How to start off right

[Monkey.King]

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Hello everyone. So after lurking on the forums for a long time and joining over a year ago, it's finally my time to walk the path of becoming a doctor. I know these are going to be the hardest 4 years of my life, so I want to try and come up with a plan now. For starters, I never really knew what it was like to work hard in my studies. I didn't take highschool seriously, and that has already had a somewhat negative effect on my life. I don't want to make those same mistakes again. Therefore, I will be doing 2 years at my local community college. I plan on just doing my general studies there because I know I want to become a doctor in the medical field, but I don't know what to major in.


Anyway, as far as the path to medical school goes, what can I do now with the estimated 2 months I have left to prepare myself? Also, what are some tips and just a game plan for when I actually start school? Such as my schedule and classes. I know freshman year is the most important year, because it is the foundation of your GPA. I don't want to make things harder on myself in the future by trying to bring up my GPA, etc. So I want to do it right. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[longhaul3]

My general advice is don't psych yourself out. These will not be the four hardest years of your life, unless you have an elderly relative who will die in four years and leave you a fortune, and freshman year probably isn't the most important. If you want to go to medical school, the year in which you take the most pre-med classes will be the most important. If you take the same number of classes each year, then they all contribute equally to your GPA, so don't stress too much over freshman year being any more or less important.

The most useful thing you can do right now is learn how to do laundry if you haven't already.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

My biggest piece of advice is to not put med school on a pedestal. I don't mean don't take it seriously, because you have to do well to get in, and I definitely bought into the culture and history of medicine. But I can tell you from personal experience that if you build up being a premed and reaching that goal, you likely won't make it. And if you do, it'll be a hell of a go.

The best thing I ever did was to decide to just enjoy my undergrad and think of med school as the next step rather than some ultimate goal.

 

[DrDwayneJohnson]

Relax -- it's early in the process. Don't worry too much on your freshman grades. Even if they aren't stellar, an upward GPA trend is very highly valued. Focus on exploring your interests and enjoy your early freedom. If you're feeling super gung ho, then I would recommend shadowing a physician or two to see if you can envision yourself doing what they do on a daily basis.

Also, start learning about people different from yourself. Go serve the less fortunate. Even if you end up not pursuing medicine, an experience like that will develop you personally and teach you more about the world.

With that, off you go to do normal freshman activities like gaining twenty pounds and binge drinking natty light.

 

[Optimist Prime]

Steps to college freshman year edition:
1. Study hard to make good grades
2. make a lot of new friends and be social
3. turn up after your tests or way before your tests (don't turn up the day or two before a test)
4. profit

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

I know these are going to be the hardest 4 years of my life

Keep telling yourself that...

 

[aaronrodgers]

My 2 cents: it get's annoying very fast if all you can talk about is medical school, medicine, pre-med, etc when you're with friends and family. Have a life and get good grades! Congratulations on going to college 🙂

 

[DrHart]

Enjoy the last couple months before school. Don't get neck deep in a new relationship. If you want to make good grades, you'll need to have the time and focus to devote to school. Treat it like a full time job (8 hours a day of studying, going to class, active learning).

Also, don't try to be a perfectionist. If you get a B or a C or a D.... move on. Figure out where you went wrong and fix it for the future. Invest in a good pair of noise cancelling headphones. Find an outlet where you can blow off some steam about an hour each day (exercise, video games, projects, etc.) Download Anki.

Just my 2c good luck friend.