Anyone else having trouble?

[eternity94]

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[KickPush]

Is anyone else still having trouble adjusting to medical school life? I am mostly disappointed in my grades so far. I will say, I am basically average at a top 20 school w/ a 3.5 GPA thus far so I don't really have that much to complain about, but I'm still having problems.

I tend to worry a lot, worried about getting into medschool in undergrad, worried about getting into residency now. I was able to pull off undergrad with a really good application and was pretty sure I'd be able to get into medschool somewhere. Now though I hear you almost have to be AOA and have publications to get a competitive residency, etc. This probably won't be me and that bothers me.

I'm not sure that I want a particularly competitive residency anyway, but I don't really know what it is that I want to do and I can't help but to feel like I'm losing opportunities. Basically, every time I take a test and just wind up in the middle of the road I feel like I'm flushing my career down the toilet. I'm not really a gunner, and I'm not all that competitive, but I just like to be sure that I have every option open to me. I think this all stems from a test yesterday where due to some extenuating circumstances I wasn't able to study very much and thus did very poorly on an easy test (so the class average is pretty high).

Its just depressing to think that things are going south already and that doors are shutting. It makes it hard to study now because I randomly think "why bother, you've already blown it."

I have heard though that first year grades don't matter that much and at this point I've barely even gotten into the whole medschool thing. There is still a long way to go and things could change drastically from here. I know the best option for me is to just buckle down and do the best I can from here on out, but I still have that nagging feeling in my mind that since things haven't been perfect so far, my options are quickly decreasing.

Maybe I just needed to vent....thanks

Your dean's letter when you apply for residency should consist of about 8 pages, detailing your med school career. Less than a paragraph is about how you compared to your class. More weight is on your STEP1 score and HEAVILY on your 3rd and 4th year attendings' recommendations. Feel a little better?

That doesn't mean tank your classes. Focus on more of what YOU know, instead of how your class is doing. Follow along in First Aid in whatever subject you're studying. You're behind in class? Who cares, if you score above them in STEP1. Just use class as a tool for studying for the REAL exam.

To get into a good residency, so I've heard, is to do well on boards, get good recommendations, have a life (volunteer/something outside of school), do a rotation at the specific place you want to get into, and have your name on a research publication (which can be done in between your 1st and 2nd years, or during an easy rotation or elective in 4th year, OR still, during your transitional year after you graduate if you decide to take one, or even after you're done with a broad specialty i.e. internal med)

And you still have a really long way to go. If you want to differentiate yourself, 2nd year is the place to do it. But yeah you should step it up, because no matter how uninteresting your material is now, you'll need a lot of it next year. I'm no gunner, and I'm at the middle of my class at best (2nd year), but I chill, I'm less stressed, and I've figured it out. Find that happy balance and you shall prosper, fellow grasshopper.

 

[njbmd]

Is anyone else still having trouble adjusting to medical school life? I am mostly disappointed in my grades so far. I will say, I am basically average at a top 20 school w/ a 3.5 GPA thus far so I don't really have that much to complain about, but I'm still having problems.


Its just depressing to think that things are going south already and that doors are shutting. It makes it hard to study now because I randomly think "why bother, you've already blown it."


Maybe I just needed to vent....thanks

Consider yourself vented. No doors have closed for you unless you have closed them yourself. You have far more of medical school in front of you than behind you.

The amount of "worry" that you expend it like the energy that you use in a rocking chair. You can expend loads but you are not getting anywhere. Find an outlet for your excess "worry" such as something in the community or something physical like lifting weights. You will be far happier and far healthier in the end.

Venting is not a bad thing but don't beat yourself up because you are not perfect. I have not encountered any "perfect" human beings. You are doing fine and you have many more experiences ahead to show your excellence.

Your dean's letter when you apply for residency should consist of about 8 pages, detailing your med school career. Less than a paragraph is about how you compared to your class. More weight is on your STEP1 score and HEAVILY on your 3rd and 4th year attendings' recommendations. Feel a little better?

The Dean's letter (MSPE) is less than one page and is more of an outline these days. There is no way a residency program director is going to read anything about a residency applicant that is 8 pages long. No Dean is going to write 8 pages about a residency applicant.

Since the MSPE usually arrives around Nov 1, most program directors have already made up their mind in terms of whether of not to invite for residency interview and many interviews have already passed by the time the MSPE gets loaded into ERAS.