Medical school generally selects for Type-A neurotic overachievers who truly wish to excel on every single academic front possible. Sound familiar? We get it, we were all there at some point. However, after going through the process of medical school and residency, we’ve reflected on a few things and wanted to put together this post to encourage medical students to focus their limited time and energy on things that will make substanital impacts on their professional and personal lives. Lets dive right in.
1. Do: USMLE/COMLEX; Dont: Pre-clinical grades
It’s no secret that higher board exam performance is directly correlated with better match outcomes. However, there is the inner “gunner” in many of us that will start medical school yearning to get the same scores on in-house exams as they did in college. Despite the adage of “Cs get degrees”, this medical student will refuse to settle for an average exam score, and will spend hundreds of cumulative hours across their preclinical years memorizing corner-of-the-powerpoint minutea to lock in that A in embryology.
All joking aside, and despite part 1 of the USMLE and COMLEX exams going Pass/Fail in the last few years, it is extremely important to cater your studying towards USMLE style content so you dont end up in the unfortunate position of feeling lost when it comes down to taking the exams that actually matter (read: Shelfs and Step2CK).
Many med schools will try to convince you that they are preparing you adequately for these exams with their in house material. Most are absolutely not. If you want to see for yourself, compare the question style and quality to Amboss/Uworld and ask yourself if these questions and the lectures they arose from are truly the same format.
Be conscientious of the fact that program director surveys have consistently shown that most PDs place minimal emphasis on performance in pre-clinical years. This is corroborated by the fact that in most prestigious medical schools, there are no grades at all in the pre-clinical curriculum.
We arent advocating for ignoring what your classes are teaching you. We are asking that you complement your preclinical studies with high quality, proven board prep resources so that your foundational knowledge and question taking ability is up to par come time for the boards.
2. Do: Quality of Activities/Experiences
Dont: Quantity
With the new ERAS changes limiting you to only 10 experiences, gone are the days of med students being active in 7 clubs, 4 research groups, 3 religious/cultural organizations, and 2 side hustles. Program directors were truly fed up reading textbook length applications full of filler activities and they implemented this change that we truly think is for the better for all parties involved in the residency application/selection process.
In light of this, it is critical that you engage in a handful of meaningful activities/experiences that are actually reflective of your passion and interests, inside and outside of medicine. Don’t take on roles that are not significant or longitudinal. Don’t be a part of something just to check off a box on your CV.
Instead, seek out high value positions whether they are in leadership, service, work, or research. Demonstrate through your application how you have grown in these roles and have made tangible changes for the better. This will make your application far more compelling and memorable.
3. Do: Wellness; Dont: Burnout
Medical school is a huge change from undergrad. You start to lose the control over your time significantly and trust us, it only gets worse as you get further along in your medical training career. It is imperative to build foolproof routines and habits to prioritize your wellness; physical, mental, and otherwise.
The “W” word gets thrown around a lot these days, but to keep it simple, we are referencing you feeling good enough about yourself to be able to perform at your absolute best. Don’t allow the workload to let you justify why you should stop exercising, seeing friends/family, or doing fun things. Everything in moderation, including moderation.
Make time for the daily, weekly, and monthly activities that you know you need to maintain sanity, and under no circumstance, give those up. It is all too easy to justify missing events or treating your body poorly because of the rigor of medical school. This is a one way ticket to burnout and will only make your life as a resident even more miserable because by then, if the habits aren’t rock solid, theres almost no hope that you will magically muster the energy to start them.
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