Med School Necessities?

[PathToMDPhD]

I am an applicant this season (and accepted! Woo-hoo!).

I know the start of medical school is months away for me. But I am, and always will be, a planner. (And maybe a little OCD, like most of us. )

So, a question for current or former medical students:

What is ONE thing you really wished you had (but didn't) when you started medical school?

Thanks in advance!

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[surely]

I am an applicant this season (and accepted! Woo-hoo!).

I know the start of medical school is months away for me. But I am, and always will be, a planner. (And maybe a little OCD, like most of us. )

So, a question for current or former medical students:

What is ONE thing you really wished you had (but didn't) when you started medical school?

Thanks in advance!

I'm not sure that's the best way to phrase your question, since I bet most people got everything they need - A better way would include "And what was the one invaluable thing that you DID get that you now realize you couldn't have lived without?"

And for that matter, why do you want to limit answers to just one? I want the whole list! Haha.

 

[Petypet]

In my first 2 years I have only NEEDED a computer, pen + paper, coffee, car, cell phone, ibuprofin, my wife, my dogs, whiteboard + markers, first aid, and I guess a stethoscope. All my books are either borrowed from the library or on PDF. Also, I did buy a few toys in the last 2 years, noise canceling headphones, xbox one, and an ipad. None of the last 3 were essential but I am grateful for the noise canceling headphones since the library can be consumed with a ton of talking and I get easily distracted.

 

[Gfliptastic]

AGREE, why just one thing?? Some suggestions I don't think people usually say.

~ A good cushion! It will depend on where you end up "enjoying" studying. Sitting on one's tuckus for hours can be rough. Even if you get up to stretch, go wee, eat, take a break. Med school is literally a pain in the butt.

~ Time to read fiction. Maybe I'm not the literary type, but once med school started I saw reading as utilitarian. A means to an end. So on the quite RARE occasion when I wanted a diversion, a good book was somewhere towards the bottom of my list. And I like to believe what people say, that some books are much better than the movie/screenplay. Anyways, read some leisure books before it starts!!

~ An easy to prep diet. When you run out of time during the day, I'd say most of the time you end up eating junk food. Or, kinda pathetically (in my case) being a man in his mid-30's who eats sandwiches or a cup of yogurt for dinner. I only realized over much wasted time that sometimes a good study break is prepping a nice meal. A quick meal to make. Flavors being a nice diversion from the drudgery. And usually healthier than Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Starbucks for lunch! (yes, I have subsisted on this before)

~ A sleep schedule/sleep hygiene. Sleep is super important, every study ever done about sleep emphatically sez it is. So get into a good sleep ritual, which is a key component of sleep hygiene. This should help, if you are partly OCD. The ritual of falling asleep. So maybe shoot for a nice schedule that gets you 6.5-7 hrs Ask some students at your med school what their schedule is like, and adjust accordingly. When I was in pre-clinical I was asleep by midnight, up at 6:30 for breakfast. I didn't need an alarm clock. Reliable!

Congrats. Good luck.

 

[PathToMDPhD]

I'm not sure that's the best way to phrase your question, since I bet most people got everything they need - A better way would include "And what was the one invaluable thing that you DID get that you now realize you couldn't have lived without?"

And for that matter, why do you want to limit answers to just one? I want the whole list! Haha.

I would appreciate answers to either question - what you did have that was invaluable, or didn't have (buy maybe later got when you realized how indispensable it was).

One answer, 10 answers, whatever people want to give is fine. Thanks to everyone who has posted helpful suggestions!

 

[ChE04]

As a 2nd year who is done with classes and about to start studying for step 1, I wish I started using Firecracker as a supplement in first year and actually kept up with it. Another must-have which I did use to supplement is Pathoma; pure gold.

 

[NorthernMav]

In my first 2 years I have only NEEDED a computer, pen + paper, coffee, car, cell phone, ibuprofin, my wife, my dogs, whiteboard + markers, first aid, and I guess a stethoscope. All my books are either borrowed from the library or on PDF. Also, I did buy a few toys in the last 2 years, noise canceling headphones, xbox one, and an ipad. None of the last 3 were essential but I am grateful for the noise canceling headphones since the library can be consumed with a ton of talking and I get easily distracted.

Wife AND dogs?! How did you focus? haha, well done!

 

[QuantumJ]

As a 2nd year who is done with classes and about to start studying for step 1, I wish I started using Firecracker as a supplement in first year and actually kept up with it. Another must-have which I did use to supplement is Pathoma; pure gold.

I've heard a lot about firecracker and pathoma (and first aid to highlight high yield). Do you find out about this resources from upper levels or is there a master list on the site?

Wife AND dogs?! How did you focus? haha, well done!

I'm going to kick my wife out of the house to go to work and my dog is a good study buddy

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

I wish I'd known about Anki before I started med school. It's a computerized set of flash cards that keeps track of how well you know each card and when you need to study it again. It was incredibly helpful for biochem.

If you like to learn by making mental associations I highly recommend Picmonic (www.picmonic.com). It's a large collection of pictures with audio explanations that help you learn the different elements of a disease, vitamin or drug. The pictures are kind of silly and my classmates always laugh at me for using them, but it's been the only thing that works reliably for me to learn and retain information for longer than the next test. I think they still have a pilot program that will get you a nice discount if you give them some feedback on how things worked for you.

 

[Petypet]

Wife AND dogs?! How did you focus? haha, well done!

At the end of the day, being a non-trad medical student is no more difficult than working a 9-5 job. Its about priorities, timing, and balance.

 

[ChE04]

I've heard a lot about firecracker and pathoma (and first aid to highlight high yield). Do you find out about this resources from upper levels or is there a master list on the site?

Both, but mainly reading the step 1 forum here.

 

[QofQuimica]

So, a question for current or former medical students:

What is ONE thing you really wished you had (but didn't) when you started medical school?

Time. And I wished that even more as a resident. Enjoy the free time you have now before you start medical school. It's limited, and very precious.