Tag Archives: medical

Allison Martin, MS2

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Allison Martin, MS2
St John’s College, B.A. Liberal Arts
SUNY Fredonia, B.S. Biochemistry
SUNY Fredonia, MS Biology
From Decatur, AL
Chicago Medical School at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

What does your typical day of medical school look like?

That varies wildly. I don’t attend lecture, and I’m a night owl. So the time I get up is entirely dependent on how many meetings I’ve scheduled for that day. But I am usually up by 10AM at the latest, spend an hour or two getting it together, then go to school and either do something related to the multiple extracurriculars I’m involved in or go to a mandatory afternoon lab. When I come home, I take some time to do dinner, maybe errands, spend time with my husband, then go into my office to study around 7 or 8PM. I watch lectures/pathoma/sketchy on double speed until midnight or 1AM, then have an hour or two of wind down and go to bed around 2 or 3AM.

How do your classes and lectures compare to those at your undergraduate institution?

The quality of lecturers and their notes is variable from class to class, but still generally better than the “average” undergrad lecturer. Also, we cover a college semester’s worth of material every 6 weeks. The pace is so much faster that you have to adapt anyway. Even if you have a bad lecturer, they’re usually just a blip on the radar and you figure out how to learn the material in spite of them, good or bad.

How has your approach to learning and/or studying changed since you were an undergrad?

I used to be a staunch lecture-goer and took detailed notes in undergraduate. Now, I never go, learn everything by listening/reading, and spend way less time per unit of material to commit it to memory. Partially, this is because I just adapted to the pace. Other folks in my class do it differently – with notes or reading textbooks or using Anki. It really just becomes a process about figuring out how you personally learn most efficiently.

How would you describe the student culture at your school? Are there special events or activities that you consider very representative of the culture at your institution? What influence has this culture had on your experience in medical school thus far?

The students at my school are generally very involved in things outside classes. Everybody’s got something, be it student council or clubs or volunteering or research. And we all support each other in those pursuits – whatever somebody else is doing might not be my jam, but if they throw a fundraiser or an educational talk, for example, we will show up to help support them or learn something. When folks are having difficulties, we also come together as a class to do whatever needs to happen to support that person. That supportive, collaborative atmosphere was what led me to choose CMS and always makes me happy that I did.

Can you give us a brief description of the area surrounding your school and the things you do for fun? What are some things you like and dislike about the city/town you are located in as a student?

The first 2 years we are in North Chicago, which is a quiet suburb of Chicago. There’s enough around there – restaurants, gyms, shopping – to provide the necessities, but its still pretty quiet. The last 2 years, everybody moves down to Chicago, which is, well, Chicago.

What would you consider strengths of your medical school?

The faculty cares, the administration listens, and they really try to do the best they can for the students. It might not always work out how you want it to, but you do have a voice and it is taken into account. Also, many people would say that not having a hospital affiliation is a minus, but I think it’s a plus. We get to rotate through most of the hospitals in Chicago-land plus many small clinics. This lets you see all kinds of different styles of medicine as well as different EMR systems, different administration protocols, and different patient populations, which prepares you for wherever you end up on residency.

What resources have been most useful to you in self-learning medical school material or in expanding on material taught in class? Can you briefly describe how you have incorporated them into your learning routine?

Pathoma, Sketchy, and talking it out with classmates or professors/physicians.

How much/well have you been able to develop clinical skills alongside your classroom work first and second year? What does your institution do to help you develop clinical skills before the clinical years?

Not as much as I would like, but we do have a preceptorship in 2nd year that gives us some experience. Also, our class council is working with the administration to get more simulation added to the first 2 years.

What is one thing you would do differently if you could go back to your undergraduate years or the time between undergrad and medical school?

I would have applied differently in my first application cycle. Otherwise, nothing.

Given the number of obstacles we face en route to a career in medicine, everyone at some point feels doubtful of themselves. How has this affected you and what has helped you persevere through these sorts of feelings?

1) Therapy. Everybody’s school has a counseling center. I use it and I encourage all my classmates to use it too.

2) Having outside interests. It helps keep everting in perspective, both by giving you something else to think about and by reminding you that med school isn’t the only thing happening in the world. Outside interests force you to interact with other people who almost uniformly will give you positive feedback. Being in med school is really impressive to anybody who isn’t in it and doesn’t suffer from imposter syndrome.

You have to make time for things outside of med school because that is what will keep you sane and grounded.

Emily Hayward, GS-1 (3rd Year MD/PhD)

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University of Alabama at Birmingham (Medical Scientist Training Program)
Rhodes College, B.S. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Minor in English
From Rochester Hills, Michigan
AAMC Inspiring Stories Feature: Emily Hayward

What does your typical day of medical school look like? How do your classes and lectures compare to those at your undergraduate institution? 

Emily has written a really informative piece on the structure and format of classes in medical school. To get an idea of what her schedule was like in the first year of her MD/PhD program, check out the article she wrote on her awesome blog UnABridged! 

How has your approach to learning and/or studying changed since you were an undergrad?

In terms of the mechanistic details of my studying, I wouldn’t say that much has changed. Throughout college, I was able to discern overall what worked for me – for example, whether I preferred notecards and rote memorization, watching videos, and/or making study guides for myself and quizzing myself on them. Once I entered medical school, I reverted to these strategies, and they generally served me well.

However, I think the biggest change has been my perspective and my purpose. In college, I knew exactly what score I needed on each test in order to maintain a high average or to bump my grade up even the tiniest bit. In medical school, my mentality has shifted. I have realized that I am not here to become a better student or test-taker. I am in medical school to become a better physician, and there is so much more to that than obtaining a perfect score. It has been wonderful to really have the chance to dive into material that I know will be important in my clinical practice someday, and to do so in a setting where we can often hear patient experiences with those very illnesses. This has allowed me to avoid studying with a hyper-focus on grades and think more about how the information will impact my future patients or how it relates to a patient whom I’ve already had the pleasure of meeting.

I think this is where I would also give some advice to newer medical students. Medical school is all about taking advantage of the learning opportunities that are congruent with the type of physician you wish to become. Of course, you will eventually need to know every detail of the biochemical pathways or microbiology behind a disease. But if that is the only thing on which you focus during medical school, you are missing some incredible opportunities to learn. The real medical system and real patients aren’t always well encapsulated by our classroom experiences. So yes, you should study.

But you should also spend what you will find to be your very limited time seeking out mentors who can share their own life stories and lessons with you. Volunteer with organizations that help those who face illness or are affected by it in some way. Spend time with families who have loved ones with life-threatening diseases to gain more insight into their world and what they want from their medical care team.

Take those extra few minutes to speak with the patient you were assigned to interview in the hospital – not because you need the knowledge for your grade or your paper, but because you can both learn so much more from each other than that. The patient may find in you a listening ear who is the first person of the day to ask them about how they are feeling beyond his or her vital signs, and you may begin to understand more about the burden of disease that cannot be fully expressed in a textbook or a lecture. Any moment like this can be life-changing for both of you.

Can you give us a brief description of the area surrounding your school and the things you do for fun? What are some things you like and dislike about the city/town you are located in as a student?

Honestly, I would say that my one of my favorite parts of attending UAB is living in Birmingham! I have never been much of a “big city” person. I’m very introverted, and I like to have a safe, quiet space that I can call my own. I’m also not a huge fan of massive traffic, relying on public transport, extremely high rent prices, or the generally quick pace and high pressure of living that is associated with some larger cities. Of course, some of my other friends applying to medical school were the complete opposite – they wanted to attend a school in a big city with a lot of fun attractions, and they prioritized that experience over bigger/cheaper housing, etc. I want to emphasize that both types of personalities are completely valid and reasonable. It is truly all about knowing the type of environment in which you will thrive (near family? North/South? Urban/rural?), and I think it’s important to flesh that out before applying to medical school.

In my case, I knew that I wanted to live in a city that had some of the resources of a major academic center, but that also would allow me to cheaply rent/buy my own place close to campus and drive my car into work every day. Birmingham is perfect for that. MD/PhD students like myself who are in programs funded by the NIH receive a monthly stipend, and that stipend fortunately goes a long way in Birmingham. Many of my peers actually bought their own houses within 10-15 minutes of campus.

I personally decided to rent rather than buy so that I could have some help with the upkeep and because I spent all of my savings applying to medical school (yikes!), so making a down-payment didn’t seem so feasible. I currently rent an entire ~1200 sq ft house by myself with a little fenced in backyard in a safe, quiet, lovely neighborhood about 5 minutes from campus. I couldn’t be happier with my little home. Perhaps the best part of my neighborhood is that two of the other houses across the street from me are owned or rented by students in my MD/PhD program, so we frequently visit each other and hang out. I also know this would be a perfect place to raise a family, if I choose to do so in the years to come (since the dual degree will take around 8 years to complete).

The negatives of Birmingham for some of my peers are that there aren’t many “fun” events, concerts, or things to do. Others don’t like the relative scarcity of housing options in the downtown area that are close enough to campus that you can actually walk to/from class each day. However, again, it is all about knowing what you want in a school (without being too picky, of course, as you do need to apply to a decent number of programs for the best chances of admission!) and looking for a mutual fit.

What resources have been most useful to you in self-learning medical school material or in expanding on material taught in class? Can you briefly describe how you have incorporated them into your learning routine?

Disclaimers: If you are not in medical school yet, please don’t worry about these specific resources! It definitely isn’t necessary to buy them or try to start studying before classes commence. As humans, we can unfortunately only remember so much, and the possibility of burning out too strong to risk if we try to dive in too deep before we’ve really settled into our pattern just yet. So I suppose that truly is my first and most important piece of advice: Don’t worry about getting a “head start” on these resources.

My second big piece of advice here, which I know may seem ironic given the context of this question: Try not to worry too much about the exact resources that everyone else is using. You’ll hear dozens of resource names throughout medical school, and one student will swear by one of them while another student will swear by something else. It is easy to become overloaded with resources, and this ends up being less efficient.

Additionally, please know that your first steps may not involve using standardized resources at all. This was true in my case, especially in those first few weeks/months of medical school. My initial goal was to just understand each lecture, the sometimes complex and overwhelming amount of material, and what my study groove would look like. I played around with whether I should take notes while I watched the recordings, whether I should just listen first and then take notes later, if and how I should use flashcards, etc. I realized that I am actually an auditory learner for my first pass through material; I really need to hear someone explain the information to grasp it. Then once I’ve taken notes and condensed them into my own brief study guides, the best way for me to recall minute details is via rote memorization on flashcards.

Finally, after I fully understood my study strengths and felt the most productive with my time, I started to incorporate resources that covered relevant class material while also emphasizing foundations that would be key for USMLE Step 1. The three major public/popular resources I used during my pre-clinical years were Sketchy (microbiology), Pathoma (pathology), and Boards and Beyond (all subjects).

Sketchy Micro: This was the first major or “boards-specific” resource I used outside of class notes. If your school has a microbiology block, or even if it doesn’t and you just need to learn little bits at a time, I highly recommend this resource. With that being said, it is not for everyone. It works best if you are an auditory and visual learner. Essentially, the videos are typically very brief yet dense (with some being as short as 3-4 minutes!) and will cover one pathogen (bacteria, fungus, virus, etc) at a time. The authors will actually draw out a cartoon/comic as you watch along. Each cartoon has certain symbols that work really well as memory ties. To give a few examples: All gram-positive bacteria have purple/violet shades in the background whereas gram-negative are red. The antibiotic “vancomycin” is represented by a “van” in the background of certain images if it used in the treatment of that condition. This all worked really well for me and even better than rote memorization from flashcards. I could simply visualize the image for that pathogen and that alone would give me information about it that I may otherwise have trouble grouping together. However, again, a few of my friends found this series overwhelming. I recommend giving it a try or two – for some, it is a life-saver!

Pathoma: This was another major resource I ended up using, both during classes (either before a lecture so that I would have some background, or just at the end when I was studying for an exam as a thorough review) and also during step 1 study time. This is a video series that also comes with a condensed, bullet-point printed book version. The whole package costs $120 for a 21-month video subscription and the hard copy of the book, which is a pretty nice deal considering how crucial this material is when it comes to pathology (a major content area for step 1, since you will need to know not just the normal physiology of the organ systems but also the aberrant states and diseases that result). The resource was created by Dr. Husein Sattar, a pathologist and instructor in the SOM at the University of Chicago. Dr. Sattar does a phenomenal job of condensing the very detail-heavy subject of pathology and somehow making it feel simple. He does so in only 35 hours of material, and he still manages to continually re-emphasize not just the facts, but the key principles behind the pathology that will allow you to extrapolate and answer questions beyond just the information he provides.

Boards and Beyond: This is the last resource I would highly recommend, and again, I found it key for both my class studying (before and/or after a corresponding topic was covered by our professors) and my step 1 preparation. B&B costs about $150 for one year of use, or $250 for two years of access to the online videos. While this was a fairly large expense, it was beyond worth it for me. The videos are made by Dr. Jason Ryan, a physician trained in internal medicine and cardiology who teaches at the University of Connecticut SOM. He does an incredible job of being concise yet explaining complex topics in a way that makes them extremely simple and approachable. I find that he is organized in his presentation of materials, and I could watch these videos (and have them make sense!) even without much background information about the organ system at hand. I began to consider this resource “the Pathoma of everything else,” as Pathoma only covers pathology, but the Boards & Beyond videos were similarly short/sweet and useful for really every other discipline. A potential downside, however, is that B&B contains over 120 hours of total material – so this resource is certainly not one that you can just cram for step 1. But if you study it as you go along in your modules, there are no more than 12 hours of lecture for each module (and often more like 4-6 hours), which is fairly easy to factor in to your coursework. Then when step 1 study time comes along, you can simply re-visit the topics that you have forgotten or that give you the most trouble rather than re-watching the whole thing!

Other resources that I have at least glanced include BRS Physiology, which is especially great if you enjoy text-only (again, most of my resources have at least some strong audio component so I did not stick with BRS, but I think this book would be concise and clear for those who prefer text), and for times when I needed an even more basic introduction to something, I would use a simple YouTube video series such as Osmosis.

I actually also liked to use YouTube (free; the price is right!) to look up certain conditions as I learned them, especially in genetics or metabolic biochemical diseases. I found that I could easily remember some of the unique details of the disease from being able to picture specific patients and hear about the challenges of the condition from the families themselves. The videos were also a great reminder of exactly why I was studying what sometimes feels like a mountain of details and diseases in the first place. They tended to be “fun” and special to watch, so it was almost like a study-break even though I was actually reinforcing the material in a clinically meaningful way.

How much/well have you been able to develop clinical skills alongside your classroom work first and second year? What does your institution do to help you develop clinical skills before the clinical years?

At UAB, we have a clinical course that runs alongside our more basic science classes for the first two years. This course is called “Introduction to Clinical Medicine” (ICM). It involves dividing our large class of approximately 180 medical students into groups of just six students, and each group is assigned to a physician preceptor who will oversee our progress over two years. Our clinical course allowed us to learn the physical examinations that accompany each organ module; i.e. as we studied the cardiovascular system in class, we also learned how to examine the heart in clinic or the hospital. We also were able to watch our preceptor perform a full history and physical examination on a patient, or to do so ourselves depending on the week. We also learned the basics of maintaining medical records and presenting patient cases to a clinical care team in a concise, effective way. I really enjoyed having this course during our pre-clinical years because it provided us with so much consistent practice at the skills we would need in our later years. It also gave us the opportunity to learn from watching other students or physicians and to obtain feedback so that we could ideally fix any mistakes we made far before they ever affected a patient.

Additionally, UAB also provided us with volunteer opportunities to improve our clinical skills very early. One of my favorite ways to do this was to volunteer at our student-run clinic, Equal Access Birmingham (EAB), which provides free healthcare for those in Birmingham who are underserved or in need. The clinic is staffed entirely by medical students, plus a physician who oversees the operation and visits each patient alongside us after we make our own initial evaluations. Within my first two weeks of medical school, I was obtaining blood pressure and blood glucose readings, interviewing patients to ascertain the medical issue, and synthesizing all of the information to propose a diagnosis and plan to the physician. This was under close supervision, of course, as patient safety was always our top priority. Yet it was exhilarating to ask the physician volunteering his/her time if I could just “go for it” in terms of presenting patient cases and trying to formulate my own analysis and plan. The physicians who volunteer are usually very willing to teach us and to allow us to learn by trying in a setting where they can still easily manage the patient’s care. I started to grow in my confidence to care for patients within my first year of medical school and continued to improve my clinical skills as time went on, which I think was a great advantage of the design at UAB.

Some of my peers at other institutions do not have a clinical course like our ICM. Instead, they may have a “crash course” that teaches all of the physical examinations and patient care skills needed right before they actually use them on the wards in the beginning of their M3 year. Some of my friends really liked this, as it kept all of the information fresh. Conversely, I found that it was really beneficial to learn physical examination skills slowly during our modules instead of all at once. I felt that this helped me see the relevance of all of the classroom material and understand why I was doing each step of the exam rather than simply going through the motions.

What is one thing you would do differently if you could go back to your undergraduate years or the time between undergrad and medical school?

Don’t take super hard classes senior year during interview season! Although this schedule was fairly unavoidable in my case, it is still one of the biggest things that I wish I could have planned differently. It was very difficult to juggle my hardest course load to date with filling out the 5 billion (OK not really that many, but it sure felt like it!) primary and secondary applications for medical school and also traveling for interviews. I had to make a lot of sacrifices in terms of my coursework, and I had to accept that it sometimes wouldn’t be up to the standard to which I normally held myself.

One of my worst experiences in this regard (so that you all can avoid ending up like me!) was an interview that began with a three-hour flight delay in an airport with poor internet connectivity. I arrived later than anticipated, but I also still had a major school assignment due soon. Since my MD/PhD interview would take multiple days, I knew I needed to submit it that evening. I stayed up until approximately 3am working on my report for school just to get it to a standard that I was even OK with submitting, and then I woke up to prepare for my interview around 5:30 or 6am. Thankfully, I think adrenaline carried me through that first interview day… but to say that I was sleep deprived would be an understatement. I likely didn’t do as well at my coursework or at my interview as I could have if my schedule were less rigid and intense.

Of course, the sacrifices I (and you, if you do end up in this situation) made were worth it, since the entire purpose of taking those courses was to gain admission it to medical school – but it would have been really nice to enjoy senior year and the interview process rather than to be a constant bundle of stress!

Given the number of obstacles we face en route to a career in medicine, everyone at some point feels doubtful of themselves. How has this affected you and what has helped you persevere through these sorts of feelings?

This has always been a big struggle for me, even before I entered medical school! When I applied, I had a noticeable weakness on my application: my MCAT score wasn’t nearly as strong as my GPA or the rest of my credentials, and it was pretty low for fully-funded MD/PhD positions. Yet I still chose to be ambitious with my school list by only applying to NIH-funded MD/PhD programs (MSTP). I was waitlisted at several institutions throughout the course of the application cycle. It took exactly one full year from the day that AMCAS opened until I received the acceptance that led me to where I am today.

In the first few moments of my acceptance to UAB, I felt the sheer joy of finally making it to medical school and seeing my dreams come true. Yet it took only about 1 day before my doubts began to emerge. I started to experience “imposter syndrome,” or feeling as though I was a fraud who did not really deserve my position in medical school. I had put forward only the best parts of myself on my application… what if I wasn’t actually smart enough? What if, once I arrived to campus, people realized that I wasn’t as capable as they may have thought from the “paper” version of me?

When I arrived in Birmingham, I spoke with others in my program. Fortunately, they were amazing and spoke honestly about their feelings, too – and we had all shared many of the same doubts. I recognized that we all have a tendency to look at others (or the image of others that is presented to us) and fill in the gaps in a way that makes us think that they have their lives totally together. We believe their credentials are real but ours are somehow less valid, exaggerated, or faked. Hearing so many people in my program who I view as absolutely brilliant talk about how they have had their own moments of doubt was really humbling and helpful for me.

Another thing that has been crucial for me in the arena of maintaining confidence in my ability to become a successful physician one day has been mentorship. I have been fortunate to find some of the very best mentors in the world in the UAB MSTP (thank you Dr. Lorenz, Randy, and Dr. Van Wagoner). They saw things in me that I didn’t see just yet. When I didn’t quite believe that I was worthy, I reassured myself that my mentors had seen hundreds of students over the years, and that they believed in me – so I only had to believe in their confidence that I could make it. I worked hard so that I could prove them right and begin to see myself through their eyes. It helped to know that I had a safety net to fall back on, that someone believed in me enough to feel that I was worthy of investing in and supporting even through the tough times.

Finally, rather than thinking through all of the theoretical problems I may face, I have tried to just focus on how grateful I am to be in this position and to be on the road towards my dreams. I started making a list of goals for myself for the week or even just for the day. I enjoyed being able to check off boxes as I completed tasks, physically seeing myself making progress and knowing that I was working hard and climbing closer to “making it” – whatever that looks like!

How do you maintain your mental health while balancing school, work, family, and other social obligations?

I am glad this topic is being addressed here because I really can’t overemphasize the importance of this. Overall, I will try to share some of my thoughts about this topic and provide a few tips that have worked well for me.

First, I often advise medical students in the years below me to try to keep school and the rest of your life in separate little compartments when possible, especially when the workload is high. I always tell them that you are a medical student, but you are not only a medical student – you are also a wonderful human being with people who love you and with basic needs (like sleeping and eating!). It is so important to take breaks where your mind is completely free of anything medical-school related, even if it’s just in the form of small study breaks throughout the day. In the less busy times, you can even schedule maybe a few hours in the morning and a couple at night to dedicate to course content, but then you can know that in between those two blocks, your time is yours – hopefully guilt and stress-free! Do something you enjoy, something that reminds you of why you are here, and/or something that just gives your mind a break.

Another highly-related tip is to keep up your hobbies. When there is a lot to study, these are sometimes the first things you might tend to sacrifice – but if at all possible (even if it means bringing an audio lecture with you to the gym, if you really enjoy working out), try to avoid this. As a personal example, one of my hobbies and a core part of my identity is writing. This has always been somewhat of a release for me; I can use it to reflect on my day, to process the good and the bad, and to express parts of myself that otherwise feel a bit hidden. Writing has also helped me develop a sense of identity and flesh out exactly who I want to be as a future physician. Additionally, my writing has provided me with my own little “niche” within my MD/PhD program; it was something I was doing that was a little different than my peers. This helped me feel like instead of competing with them or needing to compare my strengths/weaknesses with theirs, I could take my own path and be comfortable in it.

My biggest piece of advice would be that if you ever feel overwhelmed or are struggling, please just know that you are not alone. In 2016, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) published a meta-analysis that finally put numbers on the true prevalence of depression and suicidal ideation in medical students. They reported that 27.2% of medical students admitted to having depression or depressive symptoms, and 11.1% at one point had suicidal ideation. I mention these numbers not to scare anyone – if you make it to med school, you really CAN do this – but to comment on a culture that often makes us feel isolated if ever we struggle and that can make It seem like asking for help is a sign of weakness. On the contrary: you are not alone if you experience any of these feelings, and asking for help only indicates your strength and maturity. It is an acknowledgement that you are a human being with human limits, and it is good practice for times in your later career when you will inevitably need help from others.

Overall, I sincerely hope that we can all better understand the importance of our mental health – for ourselves most of all, but also for our patients. Taking care of yourself allows you to be at your best for those around you, for those you are trying to help. Giving yourself permission to get pampered every now and then, to take those breaks as you need them, to find a good support network and to learn on others when the time comes (and to support your friends in return in their times of need)… these things don’t “get in the way” of your medical journey. They make it better, stronger, and more sustainable in the long-term.

For more info on the MD/PhD program at UAB, checkout the Application Corner on Emily’s blog UnABridged!

Austin Dopp, MS2

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Medical College of Wisconsin
Utah State University, B.S. Family Consumer and Human Development
From Idaho Falls, Idaho
Age 26

What does your typical day of medical school look like?

My typical day is probably a little different than most medical students because I am married and have 3 children. I wake up around 7-ish and walk to school. Most days I spend the first 4 hours in lecture and then have lunch. After that I spend the next 4 hours either studying from lectures or working on the different research projects that I am trying to complete. At 5PM I usually head home to have dinner with my family. I try to spend from 5-7PM with them at which time I help put my kids to bed. I may or may not spend another hour with my wife depending on if I have tests coming up. Then I try to study from 8PM till about 10:30PM when I go to bed. That of course is the ideal schedule. The degree to which it is followed varies somewhat day to day depending on what’s going on at that time.

How do your classes and lectures compare to those at your undergraduate institution?

My lectures are all recorded which is awesome. That way if I need to do something other than sitting in class I can watch it later at twice the speed if I need to. Classes in medical school are pretty much only based on exams. There are very few graded assignments and the ones that may be there are a tiny portion of your grade normally.

How has your approach to learning and/or studying changed since you were an undergrad?

My approach to learning has become more based on trying to understand why things happen rather than rote memorization of facts. The more I understand why things happen and the implications of them not happening the better I do.

How would you describe the student culture at your school? Are there special events or activities that you consider very representative of the culture at your institution? What influence has this culture had on your experience in medical school thus far?

The culture at my school is very supportive. I am in a class of around 200 and so while you think you may get forgotten or left out, I have never felt that way. Other students are always posting tips and study aids to help others. We try to remind each other of upcoming deadlines and what not as well.

Can you give us a brief description of the area surrounding your school and the things you do for fun? What are some things you like and dislike about the city/town you are located in as a student?

The area surrounding my school is what you would expect the outskirts of a city to be. The things I do for fun are usually spending time with my wife and children. Some things I like about the part of town I am located in is that it feels safe. I have never had to worry about my family when I am at school till midnight. Some things I don’t like is just the fact it is a city. I don’t necessarily like cities. I’d much prefer a rural landscape.

What would you consider strengths of your medical school?

I think one of the strengths that my medical school has is that it is always trying to find ways to improve. No school is perfect but I have gotten a sense that my school has a desire to find the imperfections and fix them. Another thing that I think is a big strength for my school is it’s relationship with the Kern Institute. The Kern Institute is a organization among 6 or 7 well known medical schools that is trying to change medical education across the country. Being associated with Kern has given me lots of opportunities.

What resources have been most useful to you in self-learning medical school material or in expanding on material taught in class? Can you briefly describe how you have incorporated them into your learning routine?

Some resources that have been useful to me are mainly Pathoma, and First Aid my M2 year. My M1 year, I didn’t use much more than the slides given by the lecturers.

How much/well have you been able to develop clinical skills alongside your classroom work first and second year? What does your institution do to help you develop clinical skills before the clinical years?

All medical schools try to draw students in by saying things like “We get you to have patient contact on day one.” My personal belief is that’s just a bunch of baloney. Yes we need to learn those skills but until you are done with the first 2 years of school you don’t have the knowledge base to make those interactions meaningful. My school does try to let you “dip your toes in the water” however by giving us a class called Clinical Apprenticeship. In this class we are assigned to a doctor and we go into their clinic once a week and try to be helpful. It’s good for students because that’s what we want to do and it gives us some experience for when we are actually ready to learn.

Given the number of obstacles we face en route to a career in medicine, everyone at some point feels doubtful of themselves. How has this affected you and what has helped you persevere through these sorts of feelings?

Usually when I have doubts or things like that I try to remember my wife and kids and how I need to keep going so that I can provide for them. Also my own sense of achievement won’t let me not persevere so that helps to.

How do you maintain your mental health while balancing school, work, family, and other social obligations?

It’s difficult but you just have to make time for the things that are the most important to you and tell yourself that the other things need to matter a little bit less. If you are having a mental breakdown or a family crisis then it’s ok to get a pass in your class rather than a high pass. Choose your big rocks, then your pebbles, then fill the rest up with sand. You can fit a lot more in that way.

Jeremy Storck, OSM3

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Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine
Carthage College, B.S. Neuroscience
From Des Plaines, Illinois
Age 26

What does your typical day of medical school look like?

I snooze 3 alarms from 6:15 to 7AM. I’ll Read something non-school related while making breakfast, get ready. I don’t touch school material before 8AM. Head to campus and make my notes from that day’s lectures. Depending on the amount of lectures that day, I might be done making notes in 4-6 hours. After these I’ll review the previous day’s material, and then either review older material unrelated to the current block, or from earlier in the block, depending on how close to test day I am.

Since we do 4 weeks of material between tests, my early-block schedule varies a little from my late-block schedule. Early on in the first 1-2 weeks I’ll try and go get a workout in in the morning, and play catch-up with errands around 7-8PM, then wind down with some Netflix or video games for an hour or so. During Block Week though, I tend to focus 110% on preparing for the exam, going from 8AM to 10PM, with breaks just for meals, walking the dog, and naps.

How do your classes and lectures compare to those at your undergraduate institution? 
Medical school lectures are definitely a lot faster paced and the level of detail is both more and less at the same time. Using biochem as an example, during undergrad we focused on molecular structures and the mechanisms, energy changes, and the details of reactions. In medical school you emphasize the overall purpose of each process, and the pathology arising from different parts. This is the overall theme and can be extrapolated to all our classes; Material is taught to the depth required to be clinically relevant, while undergad was more molecular/research focused.

As for class structure, with the exception of our Osteopathic Principles and Practices course, all of our classes are held in a single classroom and are back to back throughout the day, with lectures going as long as 8am-5pm on a bad day. My class size is ~140 people, which was a little different for me at first because my classes in undergrad never had more than 30 people in a lecture. We’re taught by a mix of MDs, DOs, and PhDs, depending on the course.

I would say that the biggest difference between medical school and undergrad is the amount of self-learning that is expected of you. During undergrad I never would have ever considered skipping class, both because the class sizes were so small, so the professors knew everyone, and because the professors didn’t use Powerpoint or record them. But in medical school all of our lectures are available on our student portal and we can go back and listen to them on our own schedule. In addition, it’s physically impossible to teach every single disease to the depth we might need for boards and rotations. So there is a certain amount of responsibility on each student to have the discipline to fill in the blanks on their own, even if it isn’t immediately “High-Yield”.

What have you liked about the teaching practices at your institution? Alternatively, how satisfied are you with the class structure at your institution? Are there aspects that you would like changed?

I would say that the class environment and structure at my school is pretty much how I would have guessed, if you had asked me the same question during undergrad, but maybe a bit more fast paced.

One of my favorite things about the curriculum at my school is unfortunately something I wasn’t able to actually appreciate at the time; Dedicated internal medicine, pediatrics, OB/GYN, and surgery courses, all taught by practicing physicians in the community and covering all of the systems. With the exception of pediatrics, all of the other courses were taught during the second semester of OMS-II. Everybody was in board-prep mode, while these classes were geared more towards preparing us for the basics of our core rotations so they took a back seat. Fortunately the administration at my school is modifying the curriculum based on student feedback.I believe that one consistent recommendation our students have had is to have the clinical material integrate with pathology and pharm, which would help solidify and bridge the material between the two classes.

The only real change I would like to see with our curriculum structure is to have the material more dispersed and possibly even end earlier. We learn new material up until mid-May with our students taking boards late-June through July, so a little more board prep time than I’d prefer was spent going over the newer material than I would’ve liked. It would be a huge benefit to future classes if May were a dedicated review period with classes that cover the major material for subjects like biochem, cell biology, embryology, ethics/ behavioral science, etc. We aren’t systems-based so those core subjects tend to get neglected until board time.

Looking back on when you were applying to medical schools and deciding which school was the best fit, what do you think are the most important things to learn about a medical school when you are deciding which school is right for you?

Personally I got accepted to KYCOM the week after my interview, and it was my first. There wasn’t anything specific about it that got me to accept the offer, but rather just a feeling of “You belong here, this is where you’re going to medical school” while I was there. I ended up turning down 2 other interviews and never looked back. However, there are a couple things I learned about how others have made their decisions.

The first thing I would recommend is to assess your goals. Do you want to go into academic medicine and run research projects, barely interacting with patients? Do you want to go into a very specific residency in a very specific specialty/ subspecialty and know that absolutely nothing can change your mind? This is your mission. Find a school that has the same one. If you don’t you’ll be miserable. A popular saying from one of my professors at KYCOM is “Don’t come here if your goal is to become the world’s most famous fetal cardiothoracic-neuro-dermatologic surgeon”. And it makes sense, because my schools mission is to train doctors who will embrace primary care specialties in underserved areas.

The next most important factor is the class environment and student relationships. While you can’t evaluate this yourself until you’re in school, there is plenty of student feedback out there about most schools who can tell you what theirs is like. Do you thrive on competition where everyone is only out for themselves, or do you want your class to feel like family?

Finally, location. I knew from the start I didn’t want to go to school in a big city. I’d get major FOMO knowing my friends were 15 minutes away, and either be depressed knowing I couldn’t join them, or blow off my classwork so I could go out more often. Fortunately, KYCOM is in a small town in the mountains.

Can you give us a brief description of the area surrounding your school? What are some things you like and dislike about the city/town you are located in as a student?

My school is in a small town of ~6,000 in Eastern Kentucky, about a 2 hour drive from Lexington. It’s a quiet area, and great if you like the outdoors. There is a ton of hiking, camping, fishing, golfing, etc. in the immediate vicinity. Perfect for medical students, since there aren’t a ton of distractions. It’s also smack-dab in the middle of Coal Country, with all of the good and bad that comes with that; High unemployment, the opioid crisis, healthcare access, and environmental issues immediately come to mind. But at the same time the people are friendlier and more welcoming than anywhere else I’ve lived, and there are ample opportunities for the medical students to fulfill the mission of our school and give back to the community before we even graduate.

What organizations or activities are you involved in outside of your regular classwork? Additionally, are there any organizations that you think are unique to your school?

Emergency Medicine Club, Wilderness Medicine Club, Humanity First Student Organization (HFSO) are clubs that I was relatively active in during my first 2 years. But on top of these there are the expected specialty clubs/ interest groups, as well as clubs that focus on specific activities, such as tutoring local students.

As for unique organizations, I would say that two that are relatively unique to my school are the annual Mission Trip and the Mental Health Awareness committee. The Mission Trip is a collaboration between first year students, one of our professors, and the college chaplain to deliver healthcare to areas in the Dominican Republic, lasting 2 weeks in collaboration with local healthcare providers every summer. The Mental Health Awareness committee was established this past year as a group of students who meet with the administrators to work out how to address mental health in our school, and organizes events to help students de-stress.

How much/well have you been able to develop clinical skills alongside your classroom work first and second year? What does your institution do to help you develop clinical skills before the clinical years?

 While the first 2 years are more focused on preparing us for our first set of boards, we do get a number of opportunities to get out and work in the community. We have an OMT clinic on campus where students get to practice our physical exams and OMT skills with members of the community who come in for treatment. During second year we also have to do 4 separate clinic days per semester, 2 in a primary care specialty, and 2 in any specialty of our choosing. We spend these days seeing patients with our assigned doctor shadowing, interviewing patients, and performing exams. It was during one of these experiences that I got to put in my first scalp staples in the ER.

We also have mandatory clinic days that are a part of our clinical courses that I discussed earlier. During these days we learn procedures such as gowning/ gloving for surgery, suturing, intubation, joint injections, and putting in chest tubes.

What is one way your outlook on medicine or understanding of medicine has changed in your time at medical school?

Overall I would say that medicine is less cut and dry than I had interpreted it to be during undergrad. Standards of care are always evolving, our understanding of diseases changes every year, and managing illness is much more complicated than I had thought coming in.

Are there any resources that stand out to you as most useful to you in self-learning medical school material or for expanding on material taught in class?

My indispensable resources would have to be Anki, Boards and Beyond, Pathoma, and Sketchy Microbiology. Anki is my way of note taking, and I exclusively use it to study the raw facts after I’ve made the lecture notes into cards. Pathoma is essential as a review source for pathology, and Sketchy is a great tool not only during a dedicated microbiology course, but you can always fit in 3-4 videos a day, and keep all those bugs memorized with minimal effort. Boards and Beyond has to be my all time favorite lecture series. I discovered it with 2 weeks to go before Step 1, but I felt that it covered both breadth and depth of information for every subject that you don’t really get from any other single board review resource. If I could go back to 1st year, I would pay for a subscription to it from the start. In addition while I don’t use it much, I have to mention First Aid as an essential part of the preclinical years. While I don’t recommend it as a primary learning tool, it’s a good framework for the absolute minimum knowledge base for boards; If it’s in there, it’s been tested on before and can show up on a board exam.

If a young undergraduate interested in applying to medical school came to you seeking advice about ‘which major is best,’ what would you tell them?

I would tell them to study something that they could see themselves doing as a career if they never got into medical school. You can always incorporate the required sciences into your regular classwork if you study something that isn’t the classic biology/ chemistry/ neuroscience premed. If you don’t get into medical school, you have to do something with that $20,000+ degree you earned, ideally without needing more schooling as an alternative. If that degree also happens to be in something you love, which is the most common advice I’ve seen about choosing a major, then that’s even better. If I could do it all over again I would have studied marine biology, because I had a dream of opening my own aquatic pet store if I hadn’t gotten into medical school.

What is your favorite event of the year put on by your medical school? Tell us a little bit about it.

It isn’t put on by my school, but the best local event would have to be Hillbilly Days. It’s a 4 day festival in April where food vendors, musicians, local businesses, etc. all come from around the Appalachian region and have a giant festival in the middle of Pikeville. It takes up the entire town, so we get the whole time off of classes and get to enjoy the spring weather. It gives opportunities for clubs to fundraise and volunteer, and everyone else to have some bourbon and relax for a few days.

What do you wish you had known as an undergraduate and/or as a student in the medical application process?

I wish I’d known about the advice I gave above about picking schools whose missions align with your goals. While KYCOM aligned with mine perfectly and that’s why I ended up here, I basically wasted a ton of money shotgunning my applications to 25+ schools around the country. It’s pretty tough to individually tailor applications to fit the mission of that many different schools, and they can tell just from your writing whether or not you’re BS-ing them. These are the ones that won’t even bother to send you a rejection letter.

Rossen Kirkov

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Eastern Virginia Medical School
UC Santa Barbara, B.S. Biological Sciences
Age 25
From Pleasant Hill, CA

What does your typical day of medical school look like?

It really depends. First semester of first, year it consisted of lecture every morning until about noon and then reviewing what was covered. We also had Anatomy, for which we had dissections once per week which could last 4 to 5 hours. But pretty straight forward. Second semester we started going into systems. At this pointl I stopped going to lecture and basically studied on my own using Pathoma, First Aid, and BRS books (you’ll become familiar with these). Second year was about the same, except this is when we got UWorld question bank (2400 questions which you need to get through to prep for step 1). On top of learning what was being covered in lecture, I would do UWorld questions related to what we are currently learning, as well as related to material from first year.  At the end of second year you have dedicated step 1 study time. 3rd year you are on rotations in the hospital and things vary per rotation.

How has your approach to learning and/or studying changed since you were an undergrad?

A LOT. I had to toss every study method I used in undergrad after the first week. There are basically 3 methods of studying, and everyone figures out what works best for them. 1) Concept maps: great, but take a lot of time 2) First Aid + Pathoma +UWorld + maybe an extra question bank. This is what I did. First Aid has about 80% of what you need to know, and you can fill in the blanks with Pathoma. 3) Only Uworld. This is what I’m doing now as a third year, some people did this during 1st and 2nd year. Only do questions, and know every one by heart. Each question has a description of the disease process, and lets you know why each answer was wrong, and why the correct one was right. If you memorize all of this you should be good. 4) Anki: It is a software for flashcards you can use on your computer, phone, tablet. It really reinforces repetitive learning, some people love it, some don’t.

Really up to student preference. In the first three weeks you have to try different study methods and see what works best for you. If you like going to lecture thats fine, but really I wouldn’t recommend it, mainly because lectures give you extra things you don’t actually need to know for STEP 1.

How would you describe the student culture at your school? Are there special events or activities that you consider very representative of the culture at your institution? What influence has this culture had on your experience in medical school thus far?

My school is very community service oriented. Also, everyone is very social, outgoing, friendly, and helpful. There are the odd ones out, but for the most part, everyone wants everyone else to succeed, which is the biggest thing I liked about EVMS. We have HOPES clinic which is a student run clinic for the underserved, as well as countless other projects to help out the community. Its very easy to get involved. We are all very close to each other and help each other. There is no sense of competitiveness between classmates, we all help each other out.

Can you give us a brief description of the area surrounding your school and the things you do for fun? What are some things you like and dislike about the city/town you are located in as a student?

The one positive is that the beach is 30 minutes away. It’s not a bad area, there is a downtown area with bars and restaurants. Plenty of places to go out. The weather takes getting used to with the humidity. The way I look at it, it could be worse, but its not a place I would settle down.

What would you consider strengths of your medical school?

In your first two years this seems unimportant, but Sentara Norfolk General, the main affiliated hospital with EVMS, is the best hospital in the state. You are going to get great training while seeing patients during clinical rotations, as we have some of the top programs in the country. It is also a Level 1 trauma center, for those interested in EM/surgery. We also have a strong ultrasound program, so you will come out being much more proficient with ultrasound than many other students. Ultrasound is becoming much more prevalent in the medical field, so its definitely something you will need to be able to use.

What resources have been most useful to you in self-learning medical school material or in expanding on material taught in class? Can you briefly describe how you have incorporated them into your learning routine?

As stated before, First Aid, Pathoma, and UWorld are the so called “holy trinity”. Those should be all the tools you need to succeed on Step 1. Another important thing to note, unless you are aiming for a very competitive specialty, your class grades don’t really matter (and some schools might just be Pass/No Pass). Gear your studying towards what you need to know for STEP 1 from the start. I used all 3 without going to lecture and got the step score I was going for.

How much/well have you been able to develop clinical skills alongside your classroom work first and second year? What does your institution do to help you develop clinical skills before the clinical years?

We do clinical skills training throughout the first two years. It is helpful, but you tend to forget a lot of the things you learn by the time 3rd year comes. During 3rd year, you get those skills reinforced. Overall we do a decent job with preparing students for seeing patients. HOPES clinic is very helpful and gives good exposure.

What is one thing you would do differently if you could go back to your undergraduate years or the time between undergrad and medical school?

Your GPA and MCAT are the most important (MCAT is actually #1) in getting you an interview. So, I’d probably have tried to get a better GPA and MCAT score. Extracurriculars help, I didn’t do research because I tried it and hated it, but maybe I would have bit the bullet and done it anyways because it is something to talk about in the interview, especially for big research schools.

Given the number of obstacles we face en route to a career in medicine, everyone at some point feels doubtful of themselves. How has this affected you and what has helped you persevere through these sorts of feelings?

I’ve doubted myself many times while in med school, especially now during third year when I’m actually playing a role in patients’ care. So far what I’ve learned is that usually there is at least one other person who feels the same. Use your classmates for support. Use your advisors, your professors, the doctors you work with. Personally, I was always afraid of asking questions because I thought it would make me seem stupid. I’ve learned that everyone is always accepting of questions and is willing to help/teach you (again, just speaking about my institution). So basically, just utilizing my classmates, teachers, etc. to help me get through things I am unsure of.

How do you maintain your mental health while balancing school, work, family, and other social obligations?

EVMS is very big on student mental health. We have wellness meetings every month during our first year, and a bit less frequently during our second year. Personally, I try to get all my studying/work done as early as possible, then I go to the gym, play video games, do things I enjoy to relax. DO NOT pull all nighters. I know in undergrad that was a thing, but in medical school its not. You are destined for failure if that is how you study. Do not cram. Study a little bit each day so that when exam week comes by you don’t have to have late night study sessions.

Medical school is hard. There is no getting around that. It is a lot of work. But if you are able to organize your study schedule well, you shouldn’t feel burned out too often.

Gabriel Conley, MS2

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University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine
University of Iowa, B.S. Economics
From Cherokee, IA

What does your typical day of medical school look like?

As a first-year, every week has its own set of challenges and every day looks different on your calendar. But in general, we have somewhere around 4-5 hours of lecture or required lab/discussion every day, with exams on every other Friday. The calendar for a given student will be pretty unique, so it really feels like everyone has a pretty personalized medical education here.

The curriculum is new and incredibly fast-paced, with the focus on getting students in the hospital sooner than most other programs. At Iowa, you’ll be entering your core clerkships a half-year sooner than most medical schools, and you’ll take Step 1 at the 2-and-a-half year mark of your medical education. So far, this curriculum seems to be working, as our most recent students have posted the best average Step 1 score that our school has seen, and no one failed the boards.

How do your classes and lectures compare to those at your undergraduate institution?

I’d say the big difference between undergrad science classes and medical school at Iowa is the pacing, and this is especially true with the new curriculum in place. Exams are every other Friday, roughly, with enough material to cover probably a month or more of material for undergrads. This can be extremely challenging when you throw in anatomy lectures as well (in the first semester of the first year) and random required attendance classes that take up a lot of our time. In short, this ain’t undergrad, baby, and you’ll realize that the methods that you succeeded with in undergrad probably won’t get it done in medical school.

How has your approach to learning and/or studying changed since you were an undergrad?

My studying changed quite a bit throughout my first year, and I know that this was the case for a lot of my friends as well. The studying that got me through undergrad was mostly reading and rereading the presentation slides, but this strategy wasn’t great for me in medical school. I went from doing that to using flashcards with Anki (which, given the pacing of the curriculum, wasn’t a great method for me) to outlining lectures. Ultimately I settled on trying to diagram out lectures, focusing on how big concepts relate to each other, and this method proved to be best for me, and it’s how I plan to study for medical school from this point forward. But, flashcards are still preferable for me when it comes to memorizing drug names and other things that are more rote memory-based.

How would you describe the student culture at your school? Are there special events or activities that you consider very representative of the culture at your institution? What influence has this culture had on your experience in medical school thus far?

The culture at Iowa feels incredibly collaborative to me. We have a plethora of tutor availability (from other classmates), and we do a ton of note-sharing as well. Additionally, I found that my class really enjoyed going out on weekends (Iowa City is known for its bar scene), which made our class a lot closer as a unit. We do have a number of special events that the medical school is responsible for, such as the Doc Dash (a 5K charity run), a lifting competition (for charity), a golfing charity event as well. As someone who went to undergrad at the University of Iowa, I knew about the collaborative culture of the school from early on, which really attracted me to medical school here. On top of that, our entire medical school comes together each spring to put on a variety show, in which each med school class has a performance with music, dancing, singing, acting, and film clips for a large audience at a theater in downtown Iowa City. It’s an incredibly unique and wonderfully funny time for us, and allows for everyone to take a break from the rigors of medical school.

Can you give us a brief description of the area surrounding your school and the things you do for fun? What are some things you like and dislike about the city/town you are located in as a student?

Iowa City is definitely a bubble within Iowa, culturally. Compared to everywhere else in Iowa, save for maybe Des Moines, the culture of music, writing, entertainment, and availability of drinking establishments, is expansive. But at the same time, all of this culture is propped up by the presence of The University of Iowa, which is the flagship school of the state, so Iowa City definitely has a college-town feel to it, and isn’t a metro area. In the summertime especially (when the undergrads are away and the weather is nicest), there are festivals almost every weekend (along with the farmers’ market, which is among the best in the state), and it usually feels like there is plenty to do around the city. Additionally, there is potential for trail-running and kayaking (at places called Terry Trueblood and Squire Point) for people who are more outdoorsy. Iowa City has a lot of hills and forested area to it, and you really won’t see a lot of farmland-type area in the general vicinity (not that there’s anything wrong with farmland!)

What would you consider strengths of your medical school?

There are a number of things that I’d mention here.

First, the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is among the best hospital systems in the Midwest, and as a result, we have an outstanding faculty of researchers and professors associated with the Carver College of Medicine.

Secondly, research is a major focus at the University of Iowa, and the summer after M1 year, students are offered a funded research fellowship (nearly $6,000 in funding) to pursue their academic interests.

However, if research isn’t for you, then that’s okay as well. Our Global Health program at Iowa is also incredible, and a large number of my friends have chosen to pursue global health projects (with some funding) in various parts of the world, including Indonesia, Haiti, Guatemala, South Africa, and other places. Some of them are even doing funded research in those places, which is awesome, obviously.

Thirdly, I’d need to mention the fact that because Carver is the only M.D. program at Iowa, and is considered an elite school by various ranking services, there is a tangible amount of prestige that is associated with attending medical school here (if you ask the inhabitants of Iowa, anyways), and you’ll really feel like a valuable member of society in Iowa City and elsewhere in the state, which is an honor that can’t be overlooked.

Beyond that, I’d mention that this education feels personalized to your specific interests. To illustrate this, I’ll mention the fact that there are distinction tracks in teaching, research, humanities, healthcare delivery, global health, and service (google them!), and these are all programs that students can pursue that look good on a résumé and which allow for a tailoring of the medical education to a person’s specific interests.

I could go on all day about why I love the University of Iowa, and if you’d like more specific info, email me at gabriel-conley@uiowa.edu.

What resources have been most useful to you in self-learning medical school material or in expanding on material taught in class? Can you briefly describe how you have incorporated them into your learning routine?

I’m a fan of Pathoma and First Aid, and beyond that, we have an online wiki page for our curriculum, called Carverpedia, which has an ample supply of student-made study guides from years past and practice questions for our courses, which are helpful for exams.

Beyond that, though, all of our lectures are recorded and attendance to those is optional, so our recording software is definitely a resource that most of us love and utilize.

How much/well have you been able to develop clinical skills alongside your classroom work first and second year? What does your institution do to help you develop clinical skills before the clinical years?

We have an ongoing class called Clinical and Professional Skills (CAPS), that we’re enrolled in from the start of medical school, which allows for students to interact with simulated patients and learn physical exam skills and even more importantly, allows for students to learn how to communicate with patients.

Learning to communicate with patients is a life-long skill, and at Iowa, it’s something that is absolutely emphasized. Our simulated patient program is expansive, and you’ll have exercises with them probably 50 times or more, before your clinical years.

Beyond CAPS, we also have Early Clinical Experiences (ECE’s) multiple times per semester, in which you go to the hospital and follow a physician (of any specialty) for a few hours as he/she sees patients in clinic. You’ll also be able to do some physical exam exercises with real patients in this setting, and take focuses histories of their present illnesses.

What is one thing you would do differently if you could go back to your undergraduate years or the time between undergrad and medical school?

I’m not sure that I’d do anything differently. I’m glad that I pursued a degree in economics, because my interests are more business-oriented than basic sciences-oriented, and I’m glad that I took a year off from undergrad to work a full-time job (at a place called Integrated DNA Technologies, which is a large biotech company based close-by Iowa City, in Coralville, Iowa) because it instilled in me the idea that medicine is definitely what I want to do with my life, and I think I’ve done a nice job of balancing a social life with the rigors of studying hard in school. Becoming a doctor isn’t a race and the journey is unique for everyone, and I love that I’m at Iowa because it really feels like the curriculum developers wanted every student to pursue their medical education in a personalized way. To quote Drake, I’ll say “Some nights I wish I could go back in life // Not to change s***, just to feel a couple things twice.” I’m sorry. Big Drake fan over here.

Given the number of obstacles we face en route to a career in medicine, everyone at some point feels doubtful of themselves. How has this affected you and what has helped you persevere through these sorts of feelings?

No doubt, the imposter syndrome was real for me at the start medical school, especially because biochemistry isn’t my forte and I only had a semester of experience with it prior to medical school, and as an economics major, I really didn’t have a ton of experience with anatomy, and that’s a beast of a class. There have been plenty of days in which I’ve thought I didn’t belong here, to be sure. But with that being said, I got over this as I developed my friend group and found a study method that worked for me, and I never focused much on getting better grades than other people (our curriculum has a P/F/Honors system, which feels a lot nicer than the standard A/B/C style of grading. I want to be the best Gabe that I can be, and at Iowa, I really feel like that’s possible.

How do you maintain your mental health while balancing school, work, family, and other social obligations?

It can’t be understated. If you aren’t exercising, socializing with the important people in your life, and trying to eat a healthy diet in medical school, then you’re going to be putting yourself at risk for some serious depression. It’s so critically important to take specific care of your mental well-being when you’re a student at a college of medicine. Depression doesn’t care how smart you are, either. Medical school will feel so much harder if you don’t have a support system in place and aren’t taking care of yourself physically, and the long days of studying will feel incredibly lonely if you’re not still joking around with your friends. Burnout is a real threat, but Iowa does an adequate job of reminding students of the availability of mental health professionals to its students, and I’ve known many classmates who’ve tried this for themselves and had good results, but you need to be brave enough to seek help when you need it. You’re not Superman, and I doubt that Superman could survive medical school on his own, anyways.

Todd Jackson, MS3

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University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Morehouse College, B.S. Biology
From Washington D.C.

What does your typical day of medical school look like?

During the didactic years, our program does Problem-Based Learning (PBL) where we’re put into groups of 7-8 students with a faculty member. In these groups, we spend two hours, roughly three days per week discussing a particular disease or series of related diseases. During the first year, this occurs typically Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 8am. After PBL, we would typically have voluntary lectures up until 12 PM. We would either be done for the day or had lectures on physicianship in the afternoons where we would learn about the profession, practice physical exam maneuvers, etc. At the end of the day, students would go home and study for whatever material they had to cover.

During clinical years, it largely depends on the rotation but for example, internal medicine, my days start at 7am. Of my assigned patients, I look up vitals, labs, test, etc that were done the previous day after I left. I then go on my own to check on them and see how they’re doing. This is “pre-rounding” and I typically carry 2-3 patients vs the residents who may have like 8-10. Around 9am, we all come together as a team (2 medical students, 2 first year residents, a senior resident, and attending physician) and see all of our patients together. Then there’s lunch and the afternoon is open to follow up on my patients, take them to procedures, watch their procedures, etc. I leave around 5pm for the day. Interspersed throughout the days are other program activities, talks, presentations, etc.

How do your classes and lectures compare to those at your undergraduate institution?

There isn’t too much of a difference in terms of the flow of a day, the major difference is just the volume of material that I would have to digest in a particular day. It can be relatively overwhelming at times when you have other extracurricular obligations or things you’d like to do but all in all, it’s not impossible. In terms of material, it feels like a longitudinal physiology course. Instead of it being over a semester, you take two years and really dive deep into each organ system.

How has your approach to learning and/or studying changed since you were an undergrad?

My approach in time management and discipline made the major difference. Instead of waiting until the next day to review material, I was reviewing material the same day in most cases. That meant that I had to wake up early on the weekends (even after going out the night before haha) or make sure I only spent maybe an hour in the gym or watching only an hour of a show to be sure that I still left myself enough time to get back to studying.

How would you describe the student culture at your school? Are there special events or activities that you consider very representative of the culture at your institution? What influence has this culture had on your experience in medical school thus far?

I would say the overall culture at UM is laid back compared to what I’ve heard from other medical schools. Miami is an amazing place to be with decent weather year-round. There are student organizations for almost any interest and student gov’t/admin are very open and welcoming of expression so long as it’s kept professional and appropriate. One major event that we have every year is called the Dean’s Cup where the medical students compete against UM law students in various activities – flag football, soccer, track, eating contest, baking contest, and the list goes on – students get really involved and there’s a lot of school spirit.

Can you give us a brief description of the area surrounding your school and the things you do for fun? What are some things you like and dislike about the city/town you are located in as a student?

It’s Miami!! There’s so much to do depending on your interests. Concerts, plays, restaurants (Cuban, Haitian, etc), bars, nightclubs…THE BEACH. And there’s time for all of it! The only thing I dislike about Miami is the humidity that can get really uncomfortable in the summer and the potential for hurricanes that disrupt scheduling.

What would you consider strengths of your medical school?

The biggest strength is the breadth of diversity that the institution sees and also learning how to care for some of the most disadvantaged, at-risk populations in the nation. Miami is a cultural melting-pot with many, many migrants from the Caribbean and South America, among various other places. Some of these individuals do not arrive with any form of robust financial security or social support. As such many do not have insurance and have markedly decreased access to healthcare and other services. UM and its affiliates/community partners work to ensure that many of these migrants (and other economically-deprived Americans) have a place to receive care.

What resources have been most useful to you in self-learning medical school material or in expanding on material taught in class? Can you briefly describe how you have incorporated them into your learning routine?

I chiefly used First Aid, Pathoma, and YouTube haha. When trying to learn particularly difficulty concepts, YouTube was king – First Aid and Pathoma were there to help consolidate and review the information. I would definitely suggest following coursework with First Aid from the very beginning.

Oh and Anki for spaced repetition learning!

How much/well have you been able to develop clinical skills alongside your classroom work first and second year? What does your institution do to help you develop clinical skills before the clinical years?

Prior to clinical years, lectures are given by extremely knowledgeable faculty on elements of the physical exam and other clinical skills where we then transfer that learning to either experiences in the hospital with real patients or the use of standardized patients who are essentially paid actors to allow you to work through concepts. We also have opportunities to volunteer at the student-run health clinics to gain real-world exposure.

What is one thing you would do differently if you could go back to your undergraduate years or the time between undergrad and medical school?

I don’t think I would’ve done anything differently prior to medical school – I did a postbac program in between undergrad and medical school and I’m very thankful for that time in between. I even suggest that most students take a year or two to do something else in life worthwhile before starting medical school. Once you get started, that’s it.

Given the number of obstacles we face en route to a career in medicine, everyone at some point feels doubtful of themselves. How has this affected you and what has helped you persevere through these sorts of feelings?

During each step of my journey, I’ve always thought back to moments where I had to truly struggle and fight to get to where I am. If this were easy, everyone would do it but they don’t. It’s a difficult road. While in medical school, I thought back to the application process and how uncertain that period was and I also thought about my reasons at that time that drove me to pursue medicine. While in undergrad, I thought back to all of the things I’d accomplished and some of the challenges I faced backed then. When I took stock of my accomplishments and my journey, it pushed me forward knowing that I’ve persevered in the past and will continue to do so in the future. I learned to embrace the struggle and remind myself that I’m innately a fighter. How else does anyone get through the ranks of this profession, right?

Also, once in medical school always remember that the admissions committee chose you out of thousands of applicants. They. chose. you. It wasn’t a mistake.

How do you maintain your mental health while balancing school, work, family, and other social obligations?

In medical school, there is typically only one or maybe two things unrelated to medicine that you can seriously incorporate into your schedule while also maintaining school obligations. Weight training has been that escape for me. But more importantly than that, I always advocate that students take a day off (or two, although this is easier in first year haha) and do absolutely nothing but what your heart’s desire is for the day. Don’t look at any school-work. Take a beach/park/hiking/friend day or pop popcorn and binge-watch Netflix all day. Treat yourself to an appropriate guilty pleasure. The next day or two, you’ll be ready to hit the books hard again

Hadrian Mendoza, MS2

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Yale School of Medicine
Georgia State University, B.S. Psychology
Age 27
From Atlanta, GA

What does your typical day of medical school look like?

I wake up around 10 AM and start studying at 11. I don’t go to lecture, so I tend to study on my own until about 8-10 PM, usually rotating between libraries and coffee shops on campus every few hours so I don’t get restless. Sometimes I’ll sit with a few classmates so we can ask each other questions as we work. On some afternoons we have mandatory classes like workshops, clinical skills training, or clinic time that I’ll attend in between study sessions. At the end of the day I’ll hang out with friends for a little while before going up to my room to play Overwatch or watch TV. I go to bed around 2 AM and then rinse and repeat.

How do your classes and lectures compare to those at your undergraduate institution?

Lectures are very different in medical school than in undergrad for several reasons. Lectures for a given unit tend to be presented by multiple professors rather than just one, so there is wide variability in teaching style, quality, and content focus. On one end of the spectrum you may have the stereotypical PhD lectures that focus on esoteric research or basic science minutiae that you struggle to find clinically relevant, and on the opposite end you may have lectures from a practicing physician that are heavy on treatment guidelines but too light on the basic principles behind them. Most professors strive for a balance, but in the deluge of information you have to learn in medical school, sometimes the constant shift between instructors can leave you wondering what is truly high yield to know for the boards and clinical practice. Additionally, some lectures require background knowledge that you may or may not have yet, so courses in med school tend to require more outside work than just following along with slides like you can do in college. You will often find yourself consulting UpToDate, Wikipedia, an anatomy atlas, textbooks, or whatever.

How has your approach to learning and/or studying changed since you were an undergrad?

I certainly study more often than I did in college, and I maintain a more disciplined schedule. Cramming doesn’t work in medical school. It’s also hard to accept that you have to learn a ton of new material and then you forget so much of it even after studying all the time. You have to get used to not being able to totally master all of the information like you could in college courses, and you will be looking many, many things up once you’re on the wards and in residency. And that’s okay. What you do in medical school is develop fluency in a new language and build a broad knowledge base so that in the future when you encounter a hole in your knowledge, you know exactly where to look, or which of your specialized colleagues to ask, to fill it up.

As such, my studying has changed in the sense that I spend the most time studying principles and high yield content compared to trying to develop an encyclopedic knowledge of trivia. In college it’s fairly easy to really memorize every fact that could come up on a given exam, but that simply is not the case in medicine. Principles come first, and you can always Anki the minutiae later, or just look stuff up when you need it.

How would you describe the student culture at your school?

Yale is known for attracting strongly independent students, so oddly enough, what unifies us is how we’re all out doing our own thing. With Pass/Fail grading and no ranking system or AOA, we are able to collaborate with each other and stay engaged in our lives outside of medicine. For example, there is someone in my class who is a competition pilot, a student who directs a primary care clinic in another country, and someone who created a rideshare business. I direct my own jazz band that rehearses every week. The culture at Yale has made for a chill and motivating environment for me. I think of it as a gunner-free zone.

Can you give us a brief description of the area surrounding your school and the things you do for fun? What are some things you like and dislike about the city/town you are located in as a student?

Yale is located in the city of New Haven on the southern coast of Connecticut, and it is very much a college town. There is not much to do here beyond Yale, but there is a substantial array of restaurants, and we do have concerts and festivals throughout the year. Quite a few students travel to New York or Boston on weekends to get their fix of city life, and fortunately both of those cities are easy to access by car or train. Something I really like about New Haven is its walkability – you can live here without a car and still be able to walk to restaurants, grocery stores, movies, or whatever. Yale also attracts people from all over the world, so there are interesting characters walking around downtown New Haven every day.

What would you consider strengths of your medical school?

I think I’ve discussed this in several of the other questions here, but to summarize, the strengths that stand out to me about Yale are the freedom allowed within the curriculum, the collaborative culture, and the availability of world class research opportunities for all of the medical students here. If I had to do it all over again, I would still choose Yale without question.

What resources have been most useful to you in self-learning medical school material or in expanding on material taught in class?

I think the most essential resource for me has been Boards & Beyond by Dr. Jason Ryan. I watch all of Dr. Ryan’s lectures and find them to be concise, informative, and comprehensive at the preclinical level. There is also of course Pathoma by Dr. Sattar to review pathology. You just can’t beat how efficient these guys’ materials are. I am old school and like to read through a lot of textbook chapters for each unit, but after I finish reading, watching Boards & Beyond and Pathoma really seals in my memory what is truly high yield. I should also recognize that Sketchy is irreplaceable for learning micro, and lastly, pounding through Anki cards with premade decks like Zanki or Brosencephalon is key for retaining some of the trivia necessary for exams and Step 1.

How much/well have you been able to develop clinical skills alongside your classroom work first and second year?

I think I have fairly good clinical skills for having completed only one year of school at this point. Yale has two clinical courses that span the entire first year, a clinical skills (CS) course and the “interprofessional longitudinal clinical experience” (ILCE). In CS we are taught patient-centered interviewing and the complete physical exam including specific topics such as the neuro exam, MSK exam, breast/urogenital/rectal exams, auscultation, fundoscopy, POC ultrasound, and so on. We utilize standardized patients and have to pass a comprehensive OSCE at the end of the course. All of the instructors are attendings and residents.

To reinforce the skills we learn in CS, every student participates in ILCE and is assigned to a small interprofessional team (i.e., with PA and nursing students) that spends one half day in clinic each week for the first year. The benefits of ILCE are twofold: we have the opportunity to individually interview and examine real patients and learn to give oral presentations as first years, and we are exposed to students and professionals from other domains in healthcare such as nursing and pharmacy. There is a lot to learn from other professionals in order to understand how all of the cogs in the hospital machine come together to facilitate patient care. ILCE allows us to do this while developing our clinical skills early on so that we well prepared for clerkships.

What is one thing you would do differently if you could go back to your undergraduate years or the time between undergrad and medical school?

I wish I had taken an anatomy class in college because getting hit by that material for the first time in medical school can be stressful. A cell bio class might have also made things easier, but you learn it all in the end anyway.

Given the number of obstacles we face en route to a career in medicine, everyone at some point feels doubtful of themselves. How has this affected you and what has helped you persevere through these sorts of feelings?

Like most medical students, I experience self-doubt from time to time. Medical school is humbling, as you realize every day that even after you put in hours of work, there is more and more that you don’t know. You want to maintain a balance of doubt and confidence to stay effective and constantly improving. If you don’t doubt yourself enough, you will fall to hubris, and in this field that means your patients will get hurt. If you doubt yourself too much, you will be paralyzed by indecision, and nothing will ever get done. I get through self-doubt by remembering that just about every medical student and doctor has these thoughts and that they are a normal part of any career that involves such profound responsibility. A healthy degree of self-doubt keeps me honest and motivated to learn.

How do you maintain your mental health while balancing school, work, family, and other social obligations?

I have a sort of mental dashboard that I monitor for my own wellbeing while I’m in school, kind of like I’m driving a car. When the RPMs get too high I know it’s time to shift gears or apply the brakes. I try to do enjoyable things almost every day like playing video games, practicing my trumpet, calling a friend from home, or going out to eat or to the movies with classmates. I prioritize getting enough sleep, and I try to keep moving so I don’t feel too stagnant from studying all the time. Sometimes I simply take a day off if I’ve been grinding for too long. I also go home to see my family whenever we have a long break from school. By maintaining a strong baseline, my body and mind can handle the times of greater stress like exams or big deadlines. Some people don’t take good enough care of themselves at baseline, and then when the stress hits, they crack.

 

Nick Bacher, MS3

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New York Medical College
University of North Carolina (Transfer)
Age 27
From Rural Upstate New York

What does your typical day of medical school look like?

It’s hard to say! First year was very much more regimented with labs and lectures in the day and studying and free time at night. Second year was more self-study: get up, study, lunch, study, dinner, relax, sleep. Lab sessions and group exercises were probably 2-3 days per week on average. During dedicated it was just get up, study, sleep, repeat. Now that I am starting third year next week, I don’t know what’s to come!

I’m also involved in several extracurriculars and student organizations, and I’ve always made time for those and time to just relax. Time management is a skill that you learn whether you want to or not, and it’s possible to have a life outside of schoolwork. It sounds dull to be studying all the time, but for me I am very happy to finally be learning the things I’m really interested and not having to take classes in things I am not (looking at you, English Literature II).

How do your classes and lectures compare to those at your undergraduate institution?

In medical school your entire class will be hardworking brilliant students; this isn’t a surprise considering it’s the best of the best who make it this far. Rather than having half a class fail or drop by the end of the semester, everyone gets through and does so by working together. It’s really a much more involved, personal connection to the class and curriculum than in undergrad.

I remember starting first year and having this idea that medical school was going to be so hard, impossible maybe, because I hadn’t been the best student early on in college. The week leading up to the first exam was probably the most stressful week for me. When I sat down at the test and started doing it, I realized: it’s just a test, this is just class, and it’s not that different from any science class I’ve taken before. The pace is fast, the material can be complicated, but your undergraduate experiences will prepare you well.

What have you liked about the teaching practices at your institution? Alternatively, how satisfied are you with the class structure at your institution? Are there aspects that you would like changed?

I wish people applying to the school would recognize that just because we don’t have pass/fail preclinical grading doesn’t mean we are competitive. This is a pervasive stereotype about non pass/fail schools, and while it may be true somewhere else it has never been the case here.

Looking back on when you were applying to medical schools and deciding which school was the best fit, what do you think are the most important things to learn about a medical school when you are deciding which school is right for you?

If you can choose, first recognize that it is a great privilege to be picking your medical school from multiple acceptances. Most people only get one, and there’s nothing wrong with that. The application process is very competitive and intense, and making it to medical school is a monumental achievement in itself.

When deciding which school, I was choosing between cost and location/community. I chose the school that had the community feel and camaraderie and I can’t overstate how important it is to be in a place where you feel at home and a part of the community. Your class will become your second family, you’ll weather every storm together, and you’ll make amazing friends and connections.

Other things to learn about include (in order of importance): are the lectures mandatory, and if not are they recorded? Where will students be doing clinical rotations? How is the food on campus? Where do students live and study?

Can you give us a brief description of the area surrounding your school? What are some things you like and dislike about the city/town you are located in as a student?

It’s a suburban area in Westchester County, NY. Not walkable, but a close drive to several towns and just over half an hour by train to Manhattan. For me it’s perfect, for others it’s not. I love being able to pack up after an exam and head to the city for the world’s best everything at my fingertips.

What organizations or activities are you involved in outside of your regular classwork? Additionally, are there any organizations (even if you aren’t a part of them) that you think are unique to your school?

I’m involved in student government, I’ve served as a student representative for several of our classes as a liaison between course director and the student body.  Last year I also helped lead a hands-free CPR event as part of a national initiative in NYC, and I hope to continue with that this year as well.

How much/well have you been able to develop clinical skills alongside your classroom work first and second year? What does your institution do to help you develop clinical skills before the clinical years?

I had a lot of clinical experience before coming to medical school, but I would say the number one help in improving my ability has been our exceptionally good Standardized Patients. We interview them all throughout first and second year and it’s really helpful to get real feedback and see how I am interacting as the medical student with the patient.

We also have preceptorships in first and second year, which I have quite enjoyed. My second year site was in an emergency department, and I loved getting involved and seeing so much in a single four hour shift.

What is one way your outlook on medicine or understanding of medicine has changed in your time at medical school?

I have started to realize that there is so much more to medicine than I thought before and that the opportunities in front of me are tremendous. I came in sure I wanted to do one thing, and now I am here open-minded searching for exactly what I want out of my career.

Are there any resources that stand out to you as most useful to you in self-learning medical school material or for expanding on material taught in class?

Boards and Beyond for during the year, Pathoma and UWorld for dedicated, First Aid for both. I also think Wikipedia will technically own some fraction of my M.D. when I graduate based on how much I use it every day.

Studying can get monotonous, but I found that group studying was the best way for me to stay engaged and really learn.

If a young undergraduate interested in applying to medical school came to you seeking advice about ‘which major is best,’ what would you tell them?

They’ve probably heard that it doesn’t matter what you major in, but they may have someone telling them “you have to do Biology, it’s the best one” or something to that effect. I would just reiterate: as long as you take the prerequisite classes, major in anything you want to. If you want to be strategic, try to find something that fulfills the following:

Interesting: your major should be interesting to you. It’s a lot easier to be engaged and excel at material that you like learning about. There will always be classes you’re less interested in and general education credits that are rarely fan favorites. Having your schedule balanced with classes that are enjoyable makes things much more fun.

Useful: if you change your mind or medical school doesn’t end up being the path you take for whatever reason, having a major that could open other doors for you will be a big help.

Grading: there’s no easy way to say this: grades matter, and not all majors grade their students equally. The smartest most hardworking person I know majored in Chemical Engineering at a very challenging school known for grade deflation. Her GPA was far lower than she deserved because of this, despite her exceptional performance. It was never an issue for her, but for those considering other paths like Engineering as backups to medicine, it is worth noting that the GPA from a Biology major and the GPA from an Engineering major are considered essentially the same. There’s no extra points for picking something hard.

In other words, choose a major that’s interesting, potentially useful, and not as hard to do well in. Getting two out of three of these criteria isn’t bad either.

What is your favorite event of the year put on by your medical school? Tell us a little bit about it.

We have a Friendsgiving event launched this year by some particularly enterprising first years and now expanded to include all four class years. Our student government and other organizations put together 10-15 small group potluck dinners including students from all four years. The day also included a student appreciation ceremony and gave us all the opportunity to share our successes and challenges. It’s a really tight knit community here, and this type of thing is exactly what NYMC is about.

What do you wish you had known as an undergraduate and/or as a student in the medical application process?

I wish I had known many things: That my community college credits and bad experience would be a huge hurdle for me to overcome, that I needed to get very good grades, that medical school applications are challenging and the process is confusing. I wish I knew to be my own advocate earlier, rather than rely on academic advisors. I wish I had someone who understood what it took to get to medical school so that I didn’t have to learn by doing it wrong and making things harder for myself.

Start early, work hard in your classes, go to a four year school, and seek advising from more than just your school’s pre-health advisors. Do your own research and figure out what you need to do, what classes to take, and how to set yourself up with the right extracurricular activities to explore medicine and see if it’s right for you.

Alex, MS2

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Duke University School of Medicine
University of Colorado, Boulder, B.A. English Literature
Age 27
From Fort Collins, Colorado

What does your typical day of medical school look like?

Throughout the first year, my schedule has varied depending on what class we are currently enrolled in. During the first semester, classes are more lecture-heavy. In the second semester, classes are more of the ‘flipped classroom’ model, in which we watch lectures at home and then do small-group activities in person.

Lectures are rarely mandatory, and most everything is recorded. I am one of those people who doesn’t go to class unless it’s mandatory, as I prefer to learn on my own time/schedule.

As a general rule, I would say that there are lectures/small lab groups/team based exercises (TBEs) starting at 9-10AM, 3-4 days a week. Lunch is always from 12-1PM. Depending on the class/week, we might have a lecture/small group for another couple of hours, from 1PM-3PM or so. Other than that, there aren’t really any other mandatory classes, and we get a lot of independent study time.

I do most of my studying in the afternoon/evening, as that’s when I’m most productive. I set aside an hour or so each day to work out, and feel like I have a really great work-life balance.

How do your classes and lectures compare to those at your undergraduate institution?

I should elaborate here that I have a different background than many who are applying to medical school. I was an English major in undergrad, worked a full-time job for a couple of years, and then went back to do a post-baccalaureate program. During my ‘traditional’ undergrad years, I felt lost and isolated, and was intimidated to go to office hours, but I tried to approach my post-bacc classes very differently, and made as much of an effort as I could to get to know my professors. However, I still found this difficult, as I was at a large state school, and my professors were teaching hundreds of students a semester. I felt that the ‘weeder’ class phenomenon was definitely a thing, and I never really connected with any of my professors.

However, at Duke, I feel like the environment here is that everyone wants you to succeed. Part of this is because you’re a cohort of ~115 people who are together each and every day, and so you get to know the professors very well. Anyone at the medical center (even people who don’t teach you) is just an email away, and is typically very happy to meet..

The pace of the classes here is something that I had to adjust to – everything moves pretty quickly, but you adapt and learn how to focus upon what you really need to know.

What have you liked about the teaching practices at your institution? Alternatively, how satisfied are you with the class structure at your institution? Are there aspects that you would like changed?

I really like that Duke keeps our mandatory class time to a minimum and tries to maximize our independent study time. We’re all adults who have successfully navigated our way to medical school, and we’re able to make choices about which modalities we would like to use to learn.

Looking back on when you were applying to medical schools and deciding which school was the best fit, what do you think are the most important things to learn about a medical school when you are deciding which school is right for you?

As my interview season progressed, I saw a lot of advantages to a condensed pre-clinical curriculum. I wanted to get out of the classroom as soon as possible. More and more schools are beginning to adjust the length of their curriculum, so I think this is something to consider. However, for me, the most important thing was ultimately the happiness of the student body. Medical school is absolutely a stressful experience, but I wanted to be surrounded by a student body that was as happy as possible. I truly felt like the Duke students were some of the happiest students I met on the interview trail.

Can you give us a brief description of the area surrounding your school? What are some things you like and dislike about the city/town you are located in as a student?

Durham is a city of about 250,000 people. It’s located ~15 minutes from Chapel Hill (home of UNC), and ~25 minutes from Raleigh (state capital and a bigger city).

For me, one of the biggest draws about Durham was the close proximity to the outdoors. From my house, I can run to multiple miles of wooded trails, which I love. I’ve gone berry picking (strawberries and blueberries, if you’re interested) multiple times this year. The Duke Forest is huge, and there are so many sections to explore. Basically, if you drive 10 minutes away, you’re surrounded by green rolling hills and lush forests. The medical school is connected directly to the undergrad campus. I liked this because you have access to the all the amenities that are provided to undergrads (gym, good study places + places to eat on campus) and the undergraduate campus is beautiful.

Everything in Durham is really close by. You can live close enough to campus to walk, and downtown is only 3ish miles from campus. The cost of living is also insanely cheap compared to major cities along the east coast. I’ve been able to take out less loans than I was offered because the COL is so cheap!

What organizations or activities are you involved in outside of your regular classwork? Additionally, are there any organizations (even if you aren’t a part of them) that you think are unique to your school?

I’m really into education, so I’ve taken an active role in participating in various curriculum standards/reform groups. I also participate in a program called Duke Med Elementary, in where, once a week, local Durham third graders take a field trip to the medical school, and we teach them about an organ system.

This year, some of my classmates saw the need for increased activism given the changing political climate, and started a group called ‘Duke Med for Social Justice.’ This is a student-led group that has focused upon addressing the inequities that exist within the healthcare system. Essentially, my classmates saw the need for this group, and had the support from Duke to be able to create it. Basically, if you’re passionate about something, and want to create a student group, go for it.

How much/well have you been able to develop clinical skills alongside your classroom work first and second year? What does your institution do to help you develop clinical skills before the clinical years?

Once a week throughout the first year, we have a class called ‘Clinical Skills Foundation,’ which is a 3 hour class that allows us to learn clinical skills. In these sessions, we do anything from practicing physical exam skills, learning a differential, and interviewing patients on the wards, amongst other topics. It’s been a very valuable class, and I have felt myself grow a lot as a result.

Since we’re on the wards in our second year, second year begins with a 3 week ‘Clinical Skills Intensive’ that is meant to serve as a crash course for the wards. Then, once weekly throughout the second year, in a similar 3 hour block, we have ongoing clinical skills sessions.

What is one way your outlook on medicine or understanding of medicine has changed in your time at medical school?

One thing that I’ve reflected on a lot this year is the amount of knowledge that you’re expected to know, both as a medical student (for boards, etc.), as well as when you’re an attending physician. You have to accept that it’s impossible to know everything, and that medicine is a career that requires you to be a lifelong learner!

Are there any resources that stand out to you as most useful to you in self-learning medical school material or for expanding on material taught in class?

Pathoma + SketchyMedical have been really helpful to consolidate information that I’ve learned. I’m a huge believer in Anki and pre-made Anki decks, so I use Anki as a large part of my studying.

If a young undergraduate interested in applying to medical school came to you seeking advice about ‘which major is best,’ what would you tell them?

Dude. I was an English Literature major. You can major in whatever you’re interested in, as long as you get the necessary pre-reqs (or do a post-bacc)!

What is your favorite event of the year put on by your medical school? Tell us a little bit about it.

I think a lot of my favorite events are the impromptu gatherings that are just organized last-minute via our class GroupMe. As an example, about a month ago, a classmate posted about going to a swimming quarry on the outskirts of town, and about 20 of us ended up going.

In terms of official/Duke-sanctioned events, in the Fall, Duke sponsors a dance for the entire medical school with an open bar. Everyone who is on the wards/might be on call is guaranteed the night off. It’s a lot of fun.

What do you wish you had known as an undergraduate and/or as a student in the medical application process?

I didn’t have any doctors in my family, and thought that the only way to get to medical school was via a very ‘traditional’ route (i.e. pre-med major, etc.). That being said, gap years are okay! Though I didn’t have to, reapplying and working on fine-tuning your application is also okay! Be unique and pursue what interests you.