Quoted: Draconian [medical] school - feel like I won't finish here

Doodledog

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I will address this later. Anyone else?

I feel like the administration at my institution is draconian. By now, at the halfway point, I have heard a lot of stories, some firsthand, of people getting into trouble for strange things that one wouldn't expect. Some people even vanish from the class or other classes. That's a big deal of course...totally changing people's careers like that.

I've gotten pretty ensnared with the higher ups myself. At this point I'm developing a learned helplessness toward running into trouble and am becoming disillusioned. I feel it's inevitable there will be a run in of some sort over the course of an entire second half of school that will cause problems for me again. I have never been a troublemaker in my past years so this is out of the ordinary.

I used to plan my career out several years into the future. Now I only think about the next several weeks and how to get by. It's pitiful. If any student is subjected to a tremendous amount of scrutiny, flaws and shortcomings will become apparent. Those who are already on the radar are the ones who have to bear the brunt of this phenomenon while the rest coast along doing whatever they want.

I'm just frustrated, as I'm well settled in where I am and have good friends but worry I'll encounter turmoil that will upset everything. I think that I do want to finish my MD whether that be here or elsewhere, perhaps even offshore if that becomes necessary. I've put too much into this course to leave empty handed.

I often wonder whether my institution is particularly draconian and I coincidentally/unfortunately happened to land here of all places. I feel trapped as transfer is not a common practice in medical schools and is usually done for spousal or family reasons. Basically I hate it here and it's causing me to hate medical school and become apathetic toward the career in general, whereas I know at one point I did have some zeal for it. Is there nothing that keeps draconian insitutions in check? What is the culture at other locations like?

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I can't really comment on your particular situation, but I've had my own share of problems in the past as have some of my friends. Best advice I can give is to make sure you're on top of your game in 3rd and 4th year. And that doesn't mean being smart at medicine. It means being enthusiastic about your work, be visible and hard-working, be professional to everyone (patients, secretaries, nurses, coworkers, etc.). If you need help in something, ask for it. And if issues come up, be proactive about them. Request mid-course feedback from everyone, as they do all evaluate you. If you don't get along with someone and think it may impact your evals, tell the course director about it before the eval comes in.

Those are all general principles. However you're straying from that formula, deal with it as best you can. Whether it's trouble in your personal life bleeding over into school, sleep issues, not knowing what's expected of you, etc. If you need to, request time off to get your life straightened out. And if stuff does come up with your school, go with the flow instead of fighting the system (unless flow is kicking you out).
 
First of all, sorry that things are tough for you. Really it is mostly best to avoid administrative issues as a med student unless, like me, you like to get involved in these issues and battles. Even now, several decades removed from serving as the student rep to the administration in my med school, I can get frustrated with administrative stuff.

However, these type of issues CAN and should be avoided during the clinical years. Inevitably, at every medical school there will be some rotations and faculty/residents/fellow students/scrub nurses/etc who will give you a hard time. This is true everywhere in life but can be intense during clinical rotations. You need to be prepared for this and prepared to not pick or respond to battles.

If medicine is what you want to do and you can learn to cope with the system (and not end up in unneeded conflicts) then there is no reason that anything from your first two years will affect your ability to do well and complete school. I've known several "rebels" who had a tough time with the classroom structure and rules of preclinical years who did much better with the clinical years.

If however, you've decided that medicine isn't for you, or if you're too intensely angry at the system, it is certainly true that this will be made worse by the clinical rotations. Only you can decide if it is worth it to make it through and get the degree, even if you don't plan to practice, or if you should not go through with it.

Good luck.
 
Unfortunately I think that's relatively common for "programs" of all sorts. Friends of mine who have also been in nursing, PA, and dental hygiene programs have had very similar experiences. Very sad :( Best of luck!
 
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