Anyone else feel grossly unprepared to start school?

[yogglo]

I'm starting M1 very soon and I don't feel too confident in my ability to even just pass... Just wondering if anyone else feels the same

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[ThetisAntithesis]

Same.

 

[M&L]

guys, this is SO NORMAL. you will feel like this for at least the first few months, till you get into the groove of studying and pass the first few exams.

Till then - be flexible about your study habits: dont be afraid to admit that you need help to adjust them. I barely passed my first exams, while my friends were doing very well, so i went to academic development, they helped me figure out my study strategy, and my grades have been climbing ever since. I finished the second semester in low 90s. So, you will be ok! be open minded, work hard, and it will be ok.
And, seriously, almost everyone feels the way you do, - it is called "imposter syndrome". totally normal. Part of the process.

btw: when it gets bad, and you start doubting yourself, tell yourself this: "AdComs are smart, they know what they are doing. They would have never accepted me if i was not ready".

 

[StudentDoGter]

YES. 50% excited, 50% terrible anxiety.

 

[kopftonmd]

To echo what @M&L said above, everyone feels unprepared to start med school. Then in school, you feel like you're not really a med student yet, and then you feel like you're so behind on everything, then you feel like you don't know anything on rotations... then you blink and you're almost done. Embrace the experience. Med school will make you into what you need to be. It's like in the Marines: no one gets left behind.

 

[stickgirl390]

Honestly, the imposter syndrome REALLY starts to hit during clerkships.

 

[Tangerine123]

Everybody does. It's a new stage of your life. Just try to focus and enjoy it. You aren't at a disadvantage, everybody feels like this at the beggining. Same happens when you start tour clinical rotations and residency. Good luck!

 

[M&L]

Honestly, the imposter syndrome REALLY starts to hit during clerkships.

oh, boy, i was hoping its already behind me.... i guess it is just taking a break. hahahha

 

[Tangerine123]

Honestly, the imposter syndrome REALLY starts to hit during clerkships.

At that stage, and as a resident the whole "fake it til you make it" mantra gets you places.

 

[ciestar]

Honestly, the imposter syndrome REALLY starts to hit during clerkships.

Then again as an intern

 

[stickgirl390]

At that stage, and as a resident the whole "fake it til you make it" mantra gets you places.

You just spoke to my soul

 

[Ho0v-man]

By the end of the first month, just about everyone is super struggling. But hardly anyone is showing it. Don’t psych yourself out and think you’re the only one.

 

[M&L]

By the end of the first month, just about everyone is super struggling. But hardly anyone is showing it. Don’t psych yourself out and think you’re the only one.

Yeah I remember that moment - a few weeks into medical school . Me and 4 classmates sitting on a big table In student lounge , having lunch (ah, sweet pre-covid times). And everyone is acting so happy . Then i say (because I am 10 years older than majority of them , and I sort of don’t care about appearances as much maybe): “ok lets all go in circle and discuss how we really feel . Just dump it all”. And everyone was like “thank god, I thought it was just me !”. They were all afraid that If they admit they are having tough time , Ppl would think they are not good enough to be there . And this is simply not true . Admitting you are having a tough time is the first step in self care .

 

[IMGASMD]

At that stage, and as a resident the whole "fake it til you make it" mantra gets you places.

That’s why it takes 4 years of med school. 3 years of residency, 8000+ hours clinical training to get there. (Just realized if we are counting like some of our midlevels do, the clinical hours should also add M3, M4 hour. So conservatively 11,000 hrs).

Don’t believe for a moment midlevel is ever as good as you, nor you know less than them.

I still remember, this is 15 years later, my classmates are from Stanford, Harvard, and MIT. Who am I, someone graduated from a state school, barely enough MCAT to get there.

Everyone struggles. You’ll get there, lonely road sometimes. But you’ll get there if you choose to get there. I truly believe if you can get in, you have what it takes to get out. That’s why screening process is so rigorous, that’s why people go to Caribbean will always be considered differently.

Good Luck.

Ps. I’ve just offended two groups of people on one post. It’s Friday’s and I am stuck here late. So whatevs......

 

[LunaOri]

Yeah I remember that moment - a few weeks into medical school . Me and 4 classmates sitting on a big table In student lounge , having lunch (ah, sweet pre-covid times). And everyone is acting so happy . Then i say (because I am 10 years older than majority of them , and I sort of don’t care about appearances as much maybe): “ok lets all go in circle and discuss how we really feel . Just dump it all”. And everyone was like “thank god, I thought it was just me !”. They were all afraid that If they admit they are having tough time , Ppl would think they are not good enough to be there . And this is simply not true . Admitting you are having a tough time is the first step in self care .

I had almost the same experience! I was older than many of my classmates and had been away from an academic setting for several years. For the first few weeks of school, I had this feeling that I must have been admitted by mistake, and any minute they were going to find out about it and kick me out. A group of us were sitting around before out first exam, and I spoke up about how I was feeling. EVERYONE, trad and non-trad was like "Wow! Me, too!"

 

[Goro]

I'm starting M1 very soon and I don't feel too confident in my ability to even just pass... Just wondering if anyone else feels the same

You and some 30,000 other incoming M1/OMS1's!

All new endeavors are fraught with anxiety, you'll be fine.

 

[ArteryStudyPainting]

You know when you just started middle school, and you look to a high schooler and you go, wow I'll never know as much as you do.

And then you go into high school and you look at what a college person knows, and you say there is no way.

And then you look to somebody as a freshman in college, who is starting medical school. You say there's absolutely no way.

But you've made it to where you are, building off of the backbone that you have worked so long and hard to create.

I can assure you, that if you put your head down and try to learn something new everyday. Even if you are a largely average student, you will be a resident.

Then, once you start your first year of residency, you're going to look at the fellow and go, oh there's no way I can do that.

But you do. I just dealt with clinic patients yesterday, and I never would have guessed that I would be able to do what I can do, relatively much easier than it was in my first year. It feels really good when you get the attending to say, you done good.

Best wishes to you!

 

[RealHumanBean1]

It’s incredibly difficult for everyone. We all get really good at maintaining the illusion of poise and confidence, because we have to, but everyone struggles with self-confidence issues and imposter syndrome. Try to keep your head up - and be kind to yourself on the days that you don’t I.e. when you have a bad day, let yourself have a bad day and don’t go on to beat yourself up about that, too

Like some have said, be prepared to be flexible and make changes to your study strategy early on. It’ll mean more time and work up front, but that time will pay off ten-fold over the following 3 years.

“But where do I get these strategies and how do I change them?” any wise medical student might ask. Mentors! Your peers in the class or two above you are your best sources of information. I know it seems anxiety-inducing or even rude at first, but reach out to 5+ MS2/3s at your school who crushed first year and/or second year. What’d they do? How’d they do it? Imo, if you really want to excel in medical school, having an entire army of mentors behind you is the way to do it. Most of us are happy to help our future colleagues!

If you have any specific questions, feel free to DM me. I’d be happy to share more specific advice. Best of luck!

 

[deleted1005514]

Don’t look up at the mountain before you too much...instead focus on today’s step.

Each day focus on mastering that day’s material. Try to be exam ready each morning on the previous day’s stuff if possible. You’ll be slow at first, you’ll feel like you’re drowning in PPTs, but you’ll get faster, more efficient, you’ll start making connections, and that’s when it gets fun.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

That’s why it takes 4 years of med school. 3 years of residency, 8000+ hours clinical training to get there. (Just realized if we are counting like some of our midlevels do, the clinical hours should also add M3, M4 hour. So conservatively 11,000 hrs).

PPP has a chart and a primary care physician has on average something like 20,000 clinical hours. Askforaphysician.com also has a chart that says a minimum of 15,000. It’s crazy, and I know I will still be terrified my first day as an attending.

 

[IMGASMD]

PPP has a chart and a primary care physician has on average something like 20,000 clinical hours. Askforaphysician.com also has a chart that says a minimum of 15,000. It’s crazy, and I know I will still be terrified my first day as an attending.

I was going very very conservatively in my count.

Residency
50hr*48weeks*3years= 7200
That’s the hours “on paper” on average.

3rd/4th year rotations (another 6000-7000 hrs )+ 1st/2nd year clinical. (Another 1000-2000hr)

If you really count like some of our crna counts their education, I suppose if you want to count your volunteering before med school and/or working as scribes, you’d have more. But I personally feel that’s a little disingenuous, that’s why I calculated this way.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I was going very very conservatively in my count.

Residency
50hr*48weeks*3years= 7200
That’s the hours “on paper” on average.

3rd/4th year rotations (another 6000-7000 hrs )+ 1st/2nd year clinical. (Another 1000-2000hr)

If you really count like some of our crna counts their education, I suppose if you want to count your volunteering before med school and/or working as scribes, you’d have more. But I personally feel that’s a little disingenuous, that’s why I calculated this way.

If we count hours like the nursing groups do, then I obtained hundreds of hours of clinical experience filling out secondary applications to medical school.

 

[IMGASMD]

If we count hours like the nursing groups do, then I obtained hundreds of hours of clinical experience filling out secondary applications to medical school.

Maybe interviews, traveling too, since they do count their “working” hours as clinical hours too.

Before someone jump down my throat, they count their icu/ed working hours as their training hours for crna school. Icu nursing and ed nursing duties, have little relevance in the OR. NP school, mostly can be done online. Their nursing projects are not “scientific”.

I need to stop, before all the hate mails find me.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Maybe interviews, traveling too, since they do count their “working” hours as clinical hours too.

Before someone jump down my throat, they count their icu/ed working hours as their training hours for crna school. Icu nursing and ed nursing duties, have little relevance in OR. NP school, mostly can be done online. Their nursing projects is not “scientific”.

I need to stop, before all the hate mails find me.

Pretty sure they clock at least an hour of training every time they drive past a hospital...

 

[odyssey2]

You really don't need to master the undergrad course work to do well in med school, they start at the basics anyway.

And O-Chem doesn't matter a bit. It's a totally pointless masochistic hoop to jump through.

 

[readmypostsMD]

I def feel anxious. Part of me misses being a lil premed.

 

[IMGASMD]

You really don't need to master the undergrad course work to do well in med school, they start at the basics anyway.

And O-Chem doesn't matter a bit. It's a totally pointless masochistic hoop to jump through.

The standard answer is to see if you can handle the work load. I dont get ochem. I think or hope most people don’t get it either. You’re sort of obligated to spend enough time with it to get a decent grade. If you are unable or unwilling to that kind of time and effort into get a decent grade, maybe med school is not for you.

Certainly not 100% all the time. But enough to weed out enough people. Fair? Fair enough, if everyone has to go through that. Does ochem make a good physician? I’d venture to say knowing Kerbs cycle or how many atps it produces have zero, ZERO relevance on what I do any day. But it did get us here. Also knowing that oxygen is needed for atp production is sort of important I suppose.....

 

[LunaOri]

The standard answer is to see if you can handle the work load. I dont get ochem. I think or hope most people don’t get it either. You’re sort of obligated to spend enough time with it to get a decent grade. If you are unable or unwilling to that kind of time and effort into get a decent grade, maybe med school is not for you.

Certainly not 100% all the time. But enough to weed out enough people. Fair? Fair enough, if everyone has to go through that. Does ochem make a good physician? I’d venture to say knowing Kerbs cycle or how many atps it produces have zero, ZERO relevance on what I do any day. But it did get us here. Also knowing that oxygen is needed for atp production is sort of important I suppose.....

Kreb's cycle and ATP are Biochem, not Organic. Organic is all those little diagrams of C's, H's, and O's.

 

[IMGASMD]

Kreb's cycle and ATP are Biochem, not Organic. Organic is all those little diagrams of C's, H's, and O's.

Thank you. I knew how to push electrons. I’d be surprised tho, atps are made without electrons being exchanged.

 

[Osteosaur]

I did. Its really no big deal.

First week while everyone was having fun I got scared and thought id read each 100+ page chapter in the histo book before class. Just relax, get some good resources like FA/Zanki, and see what second years did. You'll be fine and everyone feels this way.

 

[Fatalis]

oh, boy, i was hoping its already behind me.... i guess it is just taking a break. hahahha

Lmao wait till you become an attending

 

[Chemist0157]

It is easy to feel that way. I did as well. Feelings are valid, but they are not always reality. Nearly everybody finishes medical school. You have made a great effort to get to where you are now. The school made an effort to only accept students they thought would be successful.

You'll be fine.

 

[QuizzicalApe]

There are two groups of burgeoning 1st year medical students: The ones who feel grossly unprepared and the ones in for a rude awakening.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

YES. 50% excited, 50% terrible anxiety.

For efficiency, I've eliminated my excitement so I could go full-throttle on anxiety.