Advice on Time Management

[westsidestoryz]

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One of the regrets I had as an undergraduate was not being more involved in school.

So I wanted to join a student body or an org during medical school (student government or intramural sports) but with the goals to kill the board exam, I do not know if its a smart move. I know I will have to bust my butt to get into a decent residency program and specialty (One reason is that I will most likely have +$500k in loans so I want to be in a field where I can kill this debt in 5-7 years).

So, as a pre-med that will be starting school next Fall, do you guys have any advice on how I can achieve high grades and exam scores while being involved in 1 to 2 activities at school?

Any tips or words of wisdom?

 

[Tenk]

Med school isn’t undergrad. Those clubs and ECs don’t do much except maybe help you network within a specialty. Boards and grades are really all that matter outside of networking. Just join whatever club you want and check it out but don’t prioritize that above studying ever.

 

[westsidestoryz]

So:
1. Board
2. Grades
3. Research
4. Volunteer??

 

[Tenk]

So:
1. Board
2. Grades
3. Research
4. Volunteer??

1. Networking
2. Boards
3. Grades
4. Aways
5. Research
6. Everything else

 

[westsidestoryz]

1. Networking
2. Boards
3. Grades
4. Aways
5. Research
6. Everything else

networking over board exams?? I thought the board was king?

And what is Aways?

 

[mrbreakfast]

networking over board exams?? I thought the board was king?

And what is Aways?

Depends what you want to go into, but basically, yes. The #1 thing that's been mentioned for me on my residency interviews was who wrote my letters of recommendation for me, as my interviewers personally knew my writers. And aways = away rotations; basically, auditions.

So, as a pre-med that will be starting school next Fall, do you guys have any advice on how I can achieve high grades and exam scores while being involved in 1 to 2 activities at school?

As a pre-med, focus first on passing your first few classes. Sounds obvious, but for M1, focus on learning good study habits and exploring different fields of medicine. If you want to focus purely on academics, look into joining a research group.

A huge amount of time and energy will be dedicated towards extracurriculars by your classmates as a pre-clinical medical student. I was president of multiple student orgs. On the interview trail, thus far two out of 50+ interviewers have even mentioned my involvement to me.

For a hierarchy:
1a) letters of rec/networking/away letters
1b) board scores
2).....
3) clinical grades
4) research
5)....
6) everything else (including pre-clinical grades)

Just be a good student and leave some time for fun. Everything else will fall into place.

 

[Tenk]

networking over board exams?? I thought the board was king?

And what is Aways?

Medicine works a lot more like the real world than undergrad. It's about who you know a lot of times, not what you know. Use this to your advantage. I put this as #1 because you should never forget about it. Networking, which leads to great letters, is a skill that ideally you should develop over your 4 years in med school. It can also tie into some research projects which is about all the EC you'd need. The summer between MS1/MS2 is a great time to get a lot of this done because you should mostly be focusing on school during your first year.

Aways are away rotations during fourth year. While they could also fall under networking, they are a bit different and deserve special mention. You really need to put your best foot forward on aways. A great away may land you a residency spot. A bad away may bar you from multiple spots if you put in a bad letter. Do not underestimate their importance.

When in doubt: study. When you can: meet new people. When you're tired of school: relax. It's a long road; plan accordingly. Good luck.

 

[westsidestoryz]

Medicine works a lot more like the real world than undergrad. It's about who you know a lot of times, not what you know. Use this to your advantage. I put this as #1 because you should never forget about it. Networking, which leads to great letters, is a skill that ideally you should develop over your 4 years in med school. It can also tie into some research projects which is about all the EC you'd need. The summer between MS1/MS2 is a great time to get a lot of this done because you should mostly be focusing on school during your first year.

Aways are away rotations during fourth year. While they could also fall under networking, they are a bit different and deserve special mention. You really need to put your best foot forward on aways. A great away may land you a residency spot. A bad away may bar you from multiple spots if you put in a bad letter. Do not underestimate their importance.

When in doubt: study. When you can: meet new people. When you're tired of school: relax. It's a long road; plan accordingly. Good luck.

Any advice on how to go about networking and building professional relationships during the pre-clinical years or is that even necessary?

And will just a summer of research be good enough to match into a competitive specialty?

 

[Tenk]

Any advice on how to go about networking and building professional relationships during the pre-clinical years or is that even necessary?

And will just a summer of research be good enough to match into a competitive specialty?

Clubs can help. Look for summer research stuff (it may bleed over into ms2-4, which is ok just don’t let it take priority over school). You can also just schedule a meeting with the PD of whatever program near the end of M1 and see if they have any projects you can help out with over the summer. Other than that it’s just social skills and making people like you.