What makes med school stressful?

[glassesvar]

I've been thinking about how stressful med school will be for me personally. I don't understand why it would be more stressful than say just working a 9-5, especially if my parents or a scholarship is paying for tuition + living expenses and I won't have any loans (which would be the case for me, i recognize that I am very lucky). I'm someone that really enjoys learning, especially about the human body, and wouldn't mind studying for 40 hours a week as if it was my "job." Especially going to a pass/fail, it seems like it wouldn't be horrible. I don't want to match into a particularly competitive specialty (I'm interested in primary care, pathology, and psychiatry), and won't have debt weighing on me to factor into such a decision. I easily do more than 40 hours of work a week in undergrad with research, volunteering, ECs, and studying combined. It seems like it would be less stressful to not have to worry about ECs and just focus on studying, which has always been my strength.

The most significant thing that I could see causing stress is dealing with sick patients as I can be emotional around situations of death/illness, but I am assuming that will go away with time. What other potential stressors am I missing? I recognize that residency is almost always stressful because of the sheer amount of hours and the nature of training, but is med school itself really that horrible? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

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[Seces]

My stress levels have been lower than in undergrad by attending a P/F school. Overall, I would not say my med school experience has been a stressful one.

 

[stickgirl390]

You won’t understand fully until you experience yourself. I felt the same way you did as a premed.

It’s really not a 9-5/40hr job. It’s a 24/7 all the time, every chance you can get job. For me, the most stressful things are
1) Commiting many hours to high yield/quality studying and consistently getting mediocre grades simply because there is too much material in too short an amount of time.
2) Having to make choices between studying and mental health. This is harder than I thought it would be.
3) Seeing all of my non-med friends buying houses and having children while I take on extreme student debt and watch from the sidelines. I heard this a lot and didn’t think it would affect me, but it does.
4) Imposter syndrome is real. I think everyone in my class, to some degree, thinks they aren’t cut out for medicine.

Aside from all that, I still enjoy learning/studying, I have an amazing study group of wonderful people. The good deff outweighs the bad, but the bad is still there.

I’ve also heard that the transition to clinical years is the most stressful time in med school, which I don’t have perspective on yet.

 

[ciestar]

You won’t understand fully until you experience yourself. I felt the same way you did as a premed.

It’s really not a 9-5/40hr job. It’s a 24/7 all the time, every chance you can get job. For me, the most stressful things are
1) Commiting many hours to high yield/quality studying and consistently getting mediocre grades simply because there is too much material in too short an amount of time.
2) Having to make choices between studying and mental health. This is harder than I thought it would be.
3) Seeing all of my non-med friends buying houses and having children while I take on extreme student debt and watch from the sidelines. I heard this a lot and didn’t think it would affect me, but it does.
4) Imposter syndrome is real. I think everyone in my class, to some degree, thinks they aren’t cut out for medicine.

Aside from all that, I still enjoy learning/studying, I have an amazing study group of wonderful people. The good deff outweighs the bad, but the bad is still there.

I’ve also heard that the transition to clinical years is the most stressful time in med school, which I don’t have perspective on yet.

It’s hard. Being at the hospital for 60+ hours a week and then having to come home and study is hard... and then you wonder how do I fit in anything else.

But for OP, yeah, it is really hard to judge because you have NO CLUE. Some people can kill their classes studying 40 hours a week, some can’t. It is demoralizing studying your butt off for a mediocre grade. But studying 40 hours a week doesn’t really equate to a good outcome if you’re not studying smart. The sheer amount of material can be overwhelming. Studying for Step 1 is where is all comes to a head, though.

 

[curbsideconsult]

I second @stickgirl390 and @ciestar .

I'll post what I wrote for another thread talking about depression, but I think it's apt here: Why do people develop depression in medical school?

Some kids (very few) have zero stress in med school. They just seem to study more efficiently and don't care about all the bs. Most of us, though, are stressed out by school not necessarily because the material is always very difficult, but because of the sheer volume and the pace at which it's delivered. Even at a P/F school it's pretty demoralizing when you see the class average and you fall well below that. Right now you might think "so what? at least you passed." Unfortunately, that way of thinking doesn't always work.

You also have to keep in mind that you're in a pressure cooker with a bunch of other students, most of whom are stressed out and/or high strung. Even if you're the most chill person alive, it will still have an effect on you. You really just won't know until you get there.

 

[AllBleedingStops]

I won't have any loans (which would be the case for me, i recognize that I am very lucky).

Glad you recognize that most of us have the general feeling that we are accumulating debt every minute.

I don't want to match into a particularly competitive specialty (I'm interested in primary care, pathology, and psychiatry),

Some people do. And even if they don't want to match a particularly competitive specialty a lot would still like to get into a decent residency.

It seems like it would be less stressful to not have to worry about ECs

And yet, some EC stuff still pops up like the need to do research and volunteer.

What other potential stressors am I missing?

Step 1. Looming over your first 2 years. So you passed that block exam, great! Now, do you remember all that material off the top of your head because you will need to re-studying it and learn it and be tested on it 12 months from now and by the way a bunch of things build on it. Oh and if you pass with a ****ty low score you can't retake it unlike the SAT or MCAT which you could essentially just keep taking until you got what you wanted.

Your classmates. Gunners and backstabbing snakes exist to some degree everywhere, even at P/F institutions (some of my classmates should be reminded of this fact). Some will study with you, share resources, and help you in every way. Other classmates will hide things from you, steal opportunities, cut you down, etc.

Finally I think the thing is you can always do more. Or at least you feel as though you should always be doing more. There isn't really a bottom to the depth of knowledge possible about the basic sciences and human body and diseases studied in med school and medical practice. So you always can study more. There is always something you don't know. I saw a quote posted on NEJM social media (sorry can't remember the author) that said:

I'm torn between enjoying my friends with vibrant lives outside the hospital and being disappointed in myself for not studying harder, working longer, committing more.

And I feel that is accurate.


EDIT: I have also met some wonderful friends and had awesome times in my first year - life is a balance. I just wanted to catalogue some sources of stress that didn't seem to be considered.

 

[Goro]

You won’t understand fully until you experience yourself. I felt the same way you did as a premed.

It’s really not a 9-5/40hr job. It’s a 24/7 all the time, every chance you can get job. For me, the most stressful things are
1) Commiting many hours to high yield/quality studying and consistently getting mediocre grades simply because there is too much material in too short an amount of time.
2) Having to make choices between studying and mental health. This is harder than I thought it would be.
3) Seeing all of my non-med friends buying houses and having children while I take on extreme student debt and watch from the sidelines. I heard this a lot and didn’t think it would affect me, but it does.
4) Imposter syndrome is real. I think everyone in my class, to some degree, thinks they aren’t cut out for medicine.

Aside from all that, I still enjoy learning/studying, I have an amazing study group of wonderful people. The good deff outweighs the bad, but the bad is still there.

I’ve also heard that the transition to clinical years is the most stressful time in med school, which I don’t have perspective on yet.

24/7 and drinking from a fire hose while running after the fire truck.

 

[Doctor-S]

Here are some other stressors that medical students might experience:

1. Trying to live up to unrealistic expectations of other people (e.g., my parents expect, expect, expect me to become a neurosurgeon, but I HATE all surgery and don't want to disappoint them). This is your life and your career. Take ownership now. It's YOUR life.

2. Thinking every single mistake is a total catastrophe (and not using each mistake as a useful "learning opportunity"). You're supposed to be "learning" how to practice medicine in medical school so that you don't muck up later and kill your patients.

3. Not engaging in good self-care because it's important to take proper care of your own mind, body and spirit in school so "life" isn't sucked out of you.

4. Not having a network of supportive friends/family who will calmly and quietly listen to you vent about the rigors of medical school (so you can safely decompress without feeling judged, demoralized, or criticized).

5. Feeling isolated and alone in medical school. Medical school will monopolize much of your time, that's true. Your friends will understand you're busy. When they invite you to do something, don't always say "no" to them. Make quality time for yourself ... and for them. You can find time to grab a shake or a slice of pizza with friends. Just do it.

 

[DoctorSnow]

Not a med student but my friend said our state school has 20-25 credits per semester. I feel like I would be stressed (even treating it like 9-5 job) if I was taking 20+ credits in undergrad. Additionally, I have heard Goro's analogy of drinking out of a firehose multiple times from friends in medical school.

 

[Isoval]

Not a med student but my friend said our state school has 20-25 credits per semester. I feel like I would be stressed (even treating it like 9-5 job) if I was taking 20+ credits in undergrad. Additionally, I have heard Goro's analogy of drinking out of a firehose multiple times from friends in medical school.

My school has our semesters listed as 43 and 37 hours for first and second semester, respectively.

OP: I challenge you to attempt to study from only 9am to 5pm - weekdays only - while you’re in medical school. It won’t work. Not even a little. I know people who study over 80 hours a week and still aren’t making 90+ on exams. Personally, I probably study in the realm of 45-50, and it appears to me that I’m on the low end compared to most of my classmates. It actually really freaks me out - I always feel like I need to be studying more because my friends are studying -, but I'm doing well here.

Disclaimer, though: I - and almost all of my class (85% based on clicker polls) - do not attend lecture. Thus, the lecture time is included in that studying-per-week number. We don't go to class for 40 hours and then study another 60. That's insanity.

It also really depends on the week. Some weeks are insanely easy - easier than most undergraduate exams (although these are exceedingly rare). More often, there are some weeks that are really bad. We had an exam on Thursday. We have another exam tomorrow - a two-and-a-half-hour exam, 107 questions, over 10 lectures and additionally an anatomy practical. We are on a block schedule meaning these two exams are from the same class. Not only was it not possible or reasonable to study for this upcoming exam before the previous one, but our content is actually locked until we begin the next exam sometimes. In short, we were expected to cover over 600 slides of information and know it well enough for an exam and a practical in seven days.

 

[Pharaoh95]

24/7 and drinking from a fire hose while running after the fire truck.

That sounds pretty fun actually

 

[longhaul3]

This is tough to hear for some people but has already been mentioned on this thread: med school is not stressful for everyone. Some of your classmates will be desperately struggling with the material and pace of learning week in and week out, which leads them to stress out, which leads them to be miserable and negative and to complain, which makes other people stressed out and miserable.

Some people are constantly stressed out by everything and that will definitely not change in med school.

Others in your class will not have a problem keeping up with the material, will not have to study more than a few (or at least not more than 20) hours a week, and will not be stressed out.

I do think it helps to have experience working in a real job where you are not your own boss and you are accountable to someone else. People with this experience seem to appreciate med school more as a time of relative freedom and self-determinedness, which reduces stress.

 

[907914]

My school has our semesters listed as 43 and 37 hours for first and second semester, respectively.

OP: I challenge you to attempt to study from only 9am to 5pm - weekdays only - while you’re in medical school. It won’t work. Not even a little. I know people who study over 80 hours a week and still aren’t making 90+ on exams. Personally, I probably study in the realm of 45-50, and it appears to me that I’m on the low end compared to most of my classmates. It actually really freaks me out - I always feel like I need to be studying more because my friends are studying -, but I'm doing well here.

Disclaimer, though: I - and almost all of my class (85% based on clicker polls) - do not attend lecture. Thus, the lecture time is included in that studying-per-week number. We don't go to class for 40 hours and then study another 60. That's insanity.

It also really depends on the week. Some weeks are insanely easy - easier than most undergraduate exams (although these are exceedingly rare). More often, there are some weeks that are really bad. We had an exam on Thursday. We have another exam tomorrow - a two-and-a-half-hour exam, 107 questions, over 10 lectures and additionally an anatomy practical. We are on a block schedule meaning these two exams are from the same class. Not only was it not possible or reasonable to study for this upcoming exam before the previous one, but our content is actually locked until we begin the next exam sometimes. In short, we were expected to cover over 600 slides of information and know it well enough for an exam and a practical in seven days.

I have been through something very very similar to this in military training. It was 10-12 hours of mandatory classes with a 10 minute break every 90 minutes and a 30 minute lunch. Additionally, there was 5 am physical fitness, 9 Pm barracks formations, no overnight passes, only off base passes on the weekends...60 semester hours in 6 months. There was literally no time to study during the day. We would get a half hour before each exam (about 1 exam every 3 days) to go over key points. I would basically just pull up the slides (all 250-300 of them each exam) and just press space bar “I know that, I know that, I know that, what’s this? Ok now I know that...” After 6 months, I was still able to pass the National Board exam (Medical Laboratory) at the 90th percentile...followed by 6 months of rotations in the lab involving 4 am morning rounds, night shifts, additional 2-3 hour review classes that ended after an 8-10 hour day, all with the same 5 am physical fitness and 10 PM barracks checks (weekend overnight passes were a plus, though.)

I still had time to hang out with friends on the weekends (I wanted to do anything but school work...) and I met and began dating my wife during those clinicals.

I loved that pace. So much knowledge in a short time frame just makes me want even more information. If medical school is anything like this, then I hope to have the time of my life. I also hope to be able to spend 12 hours a day M-F studying and then just touch nothing school related on the weekend.

To any medical students, does that description up there sound like more, less or about right?

 

[Pharaoh95]

I have been through something very very similar to this in military training. It was 10-12 hours of mandatory classes with a 10 minute break every 90 minutes and a 30 minute lunch. Additionally, there was 5 am physical fitness, 9 Pm barracks formations, no overnight passes, only off base passes on the weekends...60 semester hours in 6 months. There was literally no time to study during the day. We would get a half hour before each exam (about 1 exam every 3 days) to go over key points. I would basically just pull up the slides (all 250-300 of them each exam) and just press space bar “I know that, I know that, I know that, what’s this? Ok now I know that...” After 6 months, I was still able to pass the National Board exam (Medical Laboratory) at the 90th percentile...followed by 6 months of rotations in the lab involving 4 am morning rounds, night shifts, additional 2-3 hour review classes that ended after an 8-10 hour day, all with the same 5 am physical fitness and 10 PM barracks checks (weekend overnight passes were a plus, though.)

I still had time to hang out with friends on the weekends (I wanted to do anything but school work...) and I met and began dating my wife during those clinicals.

I loved that pace. So much knowledge in a short time frame just makes me want even more information. If medical school is anything like this, then I hope to have the time of my life. I also hope to be able to spend 12 hours a day M-F studying and then just touch nothing school related on the weekend.

To any medical students, does that description up there sound like more, less or about right?

That sounds insane. I think you’ll be fine for med school

 

[907914]

That sounds insane. I think you’ll be fine for med school

It was insane. I never got any 4.0s, as there was no curve, but I came out of the program with a 3.4...so that is good, I guess. I maybe remember about half of the information now 6 years later...and that 3.4 is a huge GPA hit for application....but hey, glad to hear Medical school is hard but manageableish?

 

[Isoval]

I have been through something very very similar to this in military training. It was 10-12 hours of mandatory classes with a 10 minute break every 90 minutes and a 30 minute lunch. Additionally, there was 5 am physical fitness, 9 Pm barracks formations, no overnight passes, only off base passes on the weekends...60 semester hours in 6 months. There was literally no time to study during the day. We would get a half hour before each exam (about 1 exam every 3 days) to go over key points. I would basically just pull up the slides (all 250-300 of them each exam) and just press space bar “I know that, I know that, I know that, what’s this? Ok now I know that...” After 6 months, I was still able to pass the National Board exam (Medical Laboratory) at the 90th percentile...followed by 6 months of rotations in the lab involving 4 am morning rounds, night shifts, additional 2-3 hour review classes that ended after an 8-10 hour day, all with the same 5 am physical fitness and 10 PM barracks checks (weekend overnight passes were a plus, though.)

I still had time to hang out with friends on the weekends (I wanted to do anything but school work...) and I met and began dating my wife during those clinicals.

I loved that pace. So much knowledge in a short time frame just makes me want even more information. If medical school is anything like this, then I hope to have the time of my life. I also hope to be able to spend 12 hours a day M-F studying and then just touch nothing school related on the weekend.

To any medical students, does that description up there sound like more, less or about right?

Major difference here is that most medical schools don't actually require you to go to class, so it's actually a little more flexible than what you described ;p.

But at the same time, you're probably not going to be able to hit the space bar and say "I know that!" to 90% of the powerpoints you'll be covering in medical school because of the incredible breadth and depth of information that's covered unless you've taken an SMP, especially one at the school you matriculate at.

Medical school is accepting that you'll never know more than like 80% of the information and figuring out how best to use that 80% to score a 95% on the exam. This is where terms like "high yield" come in 😉

 

[907914]

Major difference here is that most medical schools don't actually require you to go to class, so it's actually a little more flexible than what you described ;p.

But at the same time, you're probably not going to be able to hit the space bar and say "I know that!" to 90% of the powerpoints you'll be covering in medical school because of the incredible breadth and depth of information that's covered unless you've taken an SMP, especially one at the school you matriculate at.

Medical school is accepting that you'll never know more than like 80% of the information and figuring out how best to use that 80% to score a 95% on the exam. This is where terms like "high yield" come in 😉

I intend on taking the same approach I have to undergrad: Shoot for the best I can get on paper. If a 4.0 is a 93% well....then anything higher than a 93% is just an insurance policy and with a P/F system and a wife/child at home...I’m totally cool with a P grade

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Mr.S]

When every test can potentially determine whether you fail or succeed in this journey inherently makes it stressful.
That and everything else people said.

 

[Mike Bagwell]

Medical school is not "hard." What appears to make the schooling aspect hard is time management. In undergrad, you could make several mistakes with time management and then have many opportunities to fix those mistakes throughout the semester and still do better than most of the class. That is not how it works in medical school. You have to be 100% focused on your work from the first day and stick to that schedule till your last exam. That is what I think makes this path hard.

People for some reason have a fascination with things being "hard" or difficult as if getting through something like that somehow makes them more badass then the next person. From what I have seen during this first year, anybody with a science background can tackle this material. The problem comes down to the time management and discipline and those students with the higher GPA's and perhaps MCAT scores will be in the best position to ADAPT to the change. That's really all it is.

As far as the emotional aspect, I'm someone who believes that if you don't have it all together upstairs, you shouldn't be attempting things that can bring stress into your life. Med school will bring stress into your life so the less stress you already have, the better you will be able to handle the demands. I do not believe that med school will make you depressed; only you can do that.

Look at it like this. If medical school was six years long, it wouldn't be as "hard" as it is being that it is really 3.5 years long. It's all time-management, self-discipline, and your drive.

 

[TypeADissection]

Med school is stressful if you are an anxious person and allow it to be stressful. I found med school to be rather enjoyable. Like many have stated above, it's about proper time management and your ability to stay focused. I still found time to go to trivia night once a week and get wings with classmates most of the time. We'd obviously tone it down when an exam was approaching, but I still watched a lot of football and sports on the weekends. Went to the gym. I'd see classmates getting all stressed out and acting like they're the only ones who are studying for X exam, but it's mostly self-induced. In the famous words of noted philosophizer A-A-Ron Rodgers, "R-E-L-A-X. Relax." Enjoy the ride and last vestiges of pseudo-adulthood. Residency is a kick in the nuggets with steel-toed boots. Cheers.

 

[Medic741]

I have been through something very very similar to this in military training. It was 10-12 hours of mandatory classes with a 10 minute break every 90 minutes and a 30 minute lunch. Additionally, there was 5 am physical fitness, 9 Pm barracks formations, no overnight passes, only off base passes on the weekends...60 semester hours in 6 months. There was literally no time to study during the day. We would get a half hour before each exam (about 1 exam every 3 days) to go over key points. I would basically just pull up the slides (all 250-300 of them each exam) and just press space bar “I know that, I know that, I know that, what’s this? Ok now I know that...” After 6 months, I was still able to pass the National Board exam (Medical Laboratory) at the 90th percentile...followed by 6 months of rotations in the lab involving 4 am morning rounds, night shifts, additional 2-3 hour review classes that ended after an 8-10 hour day, all with the same 5 am physical fitness and 10 PM barracks checks (weekend overnight passes were a plus, though.)

I still had time to hang out with friends on the weekends (I wanted to do anything but school work...) and I met and began dating my wife during those clinicals.

I loved that pace. So much knowledge in a short time frame just makes me want even more information. If medical school is anything like this, then I hope to have the time of my life. I also hope to be able to spend 12 hours a day M-F studying and then just touch nothing school related on the weekend.

To any medical students, does that description up there sound like more, less or about right?

You will be so pleasantly surprised. I worked nearly full time as a paramedic during UG, usually 3 overnights a week and was a varsity athlete. After that med school is honestly a vacation. You’ll love the flexibility of not going to lecture & learn how you want to.

Especially after our direct commission course this summer have some perspective that MED school will be a breeze after living that lifestyle

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Preclinical years: it’s stressful because it’s a unipolar environment. All money/prestige/speciality crap aside, it’s a strange feeling to always be ABLE to do more. Many people, like me, fall into the trap of having a hard time “turning off” when they feel like there’s always more that could be done to be the best med student you can be.

Clinical years: it’s stressful because it’s a work environment, often with long hours, and you’re expected to learn and study when you get home from work. Let me tell you, trying to study after a 14 hour day on surgery where your ON the whole time - in the OR, writing notes, changing dressings, getting grilled on rounds, etc - is really tough. And getting ripped a new one in front of a large group of people you admire is a crappy feeling.

That said I wouldn’t trade any of it for the world. I wake up every morning with a huge smile on the face - and I’m not a naturally happy person.

 

[Walter Raleigh]

Maybe if you're this guy: John von Neumann - Wikipedia you could get away with studying from 9 AM to 5 PM. However, if you were, you probably would be a full tenured professor somewhere like Harvard. And you wouldn't be asking this question.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Maybe if you're this guy: John von Neumann - Wikipedia you could get away with studying from 9 AM to 5 PM. However, if you were, you probably would be a full tenured professor somewhere like Harvard. And you wouldn't be asking this question.

I disagree. It’s a Actuallu remarkably easy to pass med school without an absurd amount of effort. Maybe 3 hours a day avg and your pass on the bare minimum.

 

[907914]

Like, if you go into Medical School with the intent of primary care, emergency, PMR, Psychiatry, maybe even some low ball competitive like pathology...You really don’t have to aim for 95% on everything or a 250+ Step 1...on paper, that 75% will get you the same P as the gunners, and moderate retention and good studying during dedicated can get you a 220+ Step 1...It is as hard and stressful as you make it. The fact that upwards of 90% of matriculants become graduates should tell you that it isn’t necessarily difficult.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Like, if you go into Medical School with the intent of primary care, emergency, PMR, Psychiatry, maybe even some low ball competitive like pathology...You really don’t have to aim for 95% on everything or a 250+ Step 1...on paper, that 75% will get you the same P as the gunners, and moderate retention and good studying during dedicated can get you a 220+ Step 1...It is as hard and stressful as you make it. The fact that upwards of 90% of matriculants become graduates should tell you that it isn’t necessarily difficult.

Just cuz I’m a stickler I’ll point out that EM aid decently competitive - nothing crazy but you need average boards and grades, plus good letters of rec. it’s no ortho but no cakewalk.

Sorry to be a hard ass. Carry on.

 

[jurisburger]

Also you may find that primary care is not for you after all and you may end up having to score more competitively on step 1+research+etc.

As someone who was 100% convinced he was going into either pediatrics/family medicine (and I promise I didn't just say that to BS through the med school interview) I am now debating between internal/gen surg/anesthesia. That could very well be you as well!

 

[907914]

Also you may find that primary care is not for you after all and you may end up having to score more competitively on step 1+research+etc.

As someone who was 100% convinced he was going into either pediatrics/family medicine (and I promise I didn't just say that to BS through the med school interview) I am now debating between internal/gen surg/anesthesia. That could very well be you as well!

Anyone else one of those weird people who wants nothing to do with primary care, but also nothing to do with surgery? That comfortable middle ground of prestige and the effort is where it’s at.

 

[bananafish94]

It is and isn't stressful for lots of reasons. If you can indeed go to medical school without debt, that's a wonderful thing - one of the major stressors for myself and classmates is the looming debt that you incur, and knowing that the only way out is through.

Pre-clinical years can vary pretty wildly. I knew lots of people in M1-M2 year who were able to study extremely efficiently, do well in school, and have tons of time to pursue other things. I'm not one of those people - I just need more time to study than many people, and that's something I accept. Everyone's different. The structure of your pre-clinical curriculum will affect this as well. A true unranked P/F curriculum will obviously be considerably less stressful than the alternative. Step 1 is pretty universally stressful. You might go into medical school thinking that you want to do something "uncompetitive" and change your mind later. Or, you might want to go into something in which you're extremely likely to match somewhere, but getting a particular type of program in a particular location is a lot more selective and depends on Step 1. Basically, Step 1 matters and causes stress accordingly.

Clinical years are entirely different. It's a completely different skill set and daily schedule. This can also be stressful for lots of reasons. You may have to be at the hospital for 13 hours and then go home and study more. You might be paired with a preceptor who just doesn't like you and gives you a bad score for no reason. You might be working with other students you really don't get along with. You might feel a lot of pressure to get honors in a particular specialty for your residency application. The list goes on. Things also become less organized after third year and things get very chaotic in terms of Step 2 CS/CK, away rotations, sub-internships, interviews, etc.

I can't speak for the application process yet but I imagine that brings its own challenges.

All in all, the overarching theme I've noticed is that it's always there. As another poster alluded to, there's always more to do - if you want to. You're never "done." And that can be challenging because you might feel like your time isn't your own and you're devoting the entirety of yourself to medical school. But at the end of the day I do think the overwhelming majority of people are happy with their decision. I like it. It has its downsides for sure, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

 

[The Knife & Gun Club]

Anyone else one of those weird people who wants nothing to do with primary care, but also nothing to do with surgery? That comfortable middle ground of prestige and the effort is where it’s at.

There’s a whole world of Medical sub specialities with your name on it!

Also as an aside it isn’t until your 3rd year that you can really grasp if you like primary care or not. I was SURE I would hate primary care and wanted to be a super super specialist surgeon. Read any corner of SDN and you find people bitching about hours of rounding, non-compliant patients, not being the one who “fixes the problem”.

Then I rotated through intp/outpt medicine and loved how they get to work with the whole world of medicine. The lack of ownership the sub specialists often have over their patients drove me nuts.

So whatever you’re feeling now, wait til your clinical years to make decisions. It’s fascinat what you’ll realize about yourself during M3

 

[URHere]

Two major reasons I've seen people fail or get overly stressed in medical school:

1) During the preclinical years - poor time management. In undergrad and high school there were more "check points" to make sure you were keeping up with the work. Many medical schools don't even require class attendance and it is very easy to procrastinate, especially if your school is pass/fail and especially if you have an active social scene associated with your medical school. Even if people scrape by on P/F exams, they still need to actually master material before Step 1 and clerkships. People who treat med school like a full-time job (and study regularly) tend to do better in my experience.

2) During clerkships - poor flexibility and poor social skills. So much of what you do during clerkships is showing people that you can work as part of a team and convincing your residents and attendings to like you. It doesn't matter if you are the smartest person in the world - if you are arrogant, annoying, or lack common sense, you will have a hard time. That can be stressful because you have control over how much you study, but you have less control over your core personality traits. Tolerance for BS is also very important in clerkships. You will write useless notes and spend time literally chasing consulting services in order to figure out when your patients can have tests, go home, etc. That's part of medicine, but it's harder to tolerate when you are a med student trapped in a rotation you likely don't care about.

 

[Deecee2DO]

Med school isn't as stressful as some people say it is. Sure its pretty stressful at times (before exams) like many things in life but its also very doable if you have time management and don't have mandatory lectures. I have a life in med school-spend time with friends/fam, workout at the gym etc. and I study 6-8 hours per day most days and then like 10 hours per day 4 days or so leading up to my block exams. It's all about time management. The people saying enjoy your life now before starting med school because youll hate your life and wont have any time for fun when you start is kinda BS IMO. Treat it like a job and its not that bad. As far as level of difficulty/stress from most to least the general consensus is MS2>MS1>M3>MS4 or MS2>MS3>MS1>MS4 depending on different factors. If med school is the right fit for you, its really not bad. Enjoy the ride, if you are fortunate enough to be accepted you are one of a small group of people who have the chance to be in medical school. Not many people in this life get that chance.

 

[iforget2]

My school has our semesters listed as 43 and 37 hours for first and second semester, respectively.

OP: I challenge you to attempt to study from only 9am to 5pm - weekdays only - while you’re in medical school. It won’t work. Not even a little. I know people who study over 80 hours a week and still aren’t making 90+ on exams. Personally, I probably study in the realm of 45-50, and it appears to me that I’m on the low end compared to most of my classmates. It actually really freaks me out - I always feel like I need to be studying more because my friends are studying -, but I'm doing well here.

Disclaimer, though: I - and almost all of my class (85% based on clicker polls) - do not attend lecture. Thus, the lecture time is included in that studying-per-week number. We don't go to class for 40 hours and then study another 60. That's insanity.

It also really depends on the week. Some weeks are insanely easy - easier than most undergraduate exams (although these are exceedingly rare). More often, there are some weeks that are really bad. We had an exam on Thursday. We have another exam tomorrow - a two-and-a-half-hour exam, 107 questions, over 10 lectures and additionally an anatomy practical. We are on a block schedule meaning these two exams are from the same class. Not only was it not possible or reasonable to study for this upcoming exam before the previous one, but our content is actually locked until we begin the next exam sometimes. In short, we were expected to cover over 600 slides of information and know it well enough for an exam and a practical in seven days.

Based on your last paragraph I’m pretty sure we’re in the same class 😛

Like he/she said, it’s just not possible treating med school like a 9-5 weekday job. I’d say in general I have time to do the things I want to do like workout everyday, see my parents once in a while, spend time with my girlfriend who lives a few hours away from me, but every other moment I’m not doing those things I fill in with studying. Especially this past week with our crazy exam schedule I pulled five 6am-midnight days in a row with little breaks I between. It’s something you definitely need to exp for yourself to understand.

 

[Dr.Jacobsen]

Medical school is more chill than you think 😛

 

[libertyyne]

Sometimes in medical school you get kicked in the teeth by a test, other times you kick the exam in the teeth. That can be stressful.

The only thing that had been stressful is the constant feeling of being behind, being behind on class material, boards prep, research. And being poor all the time.

Besides that med school is pretty good.