After three years of medical school, here is some biased, opinionated advice I have for all of you out there cramming for that MCAT and jonesing for the MD:
- DO NOT go straight from college into medical school!
* Grow up on your own - medical school should not be bringing you into adulthood.
* Get a real job (and not something dad's friend hooked you up with)
* Try to live on your own, pay your bills, save money for retirement, and pay for your own health care in the type of job that most of your patients will be trying to live off of (that would be the median salary of ~25K a year for an individual, ~48K a year for a household).
- Go see the world (and that does not mean leaving your suburb for a college town).
- When you do go see the world, it would also probably help if you didn't just do it on a "mission trip". Go without an agenda.
- Learn about something other than medicine/biology - you will get plenty of time to learn those things in medical school. Don't memorize it like a vocabulary word or an equation. Try to find something you are passionate about.
- Talk to you family and friends about their good and bad experiences with doctors. Write down what they say and save it. When you find yourself at the end of third year rotations - and then, later, in the middle of your residency - read those notes over, and make sure you haven't joined the dark side.
- If you have trouble interacting with the people around you; if you find yourself feeling above pretty much everyone else; if you get choked up with disdain for the poor, disabled or mentally ill; if empathy really isn't your thing; consider maybe, that medicine isn't either.
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3 comments:
sound advice that I'm going to try to take. I really want to take a year off after college and teach english in another country.
that sounds like a great idea. i always wanted to do that. good luck...and have a blast. med school WILL wait.
Alyssa, you could look into Korea if you are interested in Asia. A friend of mine just got back from working there and had a blast. They pay well too so you might actually save up some $.
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