MD Advice to yourself starting medical school

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

yourFutureDoktur

Full Member
7+ Year Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2016
Messages
139
Reaction score
130
Hey guys, I hope medical school is treating you all well.

I will be starting medical school this year in a few months, so rn I’m just relaxing and spending time with family and friends. I wanted to ask you to provide some insight and advice on things you wish you knew before you started medical school? Things that you learned, you feel, would have helped you in medical school if you knew them earlier?

Thank you

Members don't see this ad.
 
giphy.gif
 
  • Like
Reactions: 14 users
Members don't see this ad :)
But since I'm already here... I know I made the right decision by keeping a balanced personal and professional life. It allowed me to stay focused, sane, and to have a life to go back to once everything was over.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 8 users
  1. Set a schedule.
  2. Stick to it.
  3. Sleep and wake at the same time every day and get a full dose of sleep. Sleep hygiene is critical.
  4. Don't assume that what worked for you in undergrad will work for you in med school.
  5. Exercise for mind body and spirit. This sounds trite but a well exercised body supports a hard working brain.
  6. Eat clean.
  7. Don't let people waste your time with silly crap.
  8. Find a good study partner. Med school isn't a solo game. If you study by yourself you'll never have someone telling you your wrong about something, and you'll go into that exam or whatever thinking you have everything knocked. You'll be sruprised to find out that you don't.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 10 users
know your goals. is your goal to be a family physician or a subspeciality surgeon. if it's primary care, relax enjoy the ride. if it's subspeciality surgeon, be ready to start working hard
 
  • Like
Reactions: 6 users
Routine routine routine. Find one and stick with it!

+1 for sleep hygiene and making sure to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. I would also add on the diet side of things, to be weary of caffeine after a certain time. It'll also help you sleep, which will help you study and excel. it's all connected. Find the routine that works for everything and stick with it
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Thank you all for such great advice! Will really learn and reflect on all your inputs to foster these habits now so by the time I start, I am disciplined in terms of sleep hygiene and routine. Everyone else is welcome to give addition input based on your experiences
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Start doing questions early

From what I've absorbed from others, is to gain a basic understanding of the information. This via BnB, Anki, lectures(?), more or less front loading knowledge. Then, do qbanks to build the big picture. Essentially, learn the trees with study materials and with the qbanks find the forest.

That is essentially my game plan and what I believe he was alluding to.

Is it worth starting uworld when you first start? Several M4s have told me that they wish they had started it in M1 but that seems pointless to me since they’re prime step material
 
Is it worth starting uworld when you first start? Several M4s have told me that they wish they had started it in M1 but that seems pointless to me since they’re prime step material
nopenopenope. Those questions are so wasted on M1s. We didn't know anything.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Treat it as a job. Study, set goals, evaluate performance. Study for Step 1 from day of MS2 (but not as I tense as you should during dedicated). Don't forget to live during medical school. I met and married someone not related to medicine. Stop putting life on hold.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 6 users
Members don't see this ad :)
Is it worth starting uworld when you first start? Several M4s have told me that they wish they had started it in M1 but that seems pointless to me since they’re prime step material
Qbanks other than uworld like Kaplan and first aid qmax
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Can you specify?
I spent a lot of time studying material and reading but not doing questions to reinforce what I studied during first year. I feel that doing more questions earlier would have solidified my knowledge base and made prep for step 1 less stressful for me.
 
That cute girl who literally gave you her number on the first day of orientation to "study sometime"... take her up on the offer :slap:
 
  • Like
Reactions: 18 users
Can you specify?
In order to solidify information in your mind you need to apply it immediately. Whatever module questions you’re given on a per lecture basis, do them that day. In other words waiting until the end of a module to start apply the knowledge to application is too late. When you just see informaation once or twice in a passive way, it’s not nailing that data to the wall. You want to hit the info four or five times at least. This is the basis of ‘spaced repetition’.
1 - Preread slides before the lectures, just the front material and slide headers. You know what’s coming
2 - The lecture itself
3 - Questions that day
4 - Making Anki flashcards - this process forces you to live in the info. You do this with Cloze and Image Occlusion Ehnanced. You can probably write 4 flash cards for every slide you get in lectures.
5 - Quiz/teachback with study partner/group.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
nopenopenope. Those questions are so wasted on M1s. We didn't know anything.
Like a dog watching TV.
Treat it as a job. Study, set goals, evaluate performance. Study for Step 1 from day of MS2 (but not as I tense as you should during dedicated). Don't forget to live during medical school. I met and married someone not related to medicine. Stop putting life on hold.
This. It’s a job and grades and killer Step scores are the paycheck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
You don’t have to attend lectures, you silly goose. This is grown up school now.

Videos, online lectures ie Dr. Najeeb, Pathoma and Sketchy >>> PhD lectures

Go out more. That extra evening of studying isn’t going to mean much in the grand scheme of things.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Evolution of a pre-clinical med student:
2uutvp.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: 4 users
You don’t have to attend lectures, you silly goose. This is grown up school now.

Videos, online lectures ie Dr. Najeeb, Pathoma and Sketchy >>> PhD lectures

Go out more. That extra evening of studying isn’t going to mean much in the grand scheme of things.
Unless you do. Avoid mandatory lecture schools like the plague
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 users
Oh, my greatest piece of advice would be to start a medical school instead of starting medical school, much more money to be made in the educational arena.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Study with a strategy. Make a study schedule for the week and try to stick to it. It’s better to have everything planned out
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Thank you everyone, amazing advice from you all! Keep them coming :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Roommates? If you have them, how many? I'm going to school in high COL area and didn't want roommates initially, but each day that passes seems like I'm gonna need them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Dr.s Najeeb, Sattar, Ryan, Golijan (pappi) . I cant express my love for them enough. except for ryan because he is a dick.

I love Goljan. There was a user on here that used that picture as his avi with the name "GoljansRightBicep". I think he's gunning for ortho too, lol.

As an aside, all of them, especially Goljan and Sattar, will forever be beloved by the preclinical brethren. I mean, on SDN you've got people like the user I mentioned and Disciple of Sattar. On reddit, there's goljanismydad and Sattars_Son. They will be forever immortalized on the forums via username. Who else is deserving of such blatant hero worship?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
That cute girl who literally gave you her number on the first day of orientation to "study sometime"... take her up on the offer :slap:

Yep, important point for the single oblivious men. The girls who come to med school single are going to be trying to find a boyfriend in med school as soon as possible. The hints become very obvious like the above. It's a mad grab for relationships on day 1, most of which fizzle out after the first semester and the process repeats for a few more cycles before people settle down towards M2-M3.

If you're a single male when school starts, just make yourself available and know to look for it. If you find yourself wondering if the girl was interested, 99% of the time it's because she was and was coming on as strong as possible and you were too dumb to notice.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Don't work night shifts for a straight year all the way up until two days before starting med school.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Unless you do. Avoid mandatory lecture schools like the plague
I don't think mandatory lecture is that bad. there are other features of a school that can outweigh the downsides of mandatory lecture. I'll probably attend a school with mandatory lecture, and I think of myself as more of a self-learner. In my case, I think the other pros of the school trump the cons of mandatory lecture.

How many hours of mandatory lecture per week? 8-5 sounds atrocious, 8-12 is not so bad...
 
I don't think mandatory lecture is that bad. there are other features of a school that can outweigh the downsides of mandatory lecture. I'll probably attend a school with mandatory lecture, and I think of myself as more of a self-learner. In my case, I think the other pros of the school trump the cons of mandatory lecture.

How many hours of mandatory lecture per week? 8-5 sounds atrocious, 8-12 is not so bad...
As someone who has been there, let me tell you that you are going to be eating your words in about 12 months
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
I don't think mandatory lecture is that bad. there are other features of a school that can outweigh the downsides of mandatory lecture. I'll probably attend a school with mandatory lecture, and I think of myself as more of a self-learner. In my case, I think the other pros of the school trump the cons of mandatory lecture.

How many hours of mandatory lecture per week? 8-5 sounds atrocious, 8-12 is not so bad...
Dont know your school , but my school has 20-40 hours of lecture a week. when all things are said and done that is a large chunk of time. Less than 10% of my class attends lectures at this point.
 
As someone who has been there, let me tell you that you are going to be eating your words in about 12 months
I grant that you have more experience than me, but is mandatory lecture with mostly free afternoons (according to students that go there) going to stop you from attending a Top 10 school?

The other alternative is to go to my state school...cost is about the same...what would you do?
 
I grant that you have more experience than me, but is mandatory lecture with mostly free afternoons (according to students that go there) going to stop you from attending a Top 10 school?

The other alternative is to go to my state school...cost is about the same...what would you do?
Fair. Just... Be ready to be upset
 
You’ll receive a lot of advice, but remember that everyone learns differently. Don’t force a square peg into a round hole - pick and choose what works for you. Some of the advice here would’ve been terrible for me personally had I followed it, and others would have been really helpful. It just depends on how you learn best.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
I grant that you have more experience than me, but is mandatory lecture with mostly free afternoons (according to students that go there) going to stop you from attending a Top 10 school?

The other alternative is to go to my state school...cost is about the same...what would you do?

I'm shocked that a top 10 school would have mandatory lectures...about to check my MSAR if I still have access to see which one lol
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Get AOA and wear AOA tie to wards. Attendings and residents love it when they know they're with an equal instead of another useless medical student.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Get AOA and wear AOA tie to wards. Attendings and residents love it when they know they're with an equal instead of another useless medical student.

You mean that attendings and residents will love it when they know that they're with an expert who can teach them something for once, right? I'm sure that the learning doesn't stop at the attending level.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
You mean that attendings and residents will love it when they know that they're with an expert who can teach them something for once, right? I'm sure that the learning doesn't stop at the attending level.

Yes. Who cares how you manage the patients but if you can receive the entire glycolysis pathway and citric acid cyle actual MDs will bow before you. Bonus points and getting carried out the hospital ala Rudy if you can spout how many ATPs are made at each step.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Top