Students of the Class of 2018 drafting the class oath, July 2014.
You tackled the MCAT, maintained a competitive GPA, held leadership positions, and made it through the interviews. And now you’re sitting in (what will one day be the best) medical school. Being in your spot last year, I’d like to think I was more excited than nervous, but my temporal lobe replaced those memories with a diagram of the brachial plexus, so I’ll never really remember. In a nutshell, though, it’s okay to be nervous. I’ll tell you now that your first year will be an enjoyable one, filled with endless shared experiences, glorious triumphs, and laughable failures (cue the “you have two minutes remaining” from the doctoring suites). Now, I won’t be misleading you by saying that medical school is easy; we all know it’s not, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be one of the best times of your life.
Here is a little guide of things to keep in mind as you start your first year:
The fire hose is real
You know the saying that medical school is like drinking out of a fire hose? It’s okay. I didn’t either. But it’s absolutely true; the volume of information you’re expected to learn in your first year may, at times, seem absurd (*cough* E-Value *cough*). Whether you’re juggling a family, a relationship, or simply yourself, it’s important to prioritize your time and energy. Rely on a simple schedule that you find most effective. Give yourself time off to cook, to clean, to go out with friends (even during the week). And, most importantly, realize that by the end of all this, your intellectual capacity will grow like the biceps of Rocky Balboa. When you forget that you’re training for the long run, play some “Eye of the Tiger” and grab those boxing gloves, err, I mean highlighters.
Your off time is your time OFF
This includes weekends, vacation time, and even daily breaks. When you have time off, don’t waste your energy inefficiently trying to learn something outside of what’s required (that you’ll forget anyway). There is a time and place for learning and a time and place for relaxing. Don’t mix the two up.
Find your wolf pack
This is probably the only life lesson from the movie Hangover. Seriously, though, medical school can be a little painful at times, and like any other chronic pain-causing disease, there is a support group—in this case, your classmates. Find a group of people you work with best and tag along. Don’t disregard the rest of your class, but have a crew you can go to for school and non-school related issues. You’ll soon find that no one understands your problems better than the people who are also going through them with you.
You are yourself, not anyone else
This may be one of the most important points I make in this guide. In a setting like medical school, it gets easy for us to compare ourselves to those around us and to create unrealistic expectations for ourselves. While it’s never a bad thing to set your bar high, don’t base your bar on what you perceive your classmates are accomplishing. You are your own person with your own life goals, and at the end of the day, that is what will make you successful.
Be fearless, be strong, and know that all of us here have your back. You are no longer a number in a sea of undergraduates; you are a member of the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix family. Welcome to your new home. You’re going to love it.
Haig Aintablian is a student at the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix, Class of 2018, and is originally from Los Angeles, CA. By 21 years of age, Haig obtained his B.A. in Biological Sciences, Summa Cum Laude and his M.S. in Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry from the University of Southern California. He enjoys such weird things as: curling (the sport no one has heard of), collecting meteorites, and metal detecting.