Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Advice for first-year medical students

Jamie Katuna
Education
June 29, 2018
Share
Tweet
Share

A few days ago I received a message: “Any advice for incoming med students?”

As an old, wise, seasoned, now-second year medical student, I know everything. Just kidding — I fumbled my way through first year like everyone else, and just like you will too. No piece of advice allows you to opt out from the challenges of medical school year one.

My advice isn’t the “normal” recommendations incoming medical students receive. You know the stuff: Experiment with study habits until you find one that works for you; get involved with clubs; talk to your professors; get an exercise routine; make time for yourself; meal-prep your food; get enough sleep; etc. Different variations of these things work for different people, and you’ll figure out your version at your pace.

My advice is more how to perceive and analyze your experiences as you navigate a new world.

One: Trust your gut. Medical education is far, far from perfect; but it continues this way due to inertia. New students don’t know enough to speak up against it, and senior students who can see its problems in hindsight are busied with new problems in a new environment. If something feels off, unethical, inefficient, unfair, or incorrect— trust your gut and speak up. That’s how we can change a system.

Two: Establish a purpose and find ways to tap into it. There will come a time when you’re swimming in studying and none of it feels relevant and it’s been three days and you still can’t understand it, so you tell yourself that you don’t want to do this anymore. (This is when I fantasize about working as a farmhand—outdoors all day, getting sweaty and sunburnt, working manual labor—it sounds magical.) You need to tap back into a purpose. Human beings don’t work well if we don’t think what we’re doing is meaningful. I suggest writing down your purpose in a journal and revisiting it, or adding to it, when you reach these frustrating, I-wanna-quit states.

Three: Be adaptable about your identity and address yourself with curiosity rather than harshness. Fail a test for the first time? Fabulous — what a great learning experience. The only one to forget your white coat to a practical? Interesting, you must be stressed. Cut the one nerve you were trying to isolate on the cadaver? Ask another group to show you theirs. The Making-Of-A-Doctor is a messy, challenging, sometimes hilarious endeavor and the learning curve is enormous. Let yourself ride that curve. You’ll end up where you need to be.

Jamie Katuna is a medical student.  She can be reached at her self-titled site, Jamie Katuna, and on Facebook.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

A physician on timeshares: Who are they right for?

June 29, 2018 Kevin 3
…
Next

A patient is left with a choice: financial devastation or blindness

June 29, 2018 Kevin 11
…

Tagged as: Medical school

Post navigation

< Previous Post
A physician on timeshares: Who are they right for?
Next Post >
A patient is left with a choice: financial devastation or blindness

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Jamie Katuna

  • How to spark the attention of patients

    Jamie Katuna
  • How to foster and encourage genuine, curious learning in a medical student

    Jamie Katuna
  • While managing her schedule, a medical student learns 2 important concepts

    Jamie Katuna

Related Posts

  • Advice for graduating medical students

    R. Lynn Barnett
  • 3 pieces of advice to new medical students

    Natasha Abadilla
  • How medical education fails minority students

    Shenyece Ferguson
  • Medical students: It is OK to not feel OK

    Jamie Katuna
  • Physicians and medical students: Unlearn helplessness

    Jamie Katuna
  • Polarizing medical students do not foster discussion and education

    Anonymous

More in Education

  • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

    Vijay Rajput, MD
  • Why a fourth year will not fix emergency medicine’s real problems

    Anna Heffron, MD, PhD & Polly Wiltz, DO
  • Do Jewish students face rising bias in holistic admissions?

    Anonymous
  • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

    Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo
  • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

    ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD
  • In the absence of physician mentorship, who will train the next generation of primary care clinicians?

    Kenneth Botelho, DMSc, PA-C
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why recovery after illness demands dignity, not suspicion

      Trisza Leann Ray, DO | Physician
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Why does rifaximin cost 95 percent more in the U.S. than in Asia?

      Jai Kumar, MD, Brian Nohomovich, DO, PhD and Leonid Shamban, DO | Meds
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • Measles is back: Why vaccination is more vital than ever

      American College of Physicians | Conditions
    • When errors of nature are treated as medical negligence

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • Physician job change: Navigating your 457 plan and avoiding tax traps [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden chains holding doctors back

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Hope is the lifeline: a deeper look into transplant care

      Judith Eguzoikpe, MD, MPH | Conditions
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 1 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Why recovery after illness demands dignity, not suspicion

      Trisza Leann Ray, DO | Physician
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Why does rifaximin cost 95 percent more in the U.S. than in Asia?

      Jai Kumar, MD, Brian Nohomovich, DO, PhD and Leonid Shamban, DO | Meds
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
  • Recent Posts

    • Measles is back: Why vaccination is more vital than ever

      American College of Physicians | Conditions
    • When errors of nature are treated as medical negligence

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
    • Physician job change: Navigating your 457 plan and avoiding tax traps [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden chains holding doctors back

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Hope is the lifeline: a deeper look into transplant care

      Judith Eguzoikpe, MD, MPH | Conditions
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Advice for first-year medical students
1 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...