommendation, the path to medical school is filled with twists and turns that can easily be frustrating if you don’t understand how the system works. In their frustration, many students turn to peers, to friends who have already been accepted, and to online forums like the Student Doctor Network to get their questions answered. While these resources can certainly produce some worthwhile information, there’s one person that you should turn to before any of the others: your pre-medical advisor!

I’m always amazed by the number of students I meet who under-utilize the knowledge and experience of their advisor – or who don’t use them at all. In some ways, it’s easy to see how this happens; as pre-med students, we’re used to going it alone and figuring things out for ourselves. It’s easy to assume that your advisor will be there for you if and when you have questions, but all too often by the time you realize you have a question you’ve already put yourself in an unfavorable position – and even then many students are still too embarrassed or proud to admit that they need help.

Rather than waiting until you find yourself in a hole, be proactive about meeting regularly with your advisor – starting from the moment that you decide to be a pre-med (or even before; if you’re not quite sure if it’s the path for you, your advisor may be able to help you figure that out!). A skilled advisor brings many benefits to the process. For example, while you may already have a good idea of the classes you need to take to prepare for medical school, your advisor will be able to help you choose the sections and faculty members who are best suited to your specific needs. Similarly, most will have the benefit of having worked with students for several years, and will have a good sense of what works and what doesn’t. That knowledge will pay off for you as they point you toward opportunities for clinical experience and research work.

By far the greatest benefit of a strong relationship with your advisor comes during the admissions process itself. If your school is known to create a committee letter for applicants, it will raise questions about your application if you choose to go it alone instead. In addition to helping you collect the various elements of your application (transcripts, test scores, and letters of recommendation), your advisor is often your strongest advocate with the admissions committees. In some situations, a personal recommendation from an advisor can be enough to tip the scales from denial to acceptance, so it certainly benefits you to develop a strong relationship.

Finally, I know that not all applicants to medical school have a strong advising program that they can rely on; non-traditional students, as well as applicants from smaller schools, often don’t have a dedicated advising office to turn to in the same way that their counterparts at larger colleges and universities can. If that’s the case, make sure you reach out to the National Association of Advisors of the Health Professions (NAAHP), who can often help put you on the right track.

The path to becoming a physician is, to say the least, quite long. Four years of medical school is followed immediately by a minimum of three years of residency - only once that’s completed can you start practice as an attending physician. It’s important, therefore, to know as much as possible about residency rules and regulations ahead of time so you don’t end up surprised by what’s awaiting you after medical school.

In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) made substantial changes to medical resident work hour regulations. For the first time ever, a limit was placed on the number of hours residents could work per week – a change that was sparked by a link between medical errors and sleep deprivation. Now, this would normally be good news to residents, but the limit was nowhere near the 40-hour week that most employees in the United States are accustomed to working. Instead, the ACGME placed the limit at 80-hour weeks. It is important to note that this never became a law; however, if residency programs did not adhere to the restrictions they risked losing their accreditation.

On July 1, 2011, the ACGME once again changed the residency hour restriction. This time, they reasoned that it would be better to make medical interns (first-year residents beginning their training weeks after graduating from medical school) work fewer hours than more seasoned residents. As a result, interns’ maximum shift lengths were lowered from 30 hours to 16 hours straight, while residents in their second year and higher would continue to be restricted to a maximum of 28-hour shifts. Interns must now also have at least 10 hours off between shifts. The goal, once again, is to curb medical errors – especially by the most junior of medical residents. Considering that it takes the human body some time to adjust to being awake for long hours working in a hospital with limited access to food (the cafeteria closes, but the coffee maker seems to always stay on), this is quite reasonable. There are, however, some people who disagree with the new regulations.

Medical educators claim that these new restrictions prevent interns from learning as much as they need to in order to succeed later on in their careers. Whenever a new patient is admitted to a hospital, the first 24 hours are spent assessing, diagnosing, treating, and monitoring the patient. Interns will now have to excuse themselves partway through this process, and some physicians believe that this will limit the experience they could gain from staying in the hospital and continuing with the patient care process. Others suggest that the number of medical errors due to fatigue is similar to the number of errors due to the transfer of patient care, and that by limiting intern hours patients will be transferred more often between residents – thus producing an increase in errors.

The main issue that keeps coming to light is that once again demand is increased without a simultaneous increase in supply. By limiting the intern hours without creating more resident positions, senior residents and staff physicians are left to pick up the slack. The key here seems to be that the healthcare provider segment is not increasing its available student positions as quickly as people would like. More international medical graduates are coming to the United States to fulfill some of the demand, but there still continues to be a shortage of physicians throughout hospitals, further requiring long work hours in a 24-7 industry. For the time being though, at least the interns will be able to get some much needed shut-eye, and for that, you won’t hear much complaining from them or medical students!

The Fall semester is underway: midterms loom, finals are on the horizon, and somewhere in this mix lays the start of your MCAT studying. With the high demand on our brain and our bodies to be attentive, healthy, and sharp problem solvers, comes an important question: are we giving ourselves the best chance for optimal functioning?

Pre-meds are notoriously a competitive species. We always want to do it better than the student next to us: earn the higher grade, produce a more thorough research paper, show-off a longer list of extracurricular activities. We also strive for an awesome MCAT score, all so that we can earn that cherished acceptance to medical school. To accomplish all this requires a lot of effort in the short-term AND long-term. For all that we ask of our bodies, we should probably think a minute more about what we put into it that will help us achieve these goals.

Coffee, snack cookies, pizza, soda, and fast food are cheap, easy sources of calories that many college students turn to for a quick meal, interrupted by long stretches of studying. But, when you reflect on those meals, think about how your body feels a few hours later after the initial buzz has worn off…Are you tired? Sluggish? Sleepy? Unmotivated? Feeling a little bloated? Still hungry? Unsatisfied? Is your stomach irritated from the coffee? Think back to your bio lessons on the digestive system to understand what you’re putting your body through: how does your blood sugar fluctuate when you eat erratically and sporadically? Like a roller coaster! Like any engine, your body’s performance (and your brain’s) depends on the fuel that you’re putting into it.

The goal for optimal nutrition for studying and academic success lies here: small, frequent meals all through the day that provide your body with all the nutrients it needs to maintain a healthy internal environment and well-fed brain. Anyone who’s taken biochemistry can tell you how important vitamins and minerals are for proper metabolic function! And you probably know, too, that the brain relies solely on glucose for metabolic fuel. So, do your absolute best to provide your brain with a constant source of glucose that doesn’t require big fluctuations in blood glucose levels and take a multi-vitamin daily for replenishment of enzyme cofactors. I promise your body will love you!

If you’re at a loss for ideas of small, nutritious, and inexpensive meals, try some of my favorites below. Ideally, you want a mix of good protein, fat, and carbohydrate for extended release of glucose to the brain.

-all-natural peanut butter (or other nut butter if you’re allergic) and all-natural jam on whole-wheat bread

-cheddar cheese slices and an apple

-all-natural peanut butter and celery sticks

-sliced low-salt turkey breast with hummus and carrots

-tuna fish with low-fat all-natural mayo in a whole wheat pita with lettuce and tomato

-english muffin toasted with tomato slices and a slice of low-fat cheese

-banana slices on whole wheat toast with honey

-rice with low-fat beans, diced tomatoes, and salt-free spices

-salad with balsamic dressing, fat-free feta, red peppers, and diced chicken breast

-strawberries with vanilla-flavored Greek yogurt

-all-natural, low-sugar bran flakes with raisins and reduced-fat milk

As you eat, do your studying an extra favor by considering how your food is being processed on a physiological level. Last, but not least, if you really need your caffeine, try multiple cups of all-natural (iced) green tea throughout the day. The tea leaves contain anti-oxidants, too, but be careful – caffeine is a diuretic that interferes with the body’s ability to produce ADH, and the last thing you need during a study session – or on Test Day

As a future physician, it’s a sure thing that at some point in your career you will encounter patients with some form of mental illness. Psychological health is every bit as important as physiological health, and in many instances the two are hopelessly intertwined. Amid reports of celebrities dealing with mental afflictions - from NFL athlete Brandon Marshall’s recent declaration of his diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder, to actor Charlie Sheen’s suspicious descent into madness – you might have missed the announcement of a new challenge proposed to the global health community, the Grand Challenges in Global Mental Health Initiative.

The movement, led jointly by the National Institutes of Health and the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases, draws from all fields within the greater medical community in hopes of addressing the “top 40 barriers to better mental health around the world.” Those 40 barriers were ranked by a panel of experts and narrowed from an initial list of 1,565, a process which resulted in the following top 5 challenges:

• Integrate screening and core packages of services into routine primary health care
• Reduce the cost and improve the supply of effective medications
• Improve children’s access to evidence-based care by trained health providers in low- and middle-income countries
• Provide effective and affordable community-based care and rehabilitation
• Strengthen the mental health component in the training of all health care personnel.

News like this should rock your world! Why? Because these initiatives affect every single one of us. As the offspring of aging baby boomers, as college students and college graduates, as soon-to-be-medical students and physicians, and as future standard bearers for the most advanced medical community in the world, we have been/are/will be affected intimately by mental illness of varying severities and types (according to NIMH statistics). Does that sound scary? Why? What do you know about mental illness, or better yet, what do you think you know about mental illness and its many forms?

Like other illnesses, diseases, and injuries, mental illness has verifiable biochemical “roots,” and our (future) patients, friends, family-members, and selves should be treated with sincere compassion, respect, and evidence-based therapies, whether pharmaceutical, psychological, or a combination of the two. The more educated, respectful, and vocal we are about these diagnoses, the easier it will be for patients to find and receive the assistance they need and deserve.

Today I challenge you to review the NIH’s press release and make a point to learn one new fact about mental illness. Every day we make a purposeful action to overcome our own small barriers to “better mental health,” is yet another avenue for affecting positive change in our community!

Modern technology has changed the way that we live our lives; you can now order almost anything you want online, pay your bills and invest money easily without visiting the bank, and essentially live your life without ever having to leave your home. These changes have spread to the healthcare industry as well, and medical students are now starting to see the benefits of some of those changes firsthand. iPads, online materials, and lectures that resemble game-shows are only a few of the changes that make medical school much different today than it was when your parents and grandparents were younger.

Tablet computers are one of the most prominent ways that technology has changed medical school. Stanford University and the University of California, Irvine (UCI), as well as many other schools, now give each incoming medical student an iPad. The tablet is meant to take the place of heavy textbooks, and the apps are meant to re-enforce lecture material. Physicians are mobile people, going from clinic to clinic, and training medical students with mobile technology that they can carry anywhere is a very bright idea. The applications are helpful as well; UCI students no longer have to climb out of bed in the early morning hours and try to rush to the anatomy lab to study the cadavers before everyone else, because virtual anatomy lab apps are realistic enough to portray the intricate structure of veins, arteries, and nerves.

More and more schools are now going online as well. Instead of handing out 500 page packets of reading material at the beginning of each lecture block, students can log on to the course website, watch a podcast of the lectures, review the slides, and practice using the quizzes and workshops. Some of the online materials even have digital recordings of heart and breathing sounds as well as thousands of pictures of histology slides for students to review.

At Tulane University School of Medicine, the pharmacology classes use the Just-In-Time Teaching (JITT) method to create “on-demand” lectures. Before classes, students are assigned readings and then take a brief online quiz based on those readings. Faculty can then view these results, and the topics that the students have the hardest time with are reviewed the most during the next day’s lecture. This streamlines the learning process and allows the instructors to spend more time going over the areas of greatest need, which benefits the students.

The JITT method also gauges students’ understanding in real-time. Many medical schools and even undergraduate programs have begun using “clicker” technology in the classroom; throughout lectures, multiple choice questions will pop up and students will use hand-held devices they are given at the beginning of the semester to buzz in with their answer. The results are quickly tabulated, and if the majority of students responded correctly, the lecturer moves on. If the students had a tough time with the question(s), however, the instructor can stop and go over the material again so that any confusion can be cleared up. This innovative structure allows the students to take more ownership of lectures and dictate the pacing and emphasis.

Of course, the applications of technology extend beyond the classroom, and even beyond medical school. Your third and fourth years of medical school require long hours in the hospital, and while playing Angry Birds might make the time go by faster, having applications that help diagnose illnesses, determine a pregnant woman’s due date, and look up pharmacological effects of prescription medicines can be an absolute life-saver (pun-intended) on the wards. In addition, the continued push for electronic medical records will help ensure that physicians have the most up-to-date information about their patients as they make their rounds.

Clearly technology is rapidly changing the way that medicine is practiced in the U.S. We may not have to walk to school uphill through the snow like our grandparents keep telling us they did, but we can learn efficiently, recall information quickly, and do it all without carrying a stack of books and notes everywhere we go!