College vs. Med School
Sorry for the delay everyone! Between prepping for Step as well as keeping track of my best man duties for the greatest wedding of all time, the writing has taken the backseat. But after having the honor of watching my best friends marry each other this past weekend, something in particular came to mind. The three of us met in college, and with the wedding being back there in the same town, I was able to see so many faces after years apart. It was such a gift to reminisce about old times as well as find out where people were now. I found myself over the weekend continually remarking upon my experience in med school as well as my time in undergrad, and for the first time since I graduated I really thought about how different the two were.
Schedule
In college, your schedule was kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure book, where you probably had a few concrete things that needed to occur, but how you got there was up to you. Whether you wanted to schedule all your classes in the morning and be done by noon, or take them later and sleep off the night before (or just sleep through the classes regardless), you were the captain of your days. This gave a lot of freedom to explore new paths and passions, which is so incredibly important in finding which path is right for you.
Medical school on the other hand can be a little militaristic when it comes to your time. You’ll find a set schedule for your first two years of classes, labs, simulations and group problem-solving sessions. While there is a little flexibility as far as when you choose to learn lecture material, most people fall into a routine fairly soon that can become quite repetitive. For the last two years, you’re joining the schedules of the Residents and Attendings you are working with in a pre-set path to exposure of the specialties. In the time you’re not together, you’ll sprinkle in some independent study in the hospital halls. All the while, like a protagonist in a rom-com, you’ll be wondering at some point if the rotation you’re on is “the one.” You get a little less say in how you go about finding your path, but as long as you put yourself out there, you’ll find exactly what you’re meant to do. Every day in a hospital is wrought with surprises which makes it so incredible to be a part of working in healthcare. However, you’ll find some of the independence you may have grown accustomed to in college has been traded in for the art of rounding.
Studying
One of the more difficult aspects of college for me was at the start of each semester adapting to various new topics and teaching styles that forced you to adapt and study in new ways. It seemed like every time you’d finally get in the swing of things, a new semester would start and a new course would throw hieroglyphics at you. In medical school, while there are slight changes block to block, for the most part I’ve found only minor alterations to my personal studying strategy were needed.
The expression “drinking from the fire hydrant” has been tossed out every time studying in medical school is discussed, and that’s because it’s so true. Sometimes it feels like a week of lecture feels like enough material to fill an entire college semester course (even proved that right a few times). I’ve found this is where the change in struggle stops, the sheer load of information alone. There were so many times in college when I felt stuck on a course or topic that I could not wrap my brain around conceptually. I’d meet with professors, pluck away at countless resources, and for whatever reason I couldn’t find a way to get the concept in my brain. Hot take: I believe the content of med school is vastly less complicated than that of college. Sure a few topics are harder than others, but overall if you sit down and put in the time, I believe any student can grasp any medical block. And to make it even better, how many times did you find yourself in a college course to fulfill some requirement or covered something that had nothing to do with your future? Well, consider that gone. Even the broadest topics straying away from your given field in medical school can somehow be used to help your future patients, which makes pushing through tough weeks all the easier.
Work/Life Balance
College is this weird transitionary period where you’re no longer a child and not old enough for anyone to take you seriously as an adult, so that you get a little bit of the best of both worlds. Even on the pre-med track, as hard as I was working there was always time to go to a game or grab a drink with friends.
Med school is also this weird transitionary period where you’re an adult and all of your friends are adulting to the max, yet unlike your friend who’s a banker you still say phrases like “I wish but I have to study.” Don’t listen to those who say it’s 4 years where the outside world doesn’t exist: you absolutely have to make time for life outside the walls of school. But the key there is “make time.” You have to be a bit more proactive about planning in a way you never had to in college. The biggest lesson I’ve learned in this regard is you have to pick your battles: you can’t go to everything, but make sure you never miss the things that make life special. Like watching your best friends get married and knowing they’re about to get a lifetime of happiness together.
All in all, med school is another animal from college. But it should be. It should feel harder at times because that’s when you know you’re growing towards something greater. Where college was a continual process of finding where to go in life, med school is so much more fulfilling in that you’re finally in the endgame. All the skills both in and out of the classroom you learned before are put to the test in the best ways, and every time you feel like you can’t take another sip from the fire hydrant, there are 10 more where you remember you’ve finally made it to where you’ve worked so hard to get to.
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