Everybody entering medical school has heard the horror stories of how when you get accepted into medical school you can kiss your social life goodbye and that you’re going to lose a lot of friends during that time. Well, do you actually believe those stories? It’s hard to say at times because, on the one hand, you feel like you can still attend medical school and still have a very vibrant social life but on the other hand, it makes you wonder… these medical school “horror stories” didn’t just come out of nowhere so there must be some truth rooted in them somewhere.
Whether it’s the loss of a social life or losing friends, one or both of those things had to have happened to people for those stories to have even come into existence but that doesn’t mean that it has to happen to you. When people tell those stories to future medical students, they’re doing it out of love and wanting them to be prepared for what could possibly come but the thing that people fail to realize is that everybody’s journey is different.
Just because one person experienced certain things during medical school, that doesn’t mean that the next person will have those same exact experiences as well. There are so many variables that go into what it takes to survive medical school. People have different learning and comprehension speeds, for example. It might take one student an hour to complete a particular assignment but it might take another student 30 minutes to complete that same assignment… It just depends on the student.
Although each student’s medical school journey may be different, the qualities and characteristics needed to survive to remain the same. In fact, according to Windsor University, colleges are looking for these qualities and more for you to even get accepted into the college. Take a look at the necessary qualities to embody if you want to not only make through medical school but to even get in!
Discipline
Self-discipline is an absolute must for medical school survival. The hard part about it in college is that you are responsible for yourself and your success. In high school, you had your parents and teachers to remind and encourage you to study but now that you’re in medical school, you’re on your own with the discipline. Being self-disciplined in medical school means saying “no” to friends and not being able to attend certain events. It will be hard but you have to keep your eyes on the prize!
Drive and Persistence
Upon entering medical school, you find out very quickly that you have a long journey ahead of you that’s not to be taken lightly. You have to know and understand that you will have high moments and you will have low moments but the key is to be able to pick yourself back up in your low moments because you will experience both when you’re actually out there practicing medicine… you just have to be able to get back up and keep practicing.
Adaptability
In medical school, you’re going to be doing several different rotations. This will help you discover what specialty you may potentially want to go for. In experiencing these rotations, you have to be able to adapt to your environment too. A hospital environment is a totally different environment than a nursing home facility so you have to be able to adapt to the pace of your environment as well.
Keep a Positive Attitude
Whether you’re in medical school or out in the field changing lives, you’re going to get frustrated and see and experience things no one else will in their lifetime but in the midst of all that, you still have to keep a positive attitude, not only for yourself but also for your patients and your colleagues.
You Made it! Just Keep in Mind…
You finally made! Congratulations! You have embodied discipline, drive and persistence, adaptability, and maintaining a positive attitude! That’s wonderful! Now comes the part of finding a job. Being that you’re a professional in your field now, you have access to jobs in your profession. If you’re a nurse practitioner, you have access to nursing practitioner jobs all over the world by way of job boards designed specifically for doctors and advanced practitioners of every field.
The one thing to keep in mind is patience during your job search. You may not get a call back from every position you apply for. That’s not a shot against you but more so the fact that a particular practice is looking for more experience, typically, but it’s no reason to get discouraged. If you’re not finding a job right after graduating, there are a few things you can do to stay motivated and encouraged during your waiting process.
Just be patient with yourself. You have to remember, it took years for you to get in the position you’re in, you can’t realistically expect to immediately find a job right after graduating so don’t beat yourself up about it. Just keep that drive going and you’ll be practicing medicine before you know it.
