Lack of motivation

[UTHoustonAggie]

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I just finished up my first week of classes yesterday. So far, I have been doing a relatively good job of keeping up with all of the material that we have covered. This hasn't been too difficult so far seeing that most of it has been review from previous undergrad courses. My problem is that I know that things are going to speed up drastically over the next several days/weeks and I'm having trouble getting motivation to study. To compound this, I've been questioning whether or not I really want to be in med school in the first place. Wish I would have put more thought into this whole med school thing before I got here. 😕

 

[4 Ever]

Don't worry - I am sure that there are a lot of people that feel the same way as you do. The most important piece of advice that I was given was "once you realize that you will not be able to know everything, then you will be much happier. It's tough to come to this realization but it's very important otherwise you will lose your focus very fast".

Also, just remember, when you were in your pre-medical years, you would have given both of your arms to get into med school. Just remember that student and how determined you were and now fulfill those dreams.

Maybe you should write down WHY you wanted to be a doctor in the first place and how determined you were. Then look at it everyday (if possible) for motivation. It's tough but we're all in this boat together so don't give up

 

[UTHoustonAggie]

Thanks for the advice...those are great words to live by. I do know that the more that I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

My big problem is that I'm not sure if I ever really wanted to be a physician. I think that I thought I did early on, back in high school and early in college. But I changed my major to psychology my first year at college. I think that this course drastically changed my outlook on my career, but I was blinded by my own goal of getting into med school that I didn't realize this transition. I think that I would be better suited to be in a graduate program for clinical psychology or something in that area. I loath almost all of my classes (gross being the only exception) and I'm not sure if I can put up with this for 4 years.

 

[stormjen]

If you are having doubts, then you will be doing yourself a huge favor to think through things very thoroughly right now, before you dig yourself into a massive hole. Many people regret going to medical school who are already tens of thousands of dollars in debt - to the point where the only way to pay off the loans is to be a physician! It's a trap, really.

In the first year of med school is the best time to get out. After that, you're screwed. However, I do think that it's a good idea to spend some time in the first semester getting a feel for what med school is all about. You've paid the tuition, after all. You might find that it grows on you.

signed,
someone about to graduate who regrets going to med school
a.k.a. someone with $120,000 in student loans

 

[SoulRFlare]

Thanks for the advice...those are great words to live by. I do know that the more that I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

My big problem is that I'm not sure if I ever really wanted to be a physician. I think that I thought I did early on, back in high school and early in college. But I changed my major to psychology my first year at college. I think that this course drastically changed my outlook on my career, but I was blinded by my own goal of getting into med school that I didn't realize this transition. I think that I would be better suited to be in a graduate program for clinical psychology or something in that area. I loath almost all of my classes (gross being the only exception) and I'm not sure if I can put up with this for 4 years.

A PhD program in Psych would be demanding as well...If you're interested in the Mind, why not go into Psychiatry? you won't have to shift gears to try to get into a psych program, and you will enjoy a bit more autonomy in your career.
Also, keep in mind that you're not going to have to "put up with this" for four years. basic science are only two years, and then you get to go onto the wards, where you'll find the real action.
also keep in mind that just about everyone complains about their career...the grass is always greener and all that. in my humble (albeit biased) opinion, you're in the right place--you have unprecidented flexibility in your career choice, and you will enjoy autonomy that isn't to be had in the general work force.
lets face it: what else would you be doing right now? waiting tables, where you're paid $3.00 an hour to be harassed and dumped on by customers? cooking, where the head chef is a little hitler who gets off on putting you down? in a graduate program, where students are bitter and the professors relish the maxim "Sh_t rolls downhill"?
no matter what you do, there will be trade-offs. the question is: which road will provide you with the most options?

 

[Elysium]

I've only been in med school for 3 weeks, but I can totally see where you're coming from. I hate basically all the classes I'm taking right now (ESPECIALLY biochem and embryo), but I also know that a lot of the stuff we cover in the first two years has very little to do with the practice of clinical medicine. It's just more hoops to jump through, basically so you can pass Step 1. After that, you're going to forget most of it anyway. You just learn what is specific to the resiency you decide to do. Have you thought about going into psychiatry? It's a marraiage of both and the hours are great. Just know that you're not alone. I'm right there with you. Just try to look at the big picture (and maybe shadow a psychiatrist and see if you like it).

Good Luck

 

[8744]

Do not even think of quitting medical school, even if you don't like it. Suck it up and soldier on. Never, ever, quit anything in life. If you never practice medicine the MD degree will prepare you for any other intellectual pursuit while if you quit you will be explaining to your grandchlidren how Grandpa couldn't handle the stress when he was 22 and dropped out of medical school. That will be a nice story to tell, I'm sure.

Nobody likes first year and the first semester to be specific. You might very well change your mind later on, say in the middle of third year and decide that medicine is really pretty cool.

Here's a little secret. Except for the hours, third year is as easy or hard as you want to make it. If you hate it, you can literally slack your way through, doing the bare minimum to pass. (Hell, you can do that for first and second year, too) We have people in our class who are doing this. DOn't even get me going on fourth year. I happen to be taking pretty challenging electives but you don't have to if all you want is to graduate or match into a cushy specialty like Psychiatry.

 

[8744]

And folks, medicine, once you clear the initial tangles of first and second year and get some "sea room," is pretty cool. Not only do you get to see and meet new people every day but you also get a front-row seat to every aspect of human nature from the noblest to the most freakish. (and boy, do I like the freakshow...which is why I hope to match into emergency medicine.)

Plus you get to see a lot of really juicy, gross things. Nasty slimy pathologies and horrific trauma. May the Lord grant that I never tire of these things or get bored of my insane patients.

Sincerely,

P. Bear MSIV

 

[Hosehead]

Just bomb a test or two, and you will have all the motivation that you will need.

 

[WyldeWolf1]

If your school offers clinical opportunities, even strictly observation, during the first year, take them. My anatomy professor provides us with the numbers of each department that performs surgeries on the region that we are studying. Those who wish to sign up to watch orthoped for lower limbs, CT for thoracic cavity, etc. A lot of the surgeons will verbally guide you through the procedure, and may even quiz you so you're on your toes. Talk about motivation!

Even if nothing like this is provided for you, I'll bet there are similar opportunities if you'll just knock on a few doors. Seeing the application will motivate the preparation.

 

[Garuda]

I'm in the same boat as you. I like city that I'm in. I like the people at the medical school (at least the ones who don't have a creepy fascination with the cadaver), but I just don't feel any enthusiasm for the academics. I play with my laptop in class and I haven't done any of the readings yet 😴

I wanted to become an investment banker, but that did not happen. I thought about becoming a tax lawyer, but my writing is kind of mediocre, and law school is all essay tests (and grades are quite important if you want to go into corporate law). So I went into the family business, which is being a doctor.

I'm not that thrilled about it, but to me at some point you have to stop being ideological and start being practical. It's nice to follow your dreams, to do what you want, but that doesn't always happen. Doctors are paid well, and I think it's because medicine is kind of an ugly job. People talk lots of b.s. about how doctors help people and how wonderful it is, but just about anyone with a service job out there is "helping people".

My Dad is an allergist, and his job is clean and simple. I kind of forgot about the realities of medicine. But the cadaver dissection has brought all the ugliness into focus. I've decided to stick it out, because I'm kind of out of options at this point. I think medical practice itself is still good, as long as you get a good clean branch like Dermatology or Radiology.

I'll leave you with a few more words of wisdom: at some time you have to stop agonizing over which strategy to pursue, and just pick one and focus on the execution. In America, the whole "follow your heart/dreams" thing is such a cliche in popular culture. In the real world, what you want to do may not be a viable option. So you have to pick one that is available to you, and try to pull it off as best you can.

 

[UTHoustonAggie]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I'm going to stick it out the next few weeks and see how things go. I've been hearing a lot from both sides (stay in, withdraw) and I guess I'll just have to figure things out myself... 😱

 

[Mike59]

I'm convinced that NO ONE really knows what they're getting themselves into when they apply/get accepted to med school..people follow doctors in undergrad or work in a hospital, but until you get here and especially when you start looking after patients on your own, it's a whole different ballgame with a much different quality.

My best advice to you is to do some soul searching and figure out for yourself why exactly you are in med school right now....once you have a "personal philosophy", thing will be much more worthwhile.

Also try reading the "Med School Survival Guide"- it's a great short book that you can read over and over throughout your early years (especially when it seems like the wheels are falling off the wagon).

Best of luck to you

 

[coolness]

Medical school is such an emotional, mental, and physical roller coaster. Nothing in life (undergraduate, graduate, work, volunteering) prepares you for this journey. I think it's easy for the first couple weeks of your first year to become discouraged, depressed, sad, unhappy due to the unbelievable volume of material that you have to learn and retain. Believe it or not, most of my classmates are feeling this way. Personally, I missed home, missed my family, missed my friends, etc... But becoming a physician (MD/DO) has been our dream and we are finally here. DON'T GIVE UP! Most people wished they were in our positions but for one reason or another, could not. Would you rather become a physician, after of course years of rigorous education and training, or would you rather work in, say, a company where you are not appreciated, has less job security, see the same people over and over again, are not well compensated, and experience politics on a daily basis. Hey, if becoming a doctor was easy, everybody would be doing it. I think you should just keep studying, keep looking over your lecture notes, seek assistance if you think it's worthwhile, surround yourself with a few good friends from class, go out once in a while to see a movie, keep communication between families and friends back home, don't listen to people in class who panic or who try to psyche you out, take advice from MSIs and MSIIs with a grain of salt, etc... I think you know what's best for you. Don't change your life based on other's studying schedule, habits, etc...

 

[MD Rapper]

its pretty awesome to see that there are others who feel this way too. Just goes to show that what we are going through is quite normal... I'm amazed by the pace and amount of material... ah well... I think I'm finally motivated enough to go study 👍

 

[SoulRFlare]

its pretty awesome to see that there are others who feel this way too. Just goes to show that what we are going through is quite normal... I'm amazed by the pace and amount of material... ah well... I think I'm finally motivated enough to go study 👍

one of my profs described it as stepping onto a moving sidewalk that's going 65 MPH

 

[UTHoustonAggie]

one of my profs described it as stepping onto a moving sidewalk that's going 65 MPH

Great analogy...another one that I heard was that med school is like trying to drink from a fire hydrant
😱

 

[azzarah]

First year of med school was a really difficult time for me too. If I were you I would get out and explore Houston. I would take an art lesson or go teach for Kaplan (they're close by at Rice Village).
Think about why you're in med school, but make sure your thoughts (negative thoughts about dropping out specifically) aren't influenced by other students in your class. Not to sound bitter, but talking to certain med students makes me lose hope and become pessimistic about my career if you know what I mean.

 

[celticmists18]

First year of med school was a really difficult time for me too. If I were you I would get out and explore Houston. I would take an art lesson or go teach for Kaplan (they're close by at Rice Village).
Think about why you're in med school, but make sure your thoughts (negative thoughts about dropping out specifically) aren't influenced by other students in your class. Not to sound bitter, but talking to certain med students makes me lose hope and become pessimistic about my career if you know what I mean.

amen to that last part. I'm starting my third week (with a quiz looming tomorrow) and I feel TOTALLY behind . . .but so does everyone else. I don't know if your school is pass/no-pass but keep in mind that you don't have to be number one anymore. keeping that in mind has helped me a lot, my goal is to pass and survive while doing it!

 

[GoodMonkey]

ms2 lacking motivation. i'm sure it'll be better in a bit, but i'm just not willing to concede my summer to the black hole of med school juuuuuuuuuust yet. alas.

 

[donnyfire]

it really is good to see other people feeling the same way I am.
I have spent most of the first week in amazement/terror at the volume of material, and wondering if I made the right decision to leave a *great* job to attend med school.
I must have said "what did I get myself into" about a thousand times.
But I'm hoping that as time passes things will improve, and that I will adjust to the pace and culture of med school.

Good luck with the next few months.

 

[NotShorty]

I feel roughly the same as the rest of you (depending on what time of the day you ask me) so I think it's safe to say we're normal.

What gets me through is that there honestly is nothing else I would want to be doing in my life, combined with how bad it would suck to let down all the people that supported me getting as far as I have.

-NS

 

[UTHoustonAggie]

I feel roughly the same as the rest of you (depending on what time of the day you ask me) so I think it's safe to say we're normal.

What gets me through is that there honestly is nothing else I would want to be doing in my life, combined with how bad it would suck to let down all the people that supported me getting as far as I have.

-NS

It is good to hear that I'm not alone in these feelings. My big problem is that I can think of many things that I would be rather doing with my life. I'm having difficulty remembering what my motivation was in going to med school in the first place 🙁 but at the same time, I would feel horrible letting down everyone that supported me.

 

[jpro]

Hello UTHoustonAggie. We are at the very begining of this journey, and the amount of information we are required to learn will be insane. What we need to remember as med students is that every physician before us had to go through this, and they all had their doubts. Remember Dr. Beth Hartwell (histo) talked about having doubts and getting burned out during her third year.

I think if you do some preceptors in an area of medicine you are interested in then you will have something to look forward to and gain some motivation. We will need to remember why we worked so hard to get here.

 

[::Seabass::]

yo UTH MS1s!!!! survive the brachial plexus???? lol.

what I did last year is emailed someone in the area of medicine I was interested in going into and spent one morning a week shadowing them and got to do some pretty cool stuff and remember that the hospital really is just down the hall from the classroom.

finishing one semester of med school is better than all of college, I swear, and it gets easier from there on out even though it gets harder. just remember to relax and keep up with stuff as best as possible but don't stress yourself out too much these first weeks, you still have a bit of lag time before you have to kick it in gear for real. 😉

if you need to talk or have any questions, just drop me a pm. 🙂

 

[JJ1020]

It is good to hear that I'm not alone in these feelings. My big problem is that I can think of many things that I would be rather doing with my life. I'm having difficulty remembering what my motivation was in going to med school in the first place 🙁 but at the same time, I would feel horrible letting down everyone that supported me.

UTHoustonAggie...I stumbled onto this post just now...but I was wandering if you could give us an update on how you're doing thus far...I too am feeling the same way as you described...but I had to take it a step further and asked for a leave of absence to sort through my thoughts...

 

[UTHoustonAggie]

UTHoustonAggie...I stumbled onto this post just now...but I was wandering if you could give us an update on how you're doing thus far...I too am feeling the same way as you described...but I had to take it a step further and asked for a leave of absence to sort through my thoughts...

I was extremely close to taking a leave of absense during, or just quitting completely, during the first 10 weeks of class. I was having a lot of anxiety about the exremely long road in front of me and I lost track of my goal. However, I realized that this was something that I really wanted to do for a long time and I owed it to myself to finishe out at least the first semester. I'm one test away from making it that far, and things are going a lot better.

One thing that I lost sight of was that the first two years of med school do not correlate with practicing medicine. Although all of this studying is difficult and really sucks sometimes, deep down I realized that I couldn't see myself doing anything else with my life. All of the back up plans that I started thinking about just didn't seem to fit.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that you just have to do some serious introspection and figure out if you were in med school for the right reasons. I ended up seeing a counselor at my school for a few weeks and she helped me delve into my initial reasons for applying to med school. I know that things will work out for you no matter what you decide. Hang in there and good luck in whatever you do 🙂

 

[::Seabass::]

One thing that I lost sight of was that the first two years of med school do not correlate with practicing medicine. Although all of this studying is difficult and really sucks sometimes, deep down I realized that I couldn't see myself doing anything else with my life. All of the back up plans that I started thinking about just didn't seem to fit.

2nd year is SOOOO much better at our school. I promise. 🙂 Gear up for next semester cause it is rough, but it means you won't be taking some classes 2nd year that others have to and you won't be stressed out as much as some of those at other schools. It also means you get to spend more time doing clincial stuff. Having tests only every 8 wks is awesome. Nothing has been as tough emotionally or as rewarding for me as finishing first semester and I used to be thinking a lot of the things you were too back when I was a new MS1.

And it does get way more interesting and more relevant and stuff from MS1 comes back and you realize why you had to learn it. And its nice being able to actually start coming up with a differential when someone is listing their complaints to you.


Ok, got to finish cramming for physical diagnosis. 😀

 

[8744]

I was extremely close to taking a leave of absense during, or just quitting completely, during the first 10 weeks of class. I was having a lot of anxiety about the exremely long road in front of me and I lost track of my goal. However, I realized that this was something that I really wanted to do for a long time and I owed it to myself to finishe out at least the first semester. I'm one test away from making it that far, and things are going a lot better.

One thing that I lost sight of was that the first two years of med school do not correlate with practicing medicine. Although all of this studying is difficult and really sucks sometimes, deep down I realized that I couldn't see myself doing anything else with my life. All of the back up plans that I started thinking about just didn't seem to fit.

Basically what I'm trying to say is that you just have to do some serious introspection and figure out if you were in med school for the right reasons. I ended up seeing a counselor at my school for a few weeks and she helped me delve into my initial reasons for applying to med school. I know that things will work out for you no matter what you decide. Hang in there and good luck in whatever you do 🙂

Now yer' talking.

 

[beautimouslove]

Thank God someone out there is feeling the same way that I am. I had anxiety attacks that first half of the semester. I actually went to see a dr. and was given xanax 0.25mg to take to calm my mind. 😕
Boy this is so hard to do - the amount of material and the demands on us is almost too much. I have seen very smart people drop out because they could not take the stress. I did make it through. My professor took me aside and talked with me about the C that I was getting in her class. She said that I have a brilliant mind but needed to dedicate myself. Caring, on her part but I AM very dedicated. Now I feel depressed. More and more as time goes on and I am doubting everything that I know and have learned. School is breaking me down. I do not want to study and have a mental block of some sort. I need to pull myself together over the holidays and realize why I am where I am. All of you that have replied to the post have so many words of encouragement. It helps me to know that you are all caring people. I know that I can make it through now more than ever. It did take so long to get here and this is all I ever wanted in my life. I sacrificed my family, time, and finances just for this dream.