Feeling Blue...

[gioia]

...Or grey. How do I balance the work load but stay social enough to still be one of the 'troops'?

I never thought I would pen those words. Med school is awesome but being canned in a lecture hall with over a hundred students is like having a bed room with glass walls.

I finally got the bright idea to cut out of non-mandatory lectures and my life is easier (note service) but it is a lonely road. I also realized that a productive group study is rare find and I am best just studying alone.

All of this 'alone' time is fine but I feel like I'm out of the loop...

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[Sharky]

...Or grey. How do I balance the work load but stay social enough to still be one of the 'troops'?

I never thought I would pen those words. Med school is awesome but being canned in a lecture hall with over a hundred students is like having a bed room with glass walls.

I finally got the bright idea to cut out of non-mandatory lectures and my life is easier (note service) but it is a lonely road. I also realized that a productive group study is rare find and I am best just studying alone.

All of this 'alone' time is fine but I feel like I'm out of the loop...

Unfortunately that's medical school and that's what you signed up for. There's nothing you can do but move on.

 

[DrMom]

I did best studying with one, and only one, person. (More than that tended to be distracting.) We usually were studying on our own in the same room, but we'd ask each other questions & review together right before exams. It really helped to be with someone else even though we were, in reality, studying on our own most of the time.

 

[Elysium]

I know what you mean. I really do my best studying alone (especially for annoying crap like memorizing embryo or muscle attachments, etc). The only time I am really helped by studying with a group is for stuff like biochem, since going over the concepts tends to help me put it all together. This stuff is so craptastic that all I want to do is distract myself by talking with my friends instead of getting anything done. I should probably start studying with people I don't like...

 

[sophiejane]

It really is a solitary path. One of our professors mentioned that last semester and it really hit home.

Just make sure you leave some time to be with people and build relationships because these will sustain you when things get tough. Go out with people after an exam--even for just an hour or two. Call your family. You will need that support.

You'll be fine. It is a real adjustment at first, though. Allow yourself the time to adjust and don't worry if it seems hard. It is.

 

[gioia]

Wow.

It is really something to know that I'm not alone. I still haven't found anyone to work one-on-one with, Dr. Mom, but I like your approach. It would happen that more and more people would get involved when I started studying with individuals and I was getting lost in peripheral conversations because, like Elysium noted, it is too easy to chat.

It's funny, that for all of my medical school prep, I never imagined needing to contend with the balancing act of oversocializing versus isolating oneself.

This doesn't 'feel' like the 'real world' at all. It seems like I am a primate in some animalian experiment: No sleep, one auditorium, one bldg. for us to roam, and piles of material to digest lest we be thrown outside the 'group', and alpha monkeys swinging from the stair wells..... can you tell I was raised on National Geographic??

 

[gioia]

It really is a solitary path. One of our professors mentioned that last semester and it really hit home.

Hey Sophie Jane,

Would you elaborate on the 'solitary path' principle? We were told how we have to work together, get along with each other in assigned groups and be used to each other so we will make good teamates in the medical arena.

 

[sophiejane]

Hey Sophie Jane,

Would you elaborate on the 'solitary path' principle? We were told how we have to work together, get along with each other in assigned groups and be used to each other so we will make good teamates in the medical arena.

Basically, he said that you do some learning together--in class or in small groups, but ultimately, you have to sit yourself down with the material and slog through it. I do little to no group study and this works best for me. Sounds like your school is mandating group study. If so, that's unfortunate because it really works for only a few people, and only if everyone is really focused. One good thing about group study is being able to "teach" others--that is the final test of whether or not you know something. Can you explain it in a way that high school student (patient, lay person, etc) would understand it, or at least get the main idea? If you can, you know it cold. But this should be the last step in your learning. The first steps, as far as I've been told and what I have learned from experience, need to be taken on your own.

Of course you have to learn to "play well with others" and be a "team player"...those are such loaded terms and have come to mean so little. Being part of a team will come--and that is also not something that can really be taught in my opinion. By the time you are in medical school, if you can't work well in a group of people to solve a problem, I'm not sure you ever will.

But does it help to be in group when you are memorizing pathways in biochemistry?? Not in my experience.

I know there are schools that have assigned study groups and I think it is unfortunate. If you are not someone who learns well that way, you end up feeling guilty and wasting time when it doesn't work--because you just have to go home and learn it all on your own anyway.

 

[sport]

I felt compelled to respond, b/c this issue was particularly difficult for me to get over. I was a very social person before I started med school and I thought I was going to go crazy on several occasions throughout years 1 & 2. It is a solitary path and though other med students (past & present) can empathize and family can lend comforting words of encouragement, it doesn't help the fact that the first 2 years are nothing more than TIME spent by yourself studying while other students (friends) do the same. Time becomes such a valuable commodity that you ration it and refuse to "waste" it on normal things, like talking to normal people about normal things. This thought process can become all-consuming, especially for those that studying is a slow process. I remember becoming irritable if people, friends or family weren't being "efficient" enough for me. It happens to all of us to one degree or another and we all find ways to deal with it. I agree with others who have posted: take time after a test or if people are going out with relatively little to prepare for and go out for just a few hours. make a few hours a week to chat with friends (out side med school) and family to talk about non school stuff. It is crucial to stay grounded and get a normal perspective at times. Because you're correct, the first two years are not normal. I empathize with you and wish you luck.

 

[r90t]

Prioritize. Do your best, but don't let it overtake your life. Find your study routine and stick to it. Take a couple hours off on weekday evening for drinks/dinner and one weekend night off to unwind.

 

[DOrk]

Don't forget to eat, get plenty of sleep, and shower on a regular basis (It's amazing how many people forget these things).