Your Worst/Lowest Point In Medical School?

[odoole]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Anatomy.

Funny that people say studying for Step 1 was the worst. I was definitely very relaxed during that time. I knew I'd put in the hours in M1 and M2, so I just needed to brush up. I studied about 8.5 hrs/day, exercised 6x/wk, and my parents fed me great food!

I'm glad to hear this. I'm approaching my last two days of studying for Step 1, and the only thing I'm stressed about is the fact that I may not be stressed enough. I feel like I've covered everything I want to cover and getting decent practice scores, but I also took it fairly easy with plenty of evenings and a couple days off. Now that it's almost over, I'm having a Schindler's List moment ... "I should have done more!"

Oh, and as for low point, I remember being in the Anatomy lab at 3 a.m. the Saturday before the Head and Neck exam trying to figure out where everything was on each body. Spending your Saturday night alone with a room full of cadavers is a special experience only medical students can understand.

 

[ThisLittlePig]

A low point was when I realised that,despite all I have learned thus far in medical school,I am unable to help those in my family that need help.The lowest/worst point was when I realised that I never ever will be able to help them.

 

[ToldYouSo]

A low point was when I realised that,despite all I have learned thus far in medical school,I am unable to help those in my family that need help.The lowest/worst point was when I realised that I never ever will be able to help them.

What do you mean? Not being to help your family is a terrible situation...

 

[AK_MD2BE]

OB by about a country mile...because some of the residents were just plain evil...(on the flip side, some of the residents were great).

 

[WellWornLad]

Now that it's almost over, I'm having a Schindler's List moment ... "I should have done more!"

This comment actually induced me to propel beer into my nasopharynx. I hate it when people force me to laugh at the Holocaust, I feel like such a jerk.

 

[sprinkibrio]

Step 1 burnout is the worst... I was great for the first 4 weeks but these last two weeks have been impossible.

 

[Mobius1985]

Step 1 is the worst. I only had 5 weeks. 7 days a week with 10+ hrs a day studying. I only took 1 day off (the day before the test). What made it so bad was having no weekend, nothing to look forward to. I don't think I'll ever be able to focus like that again...

Completely agree with the folks citing Step I study time as a low. I had only 4 weeks, and it was very frustrating seeing little improvement on practice tests from week to week, and even a dive at the end. Doing it again, I'd try to promote some group study, however brief, for some socialization time. The only thing I had to look forward to was a daily run, and changing study sites during the day to take advantage of free air conditioning. Now it's over, and oddly the test itself wasn't too bad. Freedommmmm! (At least for the next 13 days until clinical rotations start.)

 

[GeorgeMichael B]

Low point: Studying for Step 1
Lowest point: the week before step one (maximum worriage)
Highest Point: The night after finishing step 1

future lowest point.....failing step 1 (praying i don't get to this)


everything else in year 1 and 2 (school-wise) has been a bore in my opinion.

 

[Snuffbox]

Waking up in the morning for Surgery every morning and looking at my alarm clock

I probably cursed in twelve different languages each morning while trying to scrape myself off of my bed

 

[ZipsPwn]

This morning I took Step 1 and I was so desperate to put the whole thing behind me that I just got in the zone took it straight up with no breaks. The saddle anesthesia that kicked in around block 5 was probably a new low. I would've given anything for a donut (cushion not dunkin').

 

[maceo]

Waking up in the morning for Surgery every morning and looking at my alarm clock

I probably cursed in twelve different languages each morning while trying to scrape myself off of my bed

nice nice

thats how i feel everymorning

u get used to it

 

[Black Surgeon]

I took the most difficult test of life today: Anatomy's Abdomen and pelvis practical. I must say this was a pretty humbling experience and low time in my academic career, but at least I get a three day weekend before finding out how horribly I did.

 

[FatPigeon]

I had about a thousand equally-low points during third year, all resulting in temporary profound hatred for myself. The year is littered with moments during which you can suck it up and "play the game," or go on acting like yourself and consequently passing on the "honors" grade. It's often an internal battle. MANY times I had blatant opportunities to look good ("come into this 8-hour case beginning at 7pm!") or fantastic ("prepare a case for morning report, two days from now, to present for all 6 attendings and the residents, and I'll give you honors!"). I'd pass on these chances and hate every ounce of myself for days thereafter, for failing to have come up with the motivation to do it. Doing these things sounds like a no-brainer, but it doesn't feel that way when you've been in the hospital 14 hours per day and desperately need to eat and/or sleep.

My classmates with whom I had to compete were, in many instances, essentially raised to have no life or sense of enjoyment; gunners from the moment they left the nursery. Actually, I think I'll chalk third year up to ONE ENORMOUS LOW POINT. There.

 

[cisopen]

My med student wife and I have this mutual friend and this is her derm no-match story.

She studies her butt off and scores 268 on Step 1. 4.0 in all her classes and 4.0 on all her clinical rotations. She gets great LORs from her home derm program. Of course, she gets in AOA. She does some derm research and gets her name on the third line of some publications (I'm still not sure what that means.) She interviews at five potential derm residencies and does not match.

We think its a. because she went to a small state school, b. she didn't rank her home program high enough. c. she didn't do enough research or d. she didn't give anybody a bj.

Now she's doing a transitional year and hating her life. This winter she re-applies.

Wahoo! Can you imagine slaving away for four years and then have this happen? I'm also good friends with her boyfriend and he thought she was going to kill herself.

 

[SouthernSurgeon]

My med student wife and I have this mutual friend and this is her derm no-match story.

She studies her butt off and scores 268 on Step 1. 4.0 in all her classes and 4.0 on all her clinical rotations. She gets great LORs from her home derm program. Of course, she gets in AOA. She does some derm research and gets her name on the third line of some publications (I'm still not sure what that means.) She interviews at five potential derm residencies and does not match.

We think its a. because she went to a small state school, b. she didn't rank her home program high enough. c. she didn't do enough research or d. she didn't give anybody a bj.

Now she's doing a transitional year and hating her life. This winter she re-applies.

Wahoo! Can you imagine slaving away for four years and then have this happen? I'm also good friends with her boyfriend and he thought she was going to kill herself.

How many programs did she apply to? Five interviews for derm is a really low number...

 

[gplex86]

How many programs did she apply to? Five interviews for derm is a really low number...

Indeed, all the sources I've read (actual books) say the best predictor of a successful match is number of programs ranked.

 

[Re3iRtH]

I had about a thousand equally-low points during third year, all resulting in temporary profound hatred for myself. The year is littered with moments during which you can suck it up and "play the game," or go on acting like yourself and consequently passing on the "honors" grade. It's often an internal battle. MANY times I had blatant opportunities to look good ("come into this 8-hour case beginning at 7pm!") or fantastic ("prepare a case for morning report, two days from now, to present for all 6 attendings and the residents, and I'll give you honors!"). I'd pass on these chances and hate every ounce of myself for days thereafter, for failing to have come up with the motivation to do it. Doing these things sounds like a no-brainer, but it doesn't feel that way when you've been in the hospital 14 hours per day and desperately need to eat and/or sleep.

My classmates with whom I had to compete were, in many instances, essentially raised to have no life or sense of enjoyment; gunners from the moment they left the nursery. Actually, I think I'll chalk third year up to ONE ENORMOUS LOW POINT. There.

Path/Rads?

 

[Black Surgeon]

I took the most difficult test of life today: Anatomy's Abdomen and pelvis practical. I must say this was a pretty humbling experience and low time in my academic career, but at least I get a three day weekend before finding out how horribly I did.

Ok, I'll take this back. I ended up doing pretty well on that abdomen and pelvis exam.

 

[Transmogrifier]

We think its a. because she went to a small state school, b. she didn't rank her home program high enough. c. she didn't do enough research or d. she didn't give anybody a bj.

Don't mean to sidetrack this, but putting a program low on your ROL won't prevent you from matching to it at all right? I mean if you rank any program and that also ranks you then you'll at least match somewhere, or no?

 

[Orthodoc40]

Low point??
I'm still waiting for a high point!

 

[League54]

I had about a thousand equally-low points during third year, all resulting in temporary profound hatred for myself. The year is littered with moments during which you can suck it up and "play the game," or go on acting like yourself and consequently passing on the "honors" grade. It's often an internal battle. MANY times I had blatant opportunities to look good ("come into this 8-hour case beginning at 7pm!") or fantastic ("prepare a case for morning report, two days from now, to present for all 6 attendings and the residents, and I'll give you honors!"). I'd pass on these chances and hate every ounce of myself for days thereafter, for failing to have come up with the motivation to do it. Doing these things sounds like a no-brainer, but it doesn't feel that way when you've been in the hospital 14 hours per day and desperately need to eat and/or sleep.

My classmates with whom I had to compete were, in many instances, essentially raised to have no life or sense of enjoyment; gunners from the moment they left the nursery. Actually, I think I'll chalk third year up to ONE ENORMOUS LOW POINT. There.

I have a feeling that's going to be me in a year.

 

[psipsina]

My worst moment was during 2nd week of first year before I figured out how to study. I couldn't get things to stick in my head and I completely panicked and was convinced that I was going to fail out of medschool. Of course I figured it out and did fine but I was really freakin out for a bit there. Still have clinicals to come and I'm sure an not so nice resident will top that at some point but for now thats the worst. I've actually really enjoyed step 1 studying. Its neat to see all the information come together and to see how much I've learned in 2 years.

 

[Corbeaux]

I have no idea what the **** I'm doing. I'm scoring around the bottom of my class. I think maybe I'll take a year off to figure things out, get more familiar with the material, wait for my lamictal to take effect. 🙁

I'd say I'm pretty low now, but something tells me I'm going to have years and years of lower lows ahead of me.

 

[Flaxmoore]

Anatomy was much worse than the Step for me. Studying late every night, tired all day every day, and barely passing the tests. Dreaming/hallucinating about body parts and names. Getting an email from the dean saying they are concerned about my recent performance and they would like to talk to me about how they can help <--- low point.

Step was much easier by comparison. Only 5 weeks. 8am to 6pm, then 8pm to 10pm every day. No late nights. No other demands on your time. Simply focus on one test.

Amen. Worst was walking through the UMich anatomy checklists with my tutor, absolutely crushing every identification question he asked (to the point of him just grabbing a structure with tweezers and me nailing it), and still getting a 70 on every single anatomy practical. For some reason, I couldn't translate the practice work to practice. 😉

Step 1 studying for me was easy. 3 hours a day with my tutor, another hour on the treadmill with Step-Up to the Step 1, 40 questions to dig out details, 100 just going for correctness.

The OSCE is so inherently contrived and awkward. We luckily had a checklist of instructions with exactly what we were supposed to for every part of the exam. For some parts, you're treating the patient like a patient and for the rest you're speaking jargon, like reciting cranial nerves. weird.

You're not the only one seeing this. I've had some intense physical exams (including one when I was planning on joining ROTC- the full Army physical), but they never included all that detail. Making it worse were the clinical staff- their explanations would be great for doing the exam in the real world, but using your knuckles instead of a reflex hammer gets you a shiny 0/2 for that reflex on the exam.

Mine also refused to take into account problems the patient had that weren't accounted for in the standard history. Saying I need to do a ROM exam on the lower extremities is nice, but when the patient has a fresh hip replacement scar. The patient I had to do this exam on was in some hefty pain before I did anything, let alone if I had done the ROM exam.

 

[JPmamd09]

Lowest point: Realizing the specialty to which I'd applied for the Match was absolutely not for me. In October. After applying. And getting interviews. Ouch.

On the upside, I figured it out and feel good about my decision. The downside is I have to adequately explain my year off. Hopeful that good research will help.

My advice (FWIW): Keep a very open mind on 3rd year/4th year rotations, and if you think you might like something the tiniest bit, give it a shot because you never know - you may end up loving it. Also, try your darnedest to get your sub-i in your field of interest EARLY in 4th year.

 

[VincentAdultman]

Meh. I guess I had a different experience than most.

MS1 and 2 are essentialy an extension of college just with way more volume. With the burden of "getting in" off my back I was more social in those 2 years than in 4 years of UG. Did I do well? Of course not; I never broke "Pass" in a single subject.

Studying for step one was an 8-5 job. Yeah, it was painful sometimes but just about every job is. It's just something that yo have to get through. My score was really good so that probably colors my experience.

I'm a resident in a surgical specialty so obviously I didn't
mind surgical clerkship.

No, my lowest point was MSIV when I found out that didn't match. After all those hoops I had to jump through in the application process? AWESOME feeling 🙄

 

[gplex86]

Meh. I guess I had a different experience than most.

MS1 and 2 are essentialy an extension of college just with way more volume. With the burden of "getting in" off my back I was more social in those 2 years than in 4 years of UG. Did I do well? Of course not; I never broke "Pass" in a single subject.

Studying for step one was an 8-5 job. Yeah, it was painful sometimes but just about every job is. It's just something that yo have to get through. My score was really good so that probably colors my experience.

I'm a resident in a surgical specialty so obviously I didn't
mind surgical clerkship.

No, my lowest point was MSIV when I found out that didn't match. After all those hoops I had to jump through in the application process? AWESOME feeling 🙄

Looks like it worked out in the end - why do you think you didn't match?

 

[maygrl110]

Low point??
I'm still waiting for a high point!

HAHA...so true. The best times are after exams or when I'm on break...then I think it's not so bad. Really low point was when I didn't leave the house for three weeks studying for Boards last month...it was numbing. Sure there will be even lower points to come, but I'll get through it, too.

 

[Hayden2102]

For me it was taking myself to the emergency department of my own teaching hospital (the only one in town) because I was afraid I was going to kill myself in a very bad episode of depression in second year. I definitely felt low then. People still give me funny looks in emergency.

 

[mq123]

One low point that kept coming back for me with every new course: the realizations that having taken the class in undergrad (ex. biochem, cell biology, immunology) etc. helped only on the first two days of class, since the volume and amount of detail was way beyond that of any undergrad course I'd taken, and in a fraction of the time, too.

Other frequent 'panic moments' for me were watching other kids in my class having made stacks and stacks of flashcards within one week after a test for the next test while I'd been slacking off that week. Never failed to give me that queasy, i'm-sooo-behind feeling . Always.

 

[LadyWolverine]

My lowest point was the 6 weeks I spent studying for Step 1. All of 2nd year was pretty horrible, but there was just something about those 6 weeks that almost destroyed me. I was a basket case. I would stay up all night reading and doing UW questions, sleep from 7 or 8am until noon, and then wake up freaking out that I was "running out of time" to do it all over again. By the end, I was so sleep-deprived that I was running on pure terror and adrenaline. The final week before the test I cried daily, like clockwork, usually around 6pm or so, becuase of how overwhelmed and underprepared I felt.

In the end, the hard work paid off. But if I had to do it again, I'd probably slit my wrists first. My God, I was miserable.

On a more positive note, most of 3rd year was a joy compared to that 6 weeks - even my least-favorite rotations (e.g. neurology, inpatient medicine) were more pleasurable than Step 1 study. And the rotations that I actually enjoyed (surgery, Ob/gyn surg, inpatient peds, family med) really made me want to wake up every morning and go to work. It was like night and day.

 

[Jwax]

Studying for Step 1, by far the worst, most soul-sucking experience I've had in med school.

Wow random to run across you here! Haven't checked sdn much in a while and then find you. Exciting.

We think its a. because she went to a small state school, b. she didn't rank her home program high enough. c. she didn't do enough research or d. she didn't give anybody a bj..

That's probably it. 😉

Don't mean to sidetrack this, but putting a program low on your ROL won't prevent you from matching to it at all right? I mean if you rank any program and that also ranks you then you'll at least match somewhere, or no?

Correct. I read a great explanation somewhere of how the match worked and it comes out in favor of the student's list. So, if you list a place as 18 on your match list, they've got 8 spots, and they list you as #8, you're in (assuming you don't get #1-17 on your list). If they list you as #9 (out of 8) and all the other 8 applicants have this same place as their highest that will accept them, then you don't get the spot. If someone knows the link to this site that explains the match, could you post it?

Lowest points (so far) have been middle of spring first year and middle of spring second year. Something about reaching the end of the year, not doing as well as I had initially hoped, and still having a few months to go kills me. Spring 2nd year was probably the worst because I was actually considering the options if I dropped out and hated every day that I had to look at my computer. Step 1 studying wasn't the worst thing ever b/c it wasn't much different from studying for the last two years. I did have to drink myself to sleep several nights in the last week or two before the exam because I was so nervous though. Third year (all two weeks of it I've had so far) has been overall better than 1st or 2nd year. More interesting, more fun, but crappy patients suck the life out of you. Not knowing anything that you feel you ought to know also makes you feel like the most ignorant f**k and that you ought to be shot. Fortunately, those feelings pass with a little studying.

 

[searun]

The low point for me definitely was preparing for Step 1. 5 weeks, 12 hours per day, 7 days per week. Normally, I sleep very well, but the last two weeks, I started feeling very anxious and began having trouble sleeping. I was very sleep deprived when I took Step 1.

However, the high point has been receiving my Step 1 score which is very competitive. Thank god, that ordeal is over.

 

[VincentAdultman]

Looks like it worked out in the end - why do you think you didn't match?

Bad away rotations.

 

[drdr2010]

probably my first week on surgery. everyone was yelling and angry, from the surg techs to the attendings to the nurses. even if it wasn't at me (which it often was, especially the surg techs!) it was all very hostile.

also it took me at least a full week to anticipate my attendings every need (a pen, a prescription pad, one of her business cards, her clinic schedule) and have it ready before she verbalized the need for it. we don't have residents here and it became clear quite quickly that she expected me to be her intern and personal assistant all rolled into one.

once i mastered that, it got a lot better. i still wanted to quit at least once a day though.

 

[PETRADOCS]

3rd year clinical on call -worst day of flu ever had- christmas day- alone- attending refused to accept- told me to come in- i could not get out of bed!

 

[Random Anesthesiologist]

Having an abscessed molar, my husband losing his job (the business closed) and me having to take a part time job, and my dad having a heart attack, all during this past Spring semester.

Yes, I passed, right in the middle.

 

[Heimerfink]

Low points:
Step 1 studying. I studied about 5.5 wks.
Mid winter in the midwest first year. Done with anatomy. Studying cell biology, no end in sight.

High point (so far):
Getting my step 1 score back.

 

[Samus Aran]

lol at the n00bs who are just starting and think med school will be a breeze for them. newsflash: med school sucks!!!!! sure you're learning a lot of cool stuff but that's only some times. most of the time you're learning the overly-detailed-unimportant "filler" info that your phd professor did his dissertation on back in 1985. a lot of time will be essentially wasted by memorizing minute details on info you will likely forget immediately after regurgitating them for the exam. meanwhile, you will get no sleep, develop unhealthy eating habits, allow your crap apartment to become extra crappy bc you haven't had time to clean it in months, neglect your non-med friends and family and, if you're anything like me, become a bordeline alcoholic bc of the need to release the enormous amounts of stress that builds up for nearly every exam. you will also likely develop some sort of chronic illness (mine is gi-related... not fun) but my classmates have admitted being treated for hbp, gi illnesses, various psych conditions, etc., upon starting med school. a wise man once said: med school is not good for your health.

even the people i know that enjoyed med school (ie, masochists) all say they've considered dropping out at some point only to realize it would be too financially irresponsible to do given the large blackhole of debt we'd already made for ourselves. am i disgruntled right now? damn right. do i feel lucky to be where i am? abso-freakin-lutely. i have to believe that 10 years from now this will have been worth it. at least i hope so, bc if i thought it wouldn't be i seriously doubt i'd have the strength and motivation to continue through this torturous process. and i still have step 1 to look forward to!

-a disgruntled ms2 (former gunner pre-med/naive and excited ms1)

 

[JustSomePreMed]

.

 

[MilkmanAl]

Samus's assessment is soberingly accurate, FYI. I mean, it's pretty doom-and-gloom, but there's a lot of truth there. Med school can be lots of fun, but it sure can suck, too.

 

[mq123]

lol at the n00bs who are just starting and think med school will be a breeze for them. newsflash: med school sucks!!!!! sure you're learning a lot of cool stuff but that's only some times. most of the time you're learning the overly-detailed-unimportant "filler" info that your phd professor did his dissertation on back in 1985. a lot of time will be essentially wasted by memorizing minute details on info you will likely forget immediately after regurgitating them for the exam. meanwhile, you will get no sleep, develop unhealthy eating habits, allow your crap apartment to become extra crappy bc you haven't had time to clean it in months, neglect your non-med friends and family and, if you're anything like me, become a bordeline alcoholic bc of the need to release the enormous amounts of stress that builds up for nearly every exam. you will also likely develop some sort of chronic illness (mine is gi-related... not fun) but my classmates have admitted being treated for hbp, gi illnesses, various psych conditions, etc., upon starting med school. a wise man once said: med school is not good for your health.

even the people i know that enjoyed med school (ie, masochists) all say they've considered dropping out at some point only to realize it would be too financially irresponsible to do given the large blackhole of debt we'd already made for ourselves. am i disgruntled right now? damn right. do i feel lucky to be where i am? abso-freakin-lutely. i have to believe that 10 years from now this will have been worth it. at least i hope so, bc if i thought it wouldn't be i seriously doubt i'd have the strength and motivation to continue through this torturous process. and i still have step 1 to look forward to!

-a disgruntled ms2 (former gunner pre-med/naive and excited ms1)

So I guess I shouldn't look forward to this year?

 

[Jolie South]

Samus's assessment is soberingly accurate, FYI. I mean, it's pretty doom-and-gloom, but there's a lot of truth there. Med school can be lots of fun, but it sure can suck, too.

I don't think it's as bad as she made it out to be. Honestly, I work hard, but I'm pretty happy most of the time. I probably work 50-60 hours a week or so. I've never considered dropping out and I still have some time to do things that I like to do outside of school (cook, hang out with friends, exercise).

For me, it's about efficiency. The classmates that I see complaining about studying all the time are the ones that are at school the whole time talking to their neighbor every 10 minutes. Sure, you're going to spend 12 hours if you never get down to business and do what you need to do. I go home and get the job done then forget about it.

 

[Samus Aran]

the suckage will consume you only if you allow it to. i try to keep a positive attitude and remember how hard i fought to be here and how lucky i am to be in medical school especially when there are college graduates out there who can't find a decent job. there are great and rewarding moments in med school too, but in my experience they have been much less common than the ones that make you want to cry into your pillow at night and wonder what it would be like to actually earn money while you're still in your twenties instead of being in the red for the next 10 or so years. that being said, i've made some really great friendships so far and have learned a lot which have somewhat made the bad times seem not so bad. your school's curriculum has a lot to do with it. my school has weekly exams in the fall semester and some times up to 3 exams per week in the spring of ms1 year. it gets exhausting. someone last spring counted the exams we had in the spring semester and i think it was about 28. on the other hand, i know there are schools that don't test students nearly as much, and my friends at these schools were always out doing fun things, taking weekend trips and doing cool research projects whereas most of my classmates and i never felt like we could take any time off. true, it varies with the person but imo its more about the school you choose to attend and how good of a fit it is for you. keeping a positive attitude will only get you so far.

 

[Depakote]

M1 sucked a little bit... took a while to get used to the grind and anatomy was painful.
M2 was actually pretty good. Got the hang of everything.
M3... we'll see.

A positive attitude really does help. If you let yourself think things suck, they will suck. If you can keep a reasonable perspective on things and de-stress regularly, it'll just become routine and the time will blow by.

 

[Random Anesthesiologist]

M1 sucked a little bit... took a while to get used to the grind and anatomy was painful.
M2 was actually pretty good. Got the hang of everything.
M3... we'll see.

A positive attitude really does help. If you let yourself think things suck, they will suck. If you can keep a reasonable perspective on things and de-stress regularly, it'll just become routine and the time will blow by.

Was M2>M1 from being able to apply knowledge more clinically? Just curious what made it better for you 🙂

 

[Depakote]

Was M2>M1 from being able to apply knowledge more clinically? Just curious what made it better for you 🙂

MS2 probably had more volume (but less lab time), but I had finally gotten the hang of how to approach the material so I was studying a lot more efficiently. I was able to make more passes over the material and retain more of it before the test. My grades went up, stress went down and I just felt like I had the hang of everything.

There was also the aspect that the material was more interesting as well. I liked our Immunology and Infection block and our Organ Systems block because we were focusing on disease processes which did seem more clinically relevant. It made the material more interesting, but the fact that I knew how to study it was what made life so much better than first year.

 

[Jolie South]

the suckage will consume you only if you allow it to. i try to keep a positive attitude and remember how hard i fought to be here and how lucky i am to be in medical school especially when there are college graduates out there who can't find a decent job. there are great and rewarding moments in med school too, but in my experience they have been much less common than the ones that make you want to cry into your pillow at night and wonder what it would be like to actually earn money while you're still in your twenties instead of being in the red for the next 10 or so years. that being said, i've made some really great friendships so far and have learned a lot which have somewhat made the bad times seem not so bad. your school's curriculum has a lot to do with it. my school has weekly exams in the fall semester and some times up to 3 exams per week in the spring of ms1 year. it gets exhausting. someone last spring counted the exams we had in the spring semester and i think it was about 28. on the other hand, i know there are schools that don't test students nearly as much, and my friends at these schools were always out doing fun things, taking weekend trips and doing cool research projects whereas most of my classmates and i never felt like we could take any time off. true, it varies with the person but imo its more about the school you choose to attend and how good of a fit it is for you. keeping a positive attitude will only get you so far.

I can see how you could feel the suck more if you had tests every week.

My school only has tests every 6 weeks in MS1. It's really not bad. I treat it like a marathon and actually keep up, so I'm never really stressed even come test time. I've had many more good days than bad.

There are a few students that do research (these are gunning for ortho), some that do volunteering type projects, and a lot of others that just take days off here and there to shadow in different specialties.

Even with the curriculum we have, there are still those people that have bad attitudes that forget that we really are doing something cool. These folks will groan and complain at every little thing. It's exhausting to be around and I just tend to ignore them. Sometimes, I just want to ask what they're doing here if they hate it so much.

 

[VincentAdultman]

lol at the n00bs.....

-a disgruntled ms2

O RLY? Just a little too dramtic for your first month of MS-2 maybe?

 

[Samus Aran]

...or maybe just disgruntled after ms1?