How to pass time before medical school?

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Hello all,

I've been anxiously waiting for medical school to start since my first acceptance in October and now that there's only a month left and no way to travel due to a global pandemic I have no idea what to do.

What would current medical students recommend my cohort to do?
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Sunbodi said:
Hello all,

I've been anxiously waiting for medical school to start since my first acceptance in October and now that there's only a month left and no way to travel due to a global pandemic I have no idea what to do.

What would current medical students recommend my cohort to do?
Click to expand...
I took a vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains. Try to enjoy something outside if you’re one that likes nature!
 
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Haha I was semi joking, enjoy your time off and relax. There’s no pressure to do anything to prep for med school. Just work hard when you get there. Also congrats look forward to calling you my colleague
 
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m1microglia said:
I took a vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains. Try to enjoy something outside if you’re one that likes nature!
Click to expand...
Nature is one of the most desirable places right now.
 
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Lol for the past 3+ months before residency ive binged like 10 new shows
 
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Watch the shows you won’t have time to watch.
Read the books you won’t have time to read.
Start a gym/workout routine.
Learn to cook.
Learn to anki.
Fill in all your adulting gaps: laundry, clothes maintenance, meal prepping, auto maintenance, go see your dentist, eye doctor, etc.
Clean up your social media.
Transfer bills, banking stuff and mail to your new home.
Pick fights on SDN, lol.
 
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I hear ya, I was getting antsy in the weeks leading up to med school too and there wasn't even a global pandemic going on at the time lol. I would recommend (safely) hanging out or otherwise catching up with friends and family, reading for fun, and Netflix! Med school really is a grind so as a rising M2 I've been using this summer to chill a lot before starting up again
 
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If it were me, get an airbnb and the woods or some other wildernessy area and post up there for a week or two. Just hike and eat and chill and reflect. Not a whole lot of time for that from here on in.

(as I procrastinate studying for my last final)
 
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I’m sure it’s hard to hear ‘“just relax” because you’re ready to move forward and you really don’t know what it’s like during medical school until you’re in the thick of it, but everyone is right. Take time to have fun and relax the best you can despite what’s going on in the world.

Maybe start writing in a journal, then you can continue it on into medical school. Learn how to make quick and healthy meals (this will save you time). You have one month to do whatever, and if that ends up with you just watching shows and doing not much of anything, then so be it. You will adjust to school when its time.
 
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Also an incoming student, and this is essentially what I've been doing:
  • Working - A crapton of this to pay down some private student debt so I won't have to deal with as much during school and also to save money for the move.
  • Reading - A lot for fun but also books that'll be useful to me such as "The White Coat Investor"
  • Working out - Got really into this when the quarantine started, life-changing for me really. It's easier to get into the groove of working out now with less stuff on your plate than during a med school course load.
  • Learning random things - Stuff I've wanted to learn but perhaps didn't have the time (improving my Spanish, learning a basic programming language, etc)
  • Learned about Anki - Got myself acquainted with Anki as an app and why it's useful. I hated flashcards, never used them in undergrad or grad, but now I understand how Anki is different from normal flashcards

So mainly do the things you love and try out new things that you may not have the chance to start come the fall.
 
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Can attest to the idea that eating a cleaner diet and developing an exercise routine are A+++ methods for managing med school stress

Even in quarantine studying for exams I still did bodyweight/running and it worked wonders for motivation
 
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Sunbodi said:
Hello all,

I've been anxiously waiting for medical school to start since my first acceptance in October and now that there's only a month left and no way to travel due to a global pandemic I have no idea what to do.

What would current medical students recommend my cohort to do?
Click to expand...
I recommend exercise!!! and reading. I am glad I took time off for pleasure reading before medical school started. I spent so many hours at the library picking books and reading books there. This pandemic is depressing and tragic lol. I love the library.
 
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Do what you like to do! Or binge watching, cooking. Time really flies especially in summer. Enjoy your last bit of freedom, because once school starts it's no joke (i.e. no syllabus day)
 
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I'm also starting in a month and heres what I've been doing
  • Downloaded anki and watched the Anking videos- I didn't really know how to use it and I didn't want to spend time once school started figuring it out. It took me a few hours to go through the medical school anki subreddit but I would really recommend it if you haven't used it before.
  • Hiking- Getting outside for a few hours a weekend kept me sane during quarantine, i'm hoping to keep it up during medical school since I'm going to a school very close to a lot of nature.
  • Journalling - I bullet journal ( combo of journal and planner), so I've been setting up my months ahead of time.
  • Filling out health forms and going to the dentist/ doctor/ eye doctor before I move.
  • Cooking
  • Exercising
  • Time with family and friends

I'm reaching my boredom limit with a month until school starts so If anyone else has any suggestions on how to fill the time please pass them along!
 
I’m a fourth year, and I tried to do some random busy work before first year, I don’t think it helped haha. I tried to learn Anki and read about important board resources and buy them all. You will meet classmates that will use Anki religiously, the best thing you can do if you want to use it but are struggling is to ask them!! I could not figure it out on my own and gave up on it until dedicated.
Learn some quick healthy and yummy recipes that take you like 10-20 mins to make. And then write them down as well as your go to grocery list. Write down some quick exercise routines you can do in 20 minutes, maybe without equipment. Cut down on the things that will require mental effort next year, bc when things get tough you just won’t bother with grocery shopping/ cooking/ exercising if the effort threshold is higher because you have to make a plan.
 
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Binge HBO's Watchmen. This should seriously be required viewing for everyone in this day and age.
 
Watch all of Scrubs and the first 3 seasons of ER.

watch some Anking videos

enjoy nature
 
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Merge the already suggested ideas of going outside and enjoying nature with reading a good book.

Buy a hammock and a book and enrich your body with fresh air and mind with enjoyable content. I personally recommend my favorite book series Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It's a space opera steeped in action, combat, paradigm shifts, cliffhangers, sci-fi, and rooted in classical Roman and Greek culture. Once you hit the first inflection point in the first book, you won't want to put it down. I recommended the series to a friend of mine looking for books to read before starting residency this summer, and she crushed all 5 books in about 3 weeks (an impressive feat considering thats nearly 3000 pages of content). Book 6 is slated to come out next summer!
 
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Go to a public golf course and strike up a friendship. Hope that said friends are heavily into crack. Start smoking crack and watch as your life spirals out of control. Hit rock bottom and go to rehab. Get out of rehab the same day you start medical school. Tell everyone about your stories.
 
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I think you should Identify a hobby / activity that gives you joy or provides a mental escape for you. Throughout med school have that as your “side hustle”; a thing you can do to provide you with a sense of fulfilment. Academics is the default and being as academically good as you can is always safe! But a problem with medicine as I see it (as a rising M2) is that it is essentially infinite. There’s so much more to learn and so you’ll always feel like there’s a lot more to learn and you’re behind if your head isn’t in the right space (slight projection here on my part). But seeing tangible improvement in a different activity can be helpful to put perspective on your medical school journey.
Idk if that’s clear but those are my thoughts.
 
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pdl2015 said:
Merge the already suggested ideas of going outside and enjoying nature with reading a good book.

Buy a hammock and a book and enrich your body with fresh air and mind with enjoyable content. I personally recommend my favorite book series Red Rising by Pierce Brown. It's a space opera steeped in action, combat, paradigm shifts, cliffhangers, sci-fi, and rooted in classical Roman and Greek culture. Once you hit the first inflection point in the first book, you won't want to put it down. I recommended the series to a friend of mine looking for books to read before starting residency this summer, and she crushed all 5 books in about 3 weeks (an impressive feat considering thats nearly 3000 pages of content). Book 6 is slated to come out next summer!
Click to expand...

absolutely loved the red rising series!!!
 
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catnip12 said:
I think you should Identify a hobby / activity that gives you joy or provides a mental escape for you. Throughout med school have that as your “side hustle”; a thing you can do to provide you with a sense of fulfilment. Academics is the default and being as academically good as you can is always safe! But a problem with medicine as I see it (as a rising M2) is that it is essentially infinite. There’s so much more to learn and so you’ll always feel like there’s a lot more to learn and you’re behind if your head isn’t in the right space (slight projection here on my part). But seeing tangible improvement in a different activity can be helpful to put perspective on your medical school journey.
Idk if that’s clear but those are my thoughts.
Click to expand...
I just found a new hobby. Gaming.
 
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If you haven't learned to cook during quarantine, make sure you have command of 10-20 good, fast recipes (especially for Instant Pot, slow cooker).
If you haven't moved yet, read up on your city. I assume you know where you will be living, so find the closest ATM, barber/stylist, best takeout. Figure out what you need for new driver's license ( if you are changing residency), parking sticker, especially since buildings may still be closed.
 
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I’m spending the last 3 weeks roasting in the sun by the pool, building all of the IKEA furniture I could get my hands on, and reading. I spent the last two months working 3 jobs every day for 65+ hours/week to save some money and I cannot wait for my last day this Friday. :soexcited:
 
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Fatalis said:
Dis COD fan boy... lame. Battlefield 1 is where it is at!
Click to expand...

BF5 was my first and although it totally failed, I’m never going back to COD. Fingers crossed that BF6 is good
 
gyngyn said:
Work on your Spanish.
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^ and start using it actively if you really want it to stick and be fluid - no matter if you're beginner or advanced. This means both speaking it (with friends, people in the neighborhood, etc) and listening to it (with people, podcasts, TV shows, etc)

If you dont have native speaking friends, I hear apps like HelloTalk are useful.

I also highly recommend this for beginners, it's free:

Spanish — Language Transfer

www.languagetransfer.org www.languagetransfer.org
 
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AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson said:
^ and start using it actively if you really want it to stick and be fluid - no matter if you're beginner or advanced. This means both speaking it (with friends, people in the neighborhood, etc) and listening to it (with people, podcasts, TV shows, etc)

If you dont have native speaking friends, I hear apps like HelloTalk are useful.

I also highly recommend this for beginners, it's free:

Spanish — Language Transfer

www.languagetransfer.org www.languagetransfer.org
Click to expand...

Just listened to the first two tracks of this, and it's already awesome.
 
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AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson said:
^ and start using it actively if you really want it to stick and be fluid - no matter if you're beginner or advanced. This means both speaking it (with friends, people in the neighborhood, etc) and listening to it (with people, podcasts, TV shows, etc)

If you dont have native speaking friends, I hear apps like HelloTalk are useful.

I also highly recommend this for beginners, it's free:

Spanish — Language Transfer

www.languagetransfer.org www.languagetransfer.org
Click to expand...
I also recommend downloading tandem! Its an app that lets you input the language(s) you know and the language(s) you are trying to learn and it lets you match with people around the world with complementing language goals so you could talk to each other and practice your respective goal languages.
 
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