Success stories med school

[GladifImakeit]

Anyone willing to share a story of struggling in med school, perhaps needing to take time off, and pulling through, graduating and becoming an awesome MD?

Would probably inspire me right now...

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[nowanmd]

I am a practicing MD. I graduated medical school 15 years ago. When I first started med school my mom got sick and I was struggling with anatomy. I took a leave of absense and seriously thought about whether I wanted to go to med school. I decided to return to med school with100% committment. I still thought anatomy was murder, but I got through it. I then learned how to study in med school and by my 2nd and 3rd years I got mostly HP (high passes) in most of my classes.

Everyone who was accepted to med school can do it. For me it took 100% committment and learning how to study.

 

[anbuitachi]

i just started medical school but i'm finding less time to go to the gym now.

 

[dr zaius]

It happens to more people than you would think. Talk to whatever services your school offers (counselor, etc) and find out if there is anything you can change to help you cope and persevere.

I know of a few people who needed to take time off for one reason or another (family issue, anxiety issue). They came back and did just fine. Keep your head up.

 

[Guillemot]

i just started medical school but i'm finding less time to go to the gym now.

Thanks for sharing that inspirational story bro.

 

[TAWS]

You never hear about people struggling because they refuse to admit it. Medical school breeds a culture where it is taboo to show weakness. If you are having problems, try to find other students in the same boat and hang out or study with them. It'll show that you're not alone and motivate you to succeed.

Just like graduating college in 5 years wasn't a big deal, taking an extra year to finish medical school shouldn't be either.

 

[Valadi]

I was a pretty average student my first 2 years. While I was studying for Step 1, one of my best friends passed away in an accident. I was devastated by it, couldn't study or sleep for 2 weeks. Finally, I realized he would want me to stop living my life half-assed, so I started locking it up for step 1 and the rest of med school. Ended up getting through the exam with points to spare and rocking third year. Started getting everything on track now that life was in perspective.

 

[alysp13751]

More of these please. I took a leave of absence on the second semester of first year, and I am going back in january to finish first year and I dont feel like I can do it. The issues I had that led me to take the break do not seem to go away, plus having spent more than 9 months without studying and just working seems to have had the opposite effect.

 

[GladifImakeit]

More of these please. I took a leave of absence on the second semester of first year, and I am going back in january to finish first year and I dont feel like I can do it. The issues I had that led me to take the break do not seem to go away, plus having spent more than 9 months without studying and just working seems to have had the opposite effect.

Sigh. As you may know, I took time off after third year to do an MPH (all was well at that time - good scores, honors, everything was running on all cylinders - then I got to my MPH school and became depressed enough that I was convinced to take time off). My MPH granted me a 1 year deferral to come back and do the MPH next year, but if I do that, I'll be finishing medical school in 6 years - help, I don't know what to do! I would have to get a second leave of absence from med school (if they'd even give me one) and 6 years might look really sketchy to residency programs. On the other hand, I am filled with guilt about what happened and not getting my MPH and don't want to miss out on the education. It's just an awful situation to be in and I don't know what to do. Please help!

 

[Lbgem]

Sigh. As you may know, I took time off after third year to do an MPH (all was well at that time - good scores, honors, everything was running on all cylinders - then I got to my MPH school and became depressed enough that I was convinced to take time off). My MPH granted me a 1 year deferral to come back and do the MPH next year, but if I do that, I'll be finishing medical school in 6 years - help, I don't know what to do! I would have to get a second leave of absence from med school (if they'd even give me one) and 6 years might look really sketchy to residency programs. On the other hand, I am filled with guilt about what happened and not getting my MPH and don't want to miss out on the education. It's just an awful situation to be in and I don't know what to do. Please help!

Well first you have to get your mental health sorted out. If that isn't you'll have a hard time with everything else. I imagine 6 years would look sketchy (I'm an MS1 so take this with a grain of salt) to residency programs. Talk to your advisor? They would be the best source/esp if they're a PD in the specialty you want to go into.

If it were me (and I do want to get an MPH), and I were forced to choose, I would pick the MD over the MPH every time. I went to med school to become a doctor not get an MPH. In this case there's a possibility you're jeopardizing/decreasing your chances of getting the best residency possible by taking an extra year to do the MPH. Again, I wouldn't do things that could possibly harm my medical career. That's what you're doing.

I think you wanted Ob/gyn, so it's not going to be as harmful to you to take a year off as if you wanted derm imo. Will you still get in to an ob/gyn program? Probably. I don't think it's a straight yes or no question; it's more a matter of percentages - percentage decreases to match into the best program if you take more time to finish the MD.

I don't think it's as big of a deal as you're making it. You either want to give your residency program the best shot or you don't. I feel getting an MPH is waaaay easier than getting an MD, yet you are willing to hurt your residency chances to get the MPH. That's your choice. If you knew the future and it was - getting an MPH cost you the chance to do your residency in the most fabulous place and you got stuck somewhere else you hated - would you still do it? What if worst case scenario you didn't match because of the MPH/taking the 6th year off? Would you still do it?

Of course there is also the chance that it won't matter - you'll still get the residency you want where you want and the MPH. But are you willing to take the chance? I personally wouldn't, but I'm not you. Talk to your adviser imo. See what their impressions are.

Again my MS1 2 cents, which is probably worth 0.005$.

 

[officedepot]

Sigh. As you may know, I took time off after third year to do an MPH (all was well at that time - good scores, honors, everything was running on all cylinders - then I got to my MPH school and became depressed enough that I was convinced to take time off). My MPH granted me a 1 year deferral to come back and do the MPH next year, but if I do that, I'll be finishing medical school in 6 years - help, I don't know what to do! I would have to get a second leave of absence from med school (if they'd even give me one) and 6 years might look really sketchy to residency programs. On the other hand, I am filled with guilt about what happened and not getting my MPH and don't want to miss out on the education. It's just an awful situation to be in and I don't know what to do. Please help!

how do you think a MPH degree will help you with your future in obgyn? What's your ultimate goal in that field? If you want to be a generalist, gyn onc, urogyn, REI, MFM I don't see how a MPH is worth the time. If you want to do research then it may be of some help, especially in that field since it seems to be very epidemologically oriented but it is not required. Decide what your final goal is and go from there. In my opinion mph is a pretty worthless degree unless you want to work in health policy, cdc, etc.

I'm sure your school will give you another year. Not sure why that would matter. I doubt residencies will care but they'll probably ask so be prepared with an answer. Obgyn is not a tough field to match so depending on your prior scores and grades you'll probably be fine.

Stop freaking out and get well soon so you can finish school!! good luck!

 

[cobalt314]

The 6 years for med school in and of itself isn't automatically a bad thing for residencies. It's highly dependent on what you've done during those year off + probably on the residency programs. I have no idea what ob-gyn programs would think (as maybe they wouldn't view the MPH as that relevant), but for other fields where you can show why the years contribute to your vision for your career, I think it's fine. I know of multiple people who have taken 2 or more years off after M2 or M3 year to either do 1 year competitive clinical research program (NIH-funded, Doris Duke etc) + 1 year MPH or 2+ years for a joint degree program (JD, MBA, etc). Those who are already done with med school have mentioned no issues with the time off during residency interviews & have matched well (albeit to IM programs & not Ob-gyn). Also heard from a dean at my med school (in context of talking about joint degree programs) that 2 years off would not be a negative thing (since would be for relevant & good opportunities), though I would check with your med school to see what they think.

It's probably different with a leave of absence for personal reasons (vs. for a compelling academic opportunity), but since you've already taken that leave, it's a moot point. Pursuing the MPH or not is up to you and whether it's relevant to your future work or not. I also think that you should make sure you get your depression or other issues under control before heading back to med school. If it's still an ongoing issue that affects you greatly, I think it would be an unwise decision to head back into 4th year with sub-Is, audition rotations, ERAS submission, residency interviews, & making decisions about where you'll spend residency. Plus, the chance of heading into intern year without having your personal issues well-controlled is something that I would be concerned about. I think it would be a lot harder to take time off during residency to deal with issues that it would be during med school. Especially if you're already away, you should make sure you use that time for it's purpose of getting you healthy/ready to go back. I don't think any "stigma" of taking 6 years is something you should use to persuade you to go back before you're ready. Just my take on things though, and again, may be very different for ob-gyn programs (so would check with your med school & with people more knowledgeable about programs you're interested in).