Sacrifice during medical school

Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine
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Sacrifice during medical school: What are you LEAST willing to sacrifice?

  • Health (eating well, working out etc.)

    Votes: 61 22.5%

  • Relationships (family, friends, significant other)

    Votes: 143 52.8%

  • Religion/Spirituality

    Votes: 25 9.2%

  • Other (list below)

    Votes: 10 3.7%

  • I would literally sacrifice anything to be successful in medical school!

    Votes: 32 11.8%
  • Total voters
    271
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PlayUltimate15

PlayUltimate15

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I've realized at this point that medical school requires some amount of sacrifice. I'm curious about what medical students are LEAST willing to sacrifice in order to be successful.
 
...just out of curiosity, how does one sacrifice religion in med school?

They don't have time for a 1 hour mass on Sunday morning or time for temple, or they no longer have 2 minutes to say their prayers before beddy-bye time?
 
Frazier said:
...just out of curiosity, how does one sacrifice religion in med school?

They don't have time for 1 hour mass on Sunday, or they don't have 2 minutes to say their prayers before beddy-bye time?
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I think he means giving up religious sacrifice...

bomber3.png

Probably a good thing
 
I was thinking along the lines of a student no longer making their religion/spirituality a priority. For many people religion is more than a 1 hour time commitment each week and may involve daily prayer or reading to deepen their intellectual understanding of their faith.
 
I'd sacrifice my left meatball before giving up my daily contemplation of Our Noodly Master. If you can spare 3 minutes to microwave ramen, you can worship Him.
 
PlayUltimate15 said:
I was thinking along the lines of a student no longer making their religion/spirituality a priority. For many people religion is more than a 1 hour time commitment each week and may involve daily prayer or reading to deepen their intellectual understanding of their faith.
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You're far more intelligent than half of the ******s posting in this thread.

And you are correct that it would be very easy to sacrifice religion during medical school because as you point out, your priorities could easily shift towards learning, learning, learning, sleep, and learning. It's easy to forget the beauty within the knowledge you're learning and the fact that your life is being weaved in such a way that you will impact more people than you thought possible.

And I can guarantee you that you will run into countless people in medicine who have given up hope and have become so engulfed by the darkness of sickness and death that the idea of an all knowing and all loving God becomes a joke to them. I can't blame them easily though. We all need defense mechanisms to deal with the tragedy of life and death that we will encounter day in and day out.

Some of us aren't mature enough to deal with it. Those of us who are have to find a way to keep both our sanity and reality in check.
 
Rollo said:
Some of us aren't mature enough to deal with it. Those of us who are have to find a way to keep both our sanity and reality in check.
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And the rest are "******s", right?

👍
 
I don't WANT to sacrifice my health, working out, diet, time with family (not married and no kids), weekly commitment to my faith, etc., but truth is that I have. Perhaps the only thing I have not skimped on, is care for my pooches. I made a commitment to them well before I decided to go back and pursue medicine and I refuse to let them be a victim of circumstance. Yes, they are spoiled. 🙄
 
I chose relationships, though I'm not terribly willing to sacrifice my health, either. I thankfully have no religion to lose, so we're all clear on that front.
 
Rollo said:
You're far more intelligent than half of the ******s posting in this thread.

And you are correct that it would be very easy to sacrifice religion during medical school because as you point out, your priorities could easily shift towards learning, learning, learning, sleep, and learning. It's easy to forget the beauty within the knowledge you're learning and the fact that your life is being weaved in such a way that you will impact more people than you thought possible.

And I can guarantee you that you will run into countless people in medicine who have given up hope and have become so engulfed by the darkness of sickness and death that the idea of an all knowing and all loving God becomes a joke to them. I can't blame them easily though. We all need defense mechanisms to deal with the tragedy of life and death that we will encounter day in and day out.

Some of us aren't mature enough to deal with it. Those of us who are have to find a way to keep both our sanity and reality in check.
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Thanks for the kudos, but poor word choice with your selection of "******s."

I agree that balance in medical school is important, if not easy to achieve. My faith is a very important part of that balance. It's easy to see why medical students put so many important things on the back-burner during school. Studying has to be an important priority, but for me at least, studying will never be the center of my existence.

I'm not sure if "maturity" determines how well a student balances everything. I'm lucky to have an amazing support system of friends and family who keep me in touch with reality outside of 12-hour study days.

Also, have you read the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan? I'm reading it right now (It's awesome) and your language of "life being weaved" very much reminds me of the language Jordan uses throughout the series.
 
I think health and exercise should be kept at all costs. If your in a relationship with someone, then don't sacrifice that - but I wouldn't suggest to try to get in a (serious) relationship until post-step 1.

In the end, I think it all comes down to how competitive a residency you want. If you want plastic surgery then you have to sacrifice it all basically. But if your aiming for something less hardcore, then enjoy life! 😛
 
I went with "other," though "relationships" would have also been accurate...

I adopted a cat about a month and a half into medical school and I have an ethical obligation to his well being. I owe my remaining sanity largely to him--he gives me a purpose outside of academics. Ergo, he gets whatever he wants.

That, and the other demands upon my time/energy have not mastered the art of meowing/sitting on my keyboard/chewing on my arm until I wake up.
 
Rollo said:
And I can guarantee you that you will run into countless people in medicine who have given up hope and have become so engulfed by the darkness of sickness and death that the idea of an all knowing and all loving God becomes a joke to them. I can't blame them easily though. We all need defense mechanisms to deal with the tragedy of life and death that we will encounter day in and day out.
Click to expand...

Isn't it beautiful, though, that our tears are just as salty as the delicious broth in a cup of ramen? That the noodly iodoform packing in a treated abscess heals the body just as readily as the aforementioned instant pasta nourishes the soul? His soft, wet appendages cool the fevered brow, concurrent with the administration of tylenol. So it is written. So our days are made to shine microwave-bright.

RAmen.
 
Sacrificed a little bit of everything on the list.
 
PlayUltimate15 said:
I was thinking along the lines of a student no longer making their religion/spirituality a priority. For many people religion is more than a 1 hour time commitment each week and may involve daily prayer or reading to deepen their intellectual understanding of their faith.
Click to expand...
Tbh, I find that not having any religion/spirituality gives me the rationality needed to get through medical school.

Rollo said:
And I can guarantee you that you will run into countless people in medicine who have given up hope and have become so engulfed by the darkness of sickness and death that the idea of an all knowing and all loving God becomes a joke to them. I can't blame them easily though. We all need defense mechanisms to deal with the tragedy of life and death that we will encounter day in and day out.
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Sorry, but are you inferring that not believing in God is a defence mechanism ??
 
Kinis said:
Tbh, I find that not having any religion/spirituality gives me the rationality needed to get through medical school.

Sorry, but are you inferring that not believing in God is a defence mechanism ??
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I'm implying that believing that a loving, all-knowing God couldn't possibly exist in the face of sickness and death is a defense mechanism. That's one way to explain the tragedy of life.
 
Rollo said:
I'm implying that believing that a loving, all-knowing God couldn't possibly exist in the face of sickness and death is a defense mechanism. That's one way to explain the tragedy of life.
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Ah.. you're one of them eh
 
11.65% gunners. Seems about right.
 
i've sacrificed pretty much everything at this stage.

sleep (if you could call it that) for 6-8ish hours, study for 14-16,eat dinner, skin the sausage, and then repeat.

Alcohol, exercise, relationships....sheesh that kind of nonsense is the stuff of wishes!

the only hope I have left is that I've only five months of MS2 left (assuming no slip ups). Here's hoping clinical med I can finally start to get a life back.

The holidays are literally my saving grace, where I can give my body a chance to recover. I swear I could sleep for weeks on end if I didn't have any reasons to wake up every day.
 
lol @ relationships

that is the first thing to go in med school
 
Rollo said:
I'm implying that believing that a loving, all-knowing God couldn't possibly exist in the face of sickness and death is a defense mechanism. That's one way to explain the tragedy of life.
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The tragedy of a person's life is realizing that he hasn't lived it when facing death.

The defense mechanism at the end of someones life is to believe there is a God because it's nice to believe in second chances. Maybe there are, maybe there aren't, but there's no reason to go through this one thinking that there's another.

I find it hilarious that anyone would choose to live their life based on a book of religion that was most likely written by a flawed man looking to earn some money.
In a practical sense it has probably lessened the miserable existence led by some people and given others a guideline in how to live a moral life.

But c'mon.
 
I managed to not give up much M1 and 2. This year dropped my two rec league sports and I go out less. Still workout 3-4 days a week, occasionally if it's been a long day I skip. And I'm not religious.


Rollo said:
I'm implying that believing that a loving, all-knowing God couldn't possibly exist in the face of sickness and death is a defense mechanism. That's one way to explain the tragedy of life.
Click to expand...
While we're rewriting the psych texts: What are we going to call blaming the tragedy of life on a mean, immortal man with horns who lives deep underground?
 
Superficial knowledge about religions in this thread doesn't surprise me since people in medicine generally tend to be one-dimensional in their knowledge base.
 
Rollo said:
Superficial knowledge about religions in this thread doesn't surprise me since people in medicine generally tend to be one-dimensional in their knowledge base.
Click to expand...
:laugh: 1000 apologizes, I thought this was the thread where we come to make ignorant comments about others' religious opinions.
 
Rollo said:
Superficial knowledge about religions in this thread doesn't surprise me since people in medicine generally tend to be one-dimensional in their knowledge base.
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Because obviously anyone who's not religious must have been raised in a barn. They certainly didn't go to church for 18 years, go to sunday school and bible camp, go to a christian high school, go through confirmation class, anything of the sort. They were just born with a stethoscope in one hand and a copy of Origin of Species in the other.

Yes, their opinions can invariably be dismissed as ignorance.

(inb4 no true scotsman fallacy)
 
Won't sacrifice faith or family.

As far as relationships, as one person said on this forum awhile ago, "If you find someone willing to go through this experience with you, marry them 1st and ask questions later."

BTW Hello PlayUltimate!!!
 
MilkmanAl said:
I chose relationships, though I'm not terribly willing to sacrifice my health, either. I thankfully have no religion to lose, so we're all clear on that front.
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This is my exact opinion as well, word for word
 
I am not willing to sacrifice on my relationship with my fiance. That's something I try my best to make time for.
Exercise: I went from dancing ~30hrs a week to taking a 1.5hr class every 2 months. it sucks. I have started going to the gym now so now I at least try to exercise 2-4 times a week for an hour or so.
no religion to speak of. agnostic atheist here.
 
cbrons said:
Won't sacrifice faith or family.

As far as relationships, as one person said on this forum awhile ago, "If you find someone willing to go through this experience with you, marry them 1st and ask questions later."

BTW Hello PlayUltimate!!!
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How are you?! How is UIC treating you?
 
Pagan agnostic polytheistic satanic atheist here---I think I got all my bases covered with spirituality


I will not sacrifice my relationship with family

Women come and go😎 Haven't found one worth sacrificing a sandwich with just tomatoes for

Health-I stopped working out but I'm still sexy😎🙄
 
SlickNickMD said:
Pagan agnostic polytheistic satanic atheist here---I think I got all my bases covered with spirituality


I will not sacrifice my relationship with family

Women come and go😎 Haven't found one worth sacrificing a sandwich with just tomatoes for

Health-I stopped working out but I'm still sexy😎🙄
Click to expand...

Wow, you seem like such a cool person. 👎

Why so many judgemental, close-minded people to religion on these forums? Everyone on here thinks they are so wise and educated on the topic, when in reality you probably have never even touched a Bible or any other religious texts. I respect your opinion, and would never think of mocking it.. Why feel the need to mock those who have faith or believe in God? I feel sorry for you.
 
thepoopologist said:
I find it hilarious that anyone would choose to live their life based on a book of religion that was most likely written by a flawed man looking to earn some money.
In a practical sense it has probably lessened the miserable existence led by some people and given others a guideline in how to live a moral life.

But c'mon.
Click to expand...

😱 This is my point exactly. This is one of the more rediculous things I have ever heard. So do you not believe in any history book or texts? The Bible, the book that I base my life on, certainly was not written to make money. In fact, many of the men writing this book, especially the Gospels in the New Testament, were prosecuted and executed for their beliefs. Im not here to preach, just to defend my beliefs against comments like this. Open up your mind a little bit...
 
ICanDoAllThings said:
Wow, you seem like such a cool person. 👎

Why so many judgemental, close-minded people to religion on these forums? Everyone on here thinks they are so wise and educated on the topic, when in reality you probably have never even touched a Bible or any other religious texts. I respect your opinion, and would never think of mocking it.. Why feel the need to mock those who have faith or believe in God? I feel sorry for you.
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It's all superficial knowledge these idiots have. In fact, you will find that even in real life 90% of anti-religious folks you meet have superficial knowledge because they are more concerned with "fitting in" and "being cool/advanced/progressive" than taking the time to intellectually and honestly explore the very thing that they are bashing.
 
Rollo said:
It's all superficial knowledge these idiots have. In fact, you will find that even in real life 90% of anti-religious folks you meet have superficial knowledge because they are more concerned with "fitting in" and "being cool/advanced/progressive" than taking the time to intellectually and honestly explore the very thing that they are bashing.
Click to expand...

A bit of a broad generalization, yeah?
 
Rollo said:
It's all superficial knowledge these idiots have. In fact, you will find that even in real life 90% of anti-religious folks you meet have superficial knowledge because they are more concerned with "fitting in" and "being cool/advanced/progressive" than taking the time to intellectually and honestly explore the very thing that they are bashing.
Click to expand...

Just thought I'd mention my experience that even in real life 90% of religious folks you meet have superficial knowledge. I can't remember the last time I met someone who knew there were many gospels and the four in the bible were the only ones chosen to be included.

More to the point, I think that the reason many (I won't arbitrarily quantify this to make it sound like it is anything more than a claim based on nothing) non-religious people are used to taking time to intellectually and honestly explore the things they are bashing. Religious fact is often defended by begging the question (e.g. the classic: God exists. -Why? -The bible says so. -Why should I believe that? -Because the bible is the word of God).

Your mistake is assuming that the people who disagree with you are ignorant to your ideas. Perhaps we have looked at it, intellectually and honestly, and still disagree with you.
 
In fact, you will find that even in real life 90% of anti-religious folks you meet have superficial knowledge because they are more concerned with "fitting in" and "being cool/advanced/progressive" than taking the time to intellectually and honestly explore the very thing that they are bashing.
Click to expand...
I wonder how religious people got the reputation of being judgmental and intolerant? Weird.

Your mistake is assuming that the people who disagree with you are ignorant to your ideas. Perhaps we have looked at it, intellectually and honestly, and still disagree with you.
Click to expand...
Guy raised as a strict Roman Catholic echoes this sentiment.
 
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