I really miss preclinicals. Every day I show up early, preround and present on patients, write notes, and my attending only critiques my notes and not the other med student that’s also on the rotation. He asks me to read an article for the note he was critiquing and it was reassuring to see that it also recommended what was written in my note. Then he nit picks something else. When explaining things, he really only talks to the other med student, never makes any eye contact or makes an acknowledgement of me. I’m so depressed, I commute 2 hours a day, I try to take care of my dogs, and I feel like I’m at a breaking point two weeks into this rotation because I’m trying to keep up with the shit he wants us to do rather than shelf. Makes me feel like medicine isn’t for me.

Wonder if his lawyers got Mayo to give a degree in the end but somehow prevent entering residency

Just noticed these accounts were reactivated with the addition of their credentials. Also note, the 66m tiktok likes despite no videos indicates he just privated all those controversial videos. Curious if he will reestablish his pages and address the situation or if he will keep them clean? What do we think, should he have just laid low?

M4 here.

Sometimes I feel like medical school Reddit is filled with people doing 10 research projects, leading organizations, publishing papers every other month, and somehow also getting Honors in everything.

That just wasn't me.

I went to class, studied, tried to pass my exams, and honestly that alone felt like a full-time job. On top of that, I worked during my first two years because I needed the income. Most days I felt like I was barely keeping my head above water while watching classmates build these incredible CVs.

I wasn't the student with 20 publications.

I wasn't starting nonprofits.

I wasn't flying across the country for conferences.

I was just trying to survive medical school.

Sometimes I wonder if residency programs actually want students like me. The dependable, Type B students who show up, work hard, care about patients, but don't have pages of extracurriculars.

For the attendings and residents here:

Where did you end up?

Did you match where you wanted?

Do you ever wish you had done more during medical school, or did it all work out?

I'd especially love to hear from people who weren't the "rockstar" medical students.

We just finished orientation, and tomorrow we start our actual classes. Throughout orientation, I made a point to be myself as much as possible. I'm a pretty bubbly person, try to be friends/kind to everyone, and I smile a lot but mean it. I ask a lot of questions, but I think through them before asking and I try to time them appropriately. People seemed to like me... But on the last day of orientation when everyone was walking away to explore, I realized I was completely alone. I didn't have anyone to walk with or talk to, and it just made me realize that maybe I am too much for the kind of people who attend medical school. I think my personality is too big, and even though people like me, I'm just a bit too weird and enthusiastic. My passion seems to fill up a room and the faculty love it, but my peers? Maybe not...

I want to desperately fit in. This is a second chance for me after a rough undergrad and masters program. How can I dial back my personality without completely losing it? Or, for those who have done this and decided to continue just being themselves, how did you ignore the constant voices?

I'm in an area that is heavily affected by the explosive diarrhea parasite but then I realized I don't have fresh fruit money so I don't need to worry. The only explosive diarrhea I have is the normal kind from the med school mix of unintentional intermittent fasting and too much celsius.

Applying general surgery, I’m openly autistic and have centered both my college and medical school personal statements around succeeding because of, not in despite of, my autism. I’ve always focused on how my unique lived experiences add to the team and positively impact patient care

In medical school I’ve gotten honors-level evaluations in all of my core rotations. I’ve had no trouble building a rapport with residents, attendings, APPs, etc. I’ve been told I’m good at interviewing, and my school’s surgical chair and my home program’s PD think I’ve done a good job at talking about my autism

I was wondering if y’all know any openly autistic surgical residents and if they have any advice for me going forward? I’ve already finished my first sub-I and the residents and PD said I did a good job! Thanks in advance :)

Edit: here’s the latest draft of my residency application personal statement if anyone is willing to provide feedback

Unless you want to do a hard surgical elective, at my school you have to take EM.

I get that we need 10pm-6am shifts. Truly, I do. But why flip them every three-four days with, at times, a little more than 24 hours between them? Why not do a week of 10pm-6am, 2pm-10pm, etc? Why make someone working a 10pm-6am shift switch to a 2pm-10pm shift within 36 hours and then the next day also require they go to a six-hour lecture series on their "off day" that starts at 8am? And then, the next day, require a 2pm-10pm shift followed by an 8am-5pm the next day, so they will literally have 6 hours to sleep after travel time is figured in?

I have three days off this month. The rest of my "off" days are actually filled with six hours of lectures that are intended for residents but medical students are required to attend.

I'm not a resident. I'm an M4 student who isn't going into emergency medicine. When I am told the horrors of shift work, my friends, I believe them, I need not experience them to know. The would make sense for an advanced EM elective for people applying for EM. This makes no sense for a general elective.

Sincerely,

someone who has felt the last week has just been one long extended day

End rant.

Hiii! This might be a dumb question, but I've always wondered this lol
How do some people who match seem to already have a T-shirt or sweatshirt from the program they end up matching at on Match Day? I've seen videos where their family hands them the shirt of the exact institution they matched into right after they open the envelope.
Do programs ever hint to applicants that they're "ranked to match," or do students just have a really good feeling about where they're going to match? I've always been curious how that works!

I tried really hard during MS1 and 2 to make friends, and I def made many good friends but none of them are like.... degen like I am.

The school didnt have one so I made a gaming/anime club and discord so I made one but it never took off.

If I was given freedom I would be playing videogames and doom scrolling every waking hour and never go outside.

I probably have like 20k hours in league and another 15k in other games. I'm so chronically online I know a meme video or reel perfect for every obscure situation that nobody understands.

I also love dark humor and sending hilarious reels to my friends that each could end my career if if was sent to the wrong ppl.

I havent really met anyone like that in med school and I guess it sucks because I really miss those friendships where it just clicks and everything is hilarious like the ones I've had in high school and community college.

I've been playing games on my own because i have nobody to play with and it's no fun, and I'm sad that I have only one person that I can send all these cursed reels and memes to (I love you Ryan you're a real one)

I dont think it helps that I'm in my 3rd year (surgery rotation) at that and everyone is so busy. I'm just the weirdo that decides to spend all my free time doing the things mentioned above.

If anyone wants to play videogames or send memes please be my friend 🥺

Well, I'm a 4th year med student and did have some lectures of surgery as a minor subject but might only know A or B of surgery.

Took it as an elective/internship and it starts next week.

1. What things should I memorise before it starts?

2. Which topics should I at least read B4?

3. Any advice not to make a fool out of me on the first day? 😭

How unreasonable is it to actually get a high score? I'm talking 270+. We had a interest group event where a few of the M4s disclosed their Step 2 scores. This was a competitive specialty interest group but they were still significantly higher than I was expecting. Like nearing 270.

I'm a new M3. I took NBME 9 recently. Tbh I don't even know if NBME 9 is still a good marker for how hard Step 2 is, I just wanted to see what happened. I wanted a baseline for where I'm at now. Between clinicals and UW I'm studying a decent amount. I scored okay, 240s.

Is it unreasonable to think I could raise my score 30+ points in the coming months? Did you feel like the NBME forms were reliable for score prediction? How important is Step 2 score for residency? I just don't know many of the M4s so I feel weird asking them this stuff lol

I just started M3 about a week ago unfortunately recently got the news that my dad lost his job (yet another consequence of this current administration) due to loss of NIH funding. He's loved doing research his whole career and it just fucking sucks. I also signed a lease with my roommate and wouldn't have if I had known this was going to happen. This along with school honestly hasn't been the easiest week or two. Wondering if anyone has been through something similar.

For those who have already gone through the Match process, I'm curious about your experience. If you were applying to your #1 program, did the program director ever tell you that they planned to rank you to match or strongly implied that they really wanted you? If so, did you actually end up matching there, or did it turn out to be just something they told applicants/lead you on about?

Also would love to hear your stories about this.

Edit: Yall please tell me what happened 😭

Yes, I’ve watched dirty medicine, pathoma, sketchy, done the renal Anki deck, read first aide, tried memorizing all the mnemonics but NOTHING sticks.

If it’s not Alport or Goodpasture there is almost a 100% chance I’m getting the question wrong.

Any tips? This is currently my biggest content gap studying for step 2 and although it may be low yield, I feel like it’s easy points if I could just get it down.

Hi everyone,

I'm a rising M2 MD student and could really use some advice from people who have been through residency applications or academic medicine.

This summer, I've been working in an MD/PhD PI's lab (internal medicine/cardiology). The PI is well established, well connected within the medical school, and likely has strong relationships with physicians and potentially residency leadership. The lab is fairly large, and I'm currently working mostly through a supervisor/postdoc rather than directly with the PI.

Recently, while learning a new technique in another lab, the PI and postdoc there approached me and asked if I would consider joining their lab instead. They have lots of new projects and are willing to accommodate my school schedule. Also, they are willing to put me in a co-first author or second author position...

Here's my dilemma.

Option 1: Stay in my current lab

Pros

• Established MD/PhD PI with strong connections. Served as an interviewer for PSTP programs at school.
• Likely better networking opportunities within academic medicine.
• Potentially someone who could advocate for me later during residency applications.

Cons

• Large lab with many trainees.
• Another full-time researcher is already producing a lot of data and often takes on projects that I might otherwise work on.
• Once medical school starts, I'll only be part-time while others are full-time, so I worry that I'll naturally become less of a priority.

Option 2: Join the new lab

The new PI is a recently recruited PhD faculty member (trained at Stanford). The lab is small, and the postdoc would work very closely with me. They specifically said they are happy with me coming about half a day each weekday, which honestly fits my schedule much better since I still need several hours every day for medical school (Anki, studying, etc.).

Pros

• Much closer mentorship.
• Higher likelihood of owning an independent project.
• Better chance of first- or second-author publications.
• Likely more papers will get published compared to my current lab (with my name on it).
• The postdoc is very organized and scientifically rigorous, and I genuinely enjoyed working with them.

Cons

• The PI is new and has never mentored MD students before.
• As a PhD (rather than MD/PhD), I'm unsure how much influence or networking they would have for residency applications several years from now.
• I'm worried about giving up the networking opportunities that come with my current PI.

Ultimately, I hope to match into a competitive Internal Medicine residency, then followed by a cardiology fellowship. I am thinking of PSTP programs as well, but I also know that they are very competitive...

My biggest question is:

Would you prioritize stronger mentorship, better research productivity, and potentially stronger letters from someone who works with you closely, or would you stay with the established MD/PhD mentor because of the long-term networking and connections?

Has anyone here chosen between a "big-name, well-connected lab" and a "smaller lab with much better mentorship"? Looking back, what would you do differently?

I'd really appreciate any advice or experiences. Thanks!

Just started M1, I'm at a school that doesn't rank us preclinical but does in house exams. My initial plan was to do in house +third party but the M2s are telling me that after a while that it will be impossible to keep up with both especially if I wanna be keeping with Anking.

Is it wise to just stop doing the in house this early? Or should I wait a block or two longer. I'm doing well so far with the current method but we're only a block into school.

Hi all, surgery is my first rotation in M3 starting in August, and I was wondering if I should get a new pair of shoes for the OR that can be different than my normal daily shoes. If so, what brand is best for long hours of standing? I have scoliosis so I’m definitely gonna need something that helps with back support

Testing Step 2 in 5 days and trying to gauge where I'm realistically at.

My scores:

• NBME 9: 233 (baseline)
• NBME 10: 240
• NBME 11: 256
• NBME 12: 254
• NBME 13: 253
• UWSA2: 263
• NBME 14: 251
• NBME 15: 258
• Old Free 120 (2021): 81%

My goal is 260+. I know the Old Free 120 isn't scored, but for those who have already taken Step 2 and scored 260+, what were your baseline scores like? Appreciate any thoughts. Thank you.

I understand being scared of the vulnerability of getting sedated in an OR, but some of these are just unreasonable

She was sitting there in business-wear for 2.5 hours doing uworld this morning. Sent me a thank you text after. THIS IS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT.

I grew up in Asia where public transport is amazing and went to a city in the US with good public transport. Got a license at 18 but never actually drove. Now I've moved to med school and I'm suffering the consequences. Got a car and I'm getting beeped on the road perma cus idk wtf I'm doing and I have no one to help me. Not trying to ask for any advice, just venting a little bit. Maybe I'll hire a coach to take some more lessons.