10 Facts To Know Before Studying Medicine
We all dream of becoming doctors when we are young, hence forth we work hard at improving our grades so that we can be able to go and study medicine. Being a medical student will involve working harder than you’ve ever worked in your life, but chances are, it’ll also involve having more fun than you’ve ever had before. The following 10 things about being a medical student will reassure and excite you about the prospect of studying medicine.
1. Medical School Is Hard Work
The fact that med school is difficult isn’t an earth-shattering revelation, yet many students are still surprised by just how overwhelming the workload is. Your schedule during the first two years of medical school is almost entirely filled with intense courses like anatomy, physiology, neuroscience, biochemistry, and pharmacology.
2. Medical School Is Fun
Medical school and fun are words that may not seem to belong together. However, despite the notorious workload associated with being a med student, going through med school can actually be an enjoyable experience except maybe at exam time and on overnight call.
3. It’s Not All Hard Work!
Medical students learn to manage their time very well, which means you should still have time for your hobbies. Don’t panic, medicine can be challenging but you’ll still have plenty of time to enjoy being an undergraduate, an experience that many people say is the best time of their life.
4. Medicine Is A Long Course
Studying medicine is very much a marathon, not a sprint. It is a 5 or 6 year course, where in your final few years holidays become a lot shorter and you are studying almost all year round (instead of having three months off a year). The reason the course is so long is because of the volume of material that needs to be learned
5. You Change Mind About Your Specialty Many Times.
You may enter medical school determined to be a pediatrician and emerge from it as a future trauma surgeon. Even if you have a clear vision of what you want out of your career when you matriculate into med school, exposure to the various specialties may very well change your mind. Reading about a field, or even shadowing someone in it, isn’t the same as being immersed in a specialty the way you are during your clinical rotations.
6. You Can Be A Medical Student And Still Have A Life.
Being a medical student doesn’t mean that you have to forgo all leisure time, give up your hobbies completely, and put your relationships on hold for the next four years. You’ll be busy in medical school, but maintaining your life outside of school is still possible (and highly advisable).
7. Medical School Goes By Quickly.
Before you know it, you’ll be marching across a stage to accept your medical degree. Medical school may seem to fly by because with all the information to learn, skills to master, and clinical rotations to adjust to, you’re so focused on getting through the next challenge that you’re barely aware of the time passing.
8. You Have A Vacation, Not A Holiday.
Easter breaks are simply the times when you vacate your accommodation and not a complete holiday from work. Of course, this does not necessarily have to be true. If you’ve managed your work very well during term time and stayed on top of everything there is no reason why you can’t enjoy a well earned rest for a few weeks.
9. Organisation Is Key.
Studying at university is a real contrast to being a student at school and one of the real challenges is organizing your work and activities. You can no longer rely on your parents to keep a calendar of everything that’s going on and instead you must sort things for yourself.
10. If You Pass Your Exams You’ll Become A Doctor
If you pass all your exams while studying medicine you will go on to become a doctor. This may well seem like stating the obvious, but it’s worth taking a step back and thinking about this. By passing you in an exam a university is certifying that you are competent enough in that subject area to continue on the path to becoming a doctor.
