2 Months into first year, how to calm down? Stop being uptight?

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lalapple said:
No matter what I do, I ALWAYS feel so behind. My classmates are all very smart and probably think I am ******ed. Aced first exam, but the uptight feeling never truly goes away because of the upcoming exams. I feel like I'm being judged and don't want to be in panic mode all the time, I'm losing hair and thinking about how behind I am makes me even more frustrated. I try to study and it is hard to focus. How long does it take for people to adjust to a new city, new school and new classmates?
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3 more years to go. hang in there.
 
lalapple said:
No matter what I do, I ALWAYS feel so behind. My classmates are all very smart and probably think I am ******ed. Aced first exam, but the uptight feeling never truly goes away because of the upcoming exams. I feel like I'm being judged and don't want to be in panic mode all the time, I'm losing hair and thinking about how behind I am makes me even more frustrated. I try to study and it is hard to focus. How long does it take for people to adjust to a new city, new school and new classmates?
Click to expand...


You are very smart too! So, Hang tight or loose. Prayers and best wishes headed your way. Can you feel them?
 
Give it another month. In the corporate world they give people a 3month grace period for exactly this reason. Hell, I'm a 4th year on a research year and it took me 2 months just to adjust to this different setting before I felt comfortable.

You're fine. This is natural. Lots of people are feeling the same pressure and just not talking about it. I was absolutely miserable my first semester and it got progressively much better after that.
 
How to calm down? Sex and alcohol, possibly in combination. Repeat liberally. Only like 25% kidding. The rest will fall into place as you become more efficient at studying.
 
if you aced the first exam...it's all in your mind. acing exams does take a lot of stress, unless you are a genius. work 50% less harder, then you'll barely pass. tension decreases immediately.
 
MilkmanAl said:
How to calm down? Sex and alcohol, possibly in combination. Repeat liberally. Only like 25% kidding. The rest will fall into place as you become more efficient at studying.
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^^This, including the 25% joking part. Everyone has trouble adjusting during first couple of months (our first 10 weeks were nothing but anatomy), but then you'll hit your stride and you won't be constantly stressed. Impostor syndrome is a b!tch to deal with, but its better as your perspective gets a little wider.
 
lalapple said:
No matter what I do, I ALWAYS feel so behind. My classmates are all very smart and probably think I am ******ed. Aced first exam, but the uptight feeling never truly goes away because of the upcoming exams. I feel like I'm being judged and don't want to be in panic mode all the time, I'm losing hair and thinking about how behind I am makes me even more frustrated. I try to study and it is hard to focus. How long does it take for people to adjust to a new city, new school and new classmates?
Click to expand...

gtfo
 
im about to troll H.A.M
 
.
 
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These aren't just new classmates. You were the top of your high school class and got into a good college. You were probably pretty good at college too. Now all the other people like you are all concentrated in the same small area. Half of these really smart people are "below average" for their class now. Crazy, no?

The good news is that gunners tend to chill out a bit after the first grades start rolling in. Also you will adjust to things. In the meantime, if you are feeling overwhelmed, don't hesitate to seek out your program's psych services as a resource to point you in the right direction. They see this all the time.
 
it sucks waay more on clinical rotations where you feel behind literally the very first day. I often think I know the least amount of info compared to everyone but often score much better than most of them in the end. The feeling however does not go away. Just something you'll learn to deal with.
 
lalapple said:
No matter what I do, I ALWAYS feel so behind. My classmates are all very smart and probably think I am ******ed. Aced first exam, but the uptight feeling never truly goes away because of the upcoming exams. I feel like I'm being judged and don't want to be in panic mode all the time, I'm losing hair and thinking about how behind I am makes me even more frustrated. I try to study and it is hard to focus. How long does it take for people to adjust to a new city, new school and new classmates?
Click to expand...

My approach is simple. I compete with ONLY me. I don't go to class, I study on my own from 6-8 daily. Don't want to know what others are doing and don't care. I don't even check the class average after an exam. I have a set target of 85-87% so far i have achieved that and I keep rocking. I firmly believe no one in my class is smarter than me, not even the guy who gets 100%.I look at like our goals are different he is achieving his and i am achieving mine.
 
isoquin said:
These aren't just new classmates. You were the top of your high school class and got into a good college. You were probably pretty good at college too. Now all the other people like you are all concentrated in the same small area. Half of these really smart people are "below average" for their class now. Crazy, no?

The good news is that gunners tend to chill out a bit after the first grades start rolling in. Also you will adjust to things. In the meantime, if you are feeling overwhelmed, don't hesitate to seek out your program's psych services as a resource to point you in the right direction. They see this all the time.
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I'd say the average med student is far from really smart. I haven't seen too much to impress me so far, just a lot of overconfident people. Also, I've seen exactly the reverse--students becoming more aggressive after first tests. Really annoying. Being an ******* is not going to help them get better grades.
 
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Don't worry about your classmates. As long as your passing, that's all that counts. Also, it may be comforting to know that pre-clinical grades are a pretty minor piece of your residency application, so keep that in mind when you're stressing out over your classes.

Also, if you haven't already, establish a regular exercise routine. You will likely sleep better and feel less anxious. If you're still feeling overwhelmed and anxious, go talk to someone, as a poster above mentioned.

A lot of med students go what you're going through because none of them have ever felt "average" before until now. Just realize that you're hanging with the cream of the crop in terms of intelligence (or work ethic) and you're one of them.
 
Don't worry about other people.

Study by yourself.

Problems solved.

(If you can't study by yourself, make a new boyfriend/girlfriend and go study with them.)
 
lalapple said:
No matter what I do, I ALWAYS feel so behind. My classmates are all very smart and probably think I am ******ed. Aced first exam, but the uptight feeling never truly goes away because of the upcoming exams. I feel like I'm being judged and don't want to be in panic mode all the time, I'm losing hair and thinking about how behind I am makes me even more frustrated. I try to study and it is hard to focus. How long does it take for people to adjust to a new city, new school and new classmates?
Click to expand...

How much hair have you lost??? Avoid a comb over. Your classmates would make fun of you and, no longer an object of desire, you would become an object of ridicule.
 
Bigz said:
My approach is simple. I compete with ONLY me. I don't go to class, I study on my own from 6-8 daily. Don't want to know what others are doing and don't care. I don't even check the class average after an exam. I have a set target of 85-87% so far i have achieved that and I keep rocking. I firmly believe no one in my class is smarter than me, not even the guy who gets 100%. I look at like our goals are different he is achieving his and i am achieving mine.
Click to expand...

Beautiful. Somebody sticky this post.
 
Uptight feeling? Welcome to the profession of medicine...

USMLE
Third year rotations
Shelf exams
Residency Interviews
Intern year
ICU rotations
Fellowship interviews
Boards
Finding a job
paying back loans
Managing your practice/dealing with others

...Makes that first year exam not so stress inducing, eh?
 
Statistically about 50% of people are going to be in the bottom half. That doesn't necessarily say anything about you at this point aside from the fact that you may not be memorizing the material professors choose to test on. As long as you're learning the material and you do well on Step 1 you're fine.
 
sergeman said:
Statistically about 50% of people are going to be in the bottom half. That doesn't necessarily say anything about you at this point aside from the fact that you may not be memorizing the material professors choose to test on. As long as you're learning the material and you do well on Step 1 you're fine.
Click to expand...

If the top half of the class gets A's and the bottom half gets B's, I'd say that's just fine.
 
I agree with everyone else. When I first started 10wks ago I studied like 120+ hrs a week for 3 weeks straight before my first round of exams. I was sleep-deprived, and chugging coffee all the time. I passed first round of exams but just did ok. I decided to re-evaluate and started studying smarter and made sure to get at least 7 hrs of sleep a night. I really hammered it on the weekends but still had time to go out to dinner or something with friends. I ended up doing WAY better on the next round of exams with half the studying time and twice the sleep. So I've been on that schedule ever since. We'll see how round 3 goes next week!

I do feel a little behind, but I feel like somehow everything seems to fall in to place. Afterall, I study best under pressure..
 
lalapple said:
No matter what I do, I ALWAYS feel so behind. My classmates are all very smart and probably think I am ******ed. Aced first exam, but the uptight feeling never truly goes away because of the upcoming exams. I feel like I'm being judged and don't want to be in panic mode all the time, I'm losing hair and thinking about how behind I am makes me even more frustrated. I try to study and it is hard to focus. How long does it take for people to adjust to a new city, new school and new classmates?
Click to expand...

For what it's worth: this exact post could just as well been made by several of your classmates. You aren't alone.

Just settle into your own routine and make your own goals. Everything else will fall into place.
 
Takes about two years for that feeling to go away.

...because clerkships start.
 
Bigz said:
My approach is simple. I compete with ONLY me. I don't go to class, I study on my own from 6-8 daily. Don't want to know what others are doing and don't care. I don't even check the class average after an exam. I have a set target of 85-87% so far i have achieved that and I keep rocking. I firmly believe no one in my class is smarter than me, not even the guy who gets 100%.I look at like our goals are different he is achieving his and i am achieving mine.
Click to expand...

Listen to The King here, he speaks the truth.

Believe in your skills, believe in your talent. If nobody believes in you, believe in yourself.

All work is easy work.

Whether it's an easy task or a hard task, I put in the hard work.

Step up, follow suit, and the grades will fall into line.
F everyone else in your class.
 
searun said:
How much hair have you lost??? Avoid a comb over. Your classmates would make fun of you and, no longer an object of desire, you would become an object of ridicule.
Click to expand...


I just laughed out loud very hard...in my school's computer lab...
 
sergeman said:
Statistically about 50% of people are going to be in the bottom half. That doesn't necessarily say anything about you at this point aside from the fact that you may not be memorizing the material professors choose to test on. As long as you're learning the material and you do well on Step 1 you're fine.
Click to expand...


Agreed. You can get 100% on every MS1/2 test from just memorizing slides...and then fail boards
 
sergeman said:
Statistically about 50% of people are going to be in the bottom half. That doesn't necessarily say anything about you at this point aside from the fact that you may not be memorizing the material professors choose to test on. As long as you're learning the material and you do well on Step 1 you're fine.
Click to expand...


Oh yah?
 
MedicineMike said:
I agree with everyone else. When I first started 10wks ago I studied like 120+ hrs a week for 3 weeks straight before my first round of exams. I was sleep-deprived, and chugging coffee all the time. I passed first round of exams but just did ok. I decided to re-evaluate and started studying smarter and made sure to get at least 7 hrs of sleep a night. I really hammered it on the weekends but still had time to go out to dinner or something with friends. I ended up doing WAY better on the next round of exams with half the studying time and twice the sleep. So I've been on that schedule ever since. We'll see how round 3 goes next week!

I do feel a little behind, but I feel like somehow everything seems to fall in to place. Afterall, I study best under pressure..
Click to expand...

😕
 
It's all about figuring out what works best for you and moving forward with confidence.

It takes time to figure it out.
 
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