Few bits of advice from an upperclassman
1. Don't blow off ANY classes early in the year, especially now during the winter when things really start to suck. (you know which classes I'm talking about). Yes, it's very frustrating and easy to give up right now. But there were people who put a lot less effort into certain classes b/c the cost/benefit of studying hard for them just didn't seem to pay off. At the end of the year, these same people had to perform unrealistically well on the final. Ask yourself, do you really want passing a class on the line when you've got boards a mere 3 weeks later? Just work hard and give 110% even when it feels the worst. You won't ever regret that. I came into spring with solid grades in my classes. 8 weeks in advance of boards, I was comfortable spending most of my time on boards studying than on passing classes and (Suprise suprise!) both boards and classes went alright for me.
2. Try to decide early if you want to go DO or MD for the match. You might not know what specialty you're interested in yet, but you probably have some idea of where you'd like to end up, so go to that osteopathic opportunities site and see what sort of DO residencies are offered in your preferred locale. Then, if you're not sure that there are a lot options for you in a particular area, or, if you just don't have any idea at all what to do, just go ahead and take the USMLE. I did well on the COMLEX (well over 600) but didn't take the USMLE and I'm finding out in spite of this that the MD match is pretty much out of the question since I didn't take the USMLE.
That probably highlights the 2 major pressing concerns for CCOM 2nd years at this point in the year.
