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The path to medicine is often described as linear—undergraduate studies, medical school, residency, and beyond. For many, that structure provides clarity and direction. But for others, including myself, the journey is far less traditional. And I’ve come to realize that deviation from the expected path is not a weakness—it can be a source of strength. At one point in my journey, I made a decision that might seem counterintuitive to some: rather than following a...

If you are an MS1 or MS2, you have probably had this moment. You sit down to study, open your laptop, stare at your notes, and suddenly realize you have been studying for forty five minutes, yet have absorbed approximately zero information. Not even a fun fact. Not even a cytokine. Nothing. Welcome to the preclinical paradox. You are working harder than you ever have, yet somehow it feels like you are not actually getting...

What to Look For and What Actually Matters If you’re an MS1 or MS2, you’ve probably noticed something by now: medical school isn’t just hard; it’s relentless. Between dense lectures, endless diagrams, Biochemistry pathways that feel engineered to fry your last two neurons, and the weekly identity crisis that seems to arrive with every block exam, it’s a lot. And somewhere in the middle of that chaos, during the middle child years of medicine, most...

5 Ways to Tell if MCQ is Right for You If you’re an MS1 or MS2, you’ve probably noticed that medical school has a way of making even simple decisions feel strangely high-stakes. Should you watch the lecture or read the slides? Should you outline the pathway again or call it a night? And the question that shows up sooner than most students expect: Should I subscribe to a question bank during my preclinical years,...

If there is one thing almost every MS1 and MS2 learns in the first few months of medical school, it is that your brain has limits, and it will remind you of them at the worst possible times. Sometimes that reminder shows up at 2 a.m., right before an exam, when you are rereading the same sentence for the eighth time. Other times it appears as irritability, fatigue, or the wave of stress that hits...

If you’re a preclinical student, you already know that some weeks in medical school feel like an academic juggling act. One day you’re memorizing every muscle in the forearm, the next you’re tracing cytokine pathways, and then you’re trying to convince yourself that the urea cycle will eventually stick. Along the way, a familiar worry shows up right before every exam: “How many practice questions am I supposed to do before I actually feel ready?”...

Whether you liked "Part I" or thought it sucked and decided to give Part II a chance, welcome! This post is to help incoming and new medical students navigate all the things they don't tell you! We covered many essential topics in "Part I, "from time management and seeking help early to not cheating and living alone. And while some of the advice might initially seem obvious, the explanations help illuminate why each piece of...

Most medical school faculty members will not openly offer this kind of advice for several reasons. They are either too busy, afraid of getting in trouble (yeah, we think about this too!), don't know, or aren't like us! The first year of medical school is no joke! For some, it is their first time away from home; for others, it is the first time they have studied, for real! No matter the issue, the journey...

As the saying goes, “the early bird gets the worm”. This implies that if you start early, you will be rewarded. As an aspiring physician, this can be hard to wrap your head around with the multitude of responsibilities, the number of requirements that must be met to continue forward from grades in learning and scores on standardized tests, and financial obligations to get to the place where you feel the actual reward is granted...

When I was in fellowship training, a nurse turned to me and asked, “How can you be so positive all the time?” This was the first time someone had blatantly questioned my positive demeanor, and to be honest, I was a bit surprised. I simply said, ”gratitude and perspective”. Medical school, in my experience, was a time of immense stress and uncertainty— learning a relentless volume of basic science and clinical information, studying for countless...