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10 Reasons Why Being a Medical Student is Awesome

Discussion in 'Medical Students Cafe' started by Egyptian Doctor, Apr 17, 2014.

  1. Egyptian Doctor

    Egyptian Doctor Moderator Verified Doctor

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    In a recent medical school class, one of my lecturers told us, “The best days of medical school are the day you get in and the day you graduate.”

    We all laughed, but it was sort of a painful laugh as we hesitantly looked around the room to see how others reacted to the thought…

    The underlying message of that statement that we all know too well is medical school is hard. It’s way more work than you’d ever think you’d handle, which means a lot less sleep and a lot more stress. It separates you from your friends and family. The time you once had for things you enjoy seems to be sucked away. You may even find yourself in the wee hours of the night after weeks of sleep deprivation cramming for a few exams and questioning why you’re putting yourself through all of this.

    And yet, it’s awesome.

    It may not seem that way when you look around at your piles of books, notecards, lecture notes, empty energy drink cans, ramen packets, and building debt, but in comparison to other things, it’s pretty great.

    Not convinced? Here’s 10 reasons to make you believe otherwise.



    1. You never have to worry about finding something to do.

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    Your to-do list is never ending, but it’s so much better than sitting around twiddling your thumbs. If you don’t believe me, set aside a free day to not work on anything for school and see how crazy it makes you.



    2. You get to do a variety of things.

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    Sick of studying for one M1 class? Study for another class or work on stuff for research if you’re a MD/PhD student like me. Research bringing you down? Go back to studying for your medical school classes. Don’t want to learn about the renal system any more? Good because the test is done and the class has moved on to endocrine system. You have so many things to do and study that you can always change up what you do to keep things exciting while continuing to be productive!



    3. You learn to get the most out of your time.

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    Planning out your research so you have an incubation step during the time you have to go to class, a seminar, or TA? Of course. Studying notecards during centrifuge steps? Duh. Reading papers during breaks in classes? Always. Going through lecture notes on the bus? Yup. Add on normal people things like buying groceries, doing laundry, and paying bills and you’ve really got to multi-task. This way you’re forced to learn how to optimize your time and get as much done as you physically can.



    4. You may even get to defy the boundaries of time.

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    Whether you’re balancing medical school and graduate school classes, being a teaching assistant, and doing research like me, or simply dealing with the heavy load of medical school itself, there’s definitely more to do in the day than you have time for, but somehow, you can find a way to make it all work out.

    Channeling my inner Hermione, I’ve had to do just that with the grad school and medical school allowing you to register for classes that sometimes meet at the same time. Luckily, I can get by without a time turner since the medical school podcasts the lectures instead and therefore maximize the number of classes that I can take at once. If your school podcasts your lectures, you can surely do the same!


    5. You don’t have to worry about finding a job for a very long time.

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    Where am I going to be for the next 4 years as an MD student or 8 years as an MD/PhD student? Right here. What am I going to be doing? Exactly what I’m doing now. You’ve made it through the competitive admissions process, so you don’t need to be job searching like your fellow college graduates.



    6. You learn to understand more about others than they seem to understand about themselves.

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    Patients may not always tell us everything that we need to know, and we’re taught early to figure out what they’re not telling us from their history and their tendencies during your interaction. You learn to see the subtleties in a person’s ways and learn how to interact with them to get the best outcome in their health. But this can carry on to your personal relationships and help you understand more about the people you deal with day in and day out as well.


    7. You don’t have to take any more lib eds.

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    Yeah that’s right. No more wasting time with classes that you have to sit through thinking, “When am I ever going to need to know this?” Now the answer is “When you’re a doctor.”



    8. You get to tell people that you’re a medical student.

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    This usually impresses people and only sometimes makes them think you’re crazy.



    9. You get to meet a lot of cool people.

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    Try talking to your parents or friends back home about signaling pathways that lead to T cell activation or the pharmacologic mechanism of any drug and they’ll probably just blankly stare back at you. But talk to your medical school friends about the same thing and they’ll not only understand but they’ll keep the conversation going. Medical school teaches us a sort of new language that most people don’t know but luckily your peers do. Seriously, look around the room and bask in the awe (and sometimes the terror) that you are surrounded by future doctors.

    Taking it a step further, if you’re also in graduate school like me, you also get to know a lot of graduate students who are on their way to being doctors of a different type. These people share your love of discovery and become your support system through the struggle that is the PhD. Who knows, maybe one of them will even make a breakthrough discovery that changes the way we look at biology or treat disease. These are awesome people to know and you really can’t make it through without them.


    10. You get to learn a lot of cool things.

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    The human body is frustratingly – yet beautifully – complex and you get to spend your life learning about it. Lucky you. While the amount that you’re expected to know about it can be overwhelming at times (and by times I mean always), you are incredibly fortunate to be living in a time when we know as much as we do. Can you believe that there was a time that we didn’t know how the heart, lungs, or kidneys worked? A time when we didn’t realize that something as simple as washing hands would decrease spread of infectious disease particularly in hospital settings? Sure, we have a long way to go, but we’ve already come such a far way, and you get to benefit from the hard work of others who once struggled to discover what you’re now learning.


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    Shahid Dar, Copperheadmd and medyap like this.

  2. Victor Zosim

    Victor Zosim Active member

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    Gosh... this is so not awesome, that I need someone to tell me it's awesome. I freackin' love it, because I hate it. And that's just another aspect of my neurotic persona.
     

  3. Omar Almeida

    Omar Almeida Young Member

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    This is all true. You will never be bored...and if you are, always there is a forum like this, to read how awesome medicine is. ;)
     

  4. Alex132

    Alex132 Active member

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    has anyone thought about the fact that if a regular person read's this will think that all med student's are insane?:))...one of my dad's friend saw this 10 reason's on my laptop...and the first question was...what the hell is this?!?!..he said that there should be nothing good about it...it's not healthy for body or mind..and just beeing around books more then beeing around people it's not a way of life:))...he is right you know:))..i am the only doctor in my family...and yes it was sad to see that my family members had time for all the beautiful things that life has to offer and i had only my books .. i'm really happy to see that there are some mad people to love this life...cuz it's not for everyone...it clearly wasn't for me..i use to be a really activ perosn allways with a big happy smile full of energy..now that person is gone..cuz everyone left me..no one was ready to wait for me to have some time for someone else...but for thous who love this life..im really happy for you ^_^...and i hope that life will give you more reasons to be happy :p
     

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  5. Agatha Te

    Agatha Te Famous Member

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    We started from a hundred of students enroled in medical school and only 35 of us graduated that year. This is not an ordinary profession, it's a devotion!
     

  6. ahmad hamid

    ahmad hamid Young Member

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    Oh! ! Finally there is sum1 saying that being a medical student is awesome
     

  7. Shahid Dar

    Shahid Dar Famous Member

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