Life as a Medical Student: Expectations VS Reality. 

Introduction:

There are a lot of stereotypes about medical colleges that we hear about during the NEET preparation phase. While some of them are true, most of them are just made up rumors, copied from medical dramas and bollywood movies. Let us go through a list of such stereotypes and see how many of them are actually right. 

Myth or Fact?

1: Studying all night long is the rule.

True. The study load in medical courses cannot be compared. Every medical student realizes that NEET was just the beginning, and that the medical world is 100 times as difficult as the NEET exam. 

MBBS has a total of 19 subjects with giant books (1000 page giants) for each subject. Of these books, almost nothing can be skipped. Anything can appear in the exam. A patient can present with any disease, and you cannot tell them that ‘Oh, I’m sorry I skipped this one while studying, so I cannot treat you.’ MBBS is basically just study, study, study. Day and night, weeks to months. All study. 

Obviously you do not pull all nighters throughout the year, but it is impossible to have your rest during exams. Exams are mandatory all-nighters or 2 hour sleep sessions. 

2: Social life is nonexistent.

True and false. This is a very subjective statement. While maintaining a social network outside medicine becomes very difficult, It is possible to have one within medicine. 

The problem is that our school friends who are studying other courses do not understand how taxing medicine is. They do not understand how busy it makes you and then blame you for not showing up to get-togethers and parties. Even if they do not blame you, the friendship still dissolves over some time if you do not actively make efforts to be present. 

MBBS does not allow you enough time and energy to maintain a lot of friends outside medicine. Even within your community, it is difficult to maintain a huge number of friends. So we all prioritize quality over quantity. Even though a few people manage to maintain friendships outside of college too but it takes a lot of effort.

3: It’s all memorization and no critical thinking.

False. It is critical thinking then memorization. Memorization is an inevitable part of biology as biology is just facts, discoveries, observations. You need to put your brain into trying to visualize and understand the concepts but at the end of the day, you need to remember what you understand. 

Even if you can deduce the course of a disease and its symptoms from the pathology, it is unrealistic to do this when you are diagnosing a patient. You have to have everything ready in the back of your mind to be able to diagnose. 

4: Everyone is a genius.

No. Not everybody is a genius. Most of us are average students who work very hard. You need not be a genius to get into medicine, neither do you have to be a genius to clear MBBS. You just need to be consistent and smart enough to understand your study patterns.

There are a lot of resources that medical students can use to memorize their syllabus. A lot of us are slow and take a lot days to understand a chapter, but the difference between medical students and other people is that medical students will put in the required time to learn and understand. We do not do things halfway and leave them. 

5: You’ll Constantly Be Surrounded by Blood and Guts 

In the first year, yes. In the subsequent years, not really. First year comes with dissection which is a little gory. But we get used to the gore in a while and start looking at the anatomy inside the cadaver. It is no longer a subject of thrill or fear for us, it becomes an opportunity to learn and be better doctors. 

In the next few years, with the clinical postings, we visit the OPDs, the wards and even the Operation Theatres. We do get the exposure that we need but it is not disgusting or scary to us. We adapt and start looking at the world with a different perspective. We start looking at bodies as our tasks, pieces of a puzzle that we have to put together. 

6: Everybody is nerdy

Well, I can’t really say yes, but I can’t say no either. Everybody is invested in their academics, they care about their scores, their vivas and their performance. If that is what you mean by nerdy, then yes, we are all nerdy. 

If nerdy means being capable of only studying, then you’ve got us wrong. Medical students are the most diverse bunch of people you will come across. So many talents and skills under one college roof. Some are incredible dancers, players, painters, singers, influencers, all that you can ask for. It is honestly intimidating to see some medical students be so good at everything they touch. 

7: Juniors have Bad Relationships with Their Seniors

This really depends on the college. There is still news of ragging from a  lot of colleges. But in most of the colleges, there are anti-ragging committees in place. They make sure that anyone who is found involved in ragging faces the consequences. 

Nowadays, most of the seniors are trying to build good relationships with their juniors. It has become a very good space for the juniors to ask for guidance from their seniors and also hangout with them. 

8: Med students never fail exams.

A big NO. Most of us have failed one of our internal exams. It is very difficult to clear every exam. It also depends on a lot of factors instead of just your preparation. It depends on your batch teacher, your paper presentation, the comparative performance and many other factors. 

So, when we fail, we do not take it personally. It is a small defeat that is accounted for in another exam. We feed a little bad but then we move on and work harder. It is normal and nobody will shame you for failing once or twice. 

9: Med students have dramatic love lives.

Okay, parents please don’t read this one. Even though it is not completely like ‘Kabir Singh’ a lot of the factors can be seen in medical colleges. Prom with seniors. Freshers with seniors. Juniors asking seniors out, seniors asking juniors out. Dating and moving on. It’s all normal. 

Every relationship might not be as dramatic but most of them are. It is difficult to keep the drama out of your relationship when there are two hostels- the boys hostel and the girls hostel, watching your every move. And medical students love gossip. Don’t trust anyone who tells you otherwise. 

10: Life in med school is a like ‘Grey’s anatomy’

Haha, we wish. Even despite the occasional fun and parties. The college drama, the friendship drama and the relationship drama, the college part is extremely serious and sometimes boring too. We are not saying lives yet, we only observe. Even interns do not get to contribute to procedures, they observe too. 

And even the doctors and residents do not have a life like ‘Grey’s Anatomy’. Grey’s Anatomy is a very romanticized version of the actual hospital scene. We do not have emotional background music, most of the time, it is very scary. The idea of handling lives is not all fun and games. We are not solving mind boggling cases everyday, we are not watching some revolutionary procedure unfold every other day. Most of the time it is very monotonous and boring. It is tiring and there is the added pressure of a patient’s relatives getting angry at you for something that is not even your fault. 

What do we conclude?

All in all, medical college is not as boring as people think it is. It is interesting and you get a few breaths of relief in between your hectic schedule too. But, it is also not as fun and games as you might take it to be. After all, it is a profession that deals with life and death. It is intimidating. Every medical student has questioned his self worth during college and even residency. And most of us have faced depression too. 

But, it is still worth it. It is the dream that we once had and the dream that we keep working for. 

As I always say, it is the best of times, worst of times.