The 1 and 2 of how to begin a career in Medicine
Disclaimer: This is in no way a step by step guide to getting into med school. This is also in no way a list of tips you will need to get into medical school. I am by no way an expert in any of this and like everyone else I have a long way to go. This is in the least more of a what-to-expect kind of article. Hopefully by the end of this article you will realise that the least problematic part of starting a career in medicine is the actual medical school part. ;)
PREMED
PROGRAM: It is a long going misconception that the ideal premed course would be B.S. Biology. This probably roots in the fact that BS Biology used to be BS General Medicine a few decades ago.
I took up Biology and applied for it as first choice in all the institutions I applied for. Do I regret taking up Biology as my major and wish I took up something with more exposure to hospitals? No. Because I had so much fun in Biology and actually found it really interesting and enjoyed all the fieldwork we did at the beach. HAHAHA.
By eyeballing physical therapy, nursing, and medical technology seem like good premed courses.
Did biology help me in medical school?
It helped in a few subjects, Biochemistry, Histology, and Anatomy.
Does your premed make a real difference when you enter medical school?
No. I know a lot of doctors who excelled in med school who had premed courses completely unrelated to science and the medical field. And I know a lot of doctors who didn’t do well who took up the medically related premed courses.
Take home: How well you do in med school depends mostly on your study habits. Most of what you learn in medicine is new and a lot more complicated than anything they teach you in premed. It doesn’t matter what your premed course is, it still depends on you. And the basic prerequisites for medicine are needed for you to get in to med school so you’ll get the minimum required exposure.
SCHOOL: Loyalty helps. It is not everything but it helps. So if you know that your desired premed is available at the same institution at where you want to go to med school at then that’s a plus.
MEDICAL SCHOOL
There is no short cut to studying in whatever way works for you. There are a lot of parties to balance out a lot of sleepless nights but it all depends on you and what you think you are capable of.
Remember thought that you are there to study and know your priorities.
Like I have said in the past, grades are important in the sense that they open avenues to us in the beginning of our careers. But having the best grades doesn’t mean you will be the best doctor and have the most patients eventually. Everything is different inside the hospital and in front of the patients. The stresses are different, the pressures, the rubrics of grading, and the checks and balances are different.
Different medical schools offer different experiences.
My medical school is known for its Revalida. Or a written exam on all topics med followed by an oral exam that has been rumored to be the make or break of your medical school existence, a rite of passage so to say. Like a practical exam on steroids.
Is it overrated as some may say? I don’t really think so as long as you see the task for what it is. A lot of Revalida is up to chance, what case you’ll get, how easy it is to interview the patient, who your panel will be composed of, what emergency you end up discussing etc. BUT since you have no idea what will come out, you best come prepared, study as many emergencies as you can and see as many patients as you can during clerkship so that history and PE are as good and as fast as can be on the day of Revalida. There are points for completeness of PE! BUT use your time wisely.
One thing I noted from my sister’s medical school experience is that she was able to rotate at a bunch of other hospitals and had the advantage of a decent amount of exposure to government hospitals and prvate hospitals, allowing her to more easily discern what she preferred in senior internship.
SENIOR INTERNSHIP
Senior internship is tagged as the most fun of all the years of medical training. It is an in between year where you rotate under a particular hospital or program of multiple hospitals (DOH). You aren’t particularly pressured or graded in each rotation/specialty. And you aren’t forced to maintain interest in any rotation but you are allowed to exert extra effort in whatever you end up interested in.
Where you go ultimately depends on you. Think of which hospital you plan on taking up your residency program. If you plan on going into residency. Or if undecided, think of which hospital will give you similar exposure to that which you expect in your practice or has a good number of residency or specialties available just in case you end up applying there for further training. Or if you want a chill hospital so you can review for boards and have consequently less clinical exposure.
xx
