MD Do's and Dont for first year medical student

Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine
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legendarydoc

legendarydoc

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Docs I am going to start my Doctor of Medicine first year any advice on do's and dont's ?
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Do
  • Prioritize schoolwork
  • Recognize that you will have to make sacrifices
  • Keep up on your reading
  • Play nicely with others
  • Get to know your faculty and administration (you never know when you might need the benefit of the doubt or a strong ally)
  • Keep up on your reading
  • Maintain healthy habits (eating, exercising, sleeping -- yes, you can make time)
  • Keep in touch with loved ones and friends
  • Connect with fellow students
  • Maintain a good support system out of school in whatever form you wish (church, interest group, street gang, etc.)
  • Keep up on your reading

Don't
  • Fall behind on your reading
  • Feel like you're alone
  • Allow your life to completely lose its balance
  • Lose sight of the big picture (you're going to be a doctor!)
  • Fall behind on your reading
  • Piss off @Goro or @gonnif (New Yorkers are srs bsnss, dude)
  • Give in to despair
  • Start thinking the admissions committee screwed up when they picked you
  • Fall behind on your reading
  • Try to soldier through tough times all by yourself

This is what you've been working for. Congratulations!
 
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Agree 100% with @HomeSkool above.

I would add maybe a couple of things that are implicit in his advice but are worth mentioning on their own:

Do NOT go down the rabbit hole of using drugs and alcohol as a coping mechanism. There are high rates of both among physicians and most say their habit really started in medical school. There will be stresses throughout training; how you cope with them now will guide how you cope later. Find a better way.

Don't fall behind on your reading (not sure if he mentions this above). Medical school will punish procrastination with a vengeance. You will hear myths about classmates who wait until the day before to study and still ace the test. These are lies. You'll know these are lies later when these geniuses don't ever show up in AOA and have mediocre step scores. Don't believe the hype.

Do keep your nose clean. Everything counts now, both what you do in school and what you do outside of it. It's not fair, but mistakes are more costly to you the earlier you are in your training. Lets say you get a DUI and don't report it, or some other drug/alcohol arrest; there's a good chance this could get you dismissed at some schools and your career be over before it begins. If I did the same thing now as a resident, it might get me kicked out of my program, but I've had enough post-grad training to get licensed after enrolling in one of those physicians self monitoring programs and find some mindless MD job to pay the bills until I could convince another program to take me and get certified in that. If a board-certified MD has a problem like that, he can probably keep practicing in his field provided he gets help and goes through his states monitoring board. As a medical student, you're too early along, so don't do anything stupid because there really aren't second chances. This includes academic dishonesty and the like as well.

Do realize that your deans and administrators are actually on your side. There are many threads here that make it seem like faculty are against the students, but nothing is further from the truth. The faculty who hate students left academia after training and never looked back. Get to know your faculty and be open with them. They really are there to help you. They won't bend or break the rules for you like some may have done for you in high school and undergrad because you were one of the good kids, but that doesn't mean they won't do everything in their power to help you succeed.

Get help EARLY. Whether it's academic or personal or whatever, you need to reach out long before you think you should. I'm sure the faculty here could fill reams of paper with stories of good students who got into trouble because they asked for help too late. So if you ever think to yourself you might be drinking a little too much and too often, that's time to go talk to someone. If you feel like you're drowning academically, don't wait for the first test bombing, go get some help earlier. You'd be amazed at what schools will set up for struggling students. Ours set up all kinds of special tutoring groups, some faculty led by subject area to help struggling students get through the material and prioritize their study; they paid for additional outside resources or worked out discounted rates for us to buy them, they would even set up one-on-one tutors with upperclassmen and faculty if needed. If something happens in your personal life that is serious, such as a bad breakup, divorce, engagement/marriage, childbirth, illness/death in your family, you need to tell people! Our faculty did some incredible things for people to help them navigate these major life events while remaining in good standing academically and personally; some others kept things all to themselves and didn't come forward until after they had some serious academic problems.
 
@operaman speaks the truth. I'm going to now piggyback off one thing he said to really make sure the point is clear: keep your nose clean. If you have a problem -- especially early on -- you'll get on your administration's radar in a bad way. When that happens, they'll start watching you very closely and minor transgressions will suddenly become magnified in their eyes. Then things will snowball on you, and you'll be on SDN starting some thread entitled "About to be dismissed for no reason!", and we'll all say "bull crap, there's more to the story that you're not telling us", and then twelve posts in you'll say "well there was this one thing involving crystal meth but I swear I thought it was candy", and then we'll all say "dude you're an idiot", and then you'll start flaming people, and then the mods will ban you. So just don't start down that road.

Also, keep up on your reading.

And I'll emphasize one more time: the administration made it hard to get in, but they don't like losing students and they really are your allies.
 
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HomeSkool said:
@operaman speaks the truth. I'm going to now piggyback off one thing he said to really make sure the point is clear: keep your nose clean. If you have a problem -- especially early on -- you'll get on your administration's radar in a bad way. When that happens, they'll start watching you very closely and minor transgressions will suddenly become magnified in their eyes. Then things will snowball on you, and you'll be on SDN starting some thread entitled "About to be dismissed for no reason!", and we'll all say "bull crap, there's more to the story that you're not telling us", and then twelve posts in you'll say "well there was this one thing involving crystal meth but I swear I thought it was candy", and then we'll all say "dude you're an idiot", and then you'll start flaming people, and then the mods will ban you. So just don't start down that road.

Also, keep up on your reading.

And I'll emphasize one more time: the administration made it hard to get in, but they don't like losing students and they really are your allies.
Click to expand...


do you think I should keep up on my reading tho? haha jk... thanks a lot for these tips!
 
HomeSkool said:
Do
  • Prioritize schoolwork
  • Recognize that you will have to make sacrifices
  • Keep up on your reading
  • Play nicely with others
  • Get to know your faculty and administration (you never know when you might need the benefit of the doubt or a strong ally)
  • Keep up on your reading
  • Maintain healthy habits (eating, exercising, sleeping -- yes, you can make time)
  • Keep in touch with loved ones and friends
  • Connect with fellow students
  • Maintain a good support system out of school in whatever form you wish (church, interest group, street gang, etc.)
  • Keep up on your reading

Don't
  • Fall behind on your reading
  • Feel like you're alone
  • Allow your life to completely lose its balance
  • Lose sight of the big picture (you're going to be a doctor!)
  • Fall behind on your reading
  • Piss off @Goro or @gonnif (New Yorkers are srs bsnss, dude)
  • Give in to despair
  • Start thinking the admissions committee screwed up when they picked you
  • Fall behind on your reading
  • Try to soldier through tough times all by yourself

This is what you've been working for. Congratulations!
Click to expand...
By this, do you mean that we have to read art or literature work?
 
If you're finding things easy/doing decently with minimal work, don't just coast. Make sure you're putting in a solid amount of work right from the start. It might be easy at the time, but it makes it harder to really push yourself or really go hard if you start struggling. Additionally, keep an open mind and don't assume you'll end up in the field you plan on pursuing when you first enter medical school. I ended up in a field completely opposite from what I initially wanted. Fortunately for me, it's less competitive. However, if you spend the first year or two coasting, do average or worse, then decide you want to switch into a surgical field or something like derm later, you've screwed yourself. So maintain a balanced life, but go all out from the start and don't let up. It might sound contradictory, but most med students are fully capable of doing this with some decent planning and organization.
 
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Stagg737 said:
If you're finding things easy/doing decently with minimal work, don't just coast. Make sure you're putting in a solid amount of work right from the start. It might be easy at the time, but it makes it harder to really push yourself or really go hard if you start struggling. Additionally, keep an open mind and don't assume you'll end up in the field you plan on pursuing when you first enter medical school. I ended up in a field completely opposite from what I initially wanted. Fortunately for me, it's less competitive. However, if you spend the first year or two coasting, do average or worse, then decide you want to switch into a surgical field or something like derm later, you've screwed yourself. So maintain a balanced life, but go all out from the start and don't let up. It might sound contradictory, but most med students are fully capable of doing this with some decent planning and organization.
Click to expand...
I thought they said grades didn't matter?
 
no one has surprisingly mentioned it and I know I am not the only advocate of university counseling services, so here goes.

Visit your university counseling services department when you start medical school even if you do not need them....yet. Look over the list of therapists. Pick one whom you think you might need “just in case” because you will need her/him.

Just in case materializes during medical school so be a good Scout: be prepared!

12BA43F9-EB88-4E62-8550-E1F29E8AA69F.jpeg
 
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HomeSkool said:
Do
  • Prioritize schoolwork
  • Recognize that you will have to make sacrifices
  • Keep up on your reading
  • Play nicely with others
  • Get to know your faculty and administration (you never know when you might need the benefit of the doubt or a strong ally)
  • Keep up on your reading
  • Maintain healthy habits (eating, exercising, sleeping -- yes, you can make time)
  • Keep in touch with loved ones and friends
  • Connect with fellow students
  • Maintain a good support system out of school in whatever form you wish (church, interest group, street gang, etc.)
  • Keep up on your reading

Don't
  • Fall behind on your reading
  • Feel like you're alone
  • Allow your life to completely lose its balance
  • Lose sight of the big picture (you're going to be a doctor!)
  • Fall behind on your reading
  • Piss off @Goro or @gonnif (New Yorkers are srs bsnss, dude)
  • Give in to despair
  • Start thinking the admissions committee screwed up when they picked you
  • Fall behind on your reading
  • Try to soldier through tough times all by yourself

This is what you've been working for. Congratulations!
Click to expand...
What reading?
 
Trollest said:
I thought they said grades didn't matter?
Click to expand...

They do, just minimally compared to other parts of the application. However, building up your ability to put in excessive hours of work isn't something you can just turn on and off. It's like training for a marathon, you have to train and build that skill up, and it's something that's relevant to more than just grades. It impacts board scores, ability to put in excessive hours in clinic, and helps build a stronger foundation of medical knowledge which impacts pretty much everything. In my post I wasn't talking about the grades themselves, but rather building up mental stamina needed for many aspects of medicine.
 
Keeping up on the material is something I underestimated.

Make sure you stream lectures day of at the very least. Annotate the week's lectures/make your own study guides by the week's end at the very latest.

Don't buy it when people tell you they only study the week of/day before etc etc and do great. They're lying about how much they study or they're lying about their grades. Maybe both.
 
Doctor-S said:
The wise Goro and worldly HomeSkool got your back!
Click to expand...
It's not so much that I'm worldly as it is that I've been exposed to a lot of patients who are. There seems to be a correlation between being worldly and ending up in the trauma bay. 😛

Sent from my Pixel 2 using SDN mobile
 
Last edited:
legendarydoc said:
Docs I am going to start my Doctor of Medicine first year any advice on do's and dont's ?
Click to expand...

Congrats! Here's some of my own advice to piggyback on some things said here:

Do:
Have an outlet for your mind and body that isn't school related, like reading, writing, yoga, etc.
Treat your classmates with kindness.
Keep an open mind regarding specialties and subspecialties.

Don't:
Wear your white coat spuriously or in a non-medical setting.
Start drinking coffee if you're not already a coffee drinker.
Get in legal trouble, including DWI or drug use.

You got this!
 
Everyone keeps reiterating the importance of not falling behind on the reading, which is sort of easy to do first year. What's the best course of action if one does fall behind in the reading? Just try to double-down, sacrificing time and sleep and make it all up? Focus on big picture only until caught up?
 
Atom612 said:
Everyone keeps reiterating the importance of not falling behind on the reading, which is sort of easy to do first year. What's the best course of action if one does fall behind in the reading? Just try to double-down, sacrificing time and sleep and make it all up? Focus on big picture only until caught up?
Click to expand...

Imo, if you're just a day behind, spend extra time on the weekend catching up. If it's more than that do whatever you need to get a first pass in and get caught up ASAP. Even if that means not annotating or truly "learning" the material immediately. Once you're caught up on first pass, keep doing what you'd normally do to stay on track and spend an extra X hours annotating or doing whatever else you'd normally do until you're totally caught up. You've still gotta eat and sleep, but if you're balancing your life properly you should be able to kick it up a notch for 3-4 days or even a week or two to get back on track. The important lesson is that letting yourself get one day behind often means it'll take 2 to get back on track, keep that in mind if you're thinking about skipping a day's worth of work.
 
Just be nice to everyone. Someone pisses you off, turn the shoulder and stay positive. There will be so many things that have the potential to pull you down, but only if you let them. If it does happen and you find yourself in a rut, keep the chin up as best as possible. I found myself in a rut and I didn't think I'd ever make it out. Went and got help. Started 2nd semester Monday and am refreshed and have never felt better. It's okay to ask for help. In fact, the sooner you do it the better off you'll be.
 
Atom612 said:
Everyone keeps reiterating the importance of not falling behind on the reading, which is sort of easy to do first year. What's the best course of action if one does fall behind in the reading? Just try to double-down, sacrificing time and sleep and make it all up? Focus on big picture only until caught up?
Click to expand...
It still happens to me even though I try like hell to avoid getting myself in the situation. The best thing I've found is to just use lecture at 2x as my very first pass. Complete that and keep chugging thru lectures until Ive at least done that for all lectures. Then try to proceed as normal.

I don't think it's that effective in bringing me up to the level I would have been at though if I hadn't gotten behind. The thing is, it gets you stuck on the same material for too long when you really have to get your eyes on new material at least for a little bit every day. What are other people's thoughts?
 
Don't:

Believe anything anyone tells you about their medical school grades.
Congregate outside immediately after an exam and discuss the right and wrong answers.
Post pictures of classmates on fetish websites.
Throw fits and cry and scream because you were 5 points below average. Yes I've seen this.

Do:
Exercise a **** ton.
Eat healthy.
Play around with different study styles/methods until one consistently provides good results.
Watch a youtube cadaver dissection video pertaining to that lab's section before lab.
Enjoy yourself and enjoy learning. Burnout-proof yourself by establishing a good study-life balance, even if it means you won't be top of your class.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lets_Run said:
Don't:

Believe anything anyone tells you about their medical school grades.
Congregate outside immediately after an exam and discuss the right and wrong answers.
Post pictures of classmates on fetish websites.
Throw fits and cry and scream because you were 5 points below average. Yes I've seen this.

Do:
Exercise a **** ton.
Eat healthy.
Play around with different study styles/methods until one consistently provides good results.
Watch a youtube cadaver dissection video pertaining to that lab's section before lab.
Enjoy yourself and enjoy learning. Burnout-proof yourself by establishing a good study-life balance, even if it means you won't be top of your class.
Click to expand...
Emphasis on that...

Meds student lie a lot about how little they study and how well they are doing...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Lets_Run said:
Don't:

Believe anything anyone tells you about their medical school grades.
Congregate outside immediately after an exam and discuss the right and wrong answers.
Post pictures of classmates on fetish websites.
Throw fits and cry and scream because you were 5 points below average. Yes I've seen this.

Do:
Exercise a **** ton.
Eat healthy.
Play around with different study styles/methods until one consistently provides good results.
Watch a youtube cadaver dissection video pertaining to that lab's section before lab.
Enjoy yourself and enjoy learning. Burnout-proof yourself by establishing a good study-life balance, even if it means you won't be top of your class.
drink more beer.
Click to expand...
+1 to the drink more beer. Haven't missed a weekend in a long time and I'm still afloat.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
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