How to Prepare for Medical School Pt. 1

How to prepare for medical school?

Oh, where to begin.

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably spent your whole life worrying about how to get into medical school, and once you’re finally in, you realize you’ve spent so long imagining what it would be like to start school that you don’t actually know how to start that transition into school and do all the adult-y things that come along with it.

You would think that when you’re preparing to start school, everything should be easy breezy beautiful. Like the universe would’ve gotten a memo about making sure everything goes smoothly and everyone should cut you slack because you did it. You made it into medical school, so suddenly finances shouldn’t be an issue, enrollment offices should immediately congratulate you and make exceptions for you, and college apartments should immediately let you out of your previous lease since you’re moving onto bigger and better things.

But nope!

Trust me, it does NOT shake out that way.

So far this week I’ve had to deal with: complicated lease termination back-and-forths and re-letting politics, constant anxiety regarding finances, coursework for my MPH since I’m enrolled in a dual degree program with my medical school, and subsequently being dropped from my MPH classes because I hadn’t received any notice that my fees were due on June 20th, by 10pm, the complicated world of FAFSA and student loans, the aftermath of a break-up two weeks ago, and a perpetual fear of not looking good in my scrubs.

All that to say, it’s not magic. Getting into and staying in medical school are not magic, and previous obligations don’t just fly out the window because you’re moving onto a new chapter in life. There is no such thing as a clean break.

But if you’ve made it this far, no matter what discipline you’re in, that means you’re capable of moving forward. The universe won’t hand you a clean break–God won’t hand you a clean break–but you can make one for yourself. It means taking out time to figure out what these things are–what lease termination entails, what a life without a partner you had imagined your whole future with looks like, how to take out graduate school loans, what scrubs look good on you–but it’s entirely possible. I’ve spent entire days on the phone this week, hours watching videos and scouring the internet to try and get my bearings on what my future looks like now that I’m actually living out the future I had been imagining. But it’s worth it, and it’s working.

Not everybody’s religious, but I am. And here’s my prerogative on this: God brought us all here. We all exist in this moment, and we all made it through this grueling process we call life. And you belong here. Now, it’s just a matter of figuring out what your life looks like once you’re standing in that dream you had for yourself so that you can realize it fully and make it your reality.

And, one other thing I learned?

It’s okay not to look sexy in scrubs. But you will look very well-informed in them!