What are some things to know before starting medical school?

 

It's still a bit weird for me to know that I'm now officially a  second-year medical student, but here's my best shot at some pearls of  wisdom!

1. You really have to love medicine. If I offered you  $100 million to quit medicine forever, you should be able to say no  without looking back. I realize that sounds absurd, but my point is: if  any amount of money will sway you, chances are you're doing this for the  wrong reason. Keep things in perspective: you beat out thousands of  other applicants to win your spot in your class. Why did you bother  fighting for a spot that would keep you out of the money-making world  for 7+ years if you're either a) after money or b) not really passionate  about it? Never forget why you applied.
2. Most of the people who enter med school are a little behind on  maturity. I'm definitely guilty of this, and chances are, you  are too. Think about it--most med students are hardcore  nerds/smart-alecks who spent time studying when they could've been  hanging out with their friends and learning social norms. Generally  speaking, we have a bit less overall "life experience". I'm not joking  when I say I have classmates who complained about seeing penises in  anatomy because they'd never seen one before and wished they'd had a  gentler introduction. Take-home message: be understanding of  classmates--at some point you're going to seem immature too, and you'll  have to rely on someone to be patient with you. A healthy tolerance for  drama (particularly of the romantic variety) helps. ;-)
3. You have to find new ways to study. The chances that  the same study habits that carried you through college will work in med  school are slim--there's just too much material, and the first step is  accepting that, honestly, there's no way you're going to know it all.  That's a sore spot for people who've been academically successful all  their lives, but it's the plain truth. So find what lets you memorize  and understand the high-yield material. Above all, don't be afraid to  reach out for help!
4. Try not to piss people off. I don't care how tempting  it is--take the high road. When you enter med school, you become a  professional, and you are judged as such 24/7 regardless of the  situation. You just can't afford to upset someone with more authority  than you this early in your career, and for that matter, annoying your  future colleagues is an obvious bad call as well. If you disagree with  something, bring it up through tactful channels. Request relatively  private meetings (but don't be afraid to ask if people can come with  you!), be cordial in e-mails, and re-read everything from multiple  angles to make sure it can't be taken the wrong way by someone in a bad  mood. Practice good communication skills, and it'll get you far!
5. It's easy to forget the human aspect. Drowning in  information all day, it was easy to lose sight from time to time of the  fact that all this book-learning is being done for the sake of helping  others. Don't let being a social butterfly take away from your studies,  but don't be the lone wolf either! Take the extra effort to say hi to  everyone, give them a hug/high-five, ask them about their day, etc. Med  school's a tough experience, and you want as much mutual support from  friends as possible. Who better to understand what you're going through  than your classmates? :-D
6. It's hard to take care of yourself. Eat healthy.  Exercise. SLEEP. Everyone tells you to do this, but shoots, it's not  easy. Hint: it helps a ton if you learn how to time-manage properly! It  seems to me like medicine is ironically a field where its practitioners  have to fight to find the time to practice what they preach, and as a  student adjusting to a whole 'nother city, culture, and schedule, to  call it tough would be giving it rather short shrift. I guess when it  comes down to it, just remember to have fun with the whole experience,  or else it'll drive you up the wall. Make time to hang out with  friends, call up old pals to catch up, etc. Part of taking care of  yourself is keeping your sense of humor, so remember to laugh and love  life. Being a med student is a very blessed position, don't ever  forget it!
7. Open-mindedness is key. I came into med school all  gung-ho about going for ER residencies, and while I'm still really in  love with the field, I'm starting to consider trauma surgery too, and  for 10 minutes at a time when our ophtho prof shows us a sweet operation  video, I consider ophthalmology. Seeing my neurology professors lecture  is like experiencing poetry in motion, and after finishing that class  I'm utterly in love with neuro too. You might know what you're  interested in, and that's great, but just remember how broad medicine  is. A wonderful professor gave me this piece of advice: "When you're on  surgery, be the best surgery student you can be. When you're on peds, be  the best pediatric student you can be. And so on and so forth. It  doesn't matter how little interest you walk into a rotation with, you  owe it to the patients and the rest of the team to be at your best.  Besides, how are you going to figure out how much you like or dislike  something without giving it a legitimate try?".
8. Hacks and resourcefulness will save time, effort, and money.  Don't wanna blow your dough on textbooks? Find out what your library  carries. Interested in research? Introduce yourself to cool profs right  after their lecture and then e-mail them while their memory of you is  still fresh. Food budget getting tight? Search your e-mail for local  events with free food. Stayed up late at school studying and don't feel  like going home? Remember where the comfy sofas and shower facilities  are and keep a change of clothes at school (some deodorant helps too).  Don't want to spend $100+ repairing your cracked iPhone screen? Get the  local tech nerd to do it for you with a $13 replacement off of eBay. You  get the idea.
9. People will automatically trust you, and treat you differently.  Family will start bombarding you with medical questions, friends will  text you with ailments even though they're thousands of miles away and  you can't even do a basic physical, and strangers will approach you with  a trust that you will probably find shocking. Get used to it. Everyone  sees you as a professional, and really, the best you can do as a medical  student is to tell them what you know and humbly admit just how much  you don't. Don't abuse anyone's trust. Don't act like you know  something when you don't, it'll just bite you in the butt later, and the  stories that go around about arrogant med students trying to show up  their peers are mindblowing. If one of your classmates does this, don't  bother trying to one-up them, it's just not worth it--they'll usually  get their comeuppance when it comes to reviews anyways.
10. MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL: teach. The word "doctor" does  not mean "healer", "provider of cures", "surgeon", or anything specific  to the field of medicine. In Latin it means "teacher", and its origin was the verb "doce-o, -es, docui, doctum, -ère", which means "to teach". The first line of the  Hippocratic oath is not "Do no harm", as popularly believed--the first  line pledges honor to the person who taught the practitioner, and  includes a vow to teach others. So educate yourself. Help educate your  classmates. Educate your future patients. If someone asks you a question  about medicine, don't just slap it off as "something you'll learn  later". Take the opportunity to find out, review, and follow up. Be  patient. Be gentle. Remember that outside of a test scenario you're  getting asked by someone who doesn't know the answer, and they're  genuinely curious.