[0:00]Maybe you're thinking about applying to medical school or maybe you already applied and received offers. You're feeling excited, but also a little bit nervous while you move into a new city or country starting a new chapter of your life. You're going to medical school. Of course, you'll have to study hard. You want to make sure you do everything right from the start. Well, if that's you, then hopefully this video will be helpful for you. Firstly, if you got into medical school, congratulations. You've already accomplished the hardest part of becoming a doctor. Because getting into medical school is actually a lot harder than passing medical school exams, and you did that, so well done. But anyway, I'm Zeliha and I'm a fourth-year medical student studying in the UK, and these are the four things I wish I knew before I started medical school.
[0:53]Firstly, learn how to deal with FOMO. Google description of FOMO is anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on social media. You'll see people hanging out with friends, going on holidays, finishing their exams, but most of the time when other people do those, you'll need to be studying. When that happens, you might feel like you're wasting away your 20s. You question your life decisions. I mean, I had those moments, and I asked myself, is medicine actually worth all my efforts and sacrifices? Because medical schools give you a lot shorter holidays compared to other degrees. You'll have half of the holiday time that other students get. And you'll have less and less holidays as you progress in medical school. I know this might sound depressing, but it's actually not too bad and there are ways around this. And in medical school, your exams don't end with "exam season". You'll have many, many more assessments scattered throughout the year. I mean, this depends on your medical school. But I'm a fourth-year medical student at the University of Exeter, and I have a summative assessment every week, every week on a Thursday. I have an assessment that counts towards my end of degree score. Also, I have live recorded one of those assessments when I was in General Surgery. If you want to watch me go through a real assessment, you can go to this minute of General Surgery Vlog on my channel. But my tip for overcoming this FOMO is that whatever is causing this FOMO, try to stay away from it. Usually social media accounts induce this fear of missing out, like Instagram or Snapchat or TikTok. Then delete those social media accounts at least for a while, or mute that person's story who's always posting their daily travels, their night outs, whatever that is triggering you. And realize that on social media, people only post best parts of their lives. And understanding that you're not alone and what you're feeling is normal can be helpful as well. Because literally everyone in this world must have gone through some sort of FOMO. And there is always professional support that you can get from your tutors at university as well.
[3:00]Secondly, medical school is not a sprint, it's a marathon. I've just talked about how "exam season" never ends in medical school. After you go through five, six years of medical school exams, then you think to yourself, finally, I'm done with these exams. But then you'll need to sit for specialty exams and so many more to get even more qualified. That's why don't try and sacrifice your hobbies just so that you can get a little bit more time to study, because if you do that, you'll burn out. What you enjoy doing and the time you allocate for your family and friends, what feels you mentally. We often find ourselves saying, after I get this exam done, then I'll enjoy myself a little bit. After I get this job done, then I will be happy. So after this, after that. Well, you can't say that in life, and especially in medicine, because always something else will come up. Like you might need to do training for 16 years, depending on what specialty you choose. So you can't afford to live your life to the fullest only after your exams finish. Because really, soon after that, there will be a next one that you'll need to prepare for. So enjoy the journey. You will have free time for yourself and for what you enjoy doing. It's all about time management and finding a balance.
[4:15]You'll have medical friends anyway, that's out of question. So I'll be attempting to explain why having non-medical friends is important for your mental health. Don't get me wrong, I love my medic friends. We relate to each other and understand each other on another level. We help each other out and go through five, six years of medical school together. But you'll be surrounded by medics from the first day you start medical school until the day you stop practicing or become retired. This is especially true in the last three years of medical school, so in your clinical years, that is because your medical school sends you off to middle of nowhere for months for your hospital placements. The only people that you'll be seeing during that period will be your medic friends anyway, and trust me, rumors about medical students are true. Amongst each other, even in our free time, we talk about studies and medicine. That's why having non-medical friends feels like a breath of fresh air. Friends that you connected through your hobbies and through your values, allow you to have a break from that medical world. Seeing non-medical people's lifestyle, helps you realize that medical school and grades are not everything. And it also humbles you a little bit and helps you get out of that medical bubble, because that medical bubble you'll be in can get too much. Out of topic, but that's why I'd like my life partner to be someone who's non-medical. Tips for making non-medical friends. Okay, usually medical school campuses are separate and away from the rest of the university campuses. So making friends from other campuses requires a little bit more effort, but it's doable. You can connect with people by attending different societies' social events. You'll find such good variety of societies at university like football, volleyball, any kind of sports you can imagine, to faith societies like for Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, or about veganism or about countries like Japanese, American, Indian societies. So you will find a society for yourself, and everyone in those social events are usually super helpful and super friendly. So it'll be worth it.
[6:18]Mark Twain said, all generalizations are false, including this one. But I think you could have imagined that medics do have big characters. Not all of them, but you're more likely to find them in this degree. You'll be surrounded by hard-working and intelligent students. And some of them like to show off their knowledge intentionally or unintentionally, but this can make you feel like you're not good enough. And you might compare yourself to them and feel like you're out of place. Probably this feeling, feeling less than others might be new to you, because in order to get into medical school, you must have had good scores. Maybe you were the student with top grades back in your hometown, and now you're in a class full of top students. Well, I did feel that way and that's okay, and if you do too, it helps you realize that you deserve to be in that class. You deserve to be in that medical school as much as others do. There is a reason why they chose you and you got accepted to medical school. So even if you don't feel confident or feel like you don't know enough, fake it till you make it. Use it for your advantage and use it as a motivation for you to study, and some students are good at vocalizing their knowledge and some aren't as good. It's easy to compare yourself to your peers, but try and focus on your own progress because you know there is a saying that someone else's beauty is not the absence of your beauty, or someone else's success is not the absence of your success. That's it from me. Hopefully you feel a little bit more prepared for medical school now. But seriously, you'll be more than fine, and I'm excited for you. Consider subscribing and liking this video. And let me know in the comments which medical school you'll be going to. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next one.
