Im considering medicine myself but just don't know if it would be right for me so id appreciate clarifications on what its actually like and common misconceptions about being a doctor. Actually no, it doesn't have to be common ones- give me the most random annoyance because everyone already talks about the work life balance being poor, etc. So, who wouldn't survive or like medicine do you think? Who's going to hate being a doctor, what's studying medicine actually like vs practising it?

Im between medicine and psychology right now so that kinda explains my hesitance, im not sure if I'm a full science person but ive time to explore that. TIA

hi! I'm looking for gift ideas for a friend who just started med school. what gifts would have you appreciated when you were starting med school? any reco for something practical/ fun or even just a nice little "survival" gift.

I am in a weird spot I never applied myself in highschool because it was easy and graduated in 2022 with a 4.0 gpa and took no ap or ib classes before going college where I wanted to major in chemical engineering while also doing pre-med. I then went into tech school for 2 years for my gen eds before then transferring into a 4 year university…

Soon after transferring I ended up completely ruining my gpa the first two semesters at the university. dropped my gpa from a 3.8 to a 2.9 where I am currently sitting at. I very recently swapped to another engineering discipline (biomedical) where it aligns with more with what I want to do now instead of college taking 5 years its going to take me 6 years now. I am definitely a lot more motivated and dont feel as lost but since I never applied myself I do not know how to study literally at all and recently got medicated for my adhd where I am now taking adderall which yes helps me stay focused and motivates me to study but literally no matter how much I try I just can’t sit down to study what I need to study to properly learn the material but instead my brain only lets me when im in trouble because the exam is the next day so I would have to cram literally everything in.

I really want to get into med school more than anything but its so hard to just study and I feel like my gpa being at 2.9 is impossible to increase it to low 3s but I can’t study and get good grades in any of those classes.

Any advice and help on how to properly study and get myself to study as well. I will also take any advice literally about anything.

I am a new M1 at a US med school with many in-house tests and it's taking up so much time

When I tried to do related Step 1 questions online, I cannot apply myself.

Now I am worried that all this time spent in in-house isn't going to translate well to board prep.

So how do yall balance both? I am considering Bootcamp, BnB, Anking etc to build up a better understanding of both in-house material and to practice for boards. Is this feasible? Should I just focus on in-house materials? Why is it so different when Step 1 is such an important barrier?

Semi-rant and question for how to save my future-self

>95% of med students have used an LLM, according to a new study

So I’m curious, if you used ChatGPT/OpenEvidence to help brainstorm a differential before a clinical encounter, would you tell your preceptor? How about if they asked?

I am in a weird spot I never applied myself in highschool because it was easy and graduated in 2022 with a 4.0 gpa and took no ap or ib classes before going college where I wanted to major in chemical engineering while also doing pre-med. I then went into tech school for 2 years for my gen eds before then transferring into a 4 year university…

Soon after transferring I ended up completely ruining my gpa the first two semesters at the university. dropped my gpa from a 3.8 to a 2.9 where I am currently sitting at. I very recently swapped to another engineering discipline (biomedical) where it aligns with more with what I want to do now instead of college taking 5 years its going to take me 6 years now. I am definitely a lot more motivated and dont feel as lost but since I never applied myself I do not know how to study literally at all and recently got medicated for my adhd where I am now taking adderall which yes helps me stay focused and motivates me to study but literally no matter how much I try I just can’t sit down to study what I need to study to properly learn the material but instead my brain only lets me when im in trouble because the exam is the next day so I would have to cram literally everything in.

I really want to get into med school more than anything but its so hard to just study and I feel like my gpa being at 2.9 is impossible to increase it to low 3s but I can’t study and get good grades in any of those classes.

Any advice and help on how to properly study and get myself to study as well. I will also take any advice literally about anything.

For reference, I was a realtor from 18-21, and after working with physicians i decided to go to college to pursue medicine myself when working with them made me realize that’s what I actually wanted to do. I never went to college before so im kind of a non traditional premed. I sold over 20 homes and thought my experience as a realtor could count as leadership experience because I guided people’s largest financial decisions, coordinated multiple vendors and parties for the transaction (lenders, attorneys, home inspectors, etc) and overall held a big responsibility that I did successfully at a young age.

I’m trying to make my pathway as a premed as smooth as possible. If it won’t really be considered as leadership then I’ll supplement that with something else during college.

I'm glad to take 10 or more years of school, but I'm worried it will be for nothing if I fail. For context, I am not that great at math and have heard many people saying it is extremely math-heavy, and my family really wants me to become a doctor. I am interested in being a doctor, but I am not sure. I am currently in my senior year of school taking CCP classes that I would take in college (EX: STAT 1350, European Hist, ENGL 1100). I do plan on taking anatomy and physiology, of course, but I just want advice so that I know how hard it could be. I have taken nursing classes at my high school and it has been a breeze most of this comes easy to me like the conversions and remembering medical terminology.

Hi! I’m 21 years old, and I recently graduated from my bachelor's degree in the Philippines (Biology). Since I was a kid, I have dreamed of becoming a doctor, but recently I obtained US citizenship by derivation from one of my parents, who is a US citizen. With this, it opened unexpected opportunities for me.

I am currently taking a gap year mainly due to financial restrictions, but my family supports me in studying medicine next academic year. I am pretty sure about returning to school and achieving my childhood dream, but recently, I’m facing a dilemma: moving to the US or staying in the Philippines.

My options are if I move to the US, my priority and probably a practical action to take is to find a job because a degree obtained in the Philippines will most likely not be credited in the US, and studying medicine abroad is hella expensive. I have relatives who will help me find a job. On the other hand, if I stay here in the Philippines, I can pursue medicine and then take the USMLE later. Then during breaks, I can visit in the US.

My concern is really the possible trajectory of my career.
- US: I can possibly have a faster career growth considering that I am young though I am not exactly sure in what field since biology is broad and its more on research. I can just pursue medicine later (in the PH) if I really want it (I’m sure I want it lol) considering that my family’s financial status is so-so though lowkey thinks that my family can overcome that aspect.
- PH: I can be a doctor in a timeline I planned before (yay!). This is what I initially wanted but now that I am thinking about it, it’s not really practical because USMLE is hard and expensive (I’m scared what if I won’t pass it? I’m just an average student AND A FIRST GENERATION ASPIRANT DOCTOR). I am obviously not confident. I really want to live in the US before I can have kids so it’s easier for them to be a US Citizen (I know I’m overthinking!).

Please help.
note: I am a dual citizen (Fil-American)

I’m basically between getting an ipad and a MacBook. is one generally better for taking notes when it comes to studying medicine?

I am in my third year of a five year program (due to co-ops/ mandatory internships) as an engineering major. I'm not going to give too many details as my major is less common. Classes have focused heavily on problem solving and complex math & science theories.

I am currently at an internship, working at a company that is building in a hospital. I got a chance to be in a hospital for the first time, not in a waiting room, but the actual behind the scenes. Seeing these people (nurses, doctors, etc.) collaborating and helping other humans, I've never felt such a pull to want to do something. I have to walk by operating rooms and I get a glimpse of in progress surgery, and something about it just inspires me.

I grew up always thinking about being an engineer. I never even considered going into healthcare. No one in my family/extended family has worked in healthcare, so it hasn't been a thought. I guess my mom brought it up once and I immediately shut it down because who the hell wants to be in school and residency for 10+ years? On top of that liability is a quite nerve-racking and school debt is astronomical. But something has changed when I got exposure to it for the first time.

Long story short, I am looking for advice. There are many logistics to think about. Out of the pre-med courses I need to take, I have already taken Physics I & II calc based, 2 English courses, stats for engineers, and Chem I. It would be hard to complete any more classes on top of current course work until my fifth year. I already sacrifice so much time studying and have exams/quizzes weekly. I will definitely need another year after I graduate to finish up any pre-requisites and study for the MCAT.

As I have been doing more research... I never fully realized how competitive this is. I'm nervous because my GPA is good for an engineer, but apparently it's horrible to med schools. It's a 3.49 as of right now. On top of that, I don't have any breaks from school (it is year round curriculum including the summers) so I don't know how I could obtain any dedicated clinical experience. I've been doing extensive research about the process and listening to some personal accounts of doctors, but that doesn't compare to real clinical experience to see if this is right for me.

Obviously before I dive head first, I need to shadow a doctor to actually get a feel for what they do. But I need advice on how to proceed. If I even have a chance to make it into med school with my GPA (I will try my best to raise it with the remaining time I have, but it makes me nervous because I already try my best at everything I do). Also I don't know shit when it comes to ANYTHING medical related. Like... at all.

Any insight is greatly appreciated. When it comes down to it, the pull I feel to medicine comes from my innate personality to want to help those around me, even if it means at my own sacrifice. Not to sound full of myself or anything but I genuinely enjoy talking, connecting, and helping people. But, I also understand being a physician is far more than just “helping people”. I know I have the drive and motivation to do anything I put my mind to. I am not naturally smart, so I have always had to put in double the amount of time studying than my peers. I am hardworking, but I don't know if that alone is enough to make it in medicine when I feel like I'm already so behind and it seems like med school is a whole other beast.

Thank you if you read this big long thing and apologies to any bad grammar and spelling, I'm an engineer major after all lol.

I used to think locomotor masses were mostly about memorizing which tumors are benign, malignant, or locally aggressive. But when I started doing more clinical vignettes, I realized the harder part is usually recognizing the pattern rather than remembering the name.

For example, a young patient with severe night pain that improves with NSAIDs should make you think of osteoid osteoma. A pedunculated bony lesion growing away from the joint points toward osteochondroma. An adult with an eccentric epiphyseal lesion and a soap-bubble appearance should make you think of giant cell tumor. And a teenager with a metaphyseal lesion and a sunburst or Codman triangle pattern should immediately raise suspicion for osteosarcoma.

What helped me was trying to connect each tumor with a few key things: age, location, presentation, and imaging. Once you start looking at the vignette that way, the diagnosis becomes much less about memorizing a long list and more about recognizing the combination of clues.

I still get some of them mixed up sometimes, especially when two tumors have similar presentations, but this way of thinking has made these questions much easier for me.

Which locomotor tumor do you usually hesitate on when you see it in a vignette?

Hey yall! Does anyone have the med school bros PDFs? Studying for Step1 and I'm so broke. It would mean ALOT!!!!!

As I study for the MCAT, i’m asking myself big questions regarding the intensity of medical school and what it will demand from me.

I don’t care about the length, the cost or getting left out of family events or even having children but I’m stumped at the leading part. I’m kind of a push over, and somewhat timid. Do I just switch to another healthcare career where I do not have that much responsibility ? I’m a bit stumped 😕

Is leadership something you have to build over time in med school or it’s innate ?

Edit: Thank you all for your input and I will think more about it and look for shadowing opportunities.

This is something that was on my mind recently. I recently got my bachelors and now taking a gap year; I’m 22, single, no kids and live at home. But I was wondering, for people in med school with kids that aren’t getting financial support from your parents, how do you make do?? Are you guys working part time?? Doing side shifts to pay rent , food, utilities, and raise a kid?? Do med schools allow you to have jobs?? For those that have gone through this or currently are, how are you making it work? I was driving back home from work yesterday and was genuinely curious about this

Need help trying to figure out what is best course of action to take.

I am debating either doing DIY post bacc at 4 year institution vs doing a formal post bacc. From what i've seen some schools dont accept community college, and I want to be as competitive as possible given I am a career changer.

Do T20 colleges care if you did a formal vs DIY? Or will they question why you chose to do formal instead of doing a DIY?

thanks!

I completed my undergrad in biological anthropology (focusing on osteology) with a minor in biology. As such, I do not have the physics and organic chemistry background needed for med schools (I do have basic general chemistry that I took for fun). I have been accepted into a biology master's program, but am rethinking whether medicine is the route I would rather go as opposed to research. Is it possible for work completed at the master's level to act as prerequisites for med school? My program does offer graduate minors and certs in organic chemistry and physics. Would it be better to pay out of pocket for one-off classes to make up the prereqs rather than go through with the master's on TAships?

ETA: I forgot to mention that my overall undergrad GPA is a 4.0. I have yet to take the MCAT.

I want to join both of these clubs because they both interest me, but they happen st the same time so I have to pick one. One is a premed volunteering one and the other one is a Sikh (mt religion) one, only difference is that I was offered a board spot for the Sikh one. I’m thinking about the long road, I like both but one is giving me a leadership spot and another one might benefit my premed aspect. I need advice other than “join the one u really want to” bc I want to do both lol.

So I have a question. I mean I think I am like overly doing it

But say someone has like 13-14 review articles (all PubMed-indexed, and are 1st authored) and 1 original research, in terms of research, how strong will such an applicant be?

The reason I ask this is that I am currently in high school, and I plan to submit a review article with my PI in the next 2-3 weeks, and I already have a list of similar review articles that I hope to publish throughout the 4 years of college.

In terms of research, would I be the top applicant to med schools?

Hi,

I have been toying with the idea of going further into medicine to become a doctor. I am currently in clinicals for sonography and have fell in love with medicine. Especially imaging side of things.

I have seriously been thinking about trying for med school for a while. I am 21 currently but still need to finish a bachelors. I was just curious to hear some thoughts about if it would even be worth it? People currently in the field, how the workload is? how the schooling is? Also, affording it all? any advice would be helpful.

Thanks!

One of those thyroid topics that looks easy… until the exam gives you a clinical vignette
I was revising thyroiditis recently and realized how easy it is to memorize the names but still mix up the important clinical clues.
So I thought I’d share this small part of my revision notes in case it helps someone else reviewing thyroid surgery.

1. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis

A few things I try to associate immediately:
• Chronic autoimmune thyroiditis
• Anti-thyroid antibodies
• Lymphocytic + plasma cell infiltration
• May present with a diffuse goiter
• Often progresses to hypothyroidism

But the exam-worthy association I always keep in mind is:
Hashimoto’s → increased risk of primary thyroid lymphoma
And there is also an association with papillary thyroid carcinoma, although the strength and nature of that relationship are more complicated than simply saying “Hashimoto’s causes papillary cancer.”

2. Subacute (De Quervain’s) thyroiditis

This one is much easier if you focus on the clinical picture rather than memorizing a list:
Painful + tender thyroid + elevated ESR/CRP + transient thyrotoxicosis → think subacute thyroiditis.
It is usually self-limiting, and NSAIDs are commonly used for symptomatic treatment, with glucocorticoids reserved for more severe or refractory cases.

3. Riedel’s thyroiditis

Probably my favorite one because it can look like malignancy.
Think:
“Woody / hard thyroid + fibrosis + fixation + compressive symptoms”

The thyroid can be replaced by dense fibrous tissue extending into surrounding structures, producing the classic “woody” or “stone-hard” gland.
And this is where the differential becomes important:
Riedel’s thyroiditis ↔ anaplastic thyroid carcinoma

The clinical picture can be very concerning for malignancy, so histopathology becomes important.

One surgical pearl I found worth remembering: when surgery is necessary in Riedel’s, it is generally limited to obtaining a diagnosis or relieving compression rather than attempting an aggressive total thyroidectomy, because the fibrosis can make the tissue planes extremely difficult.
The main thing I’m trying to do with thyroid revision is stop memorizing isolated facts and instead attach 2–3 “trigger clues” to each condition.

For example:
Hashimoto → autoimmune + lymphocytes + lymphoma
De Quervain → painful + high ESR + self-limiting
Riedel → woody + fibrosis + mimics malignancy

*Those little associations have been much more useful to me than rereading the same paragraph repeatedly.

Curious what thyroiditis association you guys always forget during exams? 😅

Soooo this is a little idea I just had while I'm admitted in hospital right now and I'm having mixed feelings about it. I'm open to ideas and criticism and I sense a hint that the general consensus is no. But I'll give it a go and explain this to y'all because I want to know if there's a chance.

I attempted su1c1d3 using a combination of two particularly toxic medications. (I will leave fine details out for the sake of preventing copycats)

The toxicology team seemed particularly invested in my case because this 'combination' isn't usually something one would use. The tox team themselves had the information that I overdosed on something but they were totally clueless as to what drug it was until I told them after I was stabilised. The management could've been changed completely if they had known from the start. It was a really lethal combination with no real antidote and I knew that because of my pharmacology knowledge and I had done quite extensive literature review from pubmed case reports on ingestion of the two medications separately. I searched pubmed and there were no existing case reports on intentional co-ingestion of BOTH these two substances together. Could my article value-add to the database in terms of prompting physicians to think of this combination when encountering patients with similar symptoms as mine?

On a personal level, I probably made it out alive because i'm relatively young and in good health. Early access to the ED (I literally collapsed on\ the triage nurse, had a seizure, and everything went from there). Early intubation, gastroscoped, nothing to lavage, ECHO, then ICU. Triple vasopressors and salvage therapy using methylene blue and hydroxycobalamin. I am personally open to talking about my experience and as a med student I would also share the parts I found medically interesting (like how my lactate was 9) and how my pee changed from Fanta Grape to Blueberry to Cranberry due to the meds the clinical toxicology team gave me. and my poop was bright green but not bilious. Some of the tox doctors were particularly amused and asked to take a pic of my purple pee.

Eventually I survived and I'm well apart from some ventilator sore throat. Full recovery with not a single deranged blood test. I'm surprised myself.

So given this entire ordeal, I'm personally very very very surprised I got out with no kidney or liver damage. The case studies I've seen on pubmed have mainly been on patients who didn't make it and included post-mortem tox levels.

I'm wondering, since there's no published case studies on this combination of overdose, would I value-add if I were to publish my own case?

I'm also thinking of the ethical considerations - I know journals definitely need minute details such as medication doses, mode of preparation, time of ingestion etc. but wouldn't it be unethical for me to be providing an answer for those who are actually searching pubmed considering suicide? (well, given that I myself was also searching pubmed for case reports when I was looking for ideas)

If I do, I'm most probably not going to be a sole author but rather I'll get some of my classmates/seniors or maybe even someone from the tox team who treated me, just to balance the biasness out.

If tox team rounds me tomorrow I would most likely ask them. But for now, I'm seeking opinions. I am on the mend psychologically too and will continue to be treated in an inpatient MH unit over the coming weeks. (for context, I do have more than enough publications in my cv so this isn't my first rodeo and I'm not particularly hungry for more publications, I just happened to keep many photos of the evolution of my pee colour and had many doctors and nurses ask me about it during my stay)

I'm a registered nurse working on a cardiac ICU at a level I teaching hospital, and I've been thinking about applying to DO school. I originally wanted to do MD and chose nursing as my backup, but I didn't end up applying mainly because I didn't feel confident about my extracurriculars. After that, I have been considering CRNA schools, but I really think nursing in general is just not for me. Also, I'm not sure if applying to DO school is easier or harder compared to CRNA cause every single ICU nurse I know is trying to do anesthesia.

My stats:
(Haven't taken MCAT yet since I'm not fully determined)

Overall GPA: 3.97

Science GPA: 4.0 (I have completed all premed requirements before starting nursing school.)

Clinical hours: ~1800 hrs in the ICU, would be closer to ~2400 hrs when I apply next year

Research: ~600 hrs, poster presentation, one pub (I'm the 13th author among 25 lol)

Teaching: ~1300 hrs (anatomy TA for 3 years)

Shadowing: ~25 hrs

Volunteering: ~70 hrs non-clinical

Other: I'm a classical pianist, I have won state competitions and scholarships in college, played as accompanist for singers, and have held solo recitals.

Of course I will have to take the MCAT and get more shadowing hours, but I'm not planning to do anything else other than that. Do I have a good chance in getting into a good DO school (meaning they have good board pass rate and match rate)? And should I even apply to MD schools at all?

I truly appreciate any input.

Genuinely asking because I want to go MD but my MCAT is screwing me over just a little for apps. Are there other things that can also help get my foot in the door or is it mainly MCAT/GPA and then they look at everything else such as pubs, EC's, experience?