Medical aspirants should always keep one thing in mind that there might be some possibilities wherein they will come across things they have never expected as soon as they begin their official training, no matter how much efforts and time they must have invested in order to become a medical student.
Moving ahead, there is one more thing that medical aspirants should be aware about is that an MD program i.e., a Doctor of Medicine is way too different than many other career and professional courses.
In order to give you with a clearer picture of what to expect when going to medical school, we have listed few more things that every medical aspirant should be aware about and they are as follows:
- Having a well-planned schedule is essential: There are higher chances that during medical school, many medical aspirants would get away with being extremely social, hanging around all the time, attending parties and family gatherings but once you decide to choose to pursue an MD or an MBBS course, this will not work as it requires you to grasp as much knowledge as possible that too in a very short period of time. So, all the medical aspirants pursuing MBBS are required to follow a well-planned schedule and stick to it. Aspirants should also master the skill of prioritizing tasks as it is extremely essential.
- You might not study the same way your peers do: Every aspirant is going to feel a little out of their element, in the beginning of their medical school experience. It is a human tendency to compare each other’s success and efforts but in the case of aspirants pursuing MBBS or MD, it can be harmful and can cause a lot of hindrance while attaining success.
It is important for all the aspirants to realize that your class mates or other passed out doctors are not your competition. Similarly, what is effective for one student may not be the same for another student. The motto is to understand and explore different techniques and strategies for learning that is effective for you.
Aspirants should stick to a particular study method that has worked for them in the past rather than blindly copying their seniors or other class mates.
- Practicing medicine is not always clear-cut: Although medicine is a scientific discipline but it is also quite introspective. It means that in certain cases, what you learn in your lectures will not always align perfectly with what you study in your reading material.
At times, aspirants feel that attending medical school and thereby evaluating symptoms would be an easy part of the job but there are times when only looking at the symptoms can be misleading.
Aspirants need to learn to look at the bigger picture as a medical student, in order to accurately identify a medical issue and devise an appropriate treatment plan. As soon as you learn and get used to this idea, you will become better and better in the medical school.
- Prioritizing personal time is a must: There is no denying in the fact that the medical aspirants are always expected to study and it is a common belief that there should not be a single day in a medical aspirant’s life where he did not study. But on the contrary, medical aspirants should never spend every second hitting the books.
No matter what, aspirants should make sure to have at least one day per week that they would dedicate to their personal needs, whether that was social outings with friends or spending time with family.
Aspirants should make sure that during the entire week they should spare some time for themselves in order to indulge into things that they enjoy after their medical school.
Aspirants should know that maintaining a work-life balance is an essential part of life in order to avoid stress and depression and building these habits in medical school can help you in achieving success throughout your medical profession.
After completion of your course, aspirants should always find jobs that provide flexible hours and scheduling which will help them maintain a well-rounded lifestyle which will help them indulge in activities they are passionate about.
- Start preparing for licensing exams from the beginning: Initially, as a pre medical student, aspirants will feel like the NEXT (National Entrance cum Eligibility Test) or the USMLE (United States Medical Licensing Examination) is way too far down the road to even be thinking about at the start of your medical school journey. But aspirants should realise that this is the accurate time they should start preparing for their entrance exam that is right from the beginning.
Starting your preparation from the time you have stepped into your medical college will help you to prepare better and makes you grasp all the information by the time your entrance exam date is announced. This will give enough time for the aspirants to prepare well for the entrance exam without wasting any of their medical years.
- Asking for help does not indicate weakness: At times, aspirants will feel that pursuing MBBS is one of the most rigorous professional fields they have chosen for themselves and most of them must be struggling academically for the first time in their lives. But aspirants should keep one thing in mind that no matter what they should never isolate themselves and instead they should always ask for help.
- Aspirants do not have to choose specialty right away: Some aspirants are aware of certain specialty they will end up practising as soon as they enter their medical school. But at times, this is not the exact scenario and at times, aspirants might end up practising other specialty rather than what they have thought of. Although it might be true in some cases but however, in the middle of your medical training, it is not a new thing if any aspirant discovers a new passion for themselves.
Aspirants should always try to keep an open mind even if you feel certain about pursuing a particular field. On the other hand, the more you explore about various specialties of medicine, you might come to a conclusion that you are best suited for a specific specialty that otherwise you may have never ever thought about.
- The residency application process is stressful but rewarding: In certain cases, when aspirants are pursuing MBBS in Abroad, securing a residency program would definitely be at the top of your mind during most of your medical school years. It can really be stressful when most of the aspirants would be spending part of their third year and most of their fourth year just completing the application process. This is merely the case when aspirants are planning to settle in the western countries where the process of residency program is extremely difficult and long but on the contrary, it is quite satisfying if one has achieved to get enrolled for the residency program for further specialty courses.
- Not all medical schools will yield the same outcomes: Aspirants while choosing to pursue MBBS in Russia, MBBS in China, MBBS in Bangladesh or MBBS in Abroad should always choose the universities that are listed with the NMC i.e., the National Medical Commission so that after the completion of the course when aspirants are planning to return to their country, they do not have to face any difficulty while applying for the NEXT exam. Moreover, the medical institutes should be listed with WHO and UNESCO as well. Although there are many medical institutes all over the world but all do not follow some of the most important gazette and guidelines issued by the National Medical Commission of India from the year 2021 which is the most important aspect while choosing a medical university in abroad.
- Plan your path to medical school: Right from entering your junior college or 11th standard, aspirants should start exploring about various medical institutes all around the world. Moreover, the path to become an MBBS doctor is filled with mixed experiences which can be surprising, rewarding and challenging all at once.
- Syllabus: Aspirants should know that those days are gone where your boundaries were only limited to NCERT. As soon as you enter the medical college, the syllabus you need to study is much more than what you learnt during the entrance test. Soon you will know that the topics are never ending and the deeper you dive the more you will realize the depth. Aspirants should know exactly how much information is required to answer for exams and exactly how much time that will require and all this should be learnt in medical college and known in advance, although, all the topics will draw your attention as all of them are interesting.
- Tests and Staying Updated: In most of the medical universities, tests are conducted every week for all subjects. As soon as you realise this, there would already be an assessment waiting in line. So, aspirants are required to stay updated with what has been taught or covered on a daily basis. Aspirants need to spend more time on studying in order to complete what has been taught the very same day apart from college hours, so that it do not get stretch to the next day.
- Adapting Techniques of Learning: After they have appeared for the most competitive medical entrance tests, i.e., NEET, aspirants are now aware of which learning technique or method will help them or work for them. So, aspirants should keep in mind that what works best for a student will not necessarily work the same way with the other student. Explore for yourselves and adapt learning methods that will best suit you.
- Medical Colleges are more Cooperative than Competitive: Aspirants should realise that medical college is not about competition. Here, you do not have to compete with each other in order to leave others behind and win the long race. In medical colleges, aspirants should merely focus on grasping as much information as possible rather than belittle someone. So, the atmosphere in medical colleges should be willing to help each other rather than compete with each other.
- A Roller Coaster Ride: The complete MBBS journey of a student is filled with happy and sad emotions. Once, failing in a test would have caused stress and depression and the same test in the long run will be a matter of the past. So, aspirants enjoy every moment without holding any grudges. There are dull days too, so, handle things at your level with great maturity without getting involved in serious offence. If required, aspirants can even discuss things with their friends, seniors and ask for help.
