This is a continuation of My First Month of Medical School from a few months ago. The purpose here is to give premeds an idea of what medical school is like. If there's enough interest, I might do this more often on a weekly/monthly basis on u/--Gem, rather than r/premed. Also, thank you for the support on my USUHS Application Thread.

So the first semester of my first year have come to a close. A lot has happened since my last post, but I'm excited to send an additional update to you guys. To summarize one more time:

Med school sucks, but it's also fun. And that's all I have to say about that.

Personal Problems in School

Almost immediately after posting My First Month, I lost my mom. A week before my first block exam. Across the country. During a pandemic when I couldn't go home.

I didn't get out of bed for days. I cried over and over and over. I thought about quitting. I thought nothing mattered anymore. Every day since then has been difficult and motivation has definitely taken a hit.

A lot of days I look at my friends and think, "No one else has to deal with this. They have no right to complain how hard school is". I'm aware this mentality isn't helping and I'm working on it.

This, tied in with a number of other issues, also caused me to fight endlessly with my SO. The past two months were honestly some of the worst in our relationship, but we are making a lot of fixes and we see the light at the end of the tunnel. A number of our friends have not been so lucky in their relationships, which appears very common in first year students, especially long distance relationships.

Beware, life doesn't stop when you're in med school.

School Life

On a brighter note...

Studying has been easier to figure out. I know how to use additional resources and how to integrate them into my curriculum. Like undergrad, you're going to have professors and topics you just don't like, but with outside resources, that becomes much more tolerable.

For me, the trick is just keeping structure. Having a to-do list and sticking to it. This is especially necessary with Covid and Zoom University, where every day blurs with the last.

The problem now is keeping up with new material while reviewing the old material. There's just not enough time in the day to do it all.

I'm still figuring it out, but it's getting better.

Week to week schedule is like this:

Sunday: watch relevant Boards & Beyond/Sketchy for upcoming week (1-3 hours), and any miscellaneous work.

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Preview lectures (1 hour), recorded lectures on 1.25x (3-4 hours), wrap up any LOs, any other outside resources I haven't reached, and then try and make time for reviewing a previous week.

Tuesday, Thursday: Team Based Learning (2-6 hours a day, including presentation prep), review the previous day's lectures if time permits.

Saturday is usually a bit more chill and just has a general review of the week.

All this with some Anki sprinkled in.

Friendship ended with firehose analogy. Now pancake analogy is my best friend.

Staying Happy and Healthy

There are a few approaches you can take to school. Some people prefer hard work all day every day, some people prefer lifestyle and taking things easy. There is no wrong answer, but your approach should be in line with your goals.

With my personality, goals, and personal issues this year, I've opted to go 75% lifestyle to keep myself in a better headspace. My grades are far from perfect, but I can confidently say I'm mentally doing pretty well, all things considered. I made a small outline of what I do to stay happy:

Mental Health

Therapy/Counseling: A lot of schools offer counseling as part of your tuition. If you feel it would benefit you, please try. As someone who was skeptical of the benefits, I'm so happy I reached out. My counselor did a great job of putting me back together after my incident and I'm very thankful.

Taking breaks: It's okay to take a Saturday off and just play video games, binge Netflix, or go hiking. Even in medical school. Take time for yourself.

Meditation: I know, I know. This one is always beaten over your head, but I swear by it. The phone apps Headspace (premium) and Simple Habit (free) have gotten me through a lot of stressful moments and helped me focus. Highly recommend.

I'd like to recommend a Twitch/Youtube channel HealthyGamerGG. Tufts/Harvard trained addiction psychiatrist who deals a lot with video game addiction, but gives good general advice. Highly recommend.

Emotional/Social Health

Friends: Don't know what I'd do without them. Try and make friends early on or it will be a struggle later. Having someone to blow off steam with every weekend is a necessity, not a luxury.

Dating/Relationships: It's difficult to meet the needs of school, yourself, and another human. Having my SO has been stressful at times, but her support has really saved me more times than I can count.

Living Space: A lot of premeds ask if they should live with people or not. Personally, I LOVE living alone and would only ever live with an absolute best friend. Get a roommate if you're extroverted or want an easy way to meet people. A lot of friends have gained a lot of valuable info/resources from living with 2nd/3rd/4th years, so that's something to consider. Also, decorate your apartment. You might be spending a lot of time there.

Physical Health

Sleep: If you could leave this post knowing one thing, build your schedule around sleep. I can't describe how valuable 8 solid hours is a night. Consistent bedtimes, consistent wind down before. No exceptions. This is the best thing you can do for yourself.

Like meditation, I could yammer on about how important exercise and diet are, but you already know this. Running has kept my stress in-check like a drug. Also enhances sleep and pooping, so that's cool.

Moving Forward + Summary

So, I'm now 1/8 of the way to getting to my MD. I already feel pretty beat up, but I'm also learning to deal with it. Going forward this semester, I plan to get into research, as well as shift more towards less-lifestyle and more work so I can advance in the class ranks. We'll see how that goes.

I hope all of you on your medical journey have an easier time than I have so far. Tell the people you love that you love them. You never know when it will be the last time.

Try and go easy on yourself. There are more important things in life than academic success.

Med school sucks, but it's also fun. And that's all I have to say about that. Happy holidays.