Congratulations on your acceptance to medical school! I hope you are enjoying your summer and taking a well-deserved break.
If you are anything like me, you are probably experiencing a mixture of emotions as you get ready to start your first year of medical school: fear, excitement, stress, uncertainty and much more. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed, especially since you have no idea what to expect from the next year. Below is a list of things I wish I had known before I started medical school; hopefully these bits of advice will help you relax and make you less nervous about entering this new phase of your life! If you’re still stressed after reading, don’t worry – freaking out is a part of medical school.
- Everyone learns differently. That means that it is totally OK if you don’t want to come to class, but also that you’re not crazy if you attend lecture religiously. Just because everyone else is using an outside resource/textbook, doesn’t mean you have to be. As your first semester progresses, you’ll find out what study methods work best for you; and surprise – it might not be the same as how you studied in undergrad. Be open to change!
- Medical school is a tight-knit community, especially at UAB, and every one of your classmates is someone you can turn to for help. Take advantage of this, because not every school fosters this kind of environment. Get to know your classmates – not only will you forge friendships that will make school a lot easier, but also you will be making connections with future colleagues that will be useful down the road.
- While your classmates are amazing and supportive people, don’t neglect your family and friends outside of school. It can be easy to get wrapped up in school activities and studying, but there will definitely be times when you need/want a break. Keep people around you who will kick you anytime you start talking about anatomy lab or the gross disease you learned about that day.
- It is certainly true that the majority of your time as a first year will be spent in the classroom or studying, even though that is probably not why most of you wanted to come to medical school. Make sure you find time to see patients and to learn valuable clinical skills – shadowing, volunteering at EAB and paying attention in ICM. It helps break up the monotony of lectures, and come third year, you’ll be happy you’ve had real patient encounters.
- You probably haven’t used a locker since senior year of high school. Use the one they give you in Volker! It’s the perfect place to store extra study snacks, your white coat, a sweatshirt (because it is always -10 degrees in the building), or an extra set of scrubs/professional clothing (mandatory activities sneak up on everyone). Even if you don’t come to class, you’ll be in Volker more than you think!
- Pay attention, because this is probably the most important one. It’s okay not to be the best – odds are you probably won’t be. It doesn’t help to compare yourself to those around you either because everyone is different. As long as you are learning, enjoying yourself and doing your personal best, you will be happy with where you end up!
Susmita Murthy
Class of 2020
smurthy@uab.edu