Author: Marc N. Katz

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I’m Considering Going To Ross…

“I’m considering going to Ross. How many students were in your incoming class? I’ve heard that about only half the class makes it to graduation – is that true?”

Short answer: My incoming class had ~440 students. 76% passed their first semester.

Long answer: Ross University takes three first semester med school classes per year. There is a fall, spring, and summer semester. A lot of students leave after they realize that medical school isn’t for them. For those who just had a bad semester, Ross lets you come back and repeat. I have a few friends who failed once and never failed again and even excelled on their USMLE step exams (the gold standard used to compare medical students nationwide). So failing one semester doesn’t mean you failed medical school. I don’t have the exact statistics on how many people make it from first semester to graduation but you can be certain that if you are smart enough to be accepted to medical school and have the work ethic and dedication to become a doctor then you can certainly graduate.

You also can’t analyze the fact that only 76% of my first semester class passed the first semester without looking at some confounding variables. One of my favorites is this graphic, taken from the Ross University site:

student-profile=grades

At a glance, its showing you that Ross University accepts students with an average cumulative GPA of 3.22 and a prerequisite GPA of 3.08. Again, those are averages. Which means that there are students well above and below those numbers. So the argument can be made that Ross accepts subpar students. I personally don’t agree with that mantra. Instead, I like to believe that Ross gives students who realized too late that they wanted to go to medical school after they had already done significant damage to their GPA. Though I’m admittedly bias because that’s my story. Overall, you know yourself better than anyone else. You can look at the statistics all you want. At the end of the day, if you are smart, work hard, and stay dedicated towards the goal of becoming a doctor then there is no reason why you can’t graduate.

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Does Ross Support You During Third Year?

“For clinicals, did Ross University provide adequate support and RUSM teachers to support you in your third year? Thanks for any advice you may have!!”

Short answer: Yes. Ross has instituted clinical track programs for our third year of medical school. Clinical tracks keep you in one hospital for either 6 or 12 months. Each hospital is different. As such, every clinical track is unique. Most of the clinical tracks are in NYC, Chicago, Miami, Maryland, Atlanta, Michigan, and California.

Long answer: Many people told me, “Med school is all downhill after you finish your second year and you take step 1 of your US medical licensing exam (USMLE)”. That’s a whole lot of bullshit. Third year is tough. You have to go through clinical rotations while you simultaneously study for USMLE step 2. Don’t get me wrong, its a lot of fun and I enjoy it way more than being cooped up in a classroom. Just know that it doesn’t get any easier. Though I hear most people truly enjoy fourth year. Especially after their application is sent to programs and interview season is over. Then its truly just waiting to match. But I digress.

Back to Ross and clinical rotations during third year. I personally have never had trouble with Ross during my third year. I earned the New York Methodist track and will be completing much of my fourth year here as well. Its one of the more competitive tracks and I enjoy being there. Before the end of your second year, everyone applies for a track. You submit all your information like your exam scores, GPA, resume, where you are from, and why you want to go to that specific track, etc. So I’ve had relatively smooth sailing during my third year. I was accepted to the track I wanted and I signed up for my fourth year electives on my own without Ross helping me (they will help you but I just didn’t need it).

You also have a team of advisors. Ross implemented a team based approach to your advisor so you speak with the same six people throughout your four years with Ross. So if you have questions about financial aid, professional development, or clinical advising, you always speak with the same six people. Check it out: http://www.rossu.edu/medical-school/blog/12/431. Its a major improvement and it works well. That being said, a lot of medical school is you figuring it out for yourself.

The student body has a saying, that ‘Ross’ stands for ‘Rely On Self Study’. Its a jab at the fact that sometimes you don’t have the best professor and you have to teach yourself an entire lecture. But after speaking with students in US schools it seems an issue that every medical school deals with. Stateside schools aren’t exempt from having terrible professors. The same is true with advising. As for Ross providing me with advising and support? Most of my advise has come from students in upper semesters or graduates, a friend or two of mine who are way more on top of their shit than I am, and my own research into whatever I needed to get done at the time.

Lastly, I am quite certain that there are disgruntled students out there who will disagree with me. So maybe try and find someone who isn’t so chipper and optimistic. They might be able to give you a different story from other side of the same coin.

Comment below if you have any follow up questions. And good luck!

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Premeds: How To Shadow Like a Boss

July 1st marks the beginning of intern year for residents but they aren’t the only new faces in the hospital. The summer months are also the perfect time for premed undergrad students to get into the hospital for summer shadowing experiences. Shadowing experience gives premed students valuable clinical experience. Not to mention it’s essential to any medical school application. You probably have heard this before, or at least I hope you have, but in case you haven’t here’s how you can get the most out of your shadowing experience in the hospital.

Pursue what interests you, be curious, and ask questions
There’s nothing more refreshing than a young mind excited to learn. Your vigor makes it fun to work with you and a positive attitude makes me want to teach you more. You need to help me help you learn by actively asking questions so that we can direct your learning experience. It also further shows that you are actually interested in the field of medicine. So screw the cat- be curious and ask questions.

Put away your phone
Like it or not, people assume you are texting when you are on your phone. I’ve been victim to nurse technicians and attending physicians reprimanding me for ‘being on my phone’ even though I was actually researching information pertinent to our patient. Many people don’t mind when you quickly Google pertinent topics but rather play it safe than sorry. As a guideline keep your phone in your pocket and instead carry a small pen and pad with you in the hospital. Write down what you don’t know and Google it when you go home.

Don’t fall asleep
It happens by accident more often than you think. You finally get to sit down on a comfy couch after a long day on your feet in a comfortably warm room. Someone starts lecturing and their voice soothes you into slumber (Its like they want you to fall asleep!). Fight the urge and stay awake.

Look the part
You don’t need to wear a suit and tie but you should look presentable. When in doubt always overdress than underdress. You can always loosen a tie or take off a jacket but it’s hard to cover up your sneakers. In general, don’t look like you just woke up. At least put a comb through your hair before you show up. These are common sense things but it seems that common sense isn’t so common.

Be respectful
Medicine is an intimate art. People discuss things about themselves that they don’t tell anyone else or things that most people just straight up don’t want to know. So remember to treat your patient with respect and dignity regardless if you’re talking about their bowel movements or their cancer regiment.

Find a mentor
Much of what I just mentioned is about how you are perceived by your patients and the doctor you are shadowing. Instead of trying to conform to how others want you to act you should set your own standard that you hold yourself against. The best way to do this is to find a mentor who you want to be like when you’re a doctor. I’ve found several. I look up to an ICU/trauma surgeon who is able to apply mechanistic knowledge of disease processes to treat his patients, a cardiologist able to diagnose diseases with the use of his hands and stethoscope alone, and countless other individuals whose personal attributes I have grown to value. These attributes, like having a vast knowledge of medicine and the ability to apply that knowledge, won’t last unless you want them to. They are life long personality traits that you have to start developing now. So find someone who motivates you to be a better you and start the process towards becoming a physician today.

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Now Is The Time To Develop Your Style With Patients

I’m thankful that my first rotation was family medicine out in Youngstown, Ohio. Youngstown is a small town halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. Everything moves a little slower out there compared to what I’m used to in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Similarly, my family medicine rotation as a whole was slower and calmer compared to my other rotations. I didn’t see any emergency conditions or an excessive number of rare pathologies in the doctor’s office I rotated through. I saw routine diseases that affect the majority of Americans- hypertension, diabetes, chronic pain, concerning moles and freckles, so on and so forth.

While I was in the doctor’s office I didn’t necessarily learn about the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying these diseases. That’s not what my physician primarily taught me. I had to dedicate time to study that stuff on my own. Instead, my attending taught me the art of practicing medicine.

What still strikes me today is how well my attending knew his patients. He had entire families coming to see him. We would check grandma’s blood pressure, grandpa’s blood thinners, mom’s thyroid hormone levels, dad’s sugars, and give a vaccine or two to the kids and send them on their way with new scripts and clean bills of health. But he also knew which grocery stores had the cheapest, or sometimes free, medications. With a patriarchal nurturing tone, he would warn his patients not to end up spending too much money at the big chains because they often offered free or bargain-priced medications that a majority of their customers needed as a ploy to get them in the door. He reminded me of my dad telling me to behave before a night out with my friends after an exam.

And the sincerity was a two way street. On many occasions patients would offer my attending help repaving his driveway or moving an old tractor from a ditch with the same nonchalant manner of someone asking to please pass the water from the other side of the dinner table. It was like a tight-knit community out of a corny television commercial. I mean, I had always heard that people are much nicer in the Midwest, or just about anywhere outside of New York for that matter, but are people seriously this nice?

After my six weeks in Ohio came to a close I moved to Brooklyn to complete my third year rotations. I started with psychiatry. My first psych patient came to the office for routine pre-surgical clearance for a gastric sleeve operation. Most patients are required to start a weight loss regimen to help smooth the post-surgical transition and increase the surgery’s success rate. After I finished conducting my portion of the patient’s history, the patient and I joined my attending in his office.

My attending got up from his comfortable reclining padded leather chair that you would expect to find in a psychiatrist’s office and joined us on the other side of his desk. He moved the third empty chair and positioned it to make a small triangle with the patient and me before sitting down. He sat, paused, acknowledged both of us, and asked the patient how she was doing.

Our patient was excited that she was continuing to lose weight and my attending was proud of her too. You could feel that he genuinely cared. It was like they were gym buddies encouraging one another.

The patient was cleared for surgery leaving my attending and I alone for a few fleeting seconds before the next patient was called in. Without looking up from a paper on his desk he remarked, ‘By the way, I liked how you interacted with that patient”. Stunned, I kind of just gazed at him unsure if he was joking in the most extreme of sarcastic ways or if he was actually being serious. Realizing I should probably say something I finally asked him, “What do you mean? I didn’t say anything”. He answered simply, “Yes. But you listened very well”.

His comment made me realize that the warm comradery, earnest candor, and trusting temperament wasn’t unique to Ohio or to family medicine but is intrinsic to all high quality caring physicians. It allowed me to recognize the art of the physician as the exquisite ability to convey trust and compassion not only through what you say but how you say it. By using your eyes, your attitude, and your posture alongside what you actually tell your patient.

That art takes time and practice to perfect. There are physicians who have been practicing medicine for longer than I’ve been alive. Their ability to connect with patients and make them feel comfortable, safe, and heard is engrained in their routines through decades of practice.

As a medical student and future physician, now is the time to develop your personal style of how you interact with your patients. How do you want to be perceived when you walk into your patient’s room? How do you want to make your patients and their families feel when you discuss their health or treatment options? As a physician, how do you want to be remembered? These are questions that only you can answer but you can start figuring that out now. Actively observe how your attendings, residents, and even your peers interact with their patients. Mimic what you like. Avoid what you don’t.

Ultimately, how you interact with your patients is part of your style. It’s a reflection of your attitude and personality. It has the ability to affect the people around you, including your patients, and can be greatly beneficial, or conversely detrimental, to your career. So start developing that style now. And whatever you do, do it with confidence.

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The Medical Student’s Guide to Clinical Rotations

With my third year of medical school coming to a close, here is what I wish I did differently, wish I knew beforehand, or figured out along the way during my core clinical rotations. Its nothing groundbreaking and you may have heard this before but it can’t hurt to hear it again.

Hold yourself accountable for the welfare of your patient
During your clinical rotations it is surprisingly easy to be lazy. But once you graduate medical school it will be your responsibility to care for the patients. Sure, as a resident you have a safety net to fall back on but at the end of the day the goal is to become self-sufficient. The more patients that you see in medical school the more prepared you will be for residency. So do a quick search on UpToDate for differentials on your patient’s chief complaint, think about which lab tests to order, and find the best treatment options. It’s also good practice for step 2 CS! So start holding yourself accountable for the welfare of your patients instead of waiting for that day to come.

Take onus of your medical education- be aggressive, take the initiative, and anticipate your next move
Don’t wait for someone to ask you if you would like to perform a physical exam task or a specific procedure. Be aggressive and take the initiative by asking your resident if you can do it. When you interview a patient and anticipate that they will need a urinalysis go get a clean catch cup for your patient- don’t wait for someone to tell you its okay for basic things like that. If the patient’s vitals aren’t hooked up to the monitor then attach the EKG leads, pulse ox, and blood pressure cuff and record the vitals. Do you need practice placing IV’s? Go speak with the nursing staff and find out if anyone needs blood drawn. They will be happy to oblige you with work. At the end of the day you are paying the hospital to be there so you might as well get your money’s worth. Be decisive and take your education into your own hands.

SCUT work- some clinically useful task
As a medical student nothing is above your pay grade. Especially since, again you are literally paying them to be there. So don’t feel neglected or insulted if your resident has you do what seems to be menial labor. Some SCUT work is fun- like drawing blood from a patient or performing a paracentesis. Other SCUT work is not- like transporting patients or copying, faxing, and delivering paperwork. But its all necessary. If you weren’t doing it then your resident would be.

Learn from your mistakes
I make a fool of myself on a daily basis. I’ve missed easy diagnoses, forgotten to ask rudimentary questions, and I’ve been sprayed by just about every bodily fluid imaginable. All of these mistakes can wear on your confidence but you are expected to make mistakes as a medical student- its how you learn. Simply never make that same mistake twice and move on. Better yet, learn from your colleagues’ and your residents’ mistakes. For instance, always wear a face shield and a mask when you drain an abscess. You’ll thank me later.

Again, at the end of the day you’re paying them to be there so you might as well get your money’s worth and make the best of your clinical experience. As always, I’d be happy to address any specific concerns you may have- just shoot me a message or leave a comment. Happy studying!

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My Three Favorite Study Aids That Every Medical Student Should Have

Besides caffeine, there are three study aids that got me through medical school. These resources speed up the memorization process, enhance your learning for long-term retention, and help you understand the required mountain of material you learn during the first two years of med school. They were my favorite resources to use during the basic science courses and while I studied for step one. The more I found myself using them the more useful they became. As I’ve written about before, don’t half ass anything– and that includes your study aids. So try these out, see if they help you, and then commit to using them. Without further ado, here are my three favorite med school study tools…you know, besides note cards of course:

First Aid for the USMLE Step One

This is every medical student’s bible. If you ask a med student studying for step one, ‘if your house was on fire and you were only allowed to retrieve one item’, their First Aid book would be the answer. If you are about to start med school just go ahead and buy it. This book provides a backbone outline of your medical education and its up to you to fill in the details. You can almost always tell the first semester students apart from the fourth semesters based on how much white space is left on the pages of their First Aid book. Just remember, post-it notes are your friends, don’t use ink that will run, highlight in moderation, write small but legibly, and always double-check to see if the information you are about to scribble in your book isn’t already there.

Picmonic

Imagine that instead of forcing yourself to memorize every bug, drug, syndrome, system, and tumor that you could just watch cartoons and all the information would just magically diffuse into your consciousness. Picmonic is as close at it comes. Instead of just listing information and letting you figure out how to inject the information into your brain, Picmonic provides you with tons of notecard sized cartoon illustrations that tell unique and memorable stories. Each cartoon represents vital information about the subject at hand. With pathognomonic pictures and rhyming raps about almost everything that med students need to memorize and differentiate between, Picmonic makes memorizing the minutia of med school both easy and fun. I seriously would not have made it through med school without it.

*Use my link to get 30% off your Picmonic subscription!*

Pathoma

The only thing worse than not being able to pronounce the diseases you are studying is not being able to understand your professor teaching you. Whether your professor has a thick accent or is just a terrible teacher, Pathoma is the answer to your troubles. It’s the gold standard when it comes to studying pathology. The textbook has clear illustrations and descriptions of every disease process you learn about in the first two years of medical school and the accompanying videos explain the pathophysiology in a clear and concise manner. I honestly don’t know a single med friend of mine who doesn’t use it.

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My Review of Step One Review Courses

The most highly requested topic about studying for step one has easily been which step one review course to use. The problem when giving advice about which course to use it that it is incredibly subjective. Choosing which step one review course to use is like choosing between mac or PC, Xbox or play station, vanilla or chocolate. They’re both good. It just depends which one you have a personal preference towards. Which one best fits your study habits and study style?

I have been exposed to two major step one review courses- Doctors In Training and Becker (formerly Falcon). Although I have watched Kaplan videos during my first two years of medical school I do not know enough about their step one review course to constructively comment on it. I used Becker for the comp but I’m biased towards DIT because I used it for step studying. I like DIT because it consists of multiple online videos that you can watch at your own speed. I needed to be alone so I could discipline myself to focus on subjects that I needed to spend more time on, like HIV pharmacology, while I could fast forward through sections I was more adept in, like anatomy. Becker on the other hand is a live review course that is done in a small group that I knew would be too distracting for me.

DIT also provides students with personalized daily schedules and long-term study calendars. The daily schedule has blocks of time for resources you use like Picmonic, Pathoma, and UWorld whereas the long-term calendar provides you with a week-by-week overview of what you are going to study. For instance, six days of studying and then a practice test. While creating your schedule, DIT also asks about any scheduled holidays or study breaks and etches them into your calendar for you. They take some of the stress out of studying. For instance, I went on a weekend snowboarding trip and had three guilt-free days spent outside of the library on the mountain with nothing but fresh powder and a few shots of tequila (not at the same time of course). To be fair though, after speaking with friends who have completed the Becker review course it seems like Becker also creates a calendar and daily schedule for you too.

Two big differences between Becker and DIT are the cost and the overall style. DIT can be done alone with your review book and an internet connection whereas Becker is an in person review course completed with a small group of students. Financially, Becker is the clear winner for Ross students. Becker offers a free live review course for Ross students. DIT offers a student discount which takes the price to around seven hundred dollars. Now just like your career decisions, you shouldn’t make your choice about which review course to use based solely on the financial aspect. Make sure that whichever review course you choose is the right fit for you and that you mesh well with their overriding philosophy.

Ultimately, both DIT and Becker are great review courses. Friends of mine have done wildly successful with both of them. So don’t stress out about which one is more or less qualified. If you dedicate yourself to studying for step one and don’t cut any corners then there is no reason that either one of these two resources will provide you with the tools necessary to earn above a 240 on step one. At the end of the day your personal preference toward one or the other matters the most. So try out DIT for one day when you are studying for your final this semester and try out Becker for a day when you are studying for the comp. Do your research about the daily and monthly schedule that each one follows, find out which system works best for your specific needs, choose one, and go with it. Happy studying!

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From The Final To The Finale

Let’s take a look at your schedule for the next month. You just took your last mini at Ross and all that separates you from freedom is your CCSB exam, your fourth semester final, and the comp. Then you can finally go home and study for the step! Sounds amazing- I know. Just think of how awesome it’s going to feel when you answer that last multiple-choice question of step one. You’ll be free!

Now before you begin fantasizing about what you’re going to do after you take the step (you’ll have so much more time for activities!) let’s talk about your study timeline starting from the day you take your fourth semester final leading up to your step. I tried to whittle down my thoughts into a few succinct points with the help of a few guest perspectives.

 

Recharge Your Batteries After Your Final

Some of my classmates were in C4 studying for the comp the day after our fourth semester final- I was not one of them. And if you are the type of person who will be in class the day after your final then this post may not be for you.

For everyone else, go do whatever it is that you want to do- treat yourself! Climb Mt. Diablotin, hike to Sulfur Springs, close out Tulips, lay on the beach, or stay inside with the air-conditioner on blast and marathon watch Grey’s Anatomy (I’m only on season eight- ruin it for me and we’ll have problems!). You are going to be studying almost non-stop for the comp and then keep it up when you go home to study for the step. So relaxing, centering yourself, and making sure you are ready for the long haul is priority number one.

 

Start With A Diagnostic Test

After you take into account the random days off that you are likely going to take, you only have about three solid weeks of studying before the comp. Now assuming you somewhat remember the stuff you just took a final on, you might not need to review absolutely everything before the comp. And quite frankly, you won’t have enough time to review everything. That’s why you need to triage the subjects and organ systems and make a study strategy for the comp. And you can’t make a study strategy without knowing what you actually need to focus on. So before you begin studying, get situated in your favorite cube (shout out to E-07!) and take a diagnostic test.

Use it to see where you strengths and weaknesses are. My best piece of advice is to guess which organ systems and subject areas you think you are strongest/weakest in and see how your guesses match up with your results. You might be surprised…or completely spot on!

Now I don’t think you can study everything effectively before the comp. Personally, I did very little for the organ systems that were on the fourth semester final. I focused on third semester organ systems as well as the basics from the first two semesters. I didn’t even touch the respiratory system. But you have to look at the comp as a stepping-stone and not the end goal- step one is the end goal. You can always go back to stuff you skipped after you pass the comp.

 

Put In The Work And Pass The Comp

I firmly believe that the comp is beatable if you put in the work. Most of my friends who failed the comp admit that they simply didn’t study very hard for it. And failing the comp isn’t a big deal. You simply have to take it again and pass before you take the step but it definitely messes with your timeline and possibly your confidence.

I interviewed a close friend of mine who failed the comp. After passing fourth semester he met someone on the island and started ‘reviewing a lot of anatomy’. His only goal for approaching the comp was to attempt to attend Becker everyday and nothing else. And even that simple goal didn’t always get reached.

On two occasions, he even skipped Sunday lectures to attend brunch at Champs knowing that he wouldn’t be seeing those two days of material. He didn’t touch DIT, Kaplan videos, and only did seven UWorld questions. And he only missed passing the comp by four percent- roughly eight questions.

The comp is beatable but you need to put in the work. If you study for it like it’s the step then you should have no problem passing. As the old idiom goes, if you fail to prepare then you prepare to fail.

 

Don’t Stop

An object in motion stays in motion. The same is true with regards to studying. The hardest part about studying is often getting started and getting into a regular routine. When you go home after you take the comp you are likely going to take some time off again before you get back into studying. You’ll be home- enjoy it. Hang out with your family & friends, go get drunk in the city, join a gym- whatever floats your boat. Just don’t take too much time off because once you taste the sweet flavor of freedom you won’t want to go back to that dreary library.

To hammer this point home, imagine taking your first semester anatomy practical exam all over again as a fourth semester. I know I just made some of you cringe at the idea but be honest with yourself- how do you think you would do? I’m sure that as a first semester who was seeing non-stop anatomy everyday that you would have done great! However, as a fourth semester you might not remember the exact presentation of an ulnar nerve injury at the elbow versus the wrist.  Or what nerve roots make up the nerve that runs with the profunda brachii that may be damaged in a mid humeral shaft fracture. My point is that if you are studying for the comp everyday for three weeks that you shouldn’t let it go to waste. All of that medicine is going to be at the forefront of your brain. Keep it there and just keep going or else you may as well start over.

 

Multiple Choice Questions

By the time you take step one you should have fully completed at least one question bank. Personally, I believe four thousand is a good goal (though I only got to 3K). That’s a lot of questions and you need to incorporate MCQs into your daily routine as soon as possible. Do you bike at the gym? Do ten behavioral questions. Waiting for friends at the bar? Do five biochemistry questions. Do multiple-choice questions? Do multiple-choice questions!

My favorite routine was studying in the morning for four hours and then doing two sets of forty-six questions and then reviewing the answer choices after I got back from the gym. Granted, this was when I was in full power turbo study mode…but it’s totally doable. Just find your balance, set a goal, and go for it!

 

Don’t Do Half Of Anything

My dilemma when I started studying for the comp was knowing which resources to use- specifically Doctors In Training or Becker. I began flip-flopping between the two. I watched half a day’s worth of lectures on DIT and half a days worth of Becker lectures and both ended up suffering.

Choosing which resource you are going to use is a tough decision and one that shouldn’t be made lightly but stick with one once you make a choice. I knew that I couldn’t get through all of DIT before the comp so I chose to do Becker. One of my friends did all of DIT before the comp and did it all over again for the step. Weigh your options, pick one, and don’t look back.

 

To Becker Or Not To Becker?

By the time fourth semester had come around I had heard conflicting opinions about the Becker review course but overall I think anyone who used Becker had a good experience with them.

I liked Becker because it gave us a different perspective on the same material we already learned. Behavioral was amazing. I finally understood the intricate differences between all the self-defense mechanisms, personality disorders, and all of the statistics. Go to the behavioral lectures even if you don’t do anything else with Becker. And the other subjects they covered were also my biggest weaknesses that turned into strengths (i.e. pharmacology, physiology).

My friend Kristyn used Becker for the comp. She was extremely exhausted after passing fourth and decided to take a week off to relax and regroup. She told me that, ‘although I didn’t take the comp as seriously as maybe one should, my honest end goal was to just pass the comp and get it out of the way so I could start step studying once I got home’. She continued, saying that ‘for the comp, I decided to mediasite the Becker lectures at Ross and read First Aid for the subjects Becker didn’t cover and in the end it was enough to pass and get off the island’.

So should you use Becker? Only you can tell for yourself. I suggest that you invest at least one day in using Becker and test it out for yourself.

 

In my next post, I’ll go into more detail about the step one Becker course that Kristyn signed up for and the Doctors In Training course that I used for my step studying along with other resources I found invaluable to my step studying (i.e. DIT vs. Becker, Kaplan vs. USMLE World question banks, Picmonic, Firecracker, etc.). I hope you found this post helpful and good luck on your final! As always, feel free to leave a comment, question, or any other feedback and I’ll get back to you as quick as a cat. Meow.

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Preface

After passing step one, I’ve decided to write a series of posts that will encompass everything involved in studying for step one of the United States Medical Licensing Exam for fellow Ross University students. During my fourth semester on the island I felt lost in a sea of resources, conflicting study ideologies, and differing mindsets on how to approach studying for the comprehensive shelf exam…let alone the step. Thus, my study timeline that I will describe will begin with passing your fourth semester, studying for the comp, and extend until your step test day. My discussion on how to study for step one will include my guiding philosophy on how to approach studying for the exam, different study strategies, resources, and a few tangential but entertaining topics. My hope is to illuminate shades of confusion that plagued my studies while on the island and give current Ross students a little hindsight to make more informed decisions about their study strategy with even greater confidence.

As always, if you have a specific question or concern that you’d like me to address please post a comment below or hit me up directly on twitter via @MarcKittyKatz. Enjoy!

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Reflections After Finishing Second Year of Med School

As I walked home last night I glanced up at the evening sky of Dominica. Twinkling down at me was what seemed like a surprisingly bright star compared to all the rest. It couldn’t be a plane because planes very rarely fly over this Caribbean island. It seemed stationary so it couldn’t be a meteor. Confused, I pulled out my Sky Map on my iPhone and discovered it was not a star at all but instead turned out to be the planet named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty- Venus.

Earlier the same day I sat in my last lecture of my first two years of medical school and it felt strange. There was a buzz in the air. My entire class was about to be done learning new material. From then on out, we were to learn everything we already knew but in more depth and with greater stress on integrating each subject in preparation for the step. Except nothing seemed to change. I went to the same place for lunch that I normally do, went and got coffee like any other day, and procrastinated like a pro as always.

It took me until later that evening, looking up at the night sky, to register the significance of this transition. In that moment, staring up at the night sky alone with my thoughts, a smile snuck onto my face. It’s a smile that my close friends know quite well. It’s the same exuberant smile from the moment I first tried to place an IV port in my friend’s vein. It’s the same smile from the galvanizing moment when I successfully found my other friend’s uterus using an ultrasound. It became a smile from the moment that clarified how utterly happy I was to be on my journey in pursuit of medicine.

As corny and ironic as it sounds, I had to literally stare at the planet named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty to remember how much I love learning about the human body. Ever since I was a little kid I’ve always wanted to know how the silent orchestra of salient biochemical processes worked so well in perfect harmony. For me, its breathtaking to realize that I have learned most of the important processes that were once such a mystery to me and that I will one day be able to expand upon the zeitgeist of medicine.

It’s important to remind ourselves of our goals and our original reasons for why we wanted to pursue medicine- to remind ourselves that the sleep, sanity, and social life that we sacrifice are worth it. To remember why we spend our days in the library instead of on the beach.

I got lucky in that I’ve always wanted to learn about medicine and that I am happy to do so. I got even luckier in that I stumbled upon a strangely bright ‘star’ that reminded me of my passion which has given me willpower to complete my remaining exams with the utmost ferocity and determination. My passion and curiosity to understand the human body was a small part of my original reason for wanting to enter medicine but has become an integral engine that drives me to learn everyday. It is what will power me through the next few months leading up the step exam and beyond it as well.

Ultimately, I could try to answer the age-old interview question of ‘why did I choose medicine?’ except I don’t think it’s the most important question for current medical students anymore. Instead, ask yourself- ‘why do you still choose medicine?’.