frustrated, upset, & just TIRED of 3rd year

[coconut lime]

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anybody else want to vent about this year? this is the first time in 3 years i've felt like quitting. as it comes to an end and i look back on my performance, it's quite dismal. i've managed to work my ass off and come out of it with only ONE high pass, and 3 passes. (other grades not in yet). i have a few good evals, but one bad surgery eval that i'm afraid is going to loo terrible on my dean's letter.

to top it off, i've worked really hard. i've been one point away from getting the higher grade on two occasions, only to get screwed with the pass in the end. i see classmates coast through clerkships, because they have very easy attendings, and come out with honors.

and the times i feel like i worked the hardest, i learned nothing. i retracted until my hands were numb on surgery and got home at 8pm, too tired to read, and can honestly say i learned next to nothing in those 3 months.

the funny thing is, patients love me. i've had so many people tell me i had great bedside manner, wonderful people skills, etc....but apparently my attendings never heard that, as evidenced by my evals. i've worked as hard as possible, done awesome on exams....and have come away with nothing. this year sucks. i'm about ready to quit.

 

[MD'05]

anybody else want to vent about this year? this is the first time in 3 years i've felt like quitting. as it comes to an end and i look back on my performance, it's quite dismal. i've managed to work my ass off and come out of it with only ONE high pass, and 3 passes. (other grades not in yet). i have a few good evals, but one bad surgery eval that i'm afraid is going to loo terrible on my dean's letter.

to top it off, i've worked really hard. i've been one point away from getting the higher grade on two occasions, only to get screwed with the pass in the end. i see classmates coast through clerkships, because they have very easy attendings, and come out with honors.

and the times i feel like i worked the hardest, i learned nothing. i retracted until my hands were numb on surgery and got home at 8pm, too tired to read, and can honestly say i learned next to nothing in those 3 months.

the funny thing is, patients love me. i've had so many people tell me i had great bedside manner, wonderful people skills, etc....but apparently my attendings never heard that, as evidenced by my evals. i've worked as hard as possible, done awesome on exams....and have come away with nothing. this year sucks. i'm about ready to quit.

Welcome to the club. Your problem is that you didn't schmooze enough with the attendings. I saw one student get honors and he was a complete a s shole, but he kissed-ass without parallel.

 

[coconut lime]

you're right, i definitely did not schmooze enough. instead i spent my time doing worthless things, like looking up labs, walking patients, and cramming for the exam. what a waste of time.

 

[nerfherder]

count me into the club! I've had enough with getting my a** out of bed at 4am to change wound dressings, missing honoring the shelf by A POINT, and being referred to as "the med student". The only thing keeping me going is that's it's almost over. Just 21 more days!!!

 

[ears]

Hang in there. Don't let the grades get you down. Figure out what kind of doctor you want to be (hint: what kind of person do you want to be?), and figure out how you're going to become that. Don't let the rest of the bu11$h1t get in your way. The grades and evals are just a game, and won't matter in ten years, or even two. Get what you're there for, and get on with your life.

 

[Clair de Lune]

SAME HERE!!! You people are reading my mind! I have 26 horrendous days of surgery left and I am losing it. This is my day:
4:30--drag myself out of bed
5:15--get to hospital to pack and dress these freaking cavernous wounds in disgusting feet (by the way I HATE feet) and putting my fingers in places I'd rather not to see if blood is in there.
6:30--round with team, although it's not really rounding with them because most of "rounds" consist of the residents saying "student, go get this...student go get that...blah blah blah"
7:30-4:00--retract something in the OR while getting pimped mercilessly on the nuances of anal anatomy and/or venous drainage of the worthless pinky toe
4:00-5:30--waiting for the chief to go smoke and quit shooting the s*** with the attendings so we can round...again
5:30-7:00--repeat of 6:30-7:30, without the formal presentations and with more running back and forth to the "designated smoking area" to get the patients who are ruining any chance of their funky feet actually healing by smoking 2+ packs per day to go back to their rooms so I can do their gross feet again.
7:00-8:00--follow around the "team" so they can feel important until I am finally released

Whatever, I'm supposed to be learning yet never in my life have I felt more like a warm body to go do all the junk no one else wants to. So yeah, I'm sick of 3rd year too!!!! 😛

 

[Clair de Lune]

And since I am making lists, here is a list of how my personal life has suffered since I have no time for anything but this stupid rotation
1. my apartment is currently a quagmire of filth
2. my herb garden is DNR & now there is some weird purple stuff growing on the dried out oregano
3. my once-somewhat-toned abdominal muscles are mushy now
4. I have not eaten an actual vegetable in at least 6 days
5. I have not seen my boyfriend in at least 9 days
6. If leg-shaving was an operation, I am now POD#3 (sorry if this is TMI! 😳 )
7. the freshest thing in my fridge is half a gallon of skim milk that expired 2 days ago
8. Since my dishes are all dirty I actually caught myself eyeing unused bedpans as potential cereal bowls in the stock room today while refilling my box o' dressing changes.

Gotta love 3rd year!

 

[The Fideal]

a small list of warning signs that your whole being has been infiltrated by your status as a med student:

even outside the hosp, anything that sounds even remotely like your pager sends you thru the roof

you use 4x4's as napkins @ the dinnertable

steri-strips & tegrederm that you nicked from the supply rm have replaced band-aids in your medicine cabinet (band-aids are *so* pre-med)

at home, you wave your hands under the faucet for a few seconds before you remember that it's not equippied w/a motion sensor (same goes for toilets)

if you slit your wrists, there's a good chance that black coffee would spill forth (please don't slit your wrists, b/c the team will go on ahead, and *i'll* get stuck dressing your wounds)

you just feel naked without your pda

on-call has taught you that if you're tired enough, you can sleep under any conditions (if the resident lets you, that is)

"pimp" now has an entiiiirely different connotation (i personally think that what they do to us should be the one that's illegal!!!!)

the eerie urge to puncture any and every "good vein" you see, just because

if you sleep in your own bed for anything in excess of 3 hrs, it was a damn good night


...if you are experiencing any of these symptoms, for the love of all things good, go to a real doctor. i'm a student, not your personal medical reference! jeeze, you're as bad as my friends and family! i have work to do, so hold your own damn retractor

 

[TruTrooper]

a small list of warning signs that your whole being has been infiltrated by your status as a med student:

even outside the hosp, anything that sounds even remotely like your pager sends you thru the roof

you use 4x4's as napkins @ the dinnertable

steri-strips & tegrederm that you nicked from the supply rm have replaced band-aids in your medicine cabinet (band-aids are *so* pre-med)

at home, you wave your hands under the faucet for a few seconds before you remember that it's not equippied w/a motion sensor (same goes for toilets)

if you slit your wrists, there's a good chance that black coffee would spill forth (please don't slit your wrists, b/c the team will go on ahead, and *i'll* get stuck dressing your wounds)

you just feel naked without your pda

on-call has taught you that if you're tired enough, you can sleep under any conditions (if the resident lets you, that is)

"pimp" now has an entiiiirely different connotation (i personally think that what they do to us should be the one that's illegal!!!!)

the eerie urge to puncture any and every "good vein" you see, just because

if you sleep in your own bed for anything in excess of 3 hrs, it was a damn good night


...if you are experiencing any of these symptoms, for the love of all things good, go to a real doctor. i'm a student, not your personal medical reference! jeeze, you're as bad as my friends and family! i have work to do, so hold your own damn retractor

You mean there is something wrong with me feeling naked without my PDA?

 

[Stinger86]

Don't give up yet... it's almost over.

If there's one thing I refused to do this year, it was schmooze up to people who didn't deserve it.
Case in point: OB/Gyn. Wow, they hated me for not caring about their stupid crap and I'll probably end up getting a really lousy grade, but that's life. I'm applying into a field that doesn't really care all that much for clinical clerkship performance, so it's been great to relax emotionally, but those of you out there gunning for something really competitive..... well, you chose the path, and now you have to walk the walk, which tends to suck butt. Hope everything works out

 

[bustbones26]

wait a minute! You have not failed anything, sounds like you're doing just fine. Why do you feel the need to honor at everything? Do your classmates tell you that they are honoring everything? Did you think that you're the only one that gets stuck with crappy rotations from time to time?

Let me share a big secret with you, all of your colleagues that you think are honoring every rotation, probably are not. In case you haven't noticed, fellow med students have a very hard time admitting to any mediocrity and would not be as honest as you are.

Bottom line, you will match, do the best you can. Take it from me, what is really important is not your grades (which by the way seem just fine) but what is extremely important, if not the most important thing, is the letters that attendings write for you when you apply to residency. If you impress even just one attending, you have a good foot hold.

Hang in there!

 

[Neuronix]

👍 I'd vent, but it would sound exactly like the op's post.

 

[irlandesa]

NYCOM's post is funny as he!! and SO true..

Hate to burst anyone's bubble, but the grades do come back to bite you in the arse at times.. I was told at Brown (my first choice in spirit) that "your faculty just love you (after reading my letters)" and got a personal e-mail from the PD I interviewed with saying how he really enjoyed meeting me, would love the opportunity to work with me and others from my school in the future.. Did NOT match there, and judging by the records of people on the IM board, I suspect my HP in Medicine and P's in Surgery and Peds did NOT help. Don't get me wrong, I still matched in my Top 3 and am stoked to be going to UMass, but so-so grades (esp. P's) are none too helpful. But hey, if I got through, anyone can! g'luck.

 

[greets fr. nyc]

coconut lime,

quit! get out while you still can~!


no, seriously, it'll be over before you know it. hang in there.
sounds like you've done real good for your patients. you've made a difference in their lives, who else on your team has made them feel better, i mean, made the patients on your service feel like human beings?

3rd year grades are often arbitrary and capricious, i totally agree.
rat bastards!

i work hard, but sometimes, i've had to accept my fate with grace...
it can be darn humbing... but maybe that's a good thing.

 

[rotatores]

I would love to give my theory on why some students consistently get honors...but I don't want to start a war...bottom line...I've come to realize that I'm not one of those students. No matter how hard I've worked...or how slack I was...I always ended up with the same grade.

It took me about half of third year to quit worrying about grades and start studying to (not to sound cheezy) protect my patients in the future.

...but...the end is near...12 more days of third year.

 

[greets fr. nyc]

...but...the end is near...12 more days of third year.

hell's yeah!

 

[rheumo_gal]

Hey, I am exhausted too! Just scream when necessary!
🙂

 

[JudoKing01]

SAME HERE!!! You people are reading my mind! I have 26 horrendous days of surgery left and I am losing it. This is my day:
4:30--drag myself out of bed
5:15--get to hospital to pack and dress these freaking cavernous wounds in disgusting feet (by the way I HATE feet) and putting my fingers in places I'd rather not to see if blood is in there.
6:30--round with team, although it's not really rounding with them because most of "rounds" consist of the residents saying "student, go get this...student go get that...blah blah blah"
7:30-4:00--retract something in the OR while getting pimped mercilessly on the nuances of anal anatomy and/or venous drainage of the worthless pinky toe
4:00-5:30--waiting for the chief to go smoke and quit shooting the s*** with the attendings so we can round...again
5:30-7:00--repeat of 6:30-7:30, without the formal presentations and with more running back and forth to the "designated smoking area" to get the patients who are ruining any chance of their funky feet actually healing by smoking 2+ packs per day to go back to their rooms so I can do their gross feet again.
7:00-8:00--follow around the "team" so they can feel important until I am finally released

Whatever, I'm supposed to be learning yet never in my life have I felt more like a warm body to go do all the junk no one else wants to. So yeah, I'm sick of 3rd year too!!!! 😛

That's nothing a little Arabesque no. 1 can't fix.

 

[Legion560]

I always knew that third year was supposed to suck (grade-wise) but today that little bit of knowledge drop kicked me in the head. After memorial day weekend, I come back to be cussed out by my new resident for not showing up to pre-round (today was the start of a brand new service, so I was expecting some kind of orientation-how the f was I supposed to know). So Im standing there kind of dazed wondering if I should scream, curl up in the fetal position, or punch her in the face. Plus I pissed of my program director, so thats two strikes against me. I swear I am *this* close to getting my butt booted from here. I have no idea whether to cry or laugh. I am so so close to the end and the poop is already hitting the fan. I need a beer.

Legion

 

[Cpt.Hook Hamate]

I always knew that third year was supposed to suck (grade-wise) but today that little bit of knowledge drop kicked me in the head. After memorial day weekend, I come back to be cussed out by my new resident for not showing up to pre-round (today was the start of a brand new service, so I was expecting some kind of orientation-how the f was I supposed to know). So Im standing there kind of dazed wondering if I should scream, curl up in the fetal position, or punch her in the face. Plus I pissed of my program director, so thats two strikes against me. I swear I am *this* close to getting my butt booted from here. I have no idea whether to cry or laugh. I am so so close to the end and the poop is already hitting the fan. I need a beer.

Legion

Laugh or the bastahds have already won.


I hope everyone here remembers vividly of what it was like to be a med student and not become an a-hole attending. Make a vow that you will sympathize and understand the students forever!

 

[CANES2006]

Third year has been rough, but I noticed that when I found my true passion and realized what specialty I was going to do, third year became much more doable. I echo everyone here though: thank God that ****ty year is over!!!!

 

[nerfherder]

Finding out what specialty you're going into definately helps out third year. Nothing sucks more than being in the middle of an horrible rotation and attending after attending ask "so have you thought about doing this for a career" and the only thing you're thinking is "f*ck no". Then this whole charade goes on with you getting an enthusiastic look and saying "MAYBE!!" Third year has really helped out my acting skillz 😎

 

[vegas]

And since I am making lists, here is a list of how my personal life has suffered since I have no time for anything but this stupid rotation
1. my apartment is currently a quagmire of filth
2. my herb garden is DNR & now there is some weird purple stuff growing on the dried out oregano
3. my once-somewhat-toned abdominal muscles are mushy now
4. I have not eaten an actual vegetable in at least 6 days
5. I have not seen my boyfriend in at least 9 days
6. If leg-shaving was an operation, I am now POD#3 (sorry if this is TMI! 😳 )
7. the freshest thing in my fridge is half a gallon of skim milk that expired 2 days ago
8. Since my dishes are all dirty I actually caught myself eyeing unused bedpans as potential cereal bowls in the stock room today while refilling my box o' dressing changes.

Gotta love 3rd year!

- Clair

THis is tooo funny!!! haha!!! May be you should use some of these lines in your personal statement about why you choose to go into another field rather than surg.

 

[Cholinergic]

Your problem is that you didn't schmooze enough with the attendings. I saw one student get honors and he was a complete a s shole, but he kissed-ass without parallel.

I always thought that people could see right through the schmoozing ans arse kissing. Is it really better to be fake than efficient (or rather fake and efficient)?

 

[4CDirect]

I always thought that people could see right through the schmoozing ans arse kissing. Is it really better to be fake than efficient (or rather fake and efficient)?

That's what I thought too. In the end, ask yourself what really made you chose medicine. I think most of us want to help people who are sick and to do that, we need to learn. Ass kissing isn't learning medicine. It will come back and bite you in YOUR ass one day! Punt intended.

my $0.02

 

[Neuronix]

Ass kissing isn't learning medicine.

No, it just gets you the H, so you can get into whatever residency you want to really learn medicine. In response to the post: ass-kissing is by far the most important factor for getting an H on the wards.

 

[MD'05]

In response to the post: ass-kissing is by far the most important factor for getting an H on the wards.

Amen to that. Pucker up!

 

[Just Applied]

What do you guys mean by ass-kissing? Do you mean complementing the atendings? Or just become buddy buddy with them?

 

[TruTrooper]

What do you guys mean by ass-kissing? Do you mean complementing the atendings? Or just become buddy buddy with them?

Here are a few examples I have had the displeasure of witnessing:

"You are God!"

"I love that dress. It is so classy. You are such a classy person"

"I love you, [insert Attending name here]"

"you should invite me over for dinner!"

"We should hang out some time!"

...to name a few. It is so pathetic that I want to push the culprit down to the floor every time I hear it.


"I always thought that people could see right through the schmoozing ans arse kissing. Is it really better to be fake than efficient (or rather fake and efficient)?"

I just think Attendings genuinely have a hard time not rewarding someone who has stuck their head up their but for a month or so. I was a teacher for a short while before attending med school and I had one particular student who was a master brown-noser and I actually had to think for a minute before recording her "F."