Motivation?

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sabsaf123

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I was recently accepted into Med school and I recently began thinking about my motivating factors. In college I was super motivated because I was a naive premed that thought that my life depended on getting into med school. Then I took a gap year and realized that there are numerous great fields out there and I don't HAVE to be a doctor to be happy. Atm the thing motivating me is the career and NOT the basic sciences. I like medicine, I'd love to learn procedures like intubation, central lines, etc I could see myself being an FM doc and treating out or kids/adults. I also think anesthesiology is sweet and every time I've shadowed in the or time has just flown by.

The problem is that I'm not super interested in learning the basic sciences. I did well in college but it took a lot of effort and if given the choice, I probably wouldn't study orgo, genetics, etc in my free time. Should I be worried about motivation in med school for the basic sciences?
 
Med school doesn't do orgo (some technicalities, but c'mon, sheeple). We also don't really sit there draw punnet squares and do allelic frequency problems the way you've been conditioned to. I think the biggest factor here is that, reasonably (due to lack of experience, as I was the same way), you may believe that medical school focuses on the same things as undergrad. You can focus on biochemistry in undergrad and memorize every pathway and structure, or genetics and learn all about acetylation. But in medical school, everything you learn is directly medically relevant. In essence, it's always about how this information is applied to your patient with pyruvate dehydrogenase deficiency, or why some patients de-sat faster than others during intubations.

I hated undergrad basic sciences, and was worried medical school would be the same. It's definitely not, and by far. You have to know the basic sciences, sure, but it's taught VERY differently than how undergrad teaches it.

Welcome to the Red Tape club, buddy. Lots of **** you won't want to deal with that you will have to. For these instances, you don't need motivation- you need a kick in the as*. You will need to shut up, suck it up, and do it anyways. That's discipline. Unless, of course, you decide you don't want to do medicine, as opposed to "not wanting to do basic sciences". Don't forget what medicine is.

You don't go up to a patient and ask them about their valence shells. You like physiology? You like pathology? You like the idea of treating disease? You like the possibility of performing surgery? If these likes are greater than your disdain for basic sciences, think more carefuly before turning away this profession (Remember, it's a profession, not simply a career.) This decision doesn't keep you out of other careers, but turning down this acceptance will almost certainly seal you out.
 
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We all want to be doctors for some reason, but all of us have to go through some part of the training process that we simply hate. There is a lot of foundation knowledge you need to get. You just have to remember that you're not going to med school because you want to be a med student (or a resident), you're going there to be a doctor. Some days are good, some are bad. It requires discipline to keep moving forward on the days when you just can't find any motivation.
 
Biochem and most genetics don't come too often past first year. Have you taken any physio classes? I use physio everyday and I think whether you like physio or not is a very good indicator of how much you will like medical school
 
sabsaf123 said:
I was recently accepted into Med school and I recently began thinking about my motivating factors. In college I was super motivated because I was a naive premed that thought that my life depended on getting into med school. Then I took a gap year and realized that there are numerous great fields out there and I don't HAVE to be a doctor to be happy. Atm the thing motivating me is the career and NOT the basic sciences. I like medicine, I'd love to learn procedures like intubation, central lines, etc I could see myself being an FM doc and treating out or kids/adults. I also think anesthesiology is sweet and every time I've shadowed in the or time has just flown by.

The problem is that I'm not super interested in learning the basic sciences. I did well in college but it took a lot of effort and if given the choice, I probably wouldn't study orgo, genetics, etc in my free time. Should I be worried about motivation in med school for the basic sciences?
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1. "Basic sciences" in medical school are totally different from undergrad. Not always fun but usually somewhat clinically relevant.

2. It's not about motivation, it's about discipline and building good habits from the beginning. You couldn't survive medical school on motivation alone. That goes for third year at least as much as the first two, probably more.

3. There are a lot of great careers, IMO medicine is one of them (a relatively uninformed opinion given that I am still a student rather than a resident). Most of them have some sacrifices that you need to wade through to get to the better parts though. Think of the first few years of medical school as the crappy entry level job that has the bonus of guaranteed promotion in four years to a job more to your liking. Don't let the first two years of medical school scare you away from the whole career, it is just something to get through. One could argue that if the basic sciences were the reason you went to medical school you would be more likely to burn out later when the realities of clinical care hit.

4. 99.99% of the med school population wouldn't study orgo or genetics in their free time. You'll be okay.
 
After MS1, all of our MS2 classes were pathology and pharm related. The basic science years and studying for step 1 felt like drudgery, but it was definitely more medically relevant and interesting stuff, especially in MS2. So it may not be as bad as you expect.

Finishing MS3 now and I def liked clinical years more. But I'm glad I powered through the drudgery of the first two years.

As far as motivation. There were many days where the debt was probably the only thing keeping me in. Other days, I'd be reminded why I started this journey, and more motivated than ever. I'd say most days were somewhere in between the two extremes lol.
 
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You will be motivated to do it when you realize it is an obstacle that needs to be overcome on the path to you main goal. Its often necessary in medical school to temporarily do something you hate.
 
The best motivation is to be in the clinical environment and see it from another side than theoretical 🙂 When I have my white labcoat on, it always pushes me forward
 
sabsaf123 said:
I was recently accepted into Med school and I recently began thinking about my motivating factors. In college I was super motivated because I was a naive premed that thought that my life depended on getting into med school. Then I took a gap year and realized that there are numerous great fields out there and I don't HAVE to be a doctor to be happy. Atm the thing motivating me is the career and NOT the basic sciences. I like medicine, I'd love to learn procedures like intubation, central lines, etc I could see myself being an FM doc and treating out or kids/adults. I also think anesthesiology is sweet and every time I've shadowed in the or time has just flown by.

The problem is that I'm not super interested in learning the basic sciences. I did well in college but it took a lot of effort and if given the choice, I probably wouldn't study orgo, genetics, etc in my free time. Should I be worried about motivation in med school for the basic sciences?
Click to expand...
Yep. I was in your boat and studying them was a chore. Made the boards more difficult, but eh, overall it was still manageable.
 
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