Traveling abroad for dedicated study time

[dnnash]

Alright I had a crazy idea, but the more I think about it, the more I'm actually considering it. I either need people to tell me if I'm crazy or offer any advice or share any personal experience:

BACKGROUND: I'm a MS2 and I attend medical school in my hometown. I've done modestly above class average on all our [NBME style] course exams and my class consistently does modestly above national average. My goal is to score well enough on step to comfortably match into a mid tier IM residency.

THE ISSUE: I'm slightly concerned that, without the structure of class and with temptations from all my non-med friends, that I will not be optimally productive during my dedicated study period.

THE IDEA: I'm thinking of flying to a Caribbean beach town by myself and spending 2/3 weeks of my dedicated study time (the majority-although I could move my test date back) in a hostel or AirBnB down there. Before you tell me to save my vacation for after Step, I'm absolutely treating this as study time not vacation.

THE RATIONALE: I wonder if a change of scenery would help set my mind into productivity mode. I'm not sure if I associate my current environment with hard work as much as I should. And I figure being in a pretty tropical setting couldn't hurt my mental health. I guess in summary, my rationale has been that being alone and away from the distractions of my hometown and normal life, would help me stay more focused on my studies.

Thoughts? Am I being crazy?

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[Phloston]

Alright I had a crazy idea, but the more I think about it, the more I'm actually considering it. I either need people to tell me if I'm crazy or offer any advice or share any personal experience:

BACKGROUND: I'm a MS2 and I attend medical school in my hometown. I've done modestly above class average on all our [NBME style] course exams and my class consistently does modestly above national average. My goal is to score well enough on step to comfortably match into a mid tier IM residency.

THE ISSUE: I'm slightly concerned that, without the structure of class and with temptations from all my non-med friends, that I will not be optimally productive during my dedicated study period.

THE IDEA: I'm thinking of flying to a Caribbean beach town by myself and spending 2/3 weeks of my dedicated study time (the majority-although I could move my test date back) in a hostel or AirBnB down there. Before you tell me to save my vacation for after Step, I'm absolutely treating this as study time not vacation.

THE RATIONALE: I wonder if a change of scenery would help set my mind into productivity mode. I'm not sure if I associate my current environment with hard work as much as I should. And I figure being in a pretty tropical setting couldn't hurt my mental health. I guess in summary, my rationale has been that being alone and away from the distractions of my hometown and normal life, would help me stay more focused on my studies.

Thoughts? Am I being crazy?

I took basically a year to study for the boards and had absolutely thought about studying in random places like Spain, etc. Didn't because I was already living in Australia at the time and had had a girlfriend there. But yeah, I'd say do it.

 

[dnnash]

Thanks for the reply Phloston. So was your medical school wasn't there in Australia? With everything online it seems like you could study from anywhere these days, but I guess the reason I'm posting is to see if you or anyone ran into unforseen problems, trying to step study remotely? For example, did you have any trouble reaching necessary webpages etc or communicating with anyone that you needed to such as NBME.

 

[A$AP]

Go where you feel you will be most productive. Only you know where that will be, not anyone else. So if you think so then yes go for it. Would be nice to chill under the sun while you do so

 

[dnnash]

Thanks A$AP. I agree. Does anyone have any expertise on whether there would be any access issues for uworld or other important sites while abroad? I've heard that some sites cant be accessed in foreign countries. Thanks

 

[surgeonhands2213]

I thought of doing this but ultimately decided against it. I think going somewhere within your state/friends beach house is feasible but to pack up and head to another country is adding in a lot of unknown stress factors that you don't want to deal with. I've had friends move back home, study at their lake House, etc but shipping off to another country where you have no connection or experience seems like a risk not worth taking IMHO


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[ortnakas]

Sounds expensive. And I'd worry about going into vacation mode on arrival. Would be pretty tempting to go snorkel or drink rum on the beach instead of stay in your room and do UWorld.

 

[Phloston]

Thanks for the reply Phloston. So was your medical school wasn't there in Australia? With everything online it seems like you could study from anywhere these days, but I guess the reason I'm posting is to see if you or anyone ran into unforseen problems, trying to step study remotely? For example, did you have any trouble reaching necessary webpages etc or communicating with anyone that you needed to such as NBME.

I wouldn't worry about the 'problems' studying remotely. Just go. I agree with @A$AP that you really just need to study where is good for you. Anything that anyone else says is secondary.

 

[Transposony]

Depends on your study style.
If you can study better alone than do it but consider that you might "waste" some time adjusting to the new place and a beach town maybe distracting by itself as you'll see people having fun and might want to join them.
However, nothing beats a good study partner.

 

[Domina_]

Alright I had a crazy idea, but the more I think about it, the more I'm actually considering it. I either need people to tell me if I'm crazy or offer any advice or share any personal experience:

BACKGROUND: I'm a MS2 and I attend medical school in my hometown. I've done modestly above class average on all our [NBME style] course exams and my class consistently does modestly above national average. My goal is to score well enough on step to comfortably match into a mid tier IM residency.

THE ISSUE: I'm slightly concerned that, without the structure of class and with temptations from all my non-med friends, that I will not be optimally productive during my dedicated study period.

THE IDEA: I'm thinking of flying to a Caribbean beach town by myself and spending 2/3 weeks of my dedicated study time (the majority-although I could move my test date back) in a hostel or AirBnB down there. Before you tell me to save my vacation for after Step, I'm absolutely treating this as study time not vacation.

THE RATIONALE: I wonder if a change of scenery would help set my mind into productivity mode. I'm not sure if I associate my current environment with hard work as much as I should. And I figure being in a pretty tropical setting couldn't hurt my mental health. I guess in summary, my rationale has been that being alone and away from the distractions of my hometown and normal life, would help me stay more focused on my studies.

Thoughts? Am I being crazy?

hello friend, its a nice idea, if it is worth the adjustment to a new place, go for it! it took me a number of months to even get into the mood of studying for step 1, which is going smoothly now(most of the time) i went to my dads office and he offered me an empty office where i would lock myself all day and only come out on my breaks. a change of environment is definitely helpful when you know yourself. i am hoping to take step 1 in march/april. good luck!

 

[my_2_cents]

Alright I had a crazy idea, but the more I think about it, the more I'm actually considering it. I either need people to tell me if I'm crazy or offer any advice or share any personal experience:

BACKGROUND: I'm a MS2 and I attend medical school in my hometown. I've done modestly above class average on all our [NBME style] course exams and my class consistently does modestly above national average. My goal is to score well enough on step to comfortably match into a mid tier IM residency.

THE ISSUE: I'm slightly concerned that, without the structure of class and with temptations from all my non-med friends, that I will not be optimally productive during my dedicated study period.

THE IDEA: I'm thinking of flying to a Caribbean beach town by myself and spending 2/3 weeks of my dedicated study time (the majority-although I could move my test date back) in a hostel or AirBnB down there. Before you tell me to save my vacation for after Step, I'm absolutely treating this as study time not vacation.

THE RATIONALE: I wonder if a change of scenery would help set my mind into productivity mode. I'm not sure if I associate my current environment with hard work as much as I should. And I figure being in a pretty tropical setting couldn't hurt my mental health. I guess in summary, my rationale has been that being alone and away from the distractions of my hometown and normal life, would help me stay more focused on my studies.

Thoughts? Am I being crazy?

Postive: If right now, you are not super productive then going to Carribean might work great for you and you could end up being super productive.

Negative: You might not be as productive as you think because you might end up thinking about having fun in the sun.

Have you had a vacation before where you managed to study a lot? If yes, then go for it. As already mentioned in the above posts: it differs from person to person. I won't be able to study at a beautiful location.

 

[dnnash]

Thanks for the replies everyone, I appreciate all the insights. Looks like I have some soul searching to do.

 

[enthusiasticimg]

no don't do it. I went to Canada and after a week I totally regretted it. only had 1 week of productivity. came back after the 2nd week