How do I do it? Medical School- Matrix Reloaded

It seems as if I have been asked this question almost constantly since starting medical school. It comes with many different tones. There's the "wow, how do you do it?" tone of genuine awe, and the "how on earth do you do it?" tone of judgment that really means "WHY do you do it?" in my opinion. The people that I am the most interested in are the ones that seriously want to know how I manage a family and medical school/ residency and are trying to figure out what to do or what NOT to do (they could probably take a little bit of each of those from my life). Most of these people, of course are also in medical school/ residency or aspiring to go to medical school. Some are mommies who just want to go back to school. ANY school. This post and posts to come are for THOSE people because I really don't know how on earth I do it and WHY I do it- well I ask myself that every day and sometimes when I am really tired, it is difficult to come up with an answer- but on most days I know medicine and pathology what is what I love so I am going to try to fit it in with things that I love.

So today I am going to start with my experience in medical school.

Medical school was much easier than residency. I struggled first year. After being out of school for several years and being with classmates who had biomedical masters degrees and who had basically already done the entire first year already, I had a lot of catching up to do. My older son was 18m when I started medical shcool and he went to bed so early that he didn't notice the times I stayed up studying. Plus my mom stayed with us during exam times.

Second year, the playing field seemed a bit more leveled. Many people had not taken those courses before and we hit the ground running. Quite a few people were not prepared for this. I also started to do something that really was key to my academic medical school career- I homeschooled. Not my son, MYSELF! At the end of 2nd year I worked out that there was an inverse relationship with how many times I went to class and my grades. The ones I went to the LEAST where the ones where I received honors grades. Go figure... I went to labs and practical stuff but not lectures. Firstly, I got to study my heart out during the day and spend time with my family at night. Secondly, we had digital lectures and powerpoints so I feel as if I didn't miss anything except that which I wanted to miss. Thirdly, I figured out that in order for me to do well with the lecture format, I had to prepare by reading the chapter before class and then review after class. I never had enough time to do this properly!  Fourthly, when I went to shcool, I wasted alot of time, chatting, commuting, etc.etc. Not to mention, it was easy to get laundry and other errands when at home during study breaks. I am not advising this by any means, you have to do what you're comfortable with. This was the main way for ME to get through it. When people have asked me about this, I told them about homeschooling myself, again not for advice but simply to state the facts- this is what I did. I DO know of a couple of people who tried it after they let their fears of not going to class go, and had the same results. In addition, I have met a few people since who homeschool and again had the same results. Again, not advising, just saying...

Okay but the THIRD year was a kicker. Okay so  it may have been a little bit harder than some people for me to get used to having to go in every day especially when I had made my own schedule for the most part for at least a year before AND I was right back to having to study in the evenings. WHEN I was home in the evenings. And this reinforced what I was saying about second year, at night I was tired after getting up at 4am and basically fell asleep on my book. My grades would go from a honors or high pass on the oral and general clinical performance to a pass after I took the exam. Except for surgery. I got a high pass there. Never figured that out...

FOURTH year I had my son and did waaaay too little... but that's next weeks topic: Having a Baby in medical school and beyond. I am going to try to get some of my friends who have babies in this process also comment. Now I think THAT is the most common question that I hear from other women- when to have a baby in medical school.


Finally, to me Medical school was like the scene from Matrix Reloaded where the sentinels attack Zion. The people of Zion try to fight back and sometimes it seems as if they might be making headway but then more and more sentinels come. Medical school and residency are the matrix, medical students and residents are the people of Zion and the Sentinels represent the amount of knowledge we have to acquire. It just keeps coming and coming. I don't think that we will ever leave the matrix but it doesn't have to kill us either...

Tune in next week for my experience with having a baby in medical school...