Advice for a First Year Medical Student

Congratulations! You’ve gotten into med school, and that in and of itself is a huge accomplishment. I wanted to welcome you to the med student community, and give a few pieces of advice to incoming medical students. The next couple of years will be tough, exciting, exhausting, exhilarating… a roller coaster of emotions, I’m sure.

Every medical school in every country is vastly different, but this blog post hopes to provide some general advice that I think can be helpful for first year medical students to hear before (or as) they embark on this tremendous journey.

The things I learned along the way:

1. STUDY a little every day. If you were a last-minute kind of student in college/high school, you might be shocked to realize that that strategy most likely won’t get you far. Be prepared to do some work at least every day so that it doesn’t all accumulate right before your exams.
2. Motivation vs DISCIPLINE: it’s nice to be motivated, definitely, but ultimately it comes down to discipline. Doing what you need to, even when you don’t want to. For motivation tips, you can check out my blog post, but remember that discipline > motivation.
3. Medical school is a MARATHON, so prepare for it as such. The key is longterm balance in all aspects of your life, and it’s helpful to build stamina. Start studying bit by bit, and build up your study day to multiple hours (as needed); add in exercise, eating right, social life, etc. until you’ve achieved ‘balance.’ Build habits and stick to them.
4. Schedule in TIME OFF, be it nightly, weekly, monthly (for ex., every night the bf and I watch an episode of TV; a couple times a month we had date night, etc.). Make this guilt-free time off – label it as ‘free time’ and enjoy it to the max.
5. PRIORITIZE. Decide what is important to you – for me, I chose to prioritize proper sleep and regular exercise. Priorities can shift during exam period (perhaps I’d stop exercising as regularly, and the days before an exam I would sleep only 6 hours instead of my usual 8), but in general, decide what’s important to you, and then make every effort to schedule it in ahead of time, and stick to it.
6. BE CURIOUS about every subject, because they’re all in your curriculum for a reason. It’s much easier to study a subject when you’re interested in it, so if you’re inherently uninterested, at least try approach each subject (and I mean, each) as, “Let me learn this now, because one day I may use this to help my future patients.” It truly helps.
7. ATTITUDE makes a huge difference. Think, “I GET to study,” not, “I HAVE to study.” Wake up in the morning and think, “Today is going to be a good day,” not, “UGH.” It makes a whole world of difference. If you find yourself shifting into a negative mindset, actively practice reframing (I’ll write another post about this.)
8. PLANNING DAYS can be really helpful; I’d use every Sunday to get an overview of my upcoming week, schedule in any classes, appointments, gym sessions and fun things I had planned. This set the mood for my whole week, and I went into it knowing exactly what I had to do and where I needed to be.
9. EXPERIMENT with different study methods; I changed my study approach quite a few times in the first year as I was trying to figure out what works best for me. I loved watching “How I Study in Med School” YouTube videos and I would adapt them to suit me, until eventually I figured out my ‘recipe for success.’ Don’t get sucked into studying the same was as you did in high school or college because it might not work here (but at the same time, if you find that it DOES work, you don’t necessarily have to change it).
10. ASK & ANSWER QUESTIONS in class; this is important for a few reasons. For one, it helps build strong relationships with your professors/attendings, because it shows that you are listening and that you’re curious. Secondly, it requires paying attention, and it really helps reinforce your learning; also, when you’re trying to understand a topic on your own later, you’ll wish you had asked the question.
11. NOTES IN CLASS, I always recommend taking notes in class, because I think this converts the typical ‘passive listening’ class attendance into a much more engaging, interactive ‘active participation’ class. This, once again, reinforces your learning. Also, things often make the most sense during class, so if you jot it down, it’ll be easier to jog your memory.
12. HELP ONE ANOTHER. This should go without saying, but sadly it isn’t always the case. If you’re struggling, ask for help; if you missed a class, ask for notes. There is no shame in it, and when someone asks the same from you, don’t hesitate to help them out. You’re all in it together – you’re not competing against each other, although sometimes it might feel like it. Believe me, you’ll come out much stronger together; socialize, make friends, and definitely surround yourself with people that you can rely on, and who can count on you.
13. “Study to save lives.” The age-old saying might seem corny, but it truly is a humbling, motivating feeling thinking to yourself that the knowledge you gain today might help you down the line. Medicine builds on itself – anatomy might not seem crucial, but surgery, neurology, etc. build heavily on it, so study the theory now so that you can be a great clinician/surgeon one day.
14. Medicine is A PROCESS. I alluded to this in the previous point, but I think it’s really important to mention again because you might not realize how medicine gradually builds upon itself. In first year, you will be slammed with a landslide of information and feel like you’re drowning, but you’ll survive, believe me. And you may not notice it because the change is so gradual, but your knowledge will build on itself slowly and surely. Before you know it, you’ll be throwing medical jargon around like Dr. House and his team, unaware of how far you’ve come.
15. Don’t allow yourself to get caught up in GRADES. Sometimes, lots of studying might still land you with a poor grade, and it can be heart-wrenching. I’ve fallen into the trap myself, which is why I wrote this blog post about dealing with bad grades, but the gist of it is this: the knowledge that you gained while studying for your exam can never be taken from you. If you studied hard, learned the material, and had a bad day or bad examiner or stomach bug and got a bad grade – it doesn’t matter as much as the fact that you know your stuff.
    • I have a favorite quote framed on my desk that simply says, “Study for the knowledge.” You can download the free printable here and frame it, if you’d like the reminder too.

A few words about Imposter Syndrome

In the first year(s) of medical school, some people feel this overwhelming sense of not belonging. Everyone around you seems smarter, more put together, more ‘doctorly,’ more like they deserve to be there… while you increasingly feel like you don’t.

This is quite common, and it’s called imposter syndrome: the feeling of not belonging, of being an imposter amongst the worthy. I wanted to address this briefly because I think it’s important to know that this is a phenomenon that many people experience, and because not dealing with it can take a toll on mental health.  The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has a page dedicated to the topic, which I’ve linked here.

I still get waves of this dread: the feelings of stupidity, worry and distress – thinking I’m not good enough, not smart enough, not quick enough. I combat this by explaining to my panicking self that I am probably not alone in feeling this way; that other students are probably looking at me and my classmates, thinking the exact same things. I tell myself that I’ve worked hard to be here, as I’m sure they have, and we are not competitors but rather teammates. And we are only students – no one expects us to know everything, all the time. We are here to learn.

If you’re experiencing imposter syndrome and you find it’s debilitating, don’t be afraid to seek help. You can find helpful ways to cope online, and if that doesn’t do the trick, don’t be afraid to reach out to those around you, be it friends or professionals.

Final words

Medical school isn’t the BE ALL & END ALL of your life; I highly recommend doing things outside med school. Give dating a go, if you meet someone interesting – I’ve written at length about dating in med school in my blog post here, and discuss my relationship in my Personal Questions Q&A here. Pursue hobbies outside medicine – if you enjoyed photography before medical school, there’s no reason to stop that now. Hobbies can rejuvenate you, so don’t stop for the sake of good grades (within reason, of course).

I think medical school is largely about balance. Work until you’re satisfied with the way your life is divided – this can be incredibly challenging, especially at first. It took me quite a while to achieve the kind of balance in my life that I’m more or less satisfied with, and I’ve had to learn some of these lessons the ‘hard’ way.

It’s going to be amazing. You’ve worked really hard to be right where you are and you should be proud. Medical school is an incredible journey, and I hope you love it as much as I did.

Ooh and if you’re anything like me and can’t wait to get started, maybe this list of my favorite medical books will keep you entertained until the start of school.