Good Luck Everyone!!!! Congratulations on earning your White Coat!!! I am a proud parent of a NEOMED Grad who completed the BS/MD program when it was still available. After over a decade, my son is in his last week of Fellowship and will be officially an Attending next week! Finally!!!! (He's coming off my cell phone bill). LOL
We talked this past week about the long road. Here are some of his thoughts: NEOMED is hard, but doable. Keep your head down and study. If your struggling with anything (grades, mental health, family, relationships, etc.) get help ASAP. Many of his friends used counselors during their 4 years due to unseen problems that occurred. He had friends who took a gap year through the program and friends who actually had to repeat year 2 due to failing. (These friends did graduate from the program and are now in residency). He has developed life long friends now, and they have all graduated from NEOMED.
Get in the habit of spending one evening per week of having fun, meaning going out with friends, going to the gym, etc. You deserve a night out. Enlist help from family & friends if possible..meaning, I would bring meals to his apartment on the weekends. There were times he ordered a meal service to get through some really hard weeks (Factor meals, Icon Meals, etc). It was worth the price and splurge.
My son lived in the Village the first year and then moved to apartments in Kent and in Akron which were a little less in cost. He enjoyed the 15-25 minute drive to NEOMED as thinking time.
He felt the hardest exam he ever took (and this is his opinion only) was Step 1. He had to earn a specific number on the test to qualify for the different residencies, and now I heard it's PASS/FAIL. Either way, it's a really difficult exam. He felt Step 2 was a little easier.
Would he do medical school again? Absolutely!!!! One thing that surprised him was during his Internship. He worked with fellow Interns who went to more....hmmm, let's say "prestigious" schools. And he knew more than they did!!! Once he realized that, he wasn't intimidated by those other interns. At the end of his residency during the exit interview, the department head praised him with multiple compliments about his character, temperament, his decision making skills and his brains.
The reason I am writing this is because I want to encourage you to hang in there and don't give up. You made it this far and was accepted. Their were many students in his class who did quit. So, as the idiom implies, "the juice is worth the squeeze," give it your all. It's only 4 years!!!!
Good Luck and Congratulations!!!!