Is Med School Hard?

Short answer: yes.

It’s hard in many different ways. It’s hard to feel like there’s always something to study. It’s hard to schedule your life around exams and rotations. It’s hard to keep telling your family, “No, I’m sorry, I can’t attend [insert smaller family event],” over and over again, until they stop asking. It’s hard to relate to people who aren’t studying medicine sometimes, and vice versa: it’s hard to feel alone, like that those outside your med school bubble just can’t understand. It’s hard to watch friends earn money and save up for a house or a family, while you know you’ll continue to be unemployed/in debt for the foreseeable future.

But it’s also easier than I could have imagined. For the first time in my life, I feel like there’s a purpose to my daily activities. I love what we study, so I wake up knowing that I’ll be expanding my current knowledge with each passing day. Looking forward, I know I’ll be gainfully employed in an incredibly rewarding field. Most days, medical school doesn’t feel like a nuisance or a sacrifice. Passion is the driving force, and a desire to be better and do better, not only for my sake, but for the sake of those future patients.

[This is something I’ve been asked a few times on my Instagram, and even though it’s corny, I thought I’d share it here.]