My 1st week in Med School.

I have to admit, I went psycho during my first week in school. I expected it to be.. well, not easy - but more of a challenge as compared to college. After going through my first 5 days in class, I realized that it's a whole new level of nerd.

Let me enumerate my thoughts during the first few days.

1. What trap have I gotten myself into. Right now, I don't know who I am, where I am, or what I'm doing.

2. I'm afraid of dead or severely injured bodies. I know it's weird that I pursued Medicine knowing one of these days, I will def be in contact with them. I don't know, I thought maybe I could handle it.

3. Lectures would last for about 2-3 hours. Back in college, it was bearable to go through these lectures without trying so hard. For the lectures that I have now, I struggle most of the time to not doze off and to keep my sanity in check. The reason I lose focus is because half of the lecture, I don't even know what we're talking about anymore. Which brings us to my next thought..

4. You are at a disadvantage if your PreMed is not a hundred percent science. Well, not really. A little background about me if you don't know already, I graduated BS Psychology. Most of my classmates finished Biology, Medical Technology, Nursing, etc. I do know some who still thrived regardless of their previous course. But my point here is that there are a lot of things that I don't know.

5. Low grades. It's the first week so there were no formal grading of performance just yet. But just by the looks of it, I think I'm doing pretty bad as compared to my other classmates.

6. I know no one. Not all my college buddies went to med school. In fact, I was the first one in my circle of friends who actually went. So basically during my first day, I was completely alone. I wasn't really worried about making new friends - I mean that's easy, you can just talk to someone and voila! A friend. My worries were: "What if I can't find my way to the next class?", "What if schedules/rooms changed, how will I know about it?" and also "Where the hell are my classmates going and where are they buying these Manuals from?". In short I was completely and utterly lost. 

So there, my first week jitters. But if you think about it, it's all part of adjusting.

1. Med school may or may not be my life long dream. But series of events led me to this place and at this exact time, so it's likely that I am here because I was fated to be here. Remember that not everyone is. You have to own it.

2. First week and I was already exposed to a cadaver. Not the whole body, but parts of it. Initially I thought I won't be able to handle it, but it was not as bad as I thought it would be. We actually had our laboratory discussion with the cadavers right in front of us. As in I could even hold hands with him/her if I want to. So what I'm saying is that, I freaked out over nothing. Why worry about something that's not even there yet.

3. It's okay to doze off. You're not a robot. You need sleep too. Just don't worry so much about not getting it the first time. You can always ask, read references, or watch videos to better understand the subject. There's always an option to be resourceful.

4. I don't care if your a Psych major, Business Major or out of this world major, as long as you prep up and review, everything will be clear to you soon. Besides, you can always use your Psych background as an advantage. You know very well how to manage emotions. Just don't let stress get to you. You know perfectly well how to maintain a healthy mind, body and soul - YOU ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR OWN PSYCHOLOGICAL STATE.
5. I experienced an extreme let down of self esteem earlier this week. You're grade conscious, I know. But isn't everyone? It's just a matter of building up confidence. Don't focus too much on other people but rather focus on yourself and your potentials. Keep in mind what the lecturer said: "From a thousand applicants, only 400 of you were chosen. This means you're the cream of the crop. You're above average." and by that she meant all.

6. No friends? No worries. To be honest, I went through a lot introductions with a lot of people before I finally met my group. I did make a slight effort to look for a group I'd fit in but eventually, the group found me. There is no denying that you will definitely be part of a group with people having the same thoughts/personality as you. So no rush. Eventually I got to know most of my classmates. And they're pretty cool actually. 

I'm not telling you it's going to be easy, I'm telling you it's going to be worth it. For all the incoming Medschool freshmen out there, lighten up. If you're tense, that's normal. You're simply in a state of adjustment so don't beat yourself up. You only need to do 3 things: KEEP CALM, STUDY HARD, AND BECOME A DOCTOR.

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I read through some threads about first week experiences in medschool. It seems I wasn't the only one. In fact, quite a number shared the same experience. See here.