Blog | Medical School Advice

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...

“The question is, who are you?” – Rafiki (The Lion King) Maybe an outdated reference, but bear with me. You’ve always wanted to be a doctor. Ever since you were a little kid, you took the right classes in high school and college, shadowed by your mom, who always said you could...so here you are. But do you want to be? Your immediate answer is yes, of course, or you’ve moved on to another article...

The most asked question with the most varied answers! While there are numerous variables to consider in this question, ranging from personal preferences to the instructor's teaching style (a good professor can make all the difference in a boring class, as seen in Biochemistry-LOL), there are definitely some frontrunners. The first course that always comes to mind is Gross Anatomy. There are many reasons for this. This subject is typically one of the first courses...