Recipe for Disaster

So my friend asked me the other day: "What is it like working with other med students on group projects and what not? Everyone is so smart and capable, must make it really ez to get things done."

I looked at her and was thinking "wtf? where the hell did you get that idea from?"

let me tell you my friend, group projects with med students = DISASTER.

of course, there are the exceptions but it usually goes something like this:

0 mins into meeting to discuss project: everyone is happy and sits down (some group members thinking why they got grouped with the class-labelled slackers, thinking it was higher powers trying to screw with them)

5 mins in: everyone shares their opinion

10 mins in: hostility develops

15 mins in: outright trash-talking ensues among members

20 mins in: more trash-talking, I give up and just watch youtube videos. phrases like: "you are incompetent. an 8 year old can come up with a better idea. you are ignorant. how did you get into medical school?" start coming out.

30 mins in: realizing nothing got done in the past 30 mins, more trash-talking and why everyone else's idea is stupid. I continue catching up on youtube videos

60 mins in: people leave the meeting without getting anything constructive done and everyone's secret hatred towards one another develops a little more. Cycle repeats.

In med school, there are SO many type-A personalities in the class. Everyone used to be the top of their class and was seen as the smart and knowledgeable one. When you group these top students together in one class, someone is bound to be at the bottom and no one likes to be at the bottom. Everyone thinks they are the sh!t and their opinion or thoughts are the absolute truth with no room for other people's view. Thus group projects = disaster. But being a doctor is so much about team-work. So these are good learning experiences to be receptive to other people's views and learn to integrate different ideas and collaborate with others. We better get our sh!t together and learn how to function properly in a team before we get thrown into the deep end of the ocean (i.e. internship and residency).

This might seem like an over exaggeration of what really happens during group work and seems a bit gloomy and pessimistic but it's not without reason. Anyways, just another look into the fascinating world of medical school and the crap that I get to experience (and secretly enjoy, esp. people verbally abusing each other) from time to time.