Non-computer savvy

So far the most confusing thing about med school is its web interface. First they send us a whole bunch of usernames and passwords. Yes, they tell us what it's for, but we haven't even heard of these websites/accounts/whatever before, so by the time we get to med school orientation, we've pretty much all lost our passwords or usernames or whatever.

Then, to make our lives easier, we have MedPortal, My CoursePlaces, WUMSweb (or something like that), WebSTAC, and a separate MFM (molecular foundations of medicine, aka biochem) website that doesn't appear to connect to the other websites. So I am guessing that MedPortal seems to be the main place for lectures...but then some (not all?) schedules, handouts, etc. seem to be posted on My Course Places, and then WUMSweb is a website for stuff that med students have posted. WebSTAC, I guess, is the equivalent of the more administrative stuff like grades, financial stuff, you-are-failing notes, etc.

And then for each class, the material and places we are supposed to go on the website varies so much! Some classes have course notes, some have homework in the course notes, some have hw on some website, some require it to be posted, sometimes we get into groups, sometimes the groups change, sometimes they stay the same, and then there are times when they give us notes so late we have to pick them up from our mailbox right before lecture. Other times they forget to give us notes, or give us websites to go to, but forget to tell us the password or username (or maybe i forgot them?). Some have study questions - i just found out yesterday that my MFM class has study questions. Anatomy has questions of the week that need to be answered on Fridays, and also there are a bijillion ppts sent out from that class for what day, I am not even sure. There are mysterious videos we have to scavenge for (just realized where to find dissection videos for anatomy - horray!). For POM (practice of medicine) they gave us not one, but THREE course notes, and I would not know which day to use what without MedPortal. ugh...so confusing!

And then what is up with all the interest groups and their incessant use of acronyms? AMWA, AMA, AMSA, APAMSA, PHIG, SPOTS, STATS, IMIG... Sure, use your acronyms, but we are first years and have no idea what they mean (okay, by now I kind of do, but I dont want to remember more things than what I absolutely have to remember).