Life as a Medical Student

Anatomy Group 3 with Dra. Surio

Biochemistry Section C with Faculty Members

I couldn't believe that it's been a year since I started studying medicine. I can still remember reviewing for NMAT and preparing a lot of documents needed to apply to different medical schools. Practicing for the oral interview and writing an admission essay that I hoped would stand out. Fitting in the new crowd and made new friends. Studying (cramming would be a more appropriate term) for shifting exams. Reading a lot of stuff from different books, websites and journals for a conference. Staying up as late as 3AM, trying my best to absorb everything for the prelims. The experience is just emotional, unbelievable and truly a different way of learning things.

                                                                     

Practice for Heme Synthesis Role Play

First year of medical school is over. Second year is right around the corner. I'm sitting comfortably during summer vacation, playing video games, meet with friends, watch stuff I wasn't able to during the entire year, without feeling a sense of guilt that I should be studying instead. It's also now that I am able to reflect on a lot of things. Do I really want this? Can I do this? Perhaps the biggest challenge for any medical student is to be able to know which stuff to prioritize. There are just too much that can happen in a year, aside from school, there are family gatherings, birthdays, some errands, and a lot of holidays. There are certainly a number of them that you need to sacrifice.

Section C - Christmas Party

Medicine isn't about being intelligent. It's about being able to adjust to the demands of the training and be able to focus on stuff that matters. Classes are from Monday to Saturday and usually run from 8-5. Aside from lectures, we attend a lot of conferences and laboratory works. And sometimes (a lot of times), we are required to report about the experiment the next day. What's infuriating is that we have a shifting exam in Biochemistry that day. What to do? It doesn't mean that just because you have a report to submit, you'll totally forget to read even part of the topics covered for the exam. And yes, you'll be needing a lot of time. I never really valued time before I entered med. During college, I consistently get 8-9 hours of sleep per night. Now, I consider it a blessing to be able to get 3-4 hours of rest. Truly, time is gold. And there isn't just enough of it. I never realized what I was capable of doing in a day until I was pushed to this challenge.

Med Night '11

I know that the ordeal me and a lot of other students are going through will not be in vain. Our sacrifices, along with our family's, will surely bear fruits in the future. This is how I put it. We are pressured to get high scores, if not perfect scores, in exams because we cannot afford to make mistakes in real life. We cannot just erase or have our errors countersigned all the time. We will be dealing with lives, with real people someday.

With the help of God, the greatest healer, we will endure.