What to do now?

[Oogieboogie]

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I have been accepted to medical school. I am already planning a trip out of the country for 5 weeks, and I am preparing to move. I am searching for housing where I hope to be moving coming August. I work full time in a hospital as a nursing assistant on a colorectal surgery floor. I have shadowed these surgeons twice.

I mean, I work in a hospital for pete's sake! How can I further take advantageous of my situation? I already feel very comfortable talking to patients, how do I utilize my time now so that it will be beneficial for me in the future?

I understand, already, the aggressive argument against "studying" ahead for medical school. But, quite frankly, I'm bored. I miss studying or learning, or doing something proactive. Outside of reading up on relevant research for prospective P.I.s, what is a relevant and productive use of one's time prior to medical school?

"Relax" and "go out and have fun" are not remarks I am looking for. I certainly will be "having fun" but I'd like to do something intermittently useful for my future.

 

[Ismet]

Not really sure what you're looking for by starting this thread, as there are countless threads of med students/doctors telling MS0's to not waste time studying over the summer. You're already working full-time in a clinical setting and you have a vacation planned. Maybe explore new hobbies or take up an old hobby or something. Learn to play an instrument.

DO. NOT. PRE-STUDY. It will be a waste of time. That said, it's your time and you can do whatever you want with it, you don't need strangers on SDN to tell you what to do with your free time.

 

[Frazier]

This is new and exciting.

 

[jm192]

Trust me. Once August hits, you're going to be doing so much for your future, you'll never miss it again.

Understand it's human to need a break. To need to rest up and have fun. Look at this in segments. Pre-med just ended, and med doesn't start for months. Enjoy it.

Go to every happy hour you can. Spend time with those friends you've had to turn down because you always had tests.

You can pre-study until you're blue in the face, and it really won't do you any good. By not studying, you'll feel refreshed when you show up. And you'll pour more into it. If you do study, you'll burn yourself out for when the first day of med school gets here.

 

[wlt217]

Would someone mind explaining the futility of pre-studying? I know the amount of material covered in med school is enormous compared to even a heavy load during undergrad, but the benefit of at least exposing oneself to the material prior to getting entrenched in the semester supposedly will no longer apply. Why is that? In undergrad, I found it really helpful to have some sense of trajectory before starting a busy semester of completely foreign material, but maybe there's something about the med school curriculum or teaching style which renders this method useless. What sets apart the students who have extra time for research and other activities?

 

[eleveneleven]

I have been accepted to medical school. I am already planning a trip out of the country for 5 weeks, and I am preparing to move. I am searching for housing where I hope to be moving coming August. I work full time in a hospital as a nursing assistant on a colorectal surgery floor. I have shadowed these surgeons twice.

I mean, I work in a hospital for pete's sake! How can I further take advantageous of my situation? I already feel very comfortable talking to patients, how do I utilize my time now so that it will be beneficial for me in the future?

I understand, already, the aggressive argument against "studying" ahead for medical school. But, quite frankly, I'm bored. I miss studying or learning, or doing something proactive. Outside of reading up on relevant research for prospective P.I.s, what is a relevant and productive use of one's time prior to medical school?

"Relax" and "go out and have fun" are not remarks I am looking for. I certainly will be "having fun" but I'd like to do something intermittently useful for my future.

Read books. Look at art. Listen to music. Study philosophy and religion and history. Watch films. Read up on politics. Learn a new language. Develop a hobby. Become a well-educated and well-informed and well-rounded person. With 4 years of studying + 3-7 years of residency, there's few opportunities to really develop your self, ideas, and perspective on the world. There's quite a few ways to be studying and learning without necessarily studying and learning what you will for the rest of your life.

 

[Geebeejay]

I have been accepted to medical school. I am already planning a trip out of the country for 5 weeks, and I am preparing to move. I am searching for housing where I hope to be moving coming August. I work full time in a hospital as a nursing assistant on a colorectal surgery floor. I have shadowed these surgeons twice.

I mean, I work in a hospital for pete's sake! How can I further take advantageous of my situation? I already feel very comfortable talking to patients, how do I utilize my time now so that it will be beneficial for me in the future?

I understand, already, the aggressive argument against "studying" ahead for medical school. But, quite frankly, I'm bored. I miss studying or learning, or doing something proactive. Outside of reading up on relevant research for prospective P.I.s, what is a relevant and productive use of one's time prior to medical school?

"Relax" and "go out and have fun" are not remarks I am looking for. I certainly will be "having fun" but I'd like to do something intermittently useful for my future.

Relax and go out and have fun (sorry). Not everything you do in your life needs to be for your future or career. Keep focusing on the future and you'll be dead before you've lived your life.

I mean, you COULD just scowl, frown and buy medical books and start studying....but seriously?

 

[Barcu]

Work on your Spanish.

 

[twizzlers713]

Take "advantageous" of your waning time without indentured servitude

 

[amazing tekkers]

Trust me. Once August hits, you're going to be doing so much for your future, you'll never miss it again.

Understand it's human to need a break. To need to rest up and have fun. Look at this in segments. Pre-med just ended, and med doesn't start for months. Enjoy it.

Go to every happy hour you can. Spend time with those friends you've had to turn down because you always had tests.

You can pre-study until you're blue in the face, and it really won't do you any good. By not studying, you'll feel refreshed when you show up. And you'll pour more into it. If you do study, you'll burn yourself out for when the first day of med school gets here.

Alcohol will bring happiness?

 

[jm192]

Alcohol will bring happiness?

So long as you don't make a child in the process

 

[DrEnderW]

You're not taking a summer biochem class!?

Pretty risky...

 

[gyngyn]

Work on your Spanish.

Best advice.

 

[MelonMan]

Get some

 

[jm192]

Get some

Best advice.

 

[amazing tekkers]

Get some

That will lead to happiness?

 

[image187]

Best advice.

I second this opinion... so useful and worth it.

Anyway, the reason why studying doesn't work is mainly because after you spend time studying and cramming for a test in med school, you need to move on quickly to the next thing and forget (or at least become real rusty) on the stuff you just knew really well, so there is no good or proper kind of prestudying you can do prior to school to even make
it worth you're time. Also, you're going to spend so much time and
emotional energy preparing for tests you're just going to want to vomit... and if you studied before hand you're going to wish you hadn't and that you'd have done something else. Medicine is a process did learning, forgetting, relearning, forgetting, and finally eventually relearning things you need to know in a context that makes them stick. Just please don't try to get any "useful" learning done before you even start med school

 

[Ismet]

Would someone mind explaining the futility of pre-studying? I know the amount of material covered in med school is enormous compared to even a heavy load during undergrad, but the benefit of at least exposing oneself to the material prior to getting entrenched in the semester supposedly will no longer apply. Why is that? In undergrad, I found it really helpful to have some sense of trajectory before starting a busy semester of completely foreign material, but maybe there's something about the med school curriculum or teaching style which renders this method useless. What sets apart the students who have extra time for research and other activities?

Because you have no way of knowing the "trajectory" unless your school provides notes/syllabi/powerpoints before matriculation. How do you propose going about pre-studying? You have no idea what topics your courses are going to focus on, so if you spend time studying something trivial, that's time wasted. And absolutely do not open FirstAid.

The other reason is that you want to avoid burnout for as long as possible. Don't start the process before you have to.

What sets apart students who have time for other activities? Excellent time management skills or being okay with not mastering material and scoring below average, which doesn't matter as long as you P.

 

[Geebeejay]

Work on your Spanish.

Good advice, especially if you're going to a medical school in a city with a lot of spanish speakers. I've actually been spending a lot of my off time learning Italian.

 

[Juan Solo]

Read Mark Twain's autobiography?

 

[IncognitoGuy]

This is new and exciting.

👍

OP, I don't mean any ill will but get off your high horse. Enjoy yourself like the rest of us common folk.

 

[cosbiker]

I

 

[SKaminski]

I dont really agree with the people who are telling you to get "off your high horse". If you're anything like me you've spent a large portion of your life constantly studying, applying yourself, and improving yourself as a human being. To suddenly feel stagnant makes me feel impatient, anxious... sort of like a 'mental' cabin fever. I would say you should apply yourself, but dont do it to ANYTHING related to medicine. Others have said philosophy, ect. I'd suggest sports, athleticism, anything to broaden your skill set (learn the piano!)

Good luck!

 

[survivordo]

If you really feel the need to do something I second the "learn Spanish" even though you're likely to just forget it anyways. Alternatively, you could drink until you think you know Spanish... this would be my recommendation.

Survivor DO

 

[Oogieboogie]

👍

OP, I don't mean any ill will but get off your high horse. Enjoy yourself like the rest of us common folk.

This is rude.

But to expand on this, I agree with many of the above posters. Although I'm not sure why people consider these types of posts to be over-discussed. None of the other forums I have read actually have addresssed the issue at hand, in my opinion. The assumption is that I sit in my room all day studying for the MCAT or write secondaries, which is not true.

I certainly "get out." But I find myself liberated with an enormous amount of free time, and not enough to fill it with. I think learning Spanish will be a useful hobby, and I value productive and positive responses such as these. I studied Spanish in my youth and it's a language I have been meaning to get back to.

 

[Oogieboogie]

If you really feel the need to do something I second the "learn Spanish" even though you're likely to just forget it anyways. Alternatively, you could drink until you think you know Spanish... this would be my recommendation.

Survivor DO

As a resident, is there anything you feel you wish you had done before medical school? Not a studied skill, but a clinical skill? Do you wish you had gained more shadowing experiences? Do you wish you had learned to suture before going to rotations?

Because I work in a hospital, I feel like I have some prime time to really get into the thick of it and thoroughly learn something by observation. Maybe it will help me decide on what residency I'd like to apply to in the future? What do you suggest?

 

[Ismet]

Do you wish you had gained more shadowing experiences?

Don't stop shadowing, even when you're a med student. There are only so many specialties you can experience on your clinical rotations/electives, so the more exposure you have via shadowing, the better, especially if you think you might be interested in a specialty that you'll have relatively little time to experience in 3rd and 4th year.

 

[911 Turbo]

Get 99 runecrafting on runescape instead.

 

[jm192]

Get 99 runecrafting on runescape instead.

lol. I used to buy runes at 10, sell them at 30, all while singing I wanna be a millionaire

 

[Cinclus]

I know you said not to say this, but please don't do medically-related stuff. You will get your fill of it. Do stuff that you can only do when you have tons of free time. The vacation is a great idea. Take another one. Read novels. Play Donkey Kong. Lie on the grass at night gazing at the stars for hours. Spend time with family and friends. Watch movies. Play Crazy Eights. Do whatever. You will not have a lot of time for stuff like this once med school hits.