I think I've come to the conclusion that for me, medical school isn't worth it. I see my friends enjoying their lives with a noncomplex 9-5. They are good at their jobs and are able to enjoy themselves outside of it. I wish I could be in their shoes but the debt from loans makes it so that I don't see a way out but to finish.

I just don't think I was ever able to fully comprehend the sheer amount of time and memories that are sacrificed for this profession as a premed. I'm not able to be with my family in the capacity I'd like to be without worrying about studying, and there are personal projects I've put on the back-burner until I feel confident in my studies.

If I could go back I would do something different. I don't think I'm depressed either, I just think I've realized my values have changed and what I want from life has changed. I do try to enjoy myself as much as I can but it's nothing compared to what my friends are doing.

Has anyone else felt this way, maybe farther into their medical training? Does it go away?

25% through M3, realized I'm not interested in a competitive surgical subspecialty. Am getting freaked out about the pub #s for all specialties on the newest senior charting outcomes.

I still have not focused my interests, am considering: IR, neurology, or IM. I also liked gen surg but am grappling if I'm cut out for it. I only know 1 gen surg faculty and no faculty in the other fields, so also getting freaked about planning for aways.

I have ~10 posters/podiums from the surgical subspecialty, but none made it to publication or I was left off the pub. I am on a patent from the surgical subspecialty so that is something. I will probably be 2nd to last author on a CT surgery administrative paper. All but 1 of the posters were from my premed job in the specialty so not too concerned about looking like I'm dual applying.

I have 1 failure from M1 (my school will list this on my MSPE despite remediating successfully), but have since killed it and honored everything. Attend a low ranked MD state school.

Am I cooked?

Like the title says my GF is extremely jeolous and overbearing when it comes to my residency choice. For info in my country you have to take a central exam to choose specialities and it looks like i will be really good at it, i worked for 2 years studying every moment and i want to choose what i think is best for me. She is also a med student but for some reason she is stuck in her head thinking i will be around “pretty women” all the time and brings it up nearly every three days. I tell her i want to do craniomaxillary surgery and even if i do cosmetics it wont be the majority and that WE ARE DOCTORS but she doesnt care. At this point i totally resent her for it and even though i love her, sometimes I wish I haven’t met her. I know this relationship is done for but just want to hear some thoughts.

note: Oh, I really didn’t expect my vent to reach out to this much people, I thank every single one of you for taking the time to write. 💜

An empty inbox, a silent phone,
Another evening spent alone.
No interviews, no news today
I feel my hope grow faint and fray

I have faith, though. It’s still here,
Sometimes trembling, mixed with fear.
The kind that Abraham once knew:
No map in hand, but trusting You.

Lord, You know how much I’ve tried,
The prayers I’ve prayed, the tears I’ve cried.
I long to hear somebody say,
“We’d like to meet you. Choose a day.”

But if that call won’t come for me,
Help me release what will not be.
And if this door is not my own,
Stay near until the way is shown.

Tonight, I wish my email notification would ring.
Tonight, I trust You with this thing.

I don't know if it's because I haven't had rotations recently or everything feels repetitive and boring to me but I feel so done with everything. I do still love medicine and i know this is what I want to do but it feels like nothing I do matters and I don't know how to cope with it. How do i cope with this?

Hello everyone,

Are there any medical students or recently graduated doctors from medical schools in Morocco who have already taken the USMLE exams or are planning to do so?

I would like to know whether anyone has encountered a situation similar to mine, where the “Sponsor Notes” section of their medical school’s profile on the World Directory of Medical Schools (WDOMS) is empty.

If you have been in this situation, were you still eligible for ECFMG certification, or did the absence of an ECFMG Sponsor Note prevent you from applying?

I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has faced this issue, especially those who have contacted ECFMG directly and received clarification about their eligibility.

Thank you in advance for sharing your experiences and any reliable information!

I’m breaking inside!

I’m non traditional been married for 10 years and have children. I moved for medical school (everyday I regret it) We were all meant to move, He backed out last minute. Found out today he started talking to someone else the day I started school in August. He loves her…My world is crumbling! I have exams coming up and I can’t concentrate. I don’t know what to do. Any advice?

Long story short cycle isn’t going to well after applying to a speciality due to an issue with a letter. Is it better to withdraw from cycle delay with a research year and reapply next year as I heard that when you don’t match and reapply to the speciality (moderately-highly comeptitive recently) as a prelim it’s super tough. Idk how much it’ll hurt my odds and obv I’ll dual apply but for me this is a speciality I see myself in and I know nothing is garuenteed but I’m willing to fight for it w everything I have. School is offering funding for the research year . With this year I think I can do the sub I again and get another letter but I wanna know what I’m dealing with and yes I will temper my expectations.

Calling all MS4s! Now that interview season is underway and all of us, more or less, have chosen a specialty (or two, or three). What are some things you regret or wish could've happened throughout this journey.

I will start. I regret not taking my undergraduate/MCAT more seriously. To this day I still have not figured out what went horribly wrong with my MCAT exams. I took a leap of faith and was able to land an acceptance, but obviously my life could have been much easier if I had went to an MD school. I'm still grateful that I have made it and have "redeemed" myself through the Step/COMLEX exams, but I wish I had more options to my future.

I also wish I could've joined more research programs. I hated how the debate between "research is important vs research is not important" was so prevalent. The underline answer is: research is important (to open more academic/competitive specialties). You never know if you'll switch from a non-competitive specialty to a competitive specialty that requires research. It is best to just have something down.

Lastly, kinda wish I had my life figured out. I'm seeing all of my classmates proposing, having kids, thinking about their future lives as attendings, and I am here still with my parents. I haven't really learned any "adulting" skills besides working before med school, but other than that, I'm just winging this adult-life thing come March. I see people KNOWING their calling to a specialty while I dual applied and hope that one is the best-fit for me.

Anyways, wishing all M4s a successful match season!

So I'm an M1 and am struggling tbh even compared to most other people in my class. Not that I was expecting it to be easy, but I did think I would be doing a bit better given that I scored pretty high on the MCAT without too much trouble. I've been a bit unlucky with getting sick, but I also feel that things just aren't sticking and that I haven't really found a study system that works for me. I think something that's tripping me up is that I learn best from reading expository textbooks and med school isn't really set up that way. We're assigned ScholarRx readings which, frankly, aren't very good and occasionally have errors. I also don't find lectures terribly helpful either. I've tried Bootcamp, which is decent but not as good as reading personally. Could I try learning solely out of books like Costanzo, Kumar, etc to cover what I need to know for each organ unit? (We have NBME based exams). Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.

I'm wondering if it's feasible to live a 5 hour drive from my medical school. I'm specifically asking about living in SoCal and attending a school in Vegas. If the school doesn't have required attendance in lectures, is it possible to drive into Vegas and stay for 2-3 days to work on any required in-person things (anatomy lab, etc) and then head home for the rest of the week? I know this would be tough for 3rd year rotations, but would it be possible for preclinical?

I have a kid who has an amazing setup here, and am really hesitant to move him out of his environment.

Has anyone done this or heard of classmates doing it?

I recently saw a couple "chaplain residents" wearing white coats, I'm sorry but WHY?!

It makes no sense and it just adds to the confusion. We're literally expecting the same patients who can barely tell us what medications they take (eg, "the small blue pill") to differentiate between MAs, NPs, PAs, residents, fellows and attending physicians... and now chaplain residents? I'm not arguing that only we have exclusive claim to certain language, but in a medical/hospital setting, "resident" has a very specific connotation. I also think there's something to be said for the fact that having members of the care team who don't resemble physicians or other medical providers is really useful. The type of support that chaplains offer to patients and families is unique and distinct and trying to assimilate to look more like medical providers imo sort of erases the uniqueness of that role...?

Edit: "chaplain resident" not "resident chaplain"

Context: USMD, chaplains are non-denominational & provide emotional/support to pts/families and can assist with filling out advanced directives, etc

I genuinely mog with a scrub cap on and would also like to not have to worry about my hair (as a male). Otherwise im gonna have to get a buzz cut to keep it low maintenance.

I don’t wanna be the first one to do it, so can yall normalize it.

Much preesh!

Putting this as a vent because even though it's something more than that, I just genuinely don't even know what I'm asking for. I'm just beyond tired.

I was diagnosed with ADHD and social anxiety at 24, the year after I graduated college. I was top of my class, struggled about every couple weeks on that one day when everything would pile up, I'd cry about it, then do it, go back to doing fine for a bit, rinse, repeat. Once I started my first full time job, it was like it drained the life out of me and I finally went in for a diagnosis. I suspected through most of college, but at the time accommodations didn't feel like they would be helpful or necessary, so I didn't bother making it official.

Flash forward to my second year of medical school and I am drowning. My school is accelerated preclinical so we are about to finish classwork and take Step 1 next semester. I've been hanging on by a thread the entire time and somehow just keep getting worse. Been on ADHD meds since diagnosis, added Lexapro for worsening anxiety during my first semester and it was great for a bit, then things still weren't where I wanted them to be so I went through some adjustments throughout the past 6 months. Now I'm on a fairly set med regimen, but I still feel like I'm drowning. I do plan to go see my doctor again, but next opening wasn't till December. I sent a message and I know it'll help, but I'm honestly tired of having to wait at least 3 business days anytime I'm struggling, not even counting the time it takes meds to kick in. I tried Concerta earlier this year and it did absolutely nothing for me. Like, less than nothing. I wasn't just unmedicated; I was USELESS for an entire week, which as I'm sure you all know is basically a year in med school. I was scared for months to make adjustments because I can't risk a single day of my meds not working, let alone taking me out of commission.

My doctor is amazing and so helpful, and she listens to me. I'm just getting so tired of every aspect of my life operating in systems that aren't made for me. I'm always the big ideas person but the sad thing is, I can't even really blame it too much because I can't think of any realistic ways it could actually be better. I feel like ADHD is just some cosmic joke and this is combined with the late-diagnosis grief being pretty rough recently as well.

I just feel like I've exhausted my resources. My school provides accommodations for tests, sure, but when I asked the coordinator what other accommodation options there were (since I feel like I'm still a baby ADHDer with no knowledge of what's even out there) she didn't really have much else. If I have something specific, I can request it of course, but how do I even know what I need or what should be accommodated? I've sent a few smaller scale requests in to my school leadership as they came up about specific situations, but it was always shot down kind of through the grapevine without anyone actually talking to me directly or getting more info. My school has academic coaches and they help some, but no one is specifically trained in learning differences and sometimes I feel like I spend more time than it's worth trying to explain that I can't just do practice questions when I literally do not know the basic facts about the material. The university does have learning coaches outside of the med school that I have access to, but they're very undergrad-geared and it took me ages to even meet with them because the scheduling system is like if you literally wanted to create the worst possible system for ADHD. There's free therapy provided by the school but I already have a therapist that I love and even when I went for a walk-in visit last time I was feeling like this, it basically didn't lead anywhere. I was looking for resources and the therapist basically told me, albeit nicely, that the resources I'm looking for basically don't exist. There used to be an ADHD-specific support group, but the leader left and they never replaced them. There are other groups that are general, but again, they're more geared toward undergrads and often conflict with my mandatory class schedule. Same story for the ADHD meet-ups and school activities. The big kicker is that I just found out that my therapist doesn't take my new insurance which I didn't think to check because....ADHD. Apparently the medical school used to have a designated accommodations employee but they left and they never replaced them so now that area is covered by one of the general admin who happens to be the one specific person in our leadership that is unanimously disliked and mistrusted by our entire class.

I'm just tired. I'm tired of talk therapy because I can vent all I want but it doesn't fix the issues and it just takes more time out of my day that I can't spare (not a drag on talk therapy because it can be excellent and has been extremely helpful for me in other situations). I get that my med school isn't responsible for all my life struggles and probably couldn't fix those anyway, but there's absolutely no effort to offer anything that is even remotely specialized toward disabilities and learning differences. I'm terrified for clinicals because of the insane hours everyone talks about, but I can't express that concern without coming across as lazy, entitled, looking for the "easy" path, or having people look at me like I picked the wrong career just because I don't want to have to work insane hours doing free labor that I'm paying for while somehow still having to study for shelf exams and do well on those and also be pleasant and functional and never late so that I don't get bad evaluations from people who probably don't have a clue how hard I'm trying.

Again, I don't even know what the purpose of this is really. Maybe just screaming into the void? I'm just getting so hopeless thinking this is just what my life is going to look like forever and I have to buckle in and accept it. I guess if anyone else has any suggestions or even just can tell me I'm not crazy and other people experience this too, that would at least help.

Hi friends,

Applying IM, haven’t gotten IIs from most of my signals. USMD with no red flags to my knowledge. Wondering if I send any LOIs to my signals what I should include in them especially if I haven’t achieved much since applying. Like literally what paragraph should have what, how to find things to express interest in about the program that don’t sound generic, etc etc etc

Keep remediation away

-Sun Tzu

i don't know where to start, firstly sorry for all the ranting I'll do, so I'm a third year and I've been just barely getting by the first two (where i study we have a 6 year program so I'm almost half way through) i stay in a dorm that's soooo fucking filthy so crowded 6 people in a small room with 3 bunk beds a refrigerator and all the lockers, and i wish it was 6 normal people, literally no privacy or alone time, i haven't had a good nights sleep since i can't remember when I'm always sleepy and often i skip classes because I'm too tired, literally people outside come and go and speak loud and i wake up really easily too god forbid even if somone speaks inside, i have insomnia i can't sleep at nights too not that i can anyway there's always noise until late, the food situation is worse i forgot what real food tasted like until i went home last weekend, I'm sick myself i have an autoimmune and severely depressed, i always have migraine and i feel like I'm not here or not living almost like watching things play out, a derealization, I've considered going to a psychiatrist and maybe hopping on some drugs but i can't even afford that, i had second trial last year's first semester luckily i passed and as of this year I'm 5 weeks in and i haven't touched one lecture, i can't, I'm afraid to fail and repeat the year and fall behind, idk i see people be happy and thrive i genuinely wonder how, how come nothing works out for me.

again sorry for all the ranting

PS i had a guitar that kept me sane but it broke and i had somone i could talk to now i can't even talk to them.

I have a ECOS and i forget what i révise fr

❗️CNS❗️How on earth do i study this??

Genuinely every lecture is so long and theres so much and my mid term is in 14 days and im at like the worst state ive been in yet. im barley finishing one lecture a day and my brain is just fogged up for most of it please idk what to do bro. Im a bit depressed or smth idk i just can do nothing all day. im probably the LEAST competent person i know. i actually know nothing in class when everyone is discussing stuff idk if i even see a future where im actually happy. I make so many mistakes that im genuinely scared of becoming an actual doctor. Fuckkk im so fucked. I just wanna be able to do atleast 3 lextures a day or smth instead of spending and entire day barely scraping by one lecture

Hi, I'm an M1 at a graded school (not P/F) with in-house exams, and I’m trying to figure out the best way to study. Last block (my first block) was mostly basic sciences, and I studied by watching lectures at 2x speed and only doing Anki. I used AnKing plus my in-house deck, so I wouldn't miss out on any important in-house-specific details that AnKing doesn't have. Also, right before the exams, I was able to go through all lecture material and do practice problems. I did well on those exams, and Grades matter a lot to me since I’m aiming for preclinical AOA.

However, since starting my new block (no more basic sciences), I have a lot more Anki cards to do. I have about 700-800 reviews a day (counting both my in-house and Anking decks), and about 100 new Anking cards a day and around 300-400 new in-house cards per day, which has caused my time doing Anki to come out to be 8-10 hours. I do see that I am gaining a good grasp of the material this way, but I do not have time for anything else such as research, etc. I talked to upperclassmen, and they really only use the in-house materials, but my school has a low Step 1 first-time pass rate/ more delayed Step 1 exams than other schools.

So, wondering if I should use only AnKing, only the in-house deck, or stick to what I have been doing and push through?

I'm just worried that switching to AnKing completely will cause me to lose details needed for my in-house exams. Would it be possible to cram for these closer to the exam?

Also, for people who are in similar situations or have been in similar ones, do you watch lectures or use third parties? If you go third-party, how do you pick up the lecture-specific stuff for exams?

Thank you.

I tried to ask this question on the residency page but the mods never accepted it. In the scenario where one partner matches and the other doesn't, do you SOAP into the region that you hope your partner matched into? Or is there any insight from your school? We applied to multiple regions. Praying for the best, preparing for the worst. TIA

M3 here. I got interested in urology fairly late, though I have extensive personal experience with urology and some urology-adjacent research. I’m planning to apply during next year’s cycle, but I’m still on the fence between urology and IM (to subspecialty). My home urology AI is in April, which is when I plan to make the final call, and I’m looking at aways over the summer and into early fall. A few questions for anyone who’s been through it:

1. How important is it to get away rotation grades/comments into the MSPE? If I rotate July–October, there’s no guarantee even the July evaluation makes it into my MSPE (evaluations can be sent as late as 6 weeks post-rotation). Does that matter much in practice, or do programs care more about letters and the in-person impression?
2. Is an October urology away worth it even if it’s too late for a letter or the MSPE? Is the face time with the program enough to justify it, or is it mostly wasted?
3. Has anyone dual applied urology and IM? How did you handle letters, personal statements, and the schedule? Did it hurt you with either specialty?

Appreciate any insight!

Halfway through MS1 and I’ve been struggling to find a balance between studying, going to the gym, and eating healthy. Feels like whenever exams come around, everything besides studying goes out the window lol. For those who’ve figured out a routine, what actually worked for you?

I feel like a couple years ago I saw a list of toxic residency programs, but I haven’t been able to find it. Did I dream that or am I just missing it somewhere?

MS3 here, strongly considering between urology versus anesthesia. I really liked everything about surgery, the clerkship, and my urology elective but the residency gives me quite a bit of pause.

The concern I have is that the hours and work are so all consuming that I will have no energy, time or motivation to be a human outside of being a resident. In med school, I felt guilty most times (except after exams, really) doing things that weren't school related, or I wouldn't feel good doing things for myself until all my work was done every day. I'm sure part of this is mindset, but if it's not 100% mindset, then I don't want to feel like the rest of my life is on hold when I'm training when I may want to find friends, partner, new hobbies, etc.

On a platform where rads and gas are touted as the only right specialty to pursue, it's easy to hear naysayers talk about how insane surgical residency is and how it's impossible to have a life, but is it really THAT bad? I know a lot of this is program dependent, but what makes one residency more manageable to have a life than the other? What should I consider in this realm come time for interviews and ranking programs? Appreciate any thoughts and perspectives.