I last posted about my first lecture of medical school and just like that - 2 months have passed and we've just finished our first block - Molecules to Cells, which is just a fancier name for Biochemistry. (Side note: Any pre-medders that still have time - it would be a valuable investment of your time to take at least one biochem course in undergrad - not necessary but definitely helpful). Along with Biochem, we also had some Molecular Bio and Cell Bio, sprinkled with Genetics. The material was sometimes difficult to digest, but overall it was a superb block.
Instead of going into the details of the block, I just want to write about my reflections of medical school - now that I've had some time to get used to the new schedule. So here it is: I absolutely love UNC Med. I love it. And no, I'm not uber-stressed all the time, and no I'm not always busy studying. I actually have quite a fair amount of free time - which is surprising but incredible at the same time. Other things I love:
I love being back in school.
I love being back at UNC.
I love that our classes usually end by noon.
I love that all the classes are recorded so I don't necessarily have to go to all of my classes. (No mandatory attendance).
I love that I can study on my own time - without going to classes and still do well on my exams.
I love that everything is pass/fail first year.
I love being tested on material every 2 weeks (Every other Monday is our exam day). So everything we study in each 2-week chunk of time is tested on one and only one exam - we don't have different exams for different topics/lectures.
I love ICM - Intro to Clinical Medicine - a weekly class that teaches us physician skills like interviewing patients, doing patient exams. Even without having a full set of medical knowledge, we're still learning how to ask the right kinds of questions to solve problems and treat patients.
I love small group activities - where we're given cases to solve applying the freshly-learned material from class that week.
I love our weekly Medicine and Society discussion course partly because it's a nice break from the science courses.
I can go on and on. I am just so excited and blessed to be where I am right now. Medical school is everything I had hoped and so much more. Days like today when I don't have much to do (we're out on Fall Break) - these are the days that make me realize how much I love and miss studying. Okay so sometimes I don't absolutely love studying, but I like knowing that the biochemical pathways that I'm memorizing, the diseases I'm studying about, the terms I'm trying to remember - are all part of the journey that is ultimately going to allow me to become a full-fledged doctor (God willing).
When I found out last year - almost exactly a year ago (10/15/09) - that I had gotten into medical school I was naturally ecstatic. I was told by various medical students and doctors that the best part of this process is from the day you find out to the the day you start medical school. I don't know what their experiences were like, but I absolutely disagree. If anything, my experiences have gotten so much better since classes started. If anyone is considering medical school, and is feeling overwhelmed by the anticipation of stressed time-management or concerned that your soul will die in school - this is not the case at all. When you're doing something you love, you find a way to make everything work.
And now as Biochem comes to a close, we will be spending next week working in a clinic for our Clinical Week preceptorship (stay tuned for updates from that). After that, we start Anatomy block! And I couldn't be more excited. I have been waiting such a long time for Anatomy - and it's finally right around the corner. I'm looking forward to cadaver dissections (as morbid as that sounds) and learning more about the human body. And I hope to embrace each and every day of medical school with this same eagerness and excitement that has engulfed me as of late.
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