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What are some common mistakes that I should be aware of and avoid as I pursue a career path in the medical field?
I would like to go into the medical field in the future, and I would like to gain some more insight to better equip myself for a career related to medicine.
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4 answers
Updated
Audrey’s Answer
Hi Brenda,
Here are some insights that I've learned on my path in medicine (either because of myself or my peers) or wish I knew when I was younger:
- You don't have to major in science; you must do the required science and math courses for med school admission + to prepare for the MCAT.
- The MCAT has four subjects: 1) Biology and Biochemistry, 2) Chemistry and Physics, 3) Psychology and Sociology, and 4) Critical analysis reasoning and thinking, so take classes in undergrad that give you experience in all of those subjects. Most medical schools don't require psychology or sociology classes despite being on the MCAT, but it's much easier to study for them if you already have a foundation from taking those classes in undergrad. The fourth section, CART, involves analyzing nonfiction articles and essays, so taking any kind of English class where you analyze nonfiction (especially science nonfiction) will really help.
- Get experience. Now, there are a lot of different ways to do this. Some people will shadow in hospitals and clinical spaces and see medicine happen firsthand. I didn't do that, but sometimes I wish I did. I got my experience doing research, which I really enjoyed. I participated in two medical research projects as an undergrad. The first one was a public health study about the flu vaccine about ways to make it more accessible and improve the vaccination rates. The second was during COVID when I actually got published as a co-author on a paper about how COVID impacted rural communities in my state. Regardless of what you end up getting experience in, be it clinical practice or research, do something.
- Be engaged in your community. Volunteering is an essential part of medical school and the admissions process. A lot of people recommend doing medical-focused volunteering in hospitals, hospices, retirement homes, etc. And those are great ideas but don't limit yourself only to medical-adjacent volunteering. What's actually important is to cultivate a strong sense of community engagement and public service, so any type of volunteering is worthwhile.
- Learn how to study. A lot of medical students or pre-med students have an easy time in high school or even in college, and that all changes when they reach medical school and realize that they can't coast on intelligence alone like they usually do. Most of the dropouts happened the first few weeks when people realized they couldn't keep up with the material because they had never learned how to design a study schedule, manage their time, or learn large amounts of information in a very short period of time. Every month of medical school is like a year of college. It's hard! But with the right study techniques and strategies, it is absolutely manageable. So take advantage of college to experiment with different study strategies and techniques and learn how to manage your time effectively. It'll save you in medical school.
- Associated with that, get rid of your ego as soon as possible. You may or may not have one, but based on my experiences, a lot of pre-med or medical students have a little bit of ego; it's natural when so many of us are used to being at the top of our class. When you're in college doing pre-med, and especially in medical school, you're going to be more of an average student. You're going to struggle with things. You're going to need to ask for help. A lot of people are resistant to admitting they need help understanding the material because they're not used to struggling, and that lack of humility only hurts them more. There's no shame in needing help; it's actually quite a useful and intelligent skill to have as an adult, realizing when you need help and being willing to ask for it.
- Get help when you need it. Whether that means going to your school's tutoring center, going to office hours to speak with the professors or the TAs, reaching out to your peers to arrange group study, talking to family or friends, or even going to see a mental health counselor or therapist. You will really be better off in the long run if you embrace the support opportunities around you instead of trying to be independent and do it all yourself.
- Become a team player. Teamwork is essential in medical school and medicine in general. I didn't think I liked teamwork because I was always the person doing all the work in the group project. Then I got to medical school, which is full of the people who were always the ones who did all the work, and suddenly none of us knew how to actually be on a team effectively because we were all so used to being the dominant worker/leader and micromanaging everything or working alone and fobbing off stuff to our team-mates last minute. Learning how to communicate with a group, compromise, and delegate is really important. If teamwork academically isn't feasible, try doing things like team sports, or in my case, I played Dungeons and Dragons with friends. Something that will help give you those necessary teambuilding skills.
- Learn how to take care of yourself. I don't mean self-care in the weird new commercialized way where buying random "wellness" items you see on Instagram is supposed to improve your mental health. I mean genuinely taking care of yourself. Get a decent sleep schedule, learn how to cook healthy and affordable meals, exercise regularly in a way that's manageable for you, and get some hobbies and activities you genuinely enjoy doing. If you're struggling mentally or emotionally, seek counseling or therapy services. Medical school is hard. It pushes you to your mental and emotional limits. So having a system in place beforehand that allows you to take care of yourself, and making that care a habit, will really help maintain your mental health and prevent burnout further down the line in medicine.
- Know why you're going into medicine. Many of my peers expressed when we were all in medical school and struggling that they were struggling partly because they had no idea why they were putting themselves through all this turmoil. They didn't go into medicine because they were uniquely passionate about it, so much as they were good students who succeeded, and getting into something like medicine seemed like a natural progression or it was a familial expectation. When actually dealing with the rigor of medicine and medical school, however, those justifications didn't hold up. To succeed in medicine, you need a reason to be in medicine. You need to be passionate about something. You need something that will keep you going when you're exhausted and overworked, some kind of internal satisfaction or inspiration that makes it all worth it. I genuinely cannot imagine going into any career other than medicine, which is part of the reason why I feel like I have such determination when things are difficult. Whatever that inspiration is for you, find it, and keep it close.
That's all of the advice that I can come up with off the top of my head. I hope that it helps!
Good luck!
Here are some insights that I've learned on my path in medicine (either because of myself or my peers) or wish I knew when I was younger:
- You don't have to major in science; you must do the required science and math courses for med school admission + to prepare for the MCAT.
- The MCAT has four subjects: 1) Biology and Biochemistry, 2) Chemistry and Physics, 3) Psychology and Sociology, and 4) Critical analysis reasoning and thinking, so take classes in undergrad that give you experience in all of those subjects. Most medical schools don't require psychology or sociology classes despite being on the MCAT, but it's much easier to study for them if you already have a foundation from taking those classes in undergrad. The fourth section, CART, involves analyzing nonfiction articles and essays, so taking any kind of English class where you analyze nonfiction (especially science nonfiction) will really help.
- Get experience. Now, there are a lot of different ways to do this. Some people will shadow in hospitals and clinical spaces and see medicine happen firsthand. I didn't do that, but sometimes I wish I did. I got my experience doing research, which I really enjoyed. I participated in two medical research projects as an undergrad. The first one was a public health study about the flu vaccine about ways to make it more accessible and improve the vaccination rates. The second was during COVID when I actually got published as a co-author on a paper about how COVID impacted rural communities in my state. Regardless of what you end up getting experience in, be it clinical practice or research, do something.
- Be engaged in your community. Volunteering is an essential part of medical school and the admissions process. A lot of people recommend doing medical-focused volunteering in hospitals, hospices, retirement homes, etc. And those are great ideas but don't limit yourself only to medical-adjacent volunteering. What's actually important is to cultivate a strong sense of community engagement and public service, so any type of volunteering is worthwhile.
- Learn how to study. A lot of medical students or pre-med students have an easy time in high school or even in college, and that all changes when they reach medical school and realize that they can't coast on intelligence alone like they usually do. Most of the dropouts happened the first few weeks when people realized they couldn't keep up with the material because they had never learned how to design a study schedule, manage their time, or learn large amounts of information in a very short period of time. Every month of medical school is like a year of college. It's hard! But with the right study techniques and strategies, it is absolutely manageable. So take advantage of college to experiment with different study strategies and techniques and learn how to manage your time effectively. It'll save you in medical school.
- Associated with that, get rid of your ego as soon as possible. You may or may not have one, but based on my experiences, a lot of pre-med or medical students have a little bit of ego; it's natural when so many of us are used to being at the top of our class. When you're in college doing pre-med, and especially in medical school, you're going to be more of an average student. You're going to struggle with things. You're going to need to ask for help. A lot of people are resistant to admitting they need help understanding the material because they're not used to struggling, and that lack of humility only hurts them more. There's no shame in needing help; it's actually quite a useful and intelligent skill to have as an adult, realizing when you need help and being willing to ask for it.
- Get help when you need it. Whether that means going to your school's tutoring center, going to office hours to speak with the professors or the TAs, reaching out to your peers to arrange group study, talking to family or friends, or even going to see a mental health counselor or therapist. You will really be better off in the long run if you embrace the support opportunities around you instead of trying to be independent and do it all yourself.
- Become a team player. Teamwork is essential in medical school and medicine in general. I didn't think I liked teamwork because I was always the person doing all the work in the group project. Then I got to medical school, which is full of the people who were always the ones who did all the work, and suddenly none of us knew how to actually be on a team effectively because we were all so used to being the dominant worker/leader and micromanaging everything or working alone and fobbing off stuff to our team-mates last minute. Learning how to communicate with a group, compromise, and delegate is really important. If teamwork academically isn't feasible, try doing things like team sports, or in my case, I played Dungeons and Dragons with friends. Something that will help give you those necessary teambuilding skills.
- Learn how to take care of yourself. I don't mean self-care in the weird new commercialized way where buying random "wellness" items you see on Instagram is supposed to improve your mental health. I mean genuinely taking care of yourself. Get a decent sleep schedule, learn how to cook healthy and affordable meals, exercise regularly in a way that's manageable for you, and get some hobbies and activities you genuinely enjoy doing. If you're struggling mentally or emotionally, seek counseling or therapy services. Medical school is hard. It pushes you to your mental and emotional limits. So having a system in place beforehand that allows you to take care of yourself, and making that care a habit, will really help maintain your mental health and prevent burnout further down the line in medicine.
- Know why you're going into medicine. Many of my peers expressed when we were all in medical school and struggling that they were struggling partly because they had no idea why they were putting themselves through all this turmoil. They didn't go into medicine because they were uniquely passionate about it, so much as they were good students who succeeded, and getting into something like medicine seemed like a natural progression or it was a familial expectation. When actually dealing with the rigor of medicine and medical school, however, those justifications didn't hold up. To succeed in medicine, you need a reason to be in medicine. You need to be passionate about something. You need something that will keep you going when you're exhausted and overworked, some kind of internal satisfaction or inspiration that makes it all worth it. I genuinely cannot imagine going into any career other than medicine, which is part of the reason why I feel like I have such determination when things are difficult. Whatever that inspiration is for you, find it, and keep it close.
That's all of the advice that I can come up with off the top of my head. I hope that it helps!
Good luck!
Thank you so much, Audrey! This is so helpful! I really appreciate you for taking the time to provide such valuable advice.
Brenda
Updated
Midwest’s Answer
Here are a few common mistakes to be aware of and avoid while pursuing the medical field:
1) Pursuing a career out of obligation or to satisfy the expectations or requests of others.
This could be family, friends, or even one's self. These careers are hard and in order to be successful you need to be "all in" for the right reasons. It should not be to satisfy someone else's expectations or desires for you, but has to be a career that you want for yourself and that you can totally and freely commit yourself to.
2) Taking all the hardest courses and actively pursuing the most difficult path.
While this can sometimes be virtuous and is also quite common among individuals in the medical field, when it comes to the application process for medical school or residency and quantitative evaluation of applicants, you will be penalized for it (even if unfair). While making sure you remain true to #1, you must also be completely aware of the process and "the game" of medical careers at each step of the way. Those who understand the realities of these processes will be best able to position themselves for success.
3) Defining success through external validation.
Everyone wants to be liked and everyone enjoys being praised. This is human nature. However, you will be unable to make everyone happy and it is unfortunately very easy to get caught in a cycle of people pleasing to the extent that you lose sight of your intrinsic, internal goals and self validation while pursuing them. This set of goals and internal validation from taking steps toward achieving those goals is essential to surviving in the complex world of medicine.
Next steps:
Write down why you are pursuing whichever career you choose
Create a set of personal goals and how you will measure success
Keep your list of goals in a visible place
1) Pursuing a career out of obligation or to satisfy the expectations or requests of others.
This could be family, friends, or even one's self. These careers are hard and in order to be successful you need to be "all in" for the right reasons. It should not be to satisfy someone else's expectations or desires for you, but has to be a career that you want for yourself and that you can totally and freely commit yourself to.
2) Taking all the hardest courses and actively pursuing the most difficult path.
While this can sometimes be virtuous and is also quite common among individuals in the medical field, when it comes to the application process for medical school or residency and quantitative evaluation of applicants, you will be penalized for it (even if unfair). While making sure you remain true to #1, you must also be completely aware of the process and "the game" of medical careers at each step of the way. Those who understand the realities of these processes will be best able to position themselves for success.
3) Defining success through external validation.
Everyone wants to be liked and everyone enjoys being praised. This is human nature. However, you will be unable to make everyone happy and it is unfortunately very easy to get caught in a cycle of people pleasing to the extent that you lose sight of your intrinsic, internal goals and self validation while pursuing them. This set of goals and internal validation from taking steps toward achieving those goals is essential to surviving in the complex world of medicine.
Next steps:
Midwest recommends the following next steps:
Thank you, this is amazing! I really needed it.
Brenda
Updated
Murph,’s Answer
I think one of the biggest mistakes is believing that you have to major in a hard core science to get into medical school. In all actuality, you need to make sure you have a strong background in the sciences so that you can get a great MCAT score. If you complete all the core courses for medical school you can major in whatever you want. Your GPA is the first thing med schools will look at. The second thing will be is if you have completed the core courses and the third thing will be those MCAT scores. At least that's the order I feel it goes in. High GPA, A grades in your science courses take at your school or away and a great MCAT score.
Thank you, Murph, for the advice.
Brenda
Updated
Lori’s Answer
Hi Brenda,
Audrey has some amazing advice! I echo everything she said.
two mistakes I would add are:
- Thinking that you have to become a Doctor to contribute to medical care. There are so many other alternatives to getting your M.D or D.O degree and you can still work directly with patients or within the medical field. For example Nursing, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, physical therapist, clinical therapist, dietician, occupational therapist, social worker within a hospital, etc.
- Getting into medicine for the wrong reason (ie. someone else wants you to be a doctor, or the prestige of the field). Medicine is a very rigorous field and requires a lot of commitment; you want to make sure you are going through training because you truly want to work in the field for your own reasons that would make the training worthwhile.
Shadow some medical professionals directly to see if it is truly something you would be interested in.
Audrey has some amazing advice! I echo everything she said.
two mistakes I would add are:
- Thinking that you have to become a Doctor to contribute to medical care. There are so many other alternatives to getting your M.D or D.O degree and you can still work directly with patients or within the medical field. For example Nursing, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, physical therapist, clinical therapist, dietician, occupational therapist, social worker within a hospital, etc.
- Getting into medicine for the wrong reason (ie. someone else wants you to be a doctor, or the prestige of the field). Medicine is a very rigorous field and requires a lot of commitment; you want to make sure you are going through training because you truly want to work in the field for your own reasons that would make the training worthwhile.
Lori recommends the following next steps:
Thank you so much, Lori! This is very helpful.
Brenda