What to buy/wear for medical school

[SC907]

What are some things you recommend buying before medical school? What are the things you found necessary for med school?

Also, if anyone could enlighten me on medical school attire that would be appreciated.

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[M&L]

Attire depends on the school - different schools have different dress codes . Try messaging current students .

 

[LizzyM]

Do you have a preferred caffeine delivery system? Learn how to make it at home and acquire whatever devices are necessary to make and consume your preferred beverage.

Learn to cook and acquire whatever you need to make and store food to eat during the week. if you search this forum for crockpot, chicken and vegetarian (each word separately) you may find some old threads that are pure gold with regard to recipe ideas. Also love mason jar salads as a way to make ahead and eat more fresh veggies and lean protein.

I'd suggest asking current M2s at your target school what clothing items have been most important and which have been unnecessary. Most schools will have at least some times per month when you need to wear a shirt and tie (or equivalent for female-presenting students).

 

[deleted1079620]

Clothing items:
- comfortable appropriate business shoes (flats for women or super comfortable pumps, dress shoes for men.)
- 2-5 business casual outfits (blouses & pants/skirts or button downs and nice dark trousers) for things like OSCEs, some schools have a dress code so check with current students to see if you need more.
- gym clothing
- scrubs & comfy tennis shoes for anatomy lab or other things your school might require
- weather appropriate outerwear…are you from Arizona moving to Delaware? You’ll need a winter coat & boots. Moving to Oregon? Get a good umbrella or raincoat.

Non-clothing items
- coffee pot (if you drink coffee)
- crock pot
- meal prep containers
- the biggest desk you can fit in your room
- good lamp
- whiteboard & markers, you can get a sheet of showerboard from Home Depot or Lowe’s really cheap & hang it on the wall instead of buying an expensive whiteboard
- favorite pens, highliters, notebooks, etc. I’m a stationery junkie.
- edited to add: a good mattress

 

[WildWing]

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[TelemarketingEnigma]

lately the most important preclinical attire has been comfy sweatpants for ZoomU
then scrubs for clinicals, but worth checking with your school if there's any specific colors etc you need

 

[LizzyM]

Here's one of those food/recipe threads I mentioned earlier. It will give you some ideas as to the kitchen items you might want to acquire. Easiest Dishes to Cook during Med School

 

[Goro]

What are some things you recommend buying before medical school? What are the things you found necessary for med school?

Also, if anyone could enlighten me on medical school attire that would be appreciated.

Get an instapot. The damn things can cook almost anything! And much faster, too.

 

[Styrene]

Numerous pairs of underwear and socks to limit the frequency of having to do laundry.

A custom-made short white coat from medicalcoats.com (they have digitized logos).

A bicycle so you can live on campus and have a 10-minute ride to classes while getting daily exercise.

A very fast laptop so you don't waste valuable time waiting for pages to load.

Maxed out subscriptions to UWorld and USMLE-Rx so you can start doing practice questions day one.

A 10-karat gold Cross pen engraved with your name to make writing things down more fun.

 

[LizzyM]

A custom-made short white coat from medicalcoats.com (they have digitized logos).

Check with the school. Some schools provide the short white coat in a ceremony and you need not provide your own.

 

[Detailsmatter]

agree with what others have said. id highly recommend some really good noise cancelling headphones. I only use them when I study so its gets me in the right mindset and they pretty much allow me to study in any setting. def recommend

 

[Styrene]

Ours never fit (really short sleeves and fragile buttons), so I got one made from heavy-weight cotton with fabric buttons.

Check with the school. Some schools provide the short white coat in a ceremony and you need not provide your own.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

Get an instapot. The damn things can cook almost anything! And much faster, too.

instapot and Vitamix (for smoothies and pb) and couple of good knives are what we have ordered.

 

[mwsapphire]

I have dark colored chinos and cotton button down/collared shirts ( I'm a woman but like the pants/shirt set). At most schools this fits the bill for business casual perfectly.

 

[JimKimSlim]

If you have the money, meal kit services, like hello fresh, are good. All the ingredients come prepped and takes 20 minutes to make amazing, balanced meals.

 

[RespectTheChemistry]

I have dark colored chinos and cotton button down/collared shirts ( I'm a woman but like the pants/shirt set). At most schools this fits the bill for business casual perfectly.

I'm a lady and this is what I do too. Takes the guesswork out of it.

 

[theendisnigh]

I would wait on buying subscriptions. Sometimes the school will offer subscriptions to UWorld or you can join AMSA at your school which typically offers some sort of subscription service with its membership.

I use a tablet and digital pen to write all my stuff and use a cloud service to sync all my notes everywhere. Tablet and laptop with (possibly) a second monitor work great.

If you don't want to spend a lot on scrubs, I found some at thrift stores with retail tags still on them. Comfortable loafers are great to go with any business casual look. I liked blenders for quick meals in the morning, throw some kale, bananas, and breakfast powder in and go.