If you could go back in time?

[hz13]

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What year are you guys? I am starting soon- early or mid July depending on which school I go to. I am deciding between atsu kcom or TouroNY-Middletown.

 

[Mad Jack]

Hey all,

I recently read a thread about going back to summer of MS1 and it inspired me to write this post. As an incoming medical student, I would like to know if there is anything you all would have done if you could go back in time? Im asking in regard to medical school and setting yourself up to match in your desired specialty. I am not sure that I will really want to pursue a very competitive specialty, but I would like to start from day 1 as if I were. Just incase down the road I decide to and I am not sidelined. Thanks so much!

If I could go back in time I'd tell myself to wait a year and go to MD school.

Not really though.

I don't know what I'd change, I really enjoyed preclinical and wouldn't want to make it worse just to make it into a better specialty/program. Maybe I'd tell myself to socialize more and stop being such a sadboi

 

[shadowlightfox]

I heard someone say once that the best way to get through tough military training is to go unnoticed. If you can get to the end of training without the instructors knowing your name then it means you did it right. Medical school is the same way - get in and get out without making much of a fuss and your life will be much better for it.

Instructors, sure, but you want the attending to at least know your name. You wanna make a dent during your 3rd and 4th year so that you can get good evals and bolster your competitiveness for match application.

 

[Preston Garvey]

I'm just ranting now--but THE worst type of people in med school are the born to regurgitate ones. Its amazing to me how many there are. The system rewards uncreative, unquestioning, automatons. Luckily, those of us that don't fit all the little cliques of medical school can turn to SDN for solace.

Salty you can't memorize effectively?

 

[Chibucks15]

Salty you can't memorize effectively?

I can relate...the averages on our exams are usually 88-89 with a few 85s here and there. Class rank will be crap for me but I'm still doing well in classes. It's not effective learning while having an exam every 2 days. Its cramming and regurgitating, which some people have a much higher aptitude for

 

[uhmocksuhsillen]

Oh lord no! But plenty of my classmates do. Im about 10 years too old for that.

You should talk to some of my classmates...we've got 40 year olds selfie-ing in their med school uniforms.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

Salty you can't memorize effectively?

Nah brah Im doing better than most. I pray to the viking goddess Anki all hours of the day.

 

[TheaterOfTheme]

I like math, Idk. I’m just kind of tired about learning pointless pathways and receptors and peoples names that doctors don’t even use anyways. The math is pure, it has no motives, it’s just there. Whereas Claude, benedict, and Weber just had to name strokes after themselves. I’m really getting worn out haha

I feel you entirely. The subjective human elements that are part of medicine are the worst part. At least we have OMM that is pure though

 

[MrTaco92]

I'm just ranting now--but THE worst type of people in med school are the born to regurgitate ones

When you're first exposed to the material the understanding component is definitely more important than the memorization component, but looking back at my first two years I feel like memorization is all anyone ever did

 

[Chibucks15]

When you're first exposed to the material the understanding component is definitely more important than the memorization component, but looking back at my first two years I feel like memorization is all anyone ever did

When you have exams every couple days that's all you can do...in my opinion that's not the best way to test but I guess that's just my schools curriculum

 

[Haxx]

Oh my, there are some salty inferiority complex mofos in here.

Who cares if there's a bias in certain programs/specialties? Work harder. Be better. Complaining about it isn't going to advance your career or the field anytime soon.

Attendings like students who work hard and are happy to be doing whatever they're doing. So do that!

 

[uhmocksuhsillen]

Oh my, there are some salty inferiority complex mofos in here.

Who cares if there's a bias in certain programs/specialties? Work harder. Be better. Complaining about it isn't going to advance your career or the field anytime soon.

Attendings like students who work hard and are happy to be doing whatever they're doing. So do that!

Clearly the people applying care. That doesn't mean they have an inferiority complex. FYI, inferiority complex involves a person expressing feelings of inadequacy. I don't feel inadequate. If anything I feel significantly more qualified than a large portion of MD students applying to my specialty.

Working harder doesn't eliminate the evidenced DO bias some PDs hold. There are programs who will not accept a DO regardless of board scores, or honors, or anything else. Your advice is crap and honestly sounds like it was written by school admin.

 

[Haxx]

Clearly the people applying care. That doesn't mean they have an inferiority complex. FYI, inferiority complex involves a person expressing feelings of inadequacy. I don't feel inadequate. If anything I feel significantly more qualified than a large portion of MD students applying to my specialty.

Working harder doesn't eliminate the evidenced DO bias some PDs hold. There are programs who will not accept a DO regardless of board scores, or honors, or anything else. Your advice is crap and honestly sounds like it was written by school admin.

It wasn't. It was written by a recently matched 4th year DO student who experienced plenty of bias, but tried to do my part to eliminate it by working hard. I set up all of my own rotations in a different state from my school and rotated with exclusively MD's for 3rd and 4th year.

You're right. Inferiority complex wasn't the right term. Maybe being whiny is better. I've been around SDN for quite a while, and I get heated when people try to advise people away from the field because they've encountered adversity.

I will never use OMT, I'm not some flag waving AT Still fanatic, but because you've dealt with bias in the field shouldn't make you tell nervous prospective students to not pursue a career. That's ridiculous. I understand that you as an individual aren't going to eliminate anti-DO bias in medicine, but you know what will? If each DO student that rotates or completes residency in a program is a rockstar. That's how bias gets eliminated, not by whining about it online.

 

[uhmocksuhsillen]

It wasn't. It was written by a recently matched 4th year DO student who experienced plenty of bias, but tried to do my part to eliminate it by working hard. I set up all of my own rotations in a different state from my school and rotated with exclusively MD's for 3rd and 4th year.

You're right. Inferiority complex wasn't the right term. Maybe being whiny is better. I've been around SDN for quite a while, and I get heated when people try to advise people away from the field because they've encountered adversity.

I will never use OMT, I'm not some flag waving AT Still fanatic, but because you've dealt with bias in the field shouldn't make you tell nervous prospective students to not pursue a career. That's ridiculous. I understand that you as an individual aren't going to eliminate anti-DO bias in medicine, but you know what will? If each DO student that rotates or completes residency in a program is a rockstar. That's how bias gets eliminated, not by whining about it online.

You call it whining, I call it spitting the cold, hard, facts to prospective applicants.

Saying work harder, be better is just trite. It does a disservice to anyone reading and taking that advice seriously. In the short term, there is nothing an individual can do to get him/herself into a program that is anti-DO, which is unfortunate; not whining, fact.

On one hand, yes I do agree with you in that working super hard and standing out on rotations may paint DOs in a favorable way to that individual PD/attending. On the other hand, I think slowing (wish we could close) the opening of new DO programs and raising the caliber of student would do more for the degree (notice I didn't say profession - OMM pseudoscience doesn't make a profession).

Let me be clear. I am telling students to stay away from DO school not because I have faced adversity, but because the second you accept your fate and enroll, you instantly put yourself at a disadvantage. If any student out there reading this has a choice in the matter, I want them to make the right choice. By going DO you make an already hard road even harder. You may not get to enter the field of your choice despite being a better applicant than most MDs. You will have less support, less opportunity for research, and (the vast majority) will have a worse clinical experience. And for all of this, you get to pay significantly more for it. This is not whining, this is calling a spade a spade on an appropriate forum.

 

[yanks26dmb]

This shouldn't even be a discussion. Pursue DO if you have no other option. If a single USMD school gives you an offer, take it. Theres nothing more that really needs to be said.

DO is still far superior to anything in the Carib or overseas.

 

[Haxx]

This shouldn't even be a discussion. Pursue DO if you have no other option. If a single USMD school gives you an offer, take it. Theres nothing more that really needs to be said.

DO is still far superior to anything in the Carib or overseas.

I wouldn't disagree with this statement at all. I would NEVER suggest DO>(US)MD.

That being said, saying that you regret ever going to a DO school because you faced some adversity seems fatalistic and isn't realistic to those people applying, either. Just trying to balance this discussion, because often the people who take time to comment are the people who are upset with their experience, not the ones who had success.

 

[fldoctorgirl]

So before this derails into another DO vs. MD thread....

Everyone always mentions incorporating Anki (pre-made decks like Zanki and whatever), Sketchy, etc earlier. Tips for how you guys do that? I've heard from several people, but am always curious to see how other people study and what works/doesn't work!

 

[Chibucks15]

So before this derails into another DO vs. MD thread....

Everyone always mentions incorporating Anki (pre-made decks like Zanki and whatever), Sketchy, etc earlier. Tips for how you guys do that? I've heard from several people, but am always curious to see how other people study and what works/doesn't work!

Definitely use Skethcy/Pathoma for micro and path respectively. There were a ton of micro points I got back because I remembered some small detail from those pictures. I don't use Anki because the user interface is pretty awful and I just wasn't a fan even though thats blasphemy on here. I have firecracker which I use for additional practice questions and I seem to be doign okay with it. I'm an M-1 so haven't started all that board stuff yet

 

[Neopolymath]

So before this derails into another DO vs. MD thread....

Everyone always mentions incorporating Anki (pre-made decks like Zanki and whatever), Sketchy, etc earlier. Tips for how you guys do that? I've heard from several people, but am always curious to see how other people study and what works/doesn't work!

If you haven't noticed, Zanki has ton of cards. You should start doing these cards when you move into systems curriculum so you can complete the cards along with the relevant coursework. If you do not do this you will have to do a lot of cards in a short amount of time to mature the deck and it will be hell. Anki is work. I repeat... anki is work. BUT if you do a little each day starting early, you won't be in a world of hurt come 2nd year.

I don't know your curriculum, but I would play around with anki as a program before school starts. I'm talking just mess around with it for 30 minutes making fake cards and learning about how it works/how to navigate the program and then doing that again a day or two later. NOTHING MORE. DO NOT STUDY. Then you can see if you want to use anki as your learning tool for your courses like biochem and whatever. If you don't hate the program, then do it. If you dislike it, don't do it aside from when you start using bros/zanki or whatever to go along with that block's system. If you hate it, just do what works for you as there are always people who do great without it so don't stress it.

 

[Dagrimsta1]

I feel you entirely. The subjective human elements that are part of medicine are the worst part. At least we have OMM that is pure though

Pure nonsense you mean. Don’t get me wrong there are definitely some interesting techniques but I ain’t feeling some of this voodoo busy work ****.

 

[pseud0]

So before this derails into another DO vs. MD thread....

Everyone always mentions incorporating Anki (pre-made decks like Zanki and whatever), Sketchy, etc earlier. Tips for how you guys do that? I've heard from several people, but am always curious to see how other people study and what works/doesn't work!

i dont use anki, but basically look at the curriculum you're learning for the week, find the corresponding sketchy pharm/path/boards and beyond/pathoma videos and watch those along with your lectures. You'll integrate the details better in my experience, especially if the professor teaching the subject at your school isn't up to par.

 

[MrTaco92]

So before this derails into another DO vs. MD thread....

Everyone always mentions incorporating Anki (pre-made decks like Zanki and whatever), Sketchy, etc earlier. Tips for how you guys do that? I've heard from several people, but am always curious to see how other people study and what works/doesn't work!

I watched the relevant sketches prior to each lecture for micro and pharm and my method was: Watch once at 1x speed -> review image, and then the next day re-watch those same sketches at 1.5x speed followed by another review of the image and a quick read through the corresponding section in first aid. Then either the same day or next day I'd watch our lecture with the relevant sketches in mind. Memorizing the sketches in advance made getting through lecture pretty easy and gave the sketches more context. Just before our exams I just reviewed every single image for the sketches I viewed for that block. I used this approach even if I came across the same bug/drug later on in the year but in a different organ system. I'm not a fan of flashcards nor am I good at using anki, so I did this instead of using any kind of anki deck. It was pretty painful to do all of that, but I wouldn't have approached pharm or micro any differently looking back.

 

[rg2o3]

I watched the relevant sketches prior to each lecture for micro and pharm and my method was: Watch once at 1x speed -> review image, and then the next day re-watch those same sketches at 1.5x speed followed by another review of the image and a quick read through the corresponding section in first aid. Then either the same day or next day I'd watch our lecture with the relevant sketches in mind. Memorizing the sketches in advance made getting through lecture pretty easy and gave the sketches more context. Just before our exams I just reviewed every single image for the sketches I viewed for that block. I used this approach even if I came across the same bug/drug later on in the year but in a different organ system. I'm not a fan of flashcards nor am I good at using anki, so I did this instead of using any kind of anki deck. It was pretty painful to do all of that, but I wouldn't have approached pharm or micro any differently looking back.

Not sure how sketchy works yet, but is there a feature in which you can just study the image without purchasing their new books?

 

[MrTaco92]

Not sure how sketchy works yet, but is there a feature in which you can just study the image without purchasing their new books?

Yeah it shows you the image and you can hover your mouse over certain parts of the image to see what each part symbolizes. I think some people prefer to purchase one of their workbooks and take notes in that as opposed to re-watching videos though.

 

[rg2o3]

Yeah it shows you the image and you can hover your mouse over certain parts of the image to see what each part symbolizes. I think some people prefer to purchase one of their workbooks and take notes in that as opposed to re-watching videos though.

Awesome. Thanks. I’ve been debating if I should purchase them or not.

 

[DrMcCoyDO]

Pure nonsense you mean. Don’t get me wrong there are definitely some interesting techniques but I ain’t feeling some of this voodoo busy work ****.

You ain’t experienced voodoo medicine until you’ve heard one of the lectures required at my school as part of our clinical curriculum. The term “medical astrology” is used unironically. I think it involves dragons or something at some point, too; I kind of zoned out. A friend of mine has the theory that they allow the guy to give this lecture, since as physicians, we’ll have to work with other practitioners who have out there beliefs. I’m just glad the dude wasn’t an anti-vaxxer (he’s a pediatrician) on top of all his other crazy ideas.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I’ll chime in to add that doing sketchy pharm is so tedious it’s physically painful. BUT if you power though, and then do the corresponding pharm cards in zanki it’s magic.

 

[ananasmed]

You ain’t experienced voodoo medicine until you’ve heard one of the lectures required at my school as part of our clinical curriculum. The term “medical astrology” is used unironically. I think it involves dragons or something at some point, too; I kind of zoned out. A friend of mine has the theory that they allow the guy to give this lecture, since as physicians, we’ll have to work with other practitioners who have out there beliefs. I’m just glad the dude wasn’t an anti-vaxxer (he’s a pediatrician) on top of all his other crazy ideas.

I'm laughing/crying because I am pretty sure I know exactly what lecture you're talking about (think we go to the same school). My mouth was on the floor the whole time.

 

[SurgeDO]

If I could go back in time, I would have made life goals outside of my career/medicine.

I became too obsessed with matching my number 1 when I was a medical student. It was my top priority during the later years of college and all four years of medical school. I lost a lot of hobbies along the way because of it. I missed friends' weddings and family funerals (seriously) so that I could study for step or attend an audition rotation. Tons of regrets there.

I always thought, "it doesn't matter now because once I match my number 1, I will be happy." I can assure you all that this is not the case.

I think every intern goes through a sort of intern year slump/depression where they realize what they idealized for the past four years ends up coming a little short. I know that I certainly did--even after spending countless hours of shadowing and knowing exactly what I was getting into.

And while I love my specialty and program (I wouldn't have picked any other field or program), I now realize that my career will not bring me complete life satisfaction. I grossly overestimated how much happiness/satisfaction my career would bring me. I like being a doctor, and I am happy with my career choice...but your career isn't everything.

So if I could give any of you advice, do not let medicine define your life. It will not completely fulfill you. You need to have goals outside of your career. Enjoy your family, friends, and loved ones. Find your hobbies and invest time into them.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

So if I could give any of you advice, do not let medicine define your life. It will not completely fulfill you. You need to have goals outside of your career. Enjoy your family, friends, and loved ones. Find your hobbies and invest time into them.

This might be the best post I’ve ever seen on SDN.

 

[Spectreman]

I just wanted to counter the "keep your head down and mind your business" argument. I got invited to spend time this summer with some incredible surgeons, people who have procedures named after them, like big - big deal people. I don't have any special connections, I come from a no-name, poor family. I'm getting to do this simply because I put myself out there. Of course there's an element of "keep your head down" that rings true, like complaining to faculty all the time and stuff like that. I'm just saying go meet people, get outside your comfort zone to make good connections, that and working hard in your classes will really open doors - even as a DO.

 

[rg2o3]

I just wanted to counter the "keep your head down and mind your business" argument. I got invited to spend time this summer with some incredible surgeons, people who have procedures named after them, like big - big deal people. I don't have any special connections, I come from a no-name, poor family. I'm getting to do this simply because I put myself out there. Of course there's an element of "keep your head down" that rings true, like complaining to faculty all the time and stuff like that. I'm just saying go meet people, get outside your comfort zone to make good connections, that and working hard in your classes will really open doors - even as a DO.

Yeah. I assume it’s meant more as don’t draw unwanted attention. Not good attention. Congrats on the solid work so far.

 

[BlueFeesh]

This might be the best post I’ve ever seen on SDN.

This whole thread is filled with some hidden gems of good advice and honesty. I'm saving it for future reference.