MD & DO How is your lifestyle in med school?

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canmed96

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Going to start med school next year and im curious as to how your lifestyle is. I understand its very busy but do you have time for hobbies, travel, clubbing whatever? What do you to for fun?

Or is it really the misery its often portrayed to be on here?
 
canmed96 said:
Going to start med school next year and im curious as to how your lifestyle is. I understand its very busy but do you have time for hobbies, travel, clubbing whatever? What do you to for fun?

Or is it really the misery its often portrayed to be on here?
Click to expand...
You are busy but have time for sports, gym,club and the dating scene. First year you will have alot more time than you expect. If your school does exams every 2-3 weeks then the week after a exam is pretty chill then the week leading up to the exam is pretty miserable. The beauty about med school is the stress never goes down but how it affects you does. You get use to the hectic schedule and the constant exams.
 
It's rare that you will just stumble upon free time, unless it's the weekend right after an exam or something. You just learn to 'make time', for example if you're planning on going out on Saturday at 8pm, then focus and work hard during the day to get done what you need to get done.
 
My MSII schedule
Mon-Sat: 0600 wake up, 0600-0730 workout, 0730-0800 breakfast/shower, 0800-1200 study, 1200-1300 lunch/relax, 1300-2000 study, 2000-2300 dinner/relax the rest of the day/prep for bed.
Sun: Off day, volunteer/relax/religious observance
 
^ I guess class is included somewhere in that "study" area lol.
MSII and III have not a lot of room. II because of step 1 and III because of all of the clinical work at the hospital and studying for shelves. But you still have time for other activities. Hell during MII one of my classmates was touring the western side of the united states during the weekends. It just varies based on how you study and what sort of self-discipline you need, what scores you want, etc.
M1 you have a lot more time, and honestly I should have enjoyed M1 a lot more but I spent a lot of it studying like a noob.
M4 from what I've heard is paradise.
 
I’ve found more free time 2nd year than 1st, mostly in the evenings. While I think it’s been more challenging material I’ve become so efficient at studying I just get my work done earlier.

And people of all kinds often exaggerate how stressed they are and how hard everything is. Take that into account.
 
Everyone will have a different situation depending on the curriculum of the school and the schedule you create for yourself. Generally speaking M1 year will have the most free time. We had exams every 4-5 weeks so the first couple weeks were always chill, as long as you got your work done and stayed on top of the material. The 7-10 days leading up to each exam week were miserable with nothing but studying but we would have a weekend off after. M2 year so far has been a pretty big step up, as organ systems has been more material and we have quizzes/exams every 2 ish weeks. Second semester of M2 is obviously rough as you start to gear up for Step. Can't speak for anything beyond M2 year but M3 year is obviously probably the busiest due to rotations + shelf exam studying, although some rotations like IM and surgery will be much more intense than other rotations. M4 year seems like hell in the beginning with sub-I's and residency applications/interviews but is pretty chill after everything's in and you match, from what I've heard.

Keep in mind though that there will always be a spectrum. There are people who will go out and have a ton of fun while cramming/studying hard in the days leading up to the exam because they just want to pass and want to maintain a robust social life. There'll be people who will sit in the library studying the entire day because it's important to them to get honors and sacrifice their social life to do so. I would say most people are somewhere in between, where they do stuff for fun in their free time but buckle down and get their studying done when they need to.
 
Had plenty of time to do stuff M1 and was done studying by 7 most nights, was around average in my class in terms of grades. Took a full day off every weekend that didn't have a test the following Monday or Tuesday. Second year was a lot rougher, our curriculum changed and I had to do a lot more time management to get a decent amount of time for more than a night off here and there. Third year depended on the rotation, but even on the worst ones I could find a couple nights to do something fun.
 
akuko2 said:
My MSII schedule
Mon-Sat: 0600 wake up, 0600-0730 workout, 0730-0800 breakfast/shower, 0800-1200 study, 1200-1300 lunch/relax, 1300-2000 study, 2000-2300 dinner/relax the rest of the day/prep for bed.
Sun: Off day, volunteer/relax/religious observance
Click to expand...
this is the schedule of a warrior right there, i prefer my 0430 reveille though
 
Done by noon most days, get 3 full days/wk off most weeks. Exams every few months. That last month is hell, but most of the time it's easier than undergrad or highschool ever was. Less busywork; you just have to learn stuff at your own pace.
 
Sleep in and wake up between 10-noon. Eat. Study between 2-5. Gym+Shower til 6/7. Dinner til 7/8. Study/do work til whenever I feel like. Sleep. Rinse and repeat.

Non-mandatory classes are a blessing.
 
Non mandatory pass fail curriculum. Slept in daily. Studied a few hours each day. Never listened to lecture as you can glean what you need from first aid pathoma etc. Grinded hard exam week. Chilled the other weeks. Grinded hard for step 1 and did fine.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
Here’s my schedule as an MS1...

On weekdays I typically wake up around 7:30, go to class from 9-12 (yes I do go to class most days even if it’s optional) 12-1 have lunch or go to a lunch seminar, 1-5pm study on campus and/or go to mandatory afternoon activities some days, 5-7 pm go home, have dinner, chill for a bit. Then study 7-10 at home or a coffee shop with friends, then watch a few episodes of a TV show and go to bed around midnight. This is similar every day but Friday, when I take the evening off and go hang out with people. Saturdays I usually take it pretty easy and go to social events, read a book, just chill, etc and study for like 2 hours at some point throughout the day. Sundays I’m more serious and often have to go to a coffee shop or to campus so I can get actual work done and prepare for the week. The amount of time I spend studying depends on how bad the week is and how much I got done on Saturday.
 
once you understand how to balance it that it becomes fine, but that process takes time and effort. Expect an important reduction in free time in the beginning
 
Not too bad. I wake up, go to class, study study study...cook dinner if I feel like it and spend some time with my BF who happens to be a fellow at our flagship hospital. But our time together tends to be more of him complaining of how crappy schedule is or explaining some cool cases he did.
 
Saxappeal1 said:
M4 from what I've heard is paradise.
Click to expand...
Ugh, I'm still waiting for the paradise of M4 to happen. Maybe after match day is when it becomes bliss. Between 4 subIs and traveling every few days for interviews, it's been one of the busiest times yet.

OP I'll echo what a couple others have said in that how much free time you have depends a lot on your curriculum and how well you want to do. I wanted to be in the top of the class (whether or not this is a worthwhile goal is a whole other discussion) so I spent an inordinate amount of time studying the first three years and only did other stuff the weekends after exams. However, many of my friends wanted a work-life balance and found time to work out, rock climb, go on road trips, etc. I'm very happy with how I did it and they're happy with how they did it. I think we'll all match in our specialties of choice. You also have to take into account that some people will take longer to study and understand the same material. I have a friend who can learn in one pass what takes me hours to absorb. He had a lot of free time.

In short, yes there's free time if you want it.
 
jcorpsmanMD said:
i've optimized my sleep, in order to afford myself an extra hour. i sleep with first aid under my pillow and spoon pathoma. try it, it works
Click to expand...
Haha maybe that has been the trick the entire time. Navy guys seemed to be slacking but really were just more efficient with time than us Marines
 
as an MS1 at a pass/ fail school I have tons of free time on some days, no free time on others. The only annoying thing is that I cant get a stretch of days where I can afford to do nothing. This makes it tough to travel.

Overall though, I walk my dog for an hour almost every day, have time to workout for like 45 minutes, am involved in clubs, and see my gf multiple times/ week but usually just for a meal. We can go on a legit date where we spend the entire night together on weekends that I do not have an exam on Monday. I score around the average on every test.
Id say I have a good amount of free time, just cant seem to figure out a way to put a long string of it together.
 
canmed96 said:
Going to start med school next year and im curious as to how your lifestyle is. I understand its very busy but do you have time for hobbies, travel, clubbing whatever? What do you to for fun?

Or is it really the misery its often portrayed to be on here?
Click to expand...

I think a lot of how you understand your med school experience is shaped by how you feel about your class and how interesting (or not) you find the material. TBH I feel mostly out of place in med school...I just don't feel like I click with a lot of med school types and the general atmosphere often feels oppressive. Of course not everyone is the same in med school...there is a wide range of personalities in my class but the cumulative atmosphere often feels steeped in neurosis, cliquishness, immaturity and selfish ambition. It really got to me early on because I felt like I needed to feel connected to all these people because isn't that what you're supposed to do in med school? When I let that silly thinking go and accepted that I'm just a little different and that my journey through med school will be separate from most of the other people in my class things got easier. I'm still friendly with people and engage in all the superficial stuff you have to do to get through it but it doesn't bother me as much that I don't feel close to most med students. Lol, anyway, what I'm trying to say with all that is your lifestyle will be hard to determine because you don't know yet how you'll click with your future classmates and whether or not you actually enjoy studying all the time.
 
Yeah first semester I studied maybe a few hours a day after I finished my first block. Got high with friends and/or watched Netflix alot with the rest of the time.

I had plenty of time to lift and "destress" so there was zero risk of feeling overwhelmed.

Note that I go to a pass/fail school and figured out how best I study fairly early on which made it a much smoother transition.

That said, I'll probably study an hour or so more daily next semester because physiology based blocks will probably be a bit more intense than anatomy or intro blocks.
 
akuko2 said:
My MSII schedule
Mon-Sat: 0600 wake up, 0600-0730 workout, 0730-0800 breakfast/shower, 0800-1200 study, 1200-1300 lunch/relax, 1300-2000 study, 2000-2300 dinner/relax the rest of the day/prep for bed.
Sun: Off day, volunteer/relax/religious observance
Click to expand...
uh when do u go to class?!
 
TPH225 said:
uh when do u go to class?!
Click to expand...

Most med schools have recorded lectures these days, so going to them in person is totally optional. You only really have to show up for clinical skills lessons and interactive group work. At my school, last semester with anatomy that meant you had to be on campus about 4/5 days a week, but this semester we only really have to be there 2/5 days, and even then only for a few hours. I still go to class most days, but I'm among the minority. Only about 1/4 to 1/3 of us still go regularly.
 
typical day first year... class 4 hours a day, study 4 hours a day, significant time to have a "life," though even weekends were a good deal of studying.
typical day second year... went to class for 2 out of 4 hours of it, study 10 hours a day, still forced time to work out and socialize but was a strain.
third year... mostly getting up early (3:30am to 6am) for rotations, working 50-80 hours a week and studying for shelf exams and for steps. still found some time for working out and socializing but the regular social scene of years 1 and 2 was mostly gone.
fourth year... more easier rotations of 40-50 hours a week, though some were more like 3rd year, more time off for interviews and board prep, more time to socialize with friends though still "busy."
 
I tend to treat it like a full time job: 930-630, M-Sunday. Problem is, some days you can't get much studying done because of 4hrs of OMM and 4 hrs of clinical stuff. 8 hours a week total for non-core stuff doesn't seem like a lot, until you factor in driving to and from school on those days, plus preparing for those classes. They end up being a 12 or so hour commitment per week I'd say.
 
My schedule is pretty busy, but that's by choice. We are pass/fail no ranking, but I shoot for A's in the hope that I'll make my life easier down the road. You can choose to stream lectures here, so I only go to the required small groups and the odd patient presentation, typically 4-6 hours a week. M-F, typically I study from 8-12, take an hour or so for lunch, and study into the evening. I'm involved in a lot of clubs and leadership positions, so my study time during the day is often broken up by meetings, rehearsals, sending emails, planning events, things like that. I take Friday night and Saturday off and get back to work in time to take the week's quiz (my school has weekly flextime quizzing). I spend Sunday cleaning, cooking, relaxing, and preparing for the next week. Things are most stressful coming up to an exam, but since we are quizzed every week and finish a sequence every 2-3 weeks, you never feel like you have *that* much distance from the material, and I get the feeling that my class is less stressed overall than are my friends at schools with exams only every few weeks. Honestly, I'm busy, but I'm much less stressed overall than I expected to be, and I have flexibility to make my schedule how I want it to be.
 
Médecin Qui said:
My schedule is pretty busy, but that's by choice. We are pass/fail no ranking, but I shoot for A's in the hope that I'll make my life easier down the road. You can choose to stream lectures here, so I only go to the required small groups and the odd patient presentation, typically 4-6 hours a week. M-F, typically I study from 8-12, take an hour or so for lunch, and study into the evening. I'm involved in a lot of clubs and leadership positions, so my study time during the day is often broken up by meetings, rehearsals, sending emails, planning events, things like that. I take Friday night and Saturday off and get back to work in time to take the week's quiz (my school has weekly flextime quizzing). I spend Sunday cleaning, cooking, relaxing, and preparing for the next week. Things are most stressful coming up to an exam, but since we are quizzed every week and finish a sequence every 2-3 weeks, you never feel like you have *that* much distance from the material, and I get the feeling that my class is less stressed overall than are my friends at schools with exams only every few weeks. Honestly, I'm busy, but I'm much less stressed overall than I expected to be, and I have flexibility to make my schedule how I want it to be.
Click to expand...
Do you mind me asking what school you go to?
 
MIII here! I would say my lifestyle in medical school is pretty great. Pre-clinicals were tougher for me but I had still had plenty of time to explore my new city and make friends outside of med school while doing around the average in everything. The best so far has been 3rd year though. It's definitely challenging and there are some weeks where my laundry starts to pile up and my pantry shelves are looking bare but there is also plenty of room for fun with friends, hobbies, vacation etc. I prioritize traveling (internationally and within the US) and spending time with my partner and I've been able to keep up with schoolwork just fine. Most of our rotations are around 6 weeks and I tend to take the first 2-3 weeks easy. I focus on getting as much studying done while at work (reading up on patients, using a textbook or questions on UW) and then my evenings and free days are my own. In the last 2-3 weeks I really buckle down and try to study more full-time and that's served me very well. One thing that's I've found is that there is usually some (if not A TON, depending on the rotation) of down time during your days. I highly recommend taking advantage of that. I was able to finish almost all of the UW IM questions during my IM rotation while I was at work which left my evenings and one day off a week free to do some studying and some fun. I know some of my fellow classmates feel nervous about bringing out a book or studying on their tablet but I've never had an issue or gotten negative feedback. I would just caution that you be judicious about when you do this, like obviously don't start doing a question block in the middle of rounds! All this to say that med school does not have to be the misery it is sometimes portrayed to be. It really makes me sad to hear people say med school is terrible or that you'll never have any fun because it doesn't have to be that way. Learn how to balance lifestyle and school now and you'll be much more prepared to make it work as a resident and you'll be happier for it.
 
I thought med school was a lot of fun. Definitely the longest I've ever studied for anything in my life ever, but I still went to the gym routinely, got involved with intramural sports, went to trivia nights and still gave myself time to watch a good college football game on Saturday and a NFL game on Sunday. I just thought it was an extension of undergrad in many ways. You're there to study and get the best grades you can, so it wasn't "hard" per se to sit down and study because that was my job. I never understood those who claimed to study all the time, never shower, lose weight from malnutrition and then get bad grades. It's incredibly doable and if I did it and did relatively well, I really think anybody can. It's really about effort more than just sheer brilliance. Although there were some superstars in my class that would pull down 99-100s on exams, they were working hard too. Cheers.
 
Lowly M1.

It's ok. I have a weird sleep cycle (wake up at 12 pm, go to bed at 4 am) get about 8 hours a sleep a night.

I enjoy what I'm learning. Get to see friends. Screw around on dating apps. Life is good.
 
I'm an M1 and I would say my lifestyle is pretty good. It's definitely a big change from my senior year of college (tons of free time, lots of travel, etc.) and it was kinda miserable at first, but once I got used to the change, it's been pretty good. My school has exams every 3-4 weeks so the first week or two is pretty chill and exam week can get stressful. I try to front-load my studying so that I am less stressed during exam week, which has seemed to work pretty well. I'm usually pretty far above the passing grade so I could probably study less and still be fine but I want to give myself a good foundation for Step 1.

Even though I study frequently, I still have time to cook, exercise, hang out with friends, and take occasional day trips.
 
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