What you wish you knew before starting med school (Avoid the mistakes I made...)

[SpeedRacer]

I know I have tons of things I'd tell entering college students to think about because I made quite a few mistakes in my day....anything you wise ones can think of that you wish you knew before you went? Any mistakes you made that could have been prevented?

I know this is the Allo thread, but quite a few of us are really nervous, and I figured this was the best place to ask for advice. Thanks!

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[felipe5]

Not too long ago I posted something regarding the issue of whether or not to go to class and what to keep in mind when talking to others about their own study methods....i think its good so I'll post it below. You also might want to do a search regarding this topic as I'm sure its been discussed many times before.

the best idea for someone in your position (as is EVERYONE's position at the start of anything new in medschool) is to start off by going to class. After a while, you may realize...."damn, this lecturer sucks" or "it'd sure be nice to be drooling on my pillow right now". Really the key point is to personalize your day to how YOU think will suite you the best and you can really only find this out by experimenting. In the end, I ended up skipping most classes, but there were a few lecturers that I really liked and thus I went to them. Like I said, don't worry about what others do. If you realize that you can learn anatomy better at home with a nice cup of coffee in your PJ's, then do it.

Another thing that I suggest to you, which is easier said than done, is to try not and get discouraged when talking to others. Once you have a study plan and you hear someone say "oh yeah, i spent 8 hours studying yesterday STRAIGHT and then I read 3 Nature articles about the subject because it was sighted in last years syllabus" try not to get freaked out. Sure, its bound to happen and its only natural to feel like a sub-par ***** when talking to others about their crazy systems....But honestly, when you find out that your system works for you, then stick to it CONFIDENTLY but be aware that you will always need to adapt. As a previous poster stated above, you'll be fine....just get stoked about the next chapter of your life and not get stressed about the challenges that await for there will be plenty of time for that .

 

[SpeedRacer]

Not too long ago I posted something regarding the issue of whether or not to go to class and what to keep in mind when talking to others about their own study methods....i think its good so I'll post it below. You also might want to do a search regarding this topic as I'm sure its been discussed many times before.

yeah i remember reading that one. i guess i could just search for it...sorry. i guess i'm just a little laz....

 

[funkless]

Gold Star Advice:

Don't abuse the listserv.


Also, people tend to cut-paste-forward, so watch what you say in 'private' emails. That stuff gets spread all over.

 

[jennyboo]

Pick one reading source (i.e. book) and commit to it. Once you've done that, resist the temptation to search for a "better" source.

 

[emack]

I'm only a few months in, and I know I'm still getting some things wrong. But two quick & easy things I'd pass along are:

1) Get involved in something outside of academics (even something extracurricular but at school itself). Great way to relax & make friends & feel like you're part of something, especially if you've had to move to a new city. (Caution: On the flip side of this, don't take on too many things during your first month, when it seems like every club or committee or society is right up your alley and surely needs your help. You're not helping anyone-- least of all yourself-- by spreading yourself too thin.)

2) Find a few people in upper years (or even recent graduates) whom you trust and who are willing to answer lots of stupid emailed questions. They're a wealth of information (and cheap used texts).

 

[matthew45]

I have to 2nd my fellow Jayhawk felipe's comment. Try not to get too caught up in other students statements about their time spent studying or mastery of the material, just stick to what is working for you and be cool with it. What they are saying is not necessarily in 1:1 correlation with how they are doing.

 

[robotsonic]

Try not to compare yourself to others. I know everyone has heard this before, but it is incredibly important during med school. Your classmates will all be like you: the top of their classes in undergrad. Now that you are surrounded by brilliant people, you may find that you are "average". Try to keep in mind that average in med school isn't really average, because you are all excellent.

Also, try to maintain activities that are unrelated to medicine and hang out with friends who aren't med students - and every once in a while, get as far away from the med school as possible. When you are stuck with the same people and surroundings constantly, it is easy to get caught up in a competitive mindset.

Above all, have fun!

 

[UCLA2000]

If I could do it all over again I would have skipped classes. The people who skipped class were able to sleep in, work out, have a life, AND study more than the rest of us.

By going to class you spend approx 8 hrs per day in lecture, then you go home and read everything all over again (because the lecturers were either going entirely too fast or were just ineffective). This left precious little time to eat, or have any semblance of a life.

I would have been MUCH happier during medical school, as well as performed better on exams had I skipped class.

 

[PreMedAdAG]

Try not to compare yourself to others. I know everyone has heard this before, but it is incredibly important during med school. Your classmates will all be like you: the top of their classes in undergrad. Now that you are surrounded by brilliant people, you may find that you are "average". Try to keep in mind that average in med school isn't really average, because you are all excellent.

Also, try to maintain activities that are unrelated to medicine and hang out with friends who aren't med students - and every once in a while, get as far away from the med school as possible. When you are stuck with the same people and surroundings constantly, it is easy to get caught up in a competitive mindset.

Above all, have fun!

This is the lesson I'm currently trying to learn. I think you either are confident in yourself as a med student, or you just continue to feel like the world's biggest *******... i'm still in the world's biggest ******* category.. I'm awaiting my attitude shift into "I am what I am and that's all that I am".... and gosh darn it, people like me

 

[oldman]

i wish i did even more practice questions. i learn through agonizing questions.

 

[bghs11]

Well, don't do what I did. At the beginning of med school, I was sure that I wanted to do a specialty that is relatively "easy" to get into, and thus didn't study very hard. During my third year, I fell in love with a different specialty, one that is much more competitive, and now I am struggling to try to find a seat. Moral of the story: work hard from the beginning, you never know what you might want to match into in the end.

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
If I had it to do over again, I would have taking more vacations and gone far away. I did go to Jamaica the summer before medical school but I should have gone to Jamaica twice and partied more. Once medical school starts, you have limited "down" time and you tend to take advantage of every second that you have.

I still relish my vacations and I do not use them for study. If there was one mistake that I made in medical school, it was using my few vacations for study or research. Use your free time to get away and get recharged.

njbmd

 

[Law2Doc]

Pick one reading source (i.e. book) and commit to it. Once you've done that, resist the temptation to search for a "better" source.

All these suggestions assume that every person works the same. Some of the suggestions on here are true for some and a really bad idea for others.
I personally disagree with this post, as well as several others on here. Everyone studies differently. There are some folks (eg. me) for whom the initial text does not resonate well, and it behooves them to find one that works for them. Thus trying a couple and being willing to scrap one for another that seems better is not necessarilly a bad thing. It is more foolish to commit your resources to a losing effort.
As for class attendance, it totally depends on the kind of student you are. Some folks skip class and actually use the time productively, and for them, it might make sense and be a great idea. Others (let's call them group 2) totally waste those class hours, and just end up getting a much later jump on the material. Perhaps better rested, but often not. Thus, even if you only absorb only 15-20% of the lecture material by being there, you are still 15-20% better off than that group 2. So the key is to know what kind of a student you are, and unless you are a self starter with good study discipline, I'd suggest going to class.

 

[stjkj02]

I am going to start in August and I have found this thread to be enormously useful.

Please keep this up people!

 

[JackShephard MD]

Pick your battles.

There will be all kinds of expectations set in front of you, focus on the few important things and minimize or eliminate the rest.

Figuring out the few things that matter, that's priority #1.

i wish i did even more practice questions. i learn through agonizing questions.

Try not to compare yourself to others.

Good advice. I find this to be an incredible dilemma. The whole selection process for med school, residency and beyond comes down to competition. Yet, focusing on your own path and eliminating comparisons will, IMO, lead to better work.

 

[CassieBagley]

Here's a long run-on sentence for you: utilize old exams, ask 2nd years about what they remember from exams, keep a routine that involves proper food and exercise and stick to it, make friends early on b/c it's harder to make them as the semester moves on, go out when you can but don't get obliterated like you did in college...you may want to do some studying the next day, and realize that sometimes no matter how long you study or which resources you use, some questions suck or your brain just sucks on that day, so forget about it and know you did your best (if that is what you did...)

 

[Perrotfish]

I know I have tons of things I'd tell entering college students to think about because I made quite a few mistakes in my day....anything you wise ones can think of that you wish you knew before you went? Any mistakes you made that could have been prevented?

I know this is the Allo thread, but quite a few of us are really nervous, and I figured this was the best place to ask for advice. Thanks!

1) Research before reading. Taking a few minutes on sdn to figure out what study sources are and aren't effective will save you a lot of time when you start studying

2) Study for the test, not for tomorrow. Medical school blocks are often heavily front loaded with information. Look at your daily schedule: if the second half is mostly review then keeping up with the lectures might not be the best strategy.

3) Don't give in to Stockholm syndrome: remember, whatever they say to you, you are a customer and not an employee. Do what works for you: skip class, wear headphones in class, whatever. Never use the word 'professionalism ' or allow it to intimidate you.

 

[thepoopologist]

Here's a long run-on sentence for you: utilize old exams, ask 2nd years about what they remember from exams, keep a routine that involves proper food and exercise and stick to it, make friends early on b/c it's harder to make them as the semester moves on, go out when you can but don't get obliterated like you did in college...you may want to do some studying the next day, and realize that sometimes no matter how long you study or which resources you use, some questions suck or your brain just sucks on that day, so forget about it and know you did your best (if that is what you did...)

Exercise and eat right. I did not and feel like an old man going into my 4th year.

 

[surftheiop]

I just finished MS1, and for me I think the biggest thing I could suggest in regard to MS1 is try to keep living like a "normal person" as much as you can. If your on this website, by your nature your probably not going to be slacking off enough to really cause a problem. So that being said try to keep up with your friends, make time for your significant other if you have one, travel to family events, exercise, etc. Make sure you take some time to do whatever things you love to do outside of school. The first couple months of medschool I remember panicking and devoting my whole life to school and that's really no way to live.

(Although throw out all this advice if your life goal is to be a neurosurgeon haha)