If you could do it again, how would you prepare for 1st year?

[Ubadub]

Last month I got into a US MD program. After working for 1.5 yrs straight out of college, I've recently ended my job. So far, I absolutely love unemployment. Yet, I wonder what I should be doing to prepare for med school. Some say I should do nothing but sit on my ass during this time, working only as much as I need to pay my bills. I have NYC all to myself, and can have a lot of fun. Plus I can do all the reading and movie watching I won't be doing later. Maybe I'll even further develop my hobbies, like photography (just got awesome digital camera with 12X optical zoom).

But I really want to kick butt in med school, and part of me wonders if I'll be sharp and disciplined enough to perform at my potential. On the other hand, would studying hard now promote burn out since I probably won't remember that much in a year?

Assuming I end up working about 30 hrs/wk doing some menial crap not applicable to med school, any advise on how to spend my free time other than with my friends and girlfriend?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
If I had it to do over again, I would have taken two trips to Jamaica instead of one, the summer before medical school. I did totally nothing and did extremely well in medical school. I could have used more time with the trashy novels and caught up on my tan.

njbmd

 

[virilep]

travel... do stuff you wouldn't have done otherwise. if ur set on studying and know what school you're going to, find some notes (from the beginning classes) from some first year and look through them. but... i wouldn't.

 

[Law2Doc]

Last month I got into a US MD program. After working for 1.5 yrs straight out of college, I've recently ended my job. So far, I absolutely love unemployment. Yet, I wonder what I should be doing to prepare for med school. Some say I should do nothing but sit on my ass during this time, working only as much as I need to pay my bills. I have NYC all to myself, and can have a lot of fun. Plus I can do all the reading and movie watching I won't be doing later. Maybe I'll even further develop my hobbies, like photography (just got awesome digital camera with 12X optical zoom).

But I really want to kick butt in med school, and part of me wonders if I'll be sharp and disciplined enough to perform at my potential. On the other hand, would studying hard now promote burn out since I probably won't remember that much in a year?

Assuming I end up working about 30 hrs/wk doing some menial crap not applicable to med school, any advise on how to spend my free time other than with my friends and girlfriend?

Get yourself into shape -- you won't have as much time to work out on as regular a basis once school starts.

 

[crys20]

i'm graduating in march and seriously considering going on a total 4 month hiatus

 

[lil pook]

i wish i would've partied more....that's it --just partied more

 

[mojojojo]

If you spend a month studying before you get here, after 1 week you'll realize you're already behind and then be really depressed. I have a friend who said he was helped by a pre-matriculation program at his school before his first year started, but that was really focused one what his program was, and he says he still managed to fall behind during first term.

So, seriously, enjoy your time off. I haven't done a thing all Christmas break and I just wish I had more time off!!

Anyway, congrats!

 

[Stumbledintomedschool]

LEARN HOW TO STUDY. think you know? You don’t. You need to figure out how you learn. And that’s more than just “hands on” everyone learns hands on. Do you do better hearing material from someone else, saying it yourself, reading it, writing it, drawing it? Do you have trouble grasping the big picture but know always remember the small details and can’t figure out what the belong to? Or do you remember the big picture but can’t quite recall those fine tuned little details? Do you need quiet, ambient noise, music, or loud noise? Do you do better in 4hour blocks or 12 hours marathons or 30 minute chunks? Do you do better in the morning afternoon or evening? Do you study well before exercise, during, or after? Does your brain handle things better after certain types of food? I know it sounds ridiculous but even if you focus on it now, it’ll still need some fine tuning once you matriculate. But don’t be like me, and spend the entire first class trying everything to get it right!

We had an entire orientation devoted to HOW TO LEARN. It’s so important, and many of us never had to study in high school or even undergrad. And they give you tests to tell you how you learn and they’re useless. Because sometimes it changes from course to course.

It’s recommended we get AT LEAST three DIFFERENT exposures to material, depending on how you learn. I learn best hearing a professor or someone else talk it out, and then go back in myself and fill in the details. I have to have loud noise to be able to focus, because if it’s too quiet my mind wanders from boredom, stray noises capture my attention, but the sound of a crowd or a gym gives me enough to block out all my stray thoughts and make me focus a little harder on my material.

I have to listen to lectures the first time through, but I don’t grasp what people are saying unless I can see them speak, so I have to attend lecture vs listen to recordings. I then have to go through and (depending on the subject) draw everything out and y’all it through, or listen to snippets of material in little chunks and work them out in my head. And then you review, quiz yourself, quiz others, make sure you can recall both details>big picture AND big picture to>details. I learn “backwards” and a very small percent of people do, where we can remember details easily, but when the time comes, we cannot remember what subject they went with (we always learn to go from big picture to small details, so we focus on learning the details without relating them back to what it’s about). You have to learn the material, not memorize. Learning is both understanding and recall. You’ll get used to “two step” questions where you first have to be able to immediately recall the material but then apply it to get the answer.


If I had known all of this going in, I’d have been a 4.0 easy.

 

[shisong]

I would have played more league of legend and climb to diamond (i only reached platnium)

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

LEARN HOW TO STUDY. think you know? You don’t. You need to figure out how you learn. And that’s more than just “hands on” everyone learns hands on. Do you do better hearing material from someone else, saying it yourself, reading it, writing it, drawing it? Do you have trouble grasping the big picture but know always remember the small details and can’t figure out what the belong to? Or do you remember the big picture but can’t quite recall those fine tuned little details? Do you need quiet, ambient noise, music, or loud noise? Do you do better in 4hour blocks or 12 hours marathons or 30 minute chunks? Do you do better in the morning afternoon or evening? Do you study well before exercise, during, or after? Does your brain handle things better after certain types of food? I know it sounds ridiculous but even if you focus on it now, it’ll still need some fine tuning once you matriculate. But don’t be like me, and spend the entire first class trying everything to get it right!

We had an entire orientation devoted to HOW TO LEARN. It’s so important, and many of us never had to study in high school or even undergrad. And they give you tests to tell you how you learn and they’re useless. Because sometimes it changes from course to course.

It’s recommended we get AT LEAST three DIFFERENT exposures to material, depending on how you learn. I learn best hearing a professor or someone else talk it out, and then go back in myself and fill in the details. I have to have loud noise to be able to focus, because if it’s too quiet my mind wanders from boredom, stray noises capture my attention, but the sound of a crowd or a gym gives me enough to block out all my stray thoughts and make me focus a little harder on my material.

I have to listen to lectures the first time through, but I don’t grasp what people are saying unless I can see them speak, so I have to attend lecture vs listen to recordings. I then have to go through and (depending on the subject) draw everything out and y’all it through, or listen to snippets of material in little chunks and work them out in my head. And then you review, quiz yourself, quiz others, make sure you can recall both details>big picture AND big picture to>details. I learn “backwards” and a very small percent of people do, where we can remember details easily, but when the time comes, we cannot remember what subject they went with (we always learn to go from big picture to small details, so we focus on learning the details without relating them back to what it’s about). You have to learn the material, not memorize. Learning is both understanding and recall. You’ll get used to “two step” questions where you first have to be able to immediately recall the material but then apply it to get the answer.


If I had known all of this going in, I’d have been a 4.0 easy.

Solid necrobump. Good advice though.

 

[Osteoth]

It depends on who you are.

The people who are hyperfocused/obsessed always wish they had had more fun.

The people who are a little more relaxed always wished they had focused more.

It all depends on your goals and how much you're willing to give up/put up with to achieve them.

 

[MCATISEZ]

It depends on who you are.

The people who are hyperfocused/obsessed always wish they had had more fun.

The people who are a little more relaxed always wished they had focused more.

It all depends on your goals and how much you're willing to give up/put up with to achieve them.

How would one focus more during prematriculation?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

 

[OtterSpace]

How would one focus more during prematriculation?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

I'd like to know this too. I think he means non-specific things like building a stable sleep schedule, staying involved in healthy hobbies you'll still do in med school, and preparing your study habits like @Stumbledintomedschool mentioned earlier

 

[arcus]

I'd like to know this too. I think he means non-specific things like building a stable sleep schedule, staying involved in healthy hobbies you'll still do in med school, and preparing your study habits like @Stumbledintomedschool mentioned earlier

This article might help

Impacting student anxiety for the USMLE Step 1 through process-oriented preparation

Background: Standardized examinations are the key components of medical education. The USMLE Step 1 is the first of these important milestones. Success on this examination requires both content competency and efficient strategies for study and review. Students employ a wide variety of techniques in studying for this examination, with heavy reliance on personal study habits and advice from other students. Nevertheless, few medical curricula formally address these strategies.
​

 

[OtterSpace]

This article might help

Impacting student anxiety for the USMLE Step 1 through process-oriented preparation
​

That was a great read, thank you for that. From the article:

This course addresses previously reported factors that affect student preparation, including the development of personalized learning habits and the transfer of advice between medical students. It encourages formal self-assessment through repeated and deliberate conversations that emphasize scholastic self-appraisal. The course facilitates an organized approach to structured preparation by encouraging students to generate schedules and review materials throughout the learning process. It provides a non-threatening environment for discussion between students and enhances the possibility for mentorship opportunities. We encourage the use of such a series to complement pre-existing medical curricula.

It looks like a large part of student success & preparation lies in regular communication with mentors/peers for support & guidance, with an element of good academic-hygiene e.g. maintaining schedules, regular review, and self-assessment.

 

[arcus]

That was a great read, thank you for that.

It looks like a large part of student success & preparation lies in regular communication with mentors/peers for support & guidance, with an element of good academic-hygiene...

You are welcome

Communication has always been the gateway to building, growing, evolving particularly in the areas of families, cultures and civilizations, foreign diplomacy, initiating and maintaining intimate relationships, etc.

Once you study the courses in basic medical sciences, you will appreciate the great lengths that our human cells utilize to communicate their signals, activate receptors, respond to agonists, antagonists, turn on/off other systems, etc. Why people think their every day behaviors should be any different from their human physiology systems has no support whatsoever in the basic medical sciences. Yet here we are. Much of human pathology and mental illness revolce around poor signaling systems / communication skills

Faculty and admins are waiting for you to approach them

 

[Stagg737]

Completely agree with the "learn how to study advice". The biggest struggles of med school (at least for me) were figuring out how to plow through dedicated without completely burning out and making the initial adjustment during the first month of medical school. Everything else was completely manageable with minimal planning in comparison to those periods. Knowing what kind of learner you are and which study methods worked in the past can help ease that initial adjustment significantly and help you get ahead of the game and perfect your study methods sooner.

For those who don't really know where to start with that: when I was a tutor I found that the VARK questionnaire gave a pretty solid evaluation of what type of learner a student was and helped us develop study strategies for them. It divides the methods of learning into 4 categories and recommends what learning methods will likely work the best for you as well as what gaps you may need to figure out how to fill in. It's by no means a comprehensive tool or 100% accurate, but it's a good place to start for those who never really figured out an efficient study method and just plowed through UG on hard work alone (or just coasted).

At the end of the day, the goal of "preparing yourself for med school" should be doing whatever you feel will allow you be refreshed and hit the ground running when med school starts. Whether that means going on a vacation around the world or reading some medical articles/texts to pump yourself up will depend on the individual.

 

[OtterSpace]

Completely agree with the "learn how to study advice". The biggest struggles of med school (at least for me) were figuring out how to plow through dedicated without completely burning out and making the initial adjustment during the first month of medical school. Everything else was completely manageable with minimal planning in comparison to those periods. Knowing what kind of learner you are and which study methods worked in the past can help ease that initial adjustment significantly and help you get ahead of the game and perfect your study methods sooner.

For those who don't really know where to start with that: when I was a tutor I found that the VARK questionnaire gave a pretty solid evaluation of what type of learner a student was and helped us develop study strategies for them. It divides the methods of learning into 4 categories and recommends what learning methods will likely work the best for you as well as what gaps you may need to figure out how to fill in. It's by no means a comprehensive tool or 100% accurate, but it's a good place to start for those who never really figured out an efficient study method and just plowed through UG on hard work alone (or just coasted).

At the end of the day, the goal of "preparing yourself for med school" should be doing whatever you feel will allow you be refreshed and hit the ground running when med school starts. Whether that means going on a vacation around the world or reading some medical articles/texts to pump yourself up will depend on the individual.

Damn that response was wholesome as heck

 

[welp18]

Last month I got into a US MD program. After working for 1.5 yrs straight out of college, I've recently ended my job. So far, I absolutely love unemployment. Yet, I wonder what I should be doing to prepare for med school. Some say I should do nothing but sit on my ass during this time, working only as much as I need to pay my bills. I have NYC all to myself, and can have a lot of fun. Plus I can do all the reading and movie watching I won't be doing later. Maybe I'll even further develop my hobbies, like photography (just got awesome digital camera with 12X optical zoom).

But I really want to kick butt in med school, and part of me wonders if I'll be sharp and disciplined enough to perform at my potential. On the other hand, would studying hard now promote burn out since I probably won't remember that much in a year?

Assuming I end up working about 30 hrs/wk doing some menial crap not applicable to med school, any advise on how to spend my free time other than with my friends and girlfriend?

Adjust expectations regarding the social scene. Realize med school will be packed with a lot of people who derive most of their value in life from comparing themselves to others via grades, ranking, social status, etc...and don't let yourself be too disappointed by how ridiculous a lot of med students are. There are also a lot of really nice, decent people in med school. But there are also a lot of malignant personalities that med schools seem to select for...so just prepare yourself for that.

 

[Spectar]

Adjust expectations regarding the social scene. Realize med school will be packed with a lot of people who derive most of their value in life from comparing themselves to others via grades, ranking, social status, etc...and don't let yourself be too disappointed by how ridiculous a lot of med students are. There are also a lot of really nice, decent people in med school. But there are also a lot of malignant personalities that med schools seem to select for...so just prepare yourself for that.

That is seriously school dependent IMO

 

[Osteoth]

How would one focus more during prematriculation?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile

Depends on OP's particular situation. One way I can think of is that with what, 9 months, he could start shadowing 1-2 days a week in departments he might be interested in and get involved in research. Thats an investment of ~20 hours per week now that can pay significant dividends down the road during M1-M2 when you can just sit back and let projects come to you when you have mentors already lined up.

 

[Menander's Bust]

Sleep