What should I know?

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Hi everyone,

I'm starting medical school this August and oncology is a big reason why I applied in the first place. I know we're always on the cusp of cold fusion and The Cure but the recent advances in techniques like immunotherapy lead me to believe that cancer treatment will be very different and quite frankly kind of cool by the time I would start a fellowship. Even with the current state of the art it's a field I'd be proud to work in; a family friend was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer 15 years ago and chemotherapy along with gamma-knife surgery later on gave her 12 more years that would never have been possible if it weren't for scientific triumphs like herceptin. I got to see her play at Carnegie Hall and I also met her oncologist, one of the most caring, inspiring, and all around awesome doctors I've ever known.

I always loved (and got my best grades in!) genetics and cell biology, and cancer is the cutting edge application for basically anything molecular-bio so that definitely appeals to me, much more so than "the derm lifestyle" or anything similarly cheesy...

Anyway. I know minds change and all that, but I've been dreaming about med. onc. for the past four years. What should I know before I jump into med school? I don't even know enough to know what kind of advice to ask for... anything you wish you'd known 8 or 10 years ago, I guess!