That is an excellent point Andrew...Although the first two years of med school are demanding academically, and they do put a strain on the family it still remains a well structured environment. You wake up at the same time every day, have class, and study, it is a fairly mundane routine. In the first year especially you can spend a few extra hours a day studying and really cram for a few days to a week prior to a test and be ok. The second year is more work intensive and has a greater demand on your time, but still it is nothing compared to say an Ortho residency, where you are basically living at the hospital. In many ways I think this is harder on a family than being deployed. As a resident when you are at home you are probably beat down and don't feel like doing much but resting, while your family sees you at home and thinks you should be doing stuff with them...undoubtably it can and has been done, but it has got to put a huge strain on a family. At least when you are deployed you are gone and everyone understands that, and you aren't coming home beat down and grouchy. At any level of medical education, it takes a flexible and understanding family that has to sacrifice a lot of family time. Personally, I have become willing to sacrifice trying to be at the top of my class (which I doubt I could be anyway) for lower grades but a happier family. If you are trying to get into one of THE most competitive residencies such as Ortho, you probably don't have that luxury since it demands high grades. Of course everyone is different and some people can still get awesome grades with minimal studying. Frankly I expected to fit into that category when I came to med school because in undergrad I was able to breeze through with nearly all A's and not a lot of effort. Med school has been a humbling experience, but a good dose of humility isn't always a bad thing
As to your questions specifically:
The first semester was the hardest adjustment time, and yes you do learn on the job. You really can't get a feel for med school without actually experiencing it. Once you get a feel for the amount of studying that will be required to get the grades you want, you get into a routine and it isn't too bad.
As for moving around a lot, it's not that bad. In fact I can gaurantee you that you will never be moving around 2X/year! or even every 2 or three years, it's too expensive for the government to move people that often. At most you will move once every 2-3 years but that is on the high end. More likely you will move once every 3-5 years and some move even less often.
Anyway, I hope to see y'all here at USU it's a great school. And take what I say with a grain of salt. I can only speak from MY experience and point of view, it's different for everyone.
