How productive should I be before starting medical school?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

alexlex143

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2009
Messages
296
Reaction score
241
Hi everyone!

As the title of the post suggests, I'm wondering, how productive should one be up until starting medical school? What if one has been out of school for a while and no longer accustomed to taking classes, doing homework, etc?

I'm planning on continuing my full-time job until about a month before orientation and may go on a couple of vacations. After work, I don't do much as I am quite drained from the day (over-time is an expectation in my position). Usually, I just do things around the house and cook dinner, etc. My productivity is essentially non-existent.

Is there anything I should do to get back in the swing of things, to prime for the impending fire hose?

Personally, I guess I'm worried I've gotten a bit lazy since I stopped being a full-time student a couple of years ago....
 
Don't worry about it, you'll get back in the swing of things very quickly once med school starts.
 
I was in the same situation as you: out of school for 1+ year, working full-time, too drained to care about any other work when I got home. It turns out guilting yourself for not doing "enough" during your let few months before starting school is for suckers.

You should go to work, come home, and do fun things that you enjoy. Pre-studying is ultra-neurotic and won't do much except waste your time. What you really need is to relax so you can be energized and hit the ground running. Don't burn yourself out before you even start or you'll just be miserable.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Oso
Hi everyone!

As the title of the post suggests, I'm wondering, how productive should one be up until starting medical school? What if one has been out of school for a while and no longer accustomed to taking classes, doing homework, etc?

I'm planning on continuing my full-time job until about a month before orientation and may go on a couple of vacations. After work, I don't do much as I am quite drained from the day (over-time is an expectation in my position). Usually, I just do things around the house and cook dinner, etc. My productivity is essentially non-existent.

Is there anything I should do to get back in the swing of things, to prime for the impending fire hose?

Personally, I guess I'm worried I've gotten a bit lazy since I stopped being a full-time student a couple of years ago....
I'm in the same boat with the crazy busy job schedule. Any free time I have I am spending with family, friends or with a good book. I know I am going to be a good student and there is a learning curve for everyone in medical school, so I'm not worried about being super productive right now. Relax as much as you can!
 
The only thing I plan to do is get into the best possible shape of my life and learn how to cook.
Yes getting in great shape is also a goal of mine and seems to be going along swimmingly. It's necessary too after a day of mostly standing/not moving much at work!
 
Also an M0, so definitely not an expert on the subject here. The only school-related thing I'm doing is getting a rudimentary understanding of how to use Anki (most likely while I'm bored at work during February) and then a lot of Netflix/vacationing.
 
Ever since I graduated from undergrad in December I’ve basically only just been relaxing, working, exercising, and relaxing some more. For awhile I felt so unproductive and that I was forgetting everything, but this thread makes me feel so much better. Congrats on all of your acceptances! 🙂
 
You may think you’re being non productive but it’s like an investment. Once school starts you’ll be fresh and ready to learn and more productive in the long run because you’ll have a lower risk of burn out.
 
If anything (like this is the absolute max productive thing you should do), you should just watch a YouTube video or 2 on how to work Anki. It will take like 15 min tops. Then get back to being basically catatonic like was mentioned above. Once you do that I highly suggest watching Breaking Bad, it’s an excellent way to pre-study for school
 
I’m trying to get my mining and crafting to lvl 75 personally.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Top