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Medical School

Students, educators, and physicians writing on KevinMD about medical school: admissions and what they select for, the cost of tuition and the debt it leaves, the curriculum and what students say it does and does not teach, Step 1 and the test-prep industry, pass/fail, mistreatment and depression in training, the match, Caribbean schools, and what should change. Most contributors are students writing while still in school, many of them anonymously. For what physicians have said about paying off that debt and the money decisions that follow, see Physician personal finance: what physicians say about their own money, in their own words. For a maintained record of what students and physicians have said about medical school on KevinMD since 2004, see Medical school: what students and physicians say, in their own words. For what physicians and deans have said for and against affirmative action and diversity in admissions, see Race and medicine: what physicians say, in their own words. For what international and Caribbean graduates have said about the Match and visas, see Immigration and medicine: what physicians say about immigrant doctors and immigrant patients, in their own words.

Podcast

Why America’s medical training pipeline is failing our future [PODCAST]

Academic physician executive William Wertheim discusses his article, "America, our health care workforce training isn't evolving alongside our needs." He argues that the U.S. medical system is training professionals who will not meet the needs of the country's rapidly aging…

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Academic physician executive William Wertheim discusses his article, “America, our health care workforce training isn’t evolving alongside our needs.” He argues that the U.S. medical system is training professionals who will not meet the needs of the country’s rapidly aging population. With the number of Americans over 65 expected to …

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Why America’s medical training pipeline is failing our future [PODCAST]

Medical Education

How listening makes you a better doctor before your first prescription

Before I ever introduced myself as a future doctor, I was a listener. Not because someone told me that listening was important in medicine, but because, as a first-year student, I quickly realized I had no answers—but I did have…

Before I ever introduced myself as a future doctor, I was a listener.

Not because someone told me that listening was important in medicine, but because, as a first-year student, I quickly realized I had no answers—but I did have ears. And heart. And a quiet seat at the edge of patient stories and preceptor reflections.

In the early days of medical school, everything felt unfamiliar. The terms, the pace, the sense …

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How listening makes you a better doctor before your first prescription

Medical Education

What it means to be a woman in medicine today

At first glance, medical school can be simplified to "drinking from a fire hose." Endless Anki cards, color-coded notes, iPads filled with diagrams. Cramming and regurgitation, funny acronyms and mnemonics. Obscure conditions. Buzzwords. It feels like memorizing a ton of…

At first glance, medical school can be simplified to “drinking from a fire hose.” Endless Anki cards, color-coded notes, iPads filled with diagrams.

Cramming and regurgitation, funny acronyms and mnemonics. Obscure conditions. Buzzwords.

It feels like memorizing a ton of conditions and running through the routine steps of diagnosis, treatment, management, clinical investigations, and so on — until you can recite them in your sleep.

You’re buried in biochemical pathways, pathophysiology, and pharmacology, …

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What it means to be a woman in medicine today

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Medical Education

How Japan and the U.S. can collaborate for better health care

The United States and Japan, while separated by geography, language, and culture, share more in common than first meets the eye—particularly when it comes to health care. As post-war democracies that developed robust medical infrastructures in the latter half of…

The United States and Japan, while separated by geography, language, and culture, share more in common than first meets the eye—particularly when it comes to health care. As post-war democracies that developed robust medical infrastructures in the latter half of the 20th century, both countries have grappled with similar challenges: Aging populations, rising costs, workforce burnout, and persistent health disparities. Yet their respective approaches—the U.S.’s pluralistic, market-driven model and Japan’s …

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How Japan and the U.S. can collaborate for better health care

Medical Education

The case for a standard pre-med major in U.S. universities

Throughout my academic career I learned that medicine can be pursued through any major. Although the traditional path is through biology, as long as the correct prerequisites are taken, you are eligible to apply. As time went on, I began…

Throughout my academic career I learned that medicine can be pursued through any major. Although the traditional path is through biology, as long as the correct prerequisites are taken, you are eligible to apply. As time went on, I began to think to myself, “Why isn’t there a common pre-med major?” This major would set students up to conquer the rigorous curriculum of medical school. Additionally, if students decide not …

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The case for a standard pre-med major in U.S. universities

Medical Education

From rejection to resilience: a doctor’s rise through the Caribbean route

The memories are still raw: Stepping off the plane alone, unsure of what came next. Where was the campus? The car? A place to live? I didn't know a soul. I was in a different country, surrounded by uncertainty. There…

The memories are still raw: Stepping off the plane alone, unsure of what came next. Where was the campus? The car? A place to live? I didn’t know a soul. I was in a different country, surrounded by uncertainty.

There were moments I truly wondered if I’d make it. I was afraid I’d fail—that this dream might slip through my fingers. How could I study medicine on a tiny island and …

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From rejection to resilience: a doctor’s rise through the Caribbean route

Medical Education

The hidden cost of professionalism in medical training

I sat in my pink childhood bed, my name still written in cursive above it from when I redesigned the room at seven years old, staring at the letter that shattered my dream. I had been dismissed from medical school…

I sat in my pink childhood bed, my name still written in cursive above it from when I redesigned the room at seven years old, staring at the letter that shattered my dream. I had been dismissed from medical school for “professionalism” concerns. I didn’t know what came next. No roadmap. No support. Just the crushing reality that everything I had worked for was suddenly gone.

Medical education demands resilience and …

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The hidden cost of professionalism in medical training

Medical Education

The cost of ending shadowing in medical education

A faculty-wide email recently announced that shadowing in our emergency department would no longer be recognized as a valid educational activity. I wrote back asking why. The reply was brief, dismissive, and telling: "It doesn't pay the rent." That line…

A faculty-wide email recently announced that shadowing in our emergency department would no longer be recognized as a valid educational activity. I wrote back asking why. The reply was brief, dismissive, and telling:

“It doesn’t pay the rent.”

That line has stuck with me—not just because it was flippant, but because it revealed something deeper about how we now view education.

Shadowing has long served as the first bridge between curiosity and calling …

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The cost of ending shadowing in medical education

Podcast

How Project ECHO is fighting physician isolation and transforming medical education [PODCAST]

Pediatrician Daniel Johnson discusses his article, "From isolation to innovation: the power of learning communities in health care." He reflects on the collaborative, case-based learning that makes medical training exciting and contrasts it with the professional isolation many physicians experience…

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Pediatrician Daniel Johnson discusses his article, “From isolation to innovation: the power of learning communities in health care.” He reflects on the collaborative, case-based learning that makes medical training exciting and contrasts it with the professional isolation many physicians experience after graduation. To combat this, Daniel champions Project ECHO, a …

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How Project ECHO is fighting physician isolation and transforming medical education [PODCAST]

Medical Education

Why medical schools must ditch lectures and embrace active learning

When I was a medical student, some enterprising classmate started a note taking service so we wouldn't have to take notes on our own. He set up a tape recorder and transcribed the notes for distribution the next day. One…

When I was a medical student, some enterprising classmate started a note taking service so we wouldn’t have to take notes on our own. He set up a tape recorder and transcribed the notes for distribution the next day. One day, our professor showed up with a tape recorder, set it up on the table in front of the lecture hall, and turned it on. The result was an electronic …

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Why medical schools must ditch lectures and embrace active learning

Medical Education

Why helping people means more than getting an MD

"Why do you want to be a doctor?" Ask any pre-med that question, and you'll probably hear the same answer: "I just want to help people." I've said it, too—more times than I can count. But lately, I've started to…

“Why do you want to be a doctor?”

Ask any pre-med that question, and you’ll probably hear the same answer: “I just want to help people.”

I’ve said it, too—more times than I can count. But lately, I’ve started to question what that phrase even means. Not because I’ve lost faith in medicine, but because I’ve learned that helping is more complex, layered, and humbling than I ever imagined.

As the host of …

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Why helping people means more than getting an MD

Medical Education

Residency match tips: Building mentorship, research, and community

The residency match process is one of the most defining and often most daunting milestones in a medical student's journey. It represents the culmination of over eight years of dedication, sacrifice, and hard work in pursuit of a dream many…

The residency match process is one of the most defining and often most daunting milestones in a medical student’s journey. It represents the culmination of over eight years of dedication, sacrifice, and hard work in pursuit of a dream many of us have nurtured since childhood.

Building a strong application is challenging for everyone. Whether you’re navigating personal doubts, managing financial strain, lacking mentorship, or simply trying to figure out the …

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Residency match tips: Building mentorship, research, and community

Medical Education

Why the pre-med path is pushing future doctors to the brink

I have been on the pre-med path for years. I started college excited to one day become a doctor, but I quickly learned that excitement was not part of the culture. From the beginning, pre-med students are taught to compete…

I have been on the pre-med path for years. I started college excited to one day become a doctor, but I quickly learned that excitement was not part of the culture. From the beginning, pre-med students are taught to compete with one another. We are forced into difficult STEM courses that are often graded on a curve, which turns classmates into rivals. I saw people hide resources, give wrong information …

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Why the pre-med path is pushing future doctors to the brink

Medical Education

Graduating from medical school without family: a story of strength and survival

Today I graduated from medical school. It should have been one of the happiest days of my life. And in some ways, it was. I earned this moment through sleepless nights, years of sacrifice, and an unshakable drive to serve…

Today I graduated from medical school. It should have been one of the happiest days of my life. And in some ways, it was. I earned this moment through sleepless nights, years of sacrifice, and an unshakable drive to serve and heal. I walked across the stage, accepted my diploma, stretched my smile from cheek to cheek, and looked directly at the camera. But behind that smile, I carried something …

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Graduating from medical school without family: a story of strength and survival

Medical Education

What led me from nurse practitioner to medical school

For years, I cared for patients as a nurse practitioner—managing chronic disease, guiding them through acute illness, counseling them through the often messy realities of life and health. I loved my work. I loved the relationships I built with patients,…

For years, I cared for patients as a nurse practitioner—managing chronic disease, guiding them through acute illness, counseling them through the often messy realities of life and health. I loved my work. I loved the relationships I built with patients, the trust they placed in me, and the opportunity to make a difference in their lives.

But over time, a quiet restlessness began to grow—a sense that I wanted to deepen …

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What led me from nurse practitioner to medical school

Podcast

Professional identity: a new narrative for medical education [PODCAST]

Otolaryngologist Kevin C. McMains discusses his article "The hero's journey: Understanding professional identity formation in graduate medical education." Kevin discusses the ongoing crisis of burnout and mental health issues in medical training, critically examining traditional educational and environmental interventions. He…

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Youtube video

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Otolaryngologist Kevin C. McMains discusses his article “The hero’s journey: Understanding professional identity formation in graduate medical education.” Kevin discusses the ongoing crisis of burnout and mental health issues in medical training, critically examining traditional educational and environmental interventions. He identifies a gap in the current narrative surrounding work-life balance, …

Read more…

Professional identity: a new narrative for medical education [PODCAST]

Podcast

How school meals can transform health [PODCAST]

Osteopathic medical student Scarlett Saitta discusses her article "The school cafeteria could save American medicine." Scarlett discusses the profound connection between childhood nutrition and long-term health outcomes, drawing from her personal experiences and observations in her hometown. She highlights how…

Listen on Apple Podcasts · Spotify

Youtube video

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Osteopathic medical student Scarlett Saitta discusses her article “The school cafeteria could save American medicine.” Scarlett discusses the profound connection between childhood nutrition and long-term health outcomes, drawing from her personal experiences and observations in her hometown. She highlights how current food systems contribute to chronic illnesses like type 2 …

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How school meals can transform health [PODCAST]

Medical Education

Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

Medicine demands precision. However, we overlook one of its most critical variables: physician cognitive load. As a medical student, I see both sides: how deeply patients trust their doctors, and how invisible that mental toll often is. Each day, doctors…

Medicine demands precision. However, we overlook one of its most critical variables: physician cognitive load. As a medical student, I see both sides: how deeply patients trust their doctors, and how invisible that mental toll often is. Each day, doctors are pressured to make high-stakes decisions while managing patient care and mental strain. As a field, we track vital signs but fail to measure cognitive fatigue.

Burnout is peaking at crisis …

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Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

Medical Education

The hidden cost of becoming a doctor: a South Asian perspective

Everyone talks about the pride of earning that "Dr." title. But few speak about the ugly journey of medical school: the isolation, exhaustion, and invisible battles. There's never a shortage of people telling you to work hard. What they don't…

Everyone talks about the pride of earning that “Dr.” title. But few speak about the ugly journey of medical school: the isolation, exhaustion, and invisible battles.

There’s never a shortage of people telling you to work hard. What they don’t tell you is that sometimes, hard work still won’t be enough. In Pakistan, over 180,000 students sit for the MDCAT each year, competing for limited seats. Globally, 70,000 take the MCAT. …

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The hidden cost of becoming a doctor: a South Asian perspective

Medical Education

From burnout to balance: a lesson in self-care for future doctors

Last fall, more than 20,000 first-year medical students donned white coats, pushing total U.S. medical school enrollment to nearly 100,000. Yet despite this surge of new trainees, the American Association of Medical Colleges projects a shortage of up to 86,000…

Last fall, more than 20,000 first-year medical students donned white coats, pushing total U.S. medical school enrollment to nearly 100,000. Yet despite this surge of new trainees, the American Association of Medical Colleges projects a shortage of up to 86,000 doctors by 2036.

The strain is already evident. Each year, tens of thousands of American physicians pack up their stethoscopes and scalpels …

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From burnout to balance: a lesson in self-care for future doctors

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