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Saw this on of our transcriptions, i dont really know who wrote it though.

Not Sure About Med School?

NOT SURE ABOUT MED SCHOOL?

Its been about 2 months since school started, and I still don’t regret going to Med School.

Through the weeks, different horror stories came up about students who got  kicked out, or realized by the end of their 1^st year in med school that it just wasn’t for them.

I was just sitting through it all and thought, can that ever happen to me?

Well it can.

I just said that there IS a possibility that later on in med school that I might realize that I don’t really want it, or that I’m not made for it; but the truth is, I want to be here, and I have to be here.

Horror stories:

Ø  Med school is hard, and it will suck the social life out of you.

Ø  If you are not smart, don’t go into med school.

Ø  The professors/doctors are terrors.

Ø  Average sleeping time for med students is about 2 hours a day.

Ø  Its expensive and time consuming.

Ø  Your classmates might not be there by the next school year.

***all pictures included are not mine, just got them off the internet. http://www.flickr.com/photos/sylvar/6955985416/

The truth is...

Ø  Med school is hard, and it will suck the social life out of you.

Its hard only if you think it is, and if you don’t set your priorities right, it will suck all the life out of you. Honestly, med students still have fun, get drunk, and party. With all the exams, practicals, quizzes, and workload, it just gives us more reasons to unload and celebrate.

Ø  Its expensive and time consuming.

Expensive, yes, you can see my previous blog on med school expenses for that. Time consuming, absolutely. Sometimes 24 hours isn’t enough to tackle everything you wanted to.

Ø  If you are not smart, don’t go into med school.

If you are not COMMITTED or at least DEDICATED (in general), DONT GO INTO MED SCHOOL.

A lot of students here never planned on taking up Medicine. Some were forced by parents, some, just wanted to study a little more, and some just want to be kick ass doctors.

But in Med School, I will reiterate, you need to be committed. Just baseline COMMITTED.

You don’t have to like Med School 100% of the time, you can have your down periods too ( like I do, sometimes I just get frustrated with certain subjects and think, wtf am I doing here anyways?) . But the most important thing you can do is STAY COMMITTED.

First off, you owe it to your parents. Medicine is no joke. Php100k+ is no joke. You can feed a 100 families for a week with that money. The least you can do is study hard.

I’m not saying that if you do fully, and truly realize that Med school is not for you, don’t quit. If you are absolutely, 100% sure that its not for you, go.

But if there is even a .05% that you still want to be a doctor, I say fight for that .05% and let it grow along with your commitment.

In med school, there are lot of smart people. But being smart can only get you so far. COMMITMENT and DEDICATION is the key.

Ø  The professors/doctors are terrors.

Partially true. I think all doctors/lecturers/professors can become terrors if you don’t listen, understand, and participate in class. Whats there to be scared about anyway? That there is a graded recitation? Then why didn’t you study? That they can shame you in front of the class? Then why didn’t you put in the extra effort to study harder, or at extremes, grow a set of balls in that moment?

I honestly think that Med School, to a certain extent, should scare you, terrify you, and turn your life upside down. Why? Because in the real world, when you are actually practicing, there will be moments where it does exactly that—life or death situation, conflicting schedules or parties, horrible patients, you’re getting sued for malpractice, etc.

But here at DLSHSI, the professors are nurturing. Yes, I used the word nurturing. They will guide you every step of the way, they will get mad you but will let you know that its for your own good, they will be there for you when you need help (academic, financial, personal, etc).

Dont mistake nurturing for babying. Babying implies that you can sit on your ass all day and get spoonfed, and when you fail or meet an obstacle, the professor does it for you. No.

Nurturing, they help you grow, they encourage you.

With the professors here at HSI, all I have to say is that they are AWESOME. Want to know why? Well, enrol here.

Ø  Your classmates might not be there for the next school year.

I personally haven’t encountered this yet since we’re just 2 months into the school year, but upper years have told us that there are cases of classmates who just left.

Some didn’t continue medicine because they realized they really didn’t like it.

Some just took a leave of absence—maybe they got burnt out, tired, or just needed to step away and see the big picture.

AND some just failed too many subjects that they had to get kicked out.

Ø  Average sleeping time for med students is about 2 hours a day.

True IF you didn’t study beforehand and is used to cramming. I have classmates who have time to go to the gym, work out, join afterschool activities, party, and whatnot. They learned how to manage their workload.

Read this blog about the effects of sleep deprivation in med students. :)

***all pictures included are not mine, just got them off the internet.

As one doctor/professor said, “There is not such thing as time management.” Really? Well he does have a point, you cant really manage the time, you can only manage your tasks.

***all pictures included are not mine, just got them off the internet.

Study a week earlier, tackle the hard subjects first when you’re still fresh, learn new techniques for studying at the same time. Try to discover what learning style works for you. DONT CRAM.

I mean, you owe it to your patient to be the best damn doctor that they have ever encountered. Am I right?

To Study or Not to Study Before Med School?

To study or not to study. That is the question.

This came to mind when the last few weeks of freedom before med school started weighing in on my mind. And I was kind of worried. why?

Well, during enrollment, I was standing in line at the registrar's office and a bunch of teens were lined up as well as talking really loud.

One remarked, "OMG! You're 20 already??? You're sooooo old!"

And my reaction was...

And thats when I kind of panicked.

These  "kids" were in tip top shape. They just graduated from college, so their brains were in excellent condition to get beat up by a lot of medical topics and whatnot. PLUS, they graduated from courses that could actually help them with Medicine.

(Old versus young brain:)

Me? I graduated from a course that focused more of Psychology, Socio, and Anthropology. Its an excellent course, and I loved every minute of it, and it was a great help when I worked for 2 years. But for Med? Its an entirely different story.

Last November, I went to different med schools and had my transcript assessed for additional units I may need to accomplish. Med schools like Ateneo, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, and San Beda required a certain number of units in Physics, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Anatomy, Physiology, Inorganic Chemistry, and natural sciences. So that was around 16-20 units that I needed to take up if I wanted to get into the different schools.

And, as I wrote in my previous post, I didnt take up the extra units because of the Php 70,000.00 price tag on them.

So what chance do I have to compete in the killer world of Med where my classmates are young, fresh, and ready to kick some academic ass? I had a slim chance. But I could take some steps to prepare myself a bit...like study.

So, should I study the hard subjects in advance? Or just leave it to chance, and hope that in my first year of med, we would all start off  at a leveled playing field?

I asked several doctors about this, and they said that, even though the new graduates have an evident advantage, oldies, or late bloomers like me, have the advantage of being rested, and motivated.

Fresh grads are sometimes at risk of burn outs since they had just 1 or 2 months to rest, plus, like all normal human beings, within the span of 1 or 2 months, they can forget about 80% of what they studied that year.

Good point doc. I mean, every year I went in college, I usually forgot what I studied last sem and had to review them again.

Right now, I guess I'll just enjoy the time I have left, and just study my ass off when the time comes.