Tag: Ross University

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My Work Ethic

“There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do” –Derek Jeter

I needed a break after taking my gastrointestinal & renal block exam. A weekend to relax would be amazing. An opportunity to let the thoughts that normally race through my head dissipate. A chance to take a breath after I almost drowned in my studies that left me physically and mentally exhausted. Heck, an afternoon to go grocery shopping, play some soccer, and read a chapter from my Kindle that’s been lying dormant on my desk would be nice. Except for the fact that we start the reproductive block tomorrow. Sucks to suck right? It would if I didn’t enjoy it so much.

Don’t get me wrong, I wish I had more time to just hang out and do nothing, play some Call of Duty, and stay in to watch a movie. But I recognize that I’m putting in my time now so that I can enjoy what I do for a living tomorrow. I didn’t realize how important it was when I was training to play soccer in high school. I thought I just had to show up to practice and play hard during games. I was a talented but lazy soccer player and it eventually caught up to me. I didn’t realize that running sprints today conditions me into a better athlete tomorrow.

It was one of the most important realizations I’ve had during my second semester of medical school. My classmates and I often joke about how hard we work. Compared to undergrads we study every single day as if we have a final exam tomorrow. You can imagine how insane we get when we actually study for our finals. If only I had this same work ethic four years ago I could have gone to ‘one of the Hopkins or Harvards’…or maybe just a stateside medical school. Except that I’m happy here at Ross University.

One of Ross’ principal explicit goals isn’t to push my peers and me into developing a superhuman work ethic per se, but I am yet to meet a peer of mine who has ever worked harder in their life. And I am thankful for it. Ross is the soccer trainer I never listened to.

Studying here is like going to the gym- I don’t personally enjoy working out, but I like how I feel the next day. Likewise, I don’t always love sitting down and studying for hours on end but I love being able to apply medical science after I understand it. And as much as I would like to think I work hard now, I know that the fourth semester students have it twice as bad. They took an exam the same day that I took my GI & renal exam but they have to get right back to the grind to study for their final being held in one week. And then they have to study for their comprehensive exam being held in a month. And then they have to study for their Step exam. It never ends.

It’s not like when I graduate from medical school I’ll just stop studying or working as hard as I do now. If anything, that’s when the hard work that goes into the core sciences at Ross will finally pay off. It will be that much more gratifying when I get to actually treat patients and will motivate me to push myself even harder. That’s why the relaxing afternoons after my exams are one of the most important days of the semester.

I got to see a glimpse into my life as a fourth semester. I’ll have to study just as hard as I did for my last exam but will have to continue studying just as hard the following day for a final. And keep on going until I graduate. And then keep on going until I finish my residency. And then keep on going until I finish my fellowship. As I continue to progress through my medical education, I will rarely be able to mentally checkout for a weekend while I recuperate from the caffeine and cortisol driven weeks of study and work. My daily grind involved in sustaining my life as a med student will eventually evolve into a nonstop grind involved in being a practicing physician. This is why Ross has not only improved my work ethic, but has even forced me to consolidate how long it takes me to relax and then get back into the swing of things. I simply can’t afford anything less than being maximally efficient with my time. My mental health and academic performance depend upon it.

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How To Study In Med School

One of the toughest parts of starting medical school for me was figuring out how to study. Here are some of the best pieces of advice that I have discovered along the way.

 

 

Find your own study method.

Everyone does something different. Some students love the library while others are more productive at home. I like loud music while others need absolute silence. Find a method and routine that works for you and stick to it. And let me save you the time and trouble and let you know that study groups only work if everyone has studied on their own individually already.

 

 

Study for long-term retention

There is no way around it. You have to work hard every single day. However, studying in medical school is different than studying in undergrad. There is no more study and purge. You need to learn for long-term retention. This material is going to come back on the final. And the USMLE Step 1. And then again on Step 2 CK. Oh and also Step 3. It might even be important during residency when you treat actual patients. Just remember that if you understand it now then you won’t have to study it again later.

 

 

Work smarter, not harder

Medical school is like trying to drink water from a fire-hose. There is always more material to study and never enough time to study it. So you have to be succinct when it comes to taking notes and making study products. I liked to combine the two. Fold a piece of paper in half and write a question or topic on one side and the answer or explanation on the other. This way you can take notes while creating a study product at the same time. Then later on you can use your notes to quiz yourself. Cover one side and try to regurgitate as much as you can. Lather, rinse, repeat.

 

 

Actively study

When you are studying your lecture material you must remember to actively study. By actively studying, you challenge yourself to summarize and regurgitate the material in your own words. Don’t just read the same sentences several times. Ask yourself questions about the topic at hand and different questions about the same subject. What artery supplies the muscle? What action does this muscle have? What nerve supplies this muscle? The nerve that supplies this muscle also supplies what other muscle? If you’re lucky, you might even accidentally guess an exam question.

 

 

Stay ahead of the game

Let’s compare your lectures to a pancake breakfast. Each day you have to eat ten pancakes. It’s manageable. However, if you slack off and don’t eat all of your pancakes, then the next day you will have to eat you ten from today and the remainder from the day before. That’s a lot of pancakes (and a lot of carbs…). This will continue until you’re looking at a mountain of flapjacks with no end in sight. Likewise, don’t fall behind in school- you can’t afford to. Stay ahead and always finish your day’s work. Find whatever works for you and stick to it.

 

 

See one, do one, teach one

The old phrase of ‘see one, do one, teach one’ carries weight in medical school and residency. After being taught something and studying it, test yourself by applying your knowledge. Practice questions are the simplest way to illuminate gaps in your knowledge and are an excellent way to apply what you’ve learned. This point is worth repeating- do practice questions! Eventually though, to test if you truly understand a topic try teaching it to a friend. You’d be surprised how much you think you know until you try to teach it to someone else.

 

 

In the end, only you stand in the way of your success.

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How To Pass Your First Semester At Ross University

A fourth semester student made me realize that I will be giving the same advice to first semester students again next semester. And again after that. Instead of repeating myself, I’ll simply share how to pass your first semester of medical school at Ross University as well as study skill advice.

 

Beware of who you take advice from (except me of course)

I distinctively remember being told by an upper semester ‘not to bother focusing on lymphatic drainage’. Low and behold, at least three questions on lymphatic drainage popped up on my first exam. Similarly, last semester was the exordium of Ross teaching first semester students immunology. It just goes to show you that each semester is unique. Be aware that Ross is continually adapting to improve our educational experience and professors and material change- no two semesters are identical thus far. So, listen to your upper semester peers. They are smart and have gone through everything you are about to experience. Just take everything with a grain of salt.

 

Surround yourself with positivity.

You are going to have enough on your plate this semester without having negative-Nancy bothering you. It might seem discourteous, but avoid negative people who bring you down at all costs. Find a good group of friends who exude positivity and stick with them. I don’t know how I would have been able to make it through my first semester without the support of my friends down here in Dominica.

 

Work hard, play hard.

Find ways to reward yourself for all of the hard work you put in. It can be going for a swim in the Caribbean, playing basketball or soccer in the evening, or simply enjoying a good novel. Whatever it is that helps you unwind and relax- do it. You can’t study non-stop every single day or else you will simply burn out. Med school is a marathon, not a race (and no, you don’t sprint marathons).

 

Remind yourself why you are here.

Every once in a while I found myself down and out. It was a long and hectic week with not nearly enough sleep. I needed to find motivation to keep going. I went home, showered, relaxed, and reminded myself of all the years of hard work and dedication I invested in myself in order to simply gain acceptance into medical school. I thought about how proud both my parents and I will be when I graduate. I thought about how much I look forward to treating my first patient. Just like that, my smile returned to my face and motivation to my mind. Keep your long-term goals in the back of your mind and don’t forget why you are here.

 

Don’t compare yourself to the valedictorian.

There are going to be other students with master’s degrees in biochemistry and other students who have previously been anatomy TA’s. Don’t stress about what other people know. Focus on what is in your control instead of lamenting over the fact that someone else might know a certain subject in more detail that you do. There is a fine line between recognizing that you might want to look over the anatomy of the arm once more after your friend displayed such an amazing mastery of the limb and freaking out because you feel like you don’t know anything.

 

Although it should go without saying, don’t forget to study.

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Pre-meds: Do what it takes to get into medical school

I sit at my home in New Jersey as I anxiously await my 6am flight two days from now that will take me to the Caribbean island of Dominica where I will begin to take my first steps in the journey of becoming a doctor at Ross University School of Medicine.

 

Many people attempted to discourage me from continuing on the path I started on. Doctors I shadowed would warn me of the daunting hours, how much medicine has changed over the years, and how you can make more money in other fields for the amount of time you put in. Even my undergraduate pre-med guidance counselor at Binghamton University told me, on several separate occasions, that I simply did not have the grades to get into medical school. And these people were right…sort of.

 

It is true that medicine is changing. And you can more than likely make more money in business or in banking. And at the time, I did not in fact have the grades to be accepted into medical school. I am here to tell you that can get into medical school, even a stateside school, if you want it badly enough. This isn’t to say that your past mistakes will vanish into thin air- that ‘C’ in organic chemistry isn’t going anywhere. What you can do is affect your future. Show that you remember your mistakes and learn from them.

 

Likewise, I try to forget the people who attempted to dissuade me from medicine, but remember the people who accepted my decisions and encouraged me along my path. The one doctor I spoke with at a high school graduation party of a mutual family friend who highlighted that, “It doesn’t matter how many rejections you get, because in the end you only need one acceptance”. Or my parents who pushed me to apply to that reach school after explaining, “I’m not doing myself any favors by rejecting myself before even applying”.

 

I am here to give you a pat on the back and a kick in the ass. I had to take the MCAT twice and had to apply to twenty-eight medical schools, but all it took was one acceptance to make it all worthwhile. If you have explored medicine and have decided that it is the path for you, don’t let anyone discourage you from it. Own it and do whatever it takes to succeed. It is what I intend to do starting September 3rd on my first day of class down in Dominica.

As seen on @KevinMD