3 Things to Do 1 Week Before Starting Med School
Summer is almost over. It’s one week before starting med school, and you’re wondering what else you can do to prepare.
We have three tips to help you prep, so your transition into this phase of your life is as simple as possible. Complete them the week before medical school starts.
One week before starting med school…
3 Tasks – Do the Following:
- Determine places where you can study and complete your schoolwork
- Figure out where self-care resources are located on-campus and within your local area
- Review your notes from orientation or come up with questions you want to ask when you do attend an orientation
Let’s discuss these tasks in detail:
1. Coming Up with Good Study Areas
The week before starting med school, identify places where you can get your work done and study in peace. If they don’t exist. Create them. Having places that are dedicated to your academics helps you stay focused when things get hectic after school starts.
These places may be in your home, on-campus, or in the library. If you study at home, make sure your designated area is quiet and distraction-free. There should be good lighting. And make sure your chair is comfortable, yet ergonomically correct.
Accommodations Prep
If you are new to the country or area, make sure you book accommodations well in advance. Reconfirm everything at least a week prior. Try to find housing near the med school or university. It will save you traveling time and make it convenient for you.
Study Infrastructure
If you will be studying from home, get your room ready, all your requirements prepared on time like the furniture and all. Be sure to arrange adequate lighting in and around your room.
Make sure your chair is comfortable yet ergonomically correct, as you will be spending most of the time dedicated to the chair and table.
Find Study Partners
Now is the time to start making relationships. Take a tour around your campus and try to search for your batch mates. Get their contact information. Also, make sure you come up with areas that promote collaborative studying and working on group projects.
For this, check with your medical school student services department. You can also speak with other students, including batch mates or seniors.
Also, make sure you come up with areas that promote collaborative studying and working on group projects. Check with your medical school. They may have conference rooms you and your classmates can reserve for group projects and studying.
Find out places for study hangouts.
There may be conference rooms you and your classmates can reserve for group projects and studying.
These projects can be quite lengthy and time-consuming. You will need some comfortable places to work with your classmates and take breaks as necessary.
On-campus cafes and coffee shops are also great options. There, you can meet new classmates while sipping coffee. They are great places to study and complete coursework with others.
Professional study areas
Also, look for private libraries and study centers that allow student access and study material available. Most public and private study centers provide access to both digital and other study resources.
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2. Familiarize Yourself with Self-Care Resources
Why is it necessary?
As you get into the school year, medical school will become more and more intense. Your social life won’t be as exciting as it may have been during your pre-med days. It’s mandatory that you take good care of yourself.
As you get further into the med school year, things will become more and more intense. You might slowly get off track from your social life and change the path towards a more disciplined lifestyle and routine.
Your social life won’t be as exciting as it may have been during your pre-med days. It will help if you take good care of yourself.
Effect on Performance
Your health will majorly affect med school studies performance as you will need more mental and physical strength to cope with related activities.
That means maintaining a healthy diet, participating in recreational activities, and supporting your mental health.
Be Physically Fit
You might need to meditate to keep yourself fresh and exercise to become more agile, as med school is equally tiring for physical activities. You will have to be fast enough.
You will indeed have to wander from department to department and lab to lab for lectures, classes, and practices.
Look Out for Resources.
The week before starting med school, get familiar with the various self-care resources available on your med school campus, as well as in the local community, including mental health treatment resources.
It will be beneficial to determine the services they offer and be sure of your health insurance coverage. Also, it’s a good idea to check whether your school provides counseling services on campus or not.
Personal Care Through Hobbies
Make sure you seek out activities you may enjoy that are entirely unrelated to medicine. Don’t skip adding your hobby time to your med school schedule.
Give time to yourself and the things you enjoy doing: painting, reading, dancing, music, or anything. Make sure none of these activities involves any part of your med study.
Be Your Priority
Don’t isolate or ignore yourself; it will be harmful to your mental health as it could make you feel depressed.
Join a yoga class, take art classes, or join a cooking group. Just make sure you take part in something that gets you away from studying for a little while every single week.
Socialize and Spend Time Living
Try to make new friends that have no connection with your med school. Perhaps someone from any of your hobby classes or the gym.
If possible, try to spend time with them once or twice a week to get refreshed. The break in a busy schedule will help you start each day with motivation and hope.
This will help you stay out of the medical school burnout zone.
3. Orientation Notes & Questions
If you’ve already been to orientation one week before starting med school, go over your notes. Get familiar with the ins and outs of your new school.
Are you anxiously awaiting orientation?
Then, take time to write down questions you want to ask on orientation day.
What about questions?
If you have any questions or concerns, you want to address, write them down, so you don’t forget once the lecture gets going. Make sure you ask your questions before the end of the orientation. Others may have the same problems and may be shy to ask.
This approach could lead to a great first impression for you with other students as well as administrators.
Dive into the Syllabus
Get well versed with your syllabus. You will want to review all of the topics in it and brush up on basic concepts, which will be part of your syllabus.
Understanding the syllabus will give you a clear indication of the amount of time and effort you will need to invest. Also, do not check the syllabus for your complete med school years. It might create a wave of panic in your mind.
Start preparing but steadily.
Please focus on the proximity and go through the first semester’s syllabus and go through it. Apart from all this, be very organized with your notes and study pattern. In this career path, you will require a lot of consistency and organizational skills.
Some important tips to remember –
- Before joining a med school, work on your skills.
- Get rid of any unfortunate habits, like spending sleepless nights on social media.
- Work on time management skills. Stringent deadlines will lead you to feel tense or hectic at times.
- Work on your organizational skills. Stay organized with all your personal and professional tasks.
- Work on becoming a self-motivator. You won’t find motivation around you when you need it. Get into the habit of tapping yourself on the shoulder and move ahead.
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They will share how the MedSmarter roadmap towards becoming a practicing physician can help you achieve your maximum MCAT score.
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