8 Things They Won’t Tell You about Medical School

You have cleared your MCAT, have been admitted into one of the prestigious medical schools and are all excited to begin your freshman year. Every other person-parents, neighbors, relatives, medical school seniors, the homeless man living on the street-has something to say about the years you are about to face. However, here are 8 things you need to prepare yourself for because nobody is going to tell you about them any time sooner and you will have to experience them first-hand. 

1. Failure Awaits You

Despite being a high-achiever your whole life, get ready to meet failure for you are now amongst like-minded people who are as nerdy as you. Failing one or more subjects during the medical school is not uncommon and you will find out that failure is just another step towards success. 

2. Sleep Is a Luxury

So sleep while you can. The daily drill of lectures, memorizing foreign words, ward rounds and tests being held every other day will leave you too exhausted for anything else. Tea and coffee will be your new best friends during the medical school. Even if you are an active person, medical school is bound to make you a sleep-addict. 

3. Your Social Life Is About To End

As a medical student, you will have little time for anything else. Family get-togethers, weddings, birthday parties and hangouts will soon be a thing of the past as you bury your nose in thick medical books. You will continuously have to face the incessant complaint of “you have become too busy for us after entering medical school” by your close friends and family. 

4. Cynicism Lies Ahead 

You are about to become as cynical as the mad hatter. Every minor symptom will feel like a sinister ailment to you. You are going to treat every minor headache like subarachnoid hemorrhage and every muscle ache is going to seem like myasthenia gravis. 

5. It Is a Never-Ending Battle

All around you, your non-medical friends will be graduating, marrying, having kids and doing jobs while you will be stuck tackling one exam after another.

6. Depression Is a Real Thing

Your passion to pursue medical field as a profession is soon going to be lost somewhere amidst the heavy course books, making you question your self-worth and stooping into depression.

Remember, taking it one day at a time is the key. 

READ Rebounding From Medical School Rejection

7. Mnemonics, Mnemonics Everywhere!

Don’t be surprised if you see a medical student uttering a bunch of weird noises because you will soon be one of them. Complex sets of symptoms, lists of side effects, groups of drugs and other medical jargon will be reduced into mnemonics to help you memorize and retain them. 

8. Expectations Run High

Even as a medical student, your family and friends will expect you to accompany them to medical specialists for getting special treatment. You will be expected to prescribe medicines for everyday illnesses as if you have already become a specialist. 

It is a difficult road that you have chosen to travel and many hurdles lie ahead. Only through perseverance and consistency can you overcome the overwhelming odds and prove yourself worthy of the profession you have chosen for yourself.