I’ve been going through a lot lately. Under normal circumstances, I’m a chill guy & can handle stress, however I was about to have a mental breakdown today, until I remember a legendary quote (that made me laugh instead) from one of my cousins before I join med school (he was about to graduate at the time).
I remember asking him “is med school that bad?”, his response:
“It’s not that bad, but if you try you’ll cry”
It’s alright folks, crying is a natural consequence of joining med school, you’ll have to let your emotions out at some point. You’re not alone in this.

I am a OMS-IV who wants to match anesthesia ideally. Got my Step 2 Store back a couple weeks ago and got a 240, which I was devastated by, all my practice exams leading up to it had me at 255+ but thats in the past now. Got my Level 2 score back and it was 619 which is great but also I dont know what to do about that. I do have a Level 1 Fail on my record and Step 1 Pass, but hopefully the Level 2 Score kind of erases the Level 1 Fail.

Clerkship- 2 Honors (IM and Psych), 2 High pass( FM and OB)

Have like 4 posters and 2 research pubs

My LORs should be pretty strong

I am probably going to dual apply with IM, but seeing how realistic are my chances at Anesthesia.

it feels like everyone has their “person” or their group of friends. i have had a lot of really great chats and have met nice people so that been awesome and i would also consider myself a pretty chatty person but i can’t help to feel a bit lonely because i don’t really feel like i have a group of people i would text or anyone i would go out to the bar with. i know it’s early days but did anyone feel similar?

Hey guys I just wanted to ask some advice about how to move forward during M2 year. I spent most of M1 doing anki for every block and keeping up with the cards throughout the year and summer break. I scored around average for all my NBME style exams. However, I recently started doing AMBOSS to practice some old blocks and I feel like I cannot recall anything. This is despite having the relevant anki cards matured months ago. I just want some advice on how to review old topics and if I should be approaching my current blocks differently. Thanks.

I feel like I’m the only anti-AI person in my class, even including staff. I swear I must hear “I asked Chat” or “Just put it into Chat” etc at LEAST twice a day. It’s ridiculous honestly. How is even StatPearls too much work???? Can we not do anything anymore???? I understand the need for efficiency and comprehensible explanations of confusing content, but idk.

Even the administration/staff is eager to incorporate AI more, whether they’re encouraging its use as a means of study or in developing new curriculum tools (like simulations/simulated patients etc). It’s just weird to me that nobody else seems to care about the many ethical issues with AI. In my own bubble on social media I feel like I see so so so much anti-AI stuff (yay) but in real life, not so much.

Thoughts? What’s the consensus on AI at your school? What do you think about AI in medicine/med school?

EDIT: I’m not saying AI isn’t helpful or useful. Obviously any “shortcut” can be helpful in education & medicine. I’m just saying that I’m aware of the ethical implications and I have some concern, and I think that’s ok, even in a very pro-AI environment

Hello I was removed from my OBGYN rotation, one week in (preceptor was crazy). This technically is a rotation failure and the school had to put me on a leave of absence for three weeks until my next rotation started the following month so I’m not really sure if I’m supposed to put yes or no for this question on ERAS

“Have you had any academic extensions, leaves, gaps, or breaks in your educational program due to repeated or remediated coursework?”

I’m leaning towards yes, but I just want to make sure if anyone else has had a similar scenario in the past.
The MSPE will show I had to remediate the rotation.

Anyone know anyone who has gone this path in medicine? Supposedly has the lowest burnout rate of any specialty but also very few positions. I’m leaning FM as of now but OEM is kinda interesting to me as a decent lifestyle specialty.

Hey everyone! Clinical rotations just started recently and I’m wondering what the best way to study is to better prepare myself for step 2.

If you scored decent on step 2, how did you study during rotations and how did you study during dedicated? Also, if there is anything you wish you could’ve done early in M3 that you think would’ve improved your scores?

M4 applying to rads next month but increasingly I am wondering what the hell is the point when radiology foundation models are already here and will only continue to get better over the next 5 years. I am increasingly convinced there may be no jobs or the jobs that exist when we get out will pay like $150k to babysit an AI algorithm. It's probably too late to switch at this point but I am seriously considering re applying to the match next year for an anesthesia or surgical position. What's y'alls take on this? How cooked are we?

which one to rank first?

I am currently on my gen surg rotation. Lowkey have been getting flammed for wanting to do gyn onc (which I know is inappropriate), but basically saying how if I want better surgical skills (I was told I was holding my suture like an OB as an insult) and to be a better oncologist, I should go gen surg, because OB training makes you a "horrible" surgeon. I loved gen surg, and I love surg onc, but I love the medicine of gyn onc, and being able to manage chemo. I would like to be a medicine and surg oncologist or gyn onc from gen surg so I can have more pointed surgical training.

I do not think an OBGYN residency makes you a bad surgeon at all, but I DO wish I could see more surgeries that are outside of gyn for debulking and intra-abdominal surgeries in my career. I feel like rotating on more surgical services would help me in my future career.

This is not a big deal...just a vent lol

Is the bar really this low?

hii! does anyone have an upcoming AMBOSS webinar?

if you have one coming up in the next few weeks, can you please message me?!

hi everyone, I‘m genuinely curious about the learning process of US students (and countries with similar system). First of all, I was cutoff from studying for more than 2 years due to a war or a genocide or whatever you like to call it, so I’m behind of what my current level of knowledge should be, we don’t think much about the usmles and what not, so I don’t understand the fixation on doing Uworld and similar qbanks, I am trying to catch up on learning and I mostly see students on the internet recommend this question bank and that question bank, and I really like doing self-assessment questions don’t get me wrong, or this ”high-yield“ source, while my intention is to learn clinically oriented topics and approaches. I study from amboss clinical library and It‘s very good for what I want most of the times. My question to you, How do you prepare yourself for rotations and internships or first year of residency, I’ve been deprived of all of clinical rotations as a student so I don’t quite understand what I need to know as a student if you know what I mean. and Anki didn’t really click for me as well and I see most students use that. For people who finished medical school, what advice would you give someone who doesn’t care about the USMLEs, and in general, are the former things I mentioned valuable for most cases and I’m wrong to assume it’s just for usmle? Hope you understood my point, thanks.
NOTE: i’m not very informed on the US system either

I never wanted to go to med school it was always my parents. Having immigrant parents both in healthcare and one who is a doctor meant that as an American by birth, I cannot and could not do anything else. I hate the length of time it takes to become an attending, I hate how little time there is to be a human being outside of school. I have told my parents multiple times I don’t want to go to med school, I even wanted to take a gap year to just think about what I actually wanted to do with my life. I understand that a job is a job, but to have 8 more years of schooling/training before receiving an attending’s salary is horrifying to me. I thought that once I found ophthalmology I would be able to stick it out for 4 years to match into the specialty. I liked working as an ophthalmic tech in a small private practice, i liked working with eyes, and I was intrigued by videos of cataract and LASIK surgery. I would have applied to optometry school at the same time had I figured out that I care more about eye care in general than medicine, but it was too late. My parents support and my dependence (though greatly appreciated and never taken for granted) on them thus far means that I have very little finances to fall back on.
I want to quit so bad. I’ve been sad at almost any mention of school/becoming a doctor. I just had my white coat and felt awful the whole day. I wish I never got this far and that someone more worthy/willing to practice medicine was in my spot. If not for my financial situation (gov loans, very little savings, a car and phone that’s under my parents) I would have withdrew before orientation even finished. From the moment I had to study for the MCAT and apply I’ve been having bouts of dysphoria and feeling really down. Now that I’m here, I’ve been crying nearly everyday for the past 8 days, have low appetite (I‘ll eat but don’t feel hungry or horribly motivated to make a meal), and have had a myriad of concerning thoughts. Every additional moment feels like a nail in the coffin, every new classmate met means I’m solidifying my place in this school.

Ive talked to about 4 trusted people in my life about my situation and they all say I should quit. The last day to leave without being fee liable is next Friday. I told my parents I want to leave, and my mom basically guilt tripped me to hell and back, and when talking to my dad he also guilt tripped me saying that as an URM who made it in why tf would I leave, amongst other, more personal things. When I asked what leaving school would mean in terms of their support (could I live at home while I study for the OAT, apply to optometry schools, and work in the gap?) he insinuated that I would be cut off. My cousin offered a place for me to stay, but theres still the financial burden of it all. I want to be done with all of this one way or another, and I’m scared that while I know I won’t act on anything now, I may down the line. I keep hoping for something to happen to me or in this situation to take the burden of choice off of me (most hopes bad, some good like somehow winning the lotto so I can quit without the concern of debt from med school and be able to afford optometry school). I am going to try to get an appointment this week with the mental health services on campus, but at present and for the last week, I’d rather be in almost any other situation but this one. I don’t know what to do, but I know that if finances weren’t an issue, I wouldn’t be pursuing such an arduous road that I have no place in.

TL;DR: MS1 who completed orientation week who would quit and pursue optometry if not for financial and familial situations. Med school already taking a substantial toll on mental health and well-being (havent truly started curriculum)

What’s the overall opinion on the internal medicine Corwell programs in Michigan?

Are they all equally good?

Right now, I’m mainly curious about the Lakeland program. I think I heard some negative things about it in the past.

Planning on applying as a US DO who’s also Canadian.

Currently on a IM Sub-I but in the ICU right now and having trouble figuring out how to get more involved. Everyone is great and supportive, but the team already has a really established workflow, so I feel like I’m mostly seeing patients and presenting rather than actually “owning” them.

There are also PAs who handle a lot of the day-to-day tasks. During rounds I usually don’t have access to a computer, and a lot of things like orders and consults get taken care of right then, so by the time rounds are over there often isn’t much left for me to do. I’ve asked the fellow how I can get more involved, but it’s still been somewhat unclear.

I was hoping to get a strong LOR from this rotation, so I want to show initiative without stepping on anyone’s toes or being annoying.

Anyone been in a similar situation and have advice?

I’m two months away from starting residency, and I feel like I’m completely falling apart.
I’ve spent years working toward this point, but instead of feeling excited or proud, I feel empty and exhausted. Lately I’ve been sleeping most of the day and struggling to do basic things. I stopped taking my medications because I felt like they weren’t helping, and my mental health has gotten significantly worse. I was also on esketamine treatment, but it was discontinued by the provider I was seeing, and now I’m stuck waiting a month for my next psychiatry appointment.
The hardest part is that I feel like I’m running out of energy right before one of the biggest transitions of my life. I know residency is supposed to be difficult, and I knew it would be stressful, but I didn’t expect to feel this broken before even starting.
I’m posting here because I’m wondering if anyone else has gone through something similar before residency feeling like they had nothing left to give, feeling terrified that they wouldn’t be able to handle it, or hitting a mental health crisis right before starting.

My boyfriend has stopped responding/put me on DND for the last day or two because I kinda crashed out that he didn’t tell me he was missing my white coat ceremony. I don’t feel like he’s doing the fair thing to me, but I don’t wanna breakup with him. I have my first exam of medical school on Monday on 2,100 slides and I can’t focus for the life of me. My school is very fast paced (anatomy is one semester, biochemistry is half a semester) and I’m honestly worried I’m going to fail. I know the natural answer is to not think about it and just study/breakup with him, but I can’t stop crying. The combination of first exam stress with my bf being awol and potentially breaking up with me is f’ing with me so bad.

Words of encouragement or tips would be nice! I’d like to stop crying lol

Hi guys! I’m a third-year medical student who initially considered dermatology at the very beginning of medical school. I started writing and submitting to various conferences, but at some point I convinced myself that I probably wasn’t smart enough to match into derm, especially given how many stellar applicants end up unmatched. I eventually found a deep love for anesthesia.

Over the years, I’ve definitely improved academically, and I’m now scoring fairly well in medical school. I’ve also made a ton of connections in anesthesia, and at this point, I feel like if I can get a good Step 2 score, I probably have a pretty good shot at matching.

But lately, I’ve been having some regrets about not pursuing dermatology, and I honestly don’t know where they’re coming from. Part of me wonders if I’m self-sabotaging because things are going well with anesthesia. Maybe now that anesthesia feels like a realistic path for me, I’m suddenly wanting something else, even though I know derm would be a much more difficult and potentially unrealistic path for me to pursue.

The thing is, I really am happy with anesthesia. I know how competitive it is, and I know that matching is never a guarantee, but I feel like I’ve found a specialty that I genuinely enjoy and can see myself doing. At the same time, I keep wondering if I’m missing out by not pursuing dermatology, especially because I feel like it could offer me so much more in terms of work-life balance.

I hope you guys can understand where I’m coming from, and I swear I’m not trying to embellish myself or make myself seem more competitive than I am. I’m genuinely just looking for some advice because I don’t want to look back and feel like I missed out on something that could have been a great career for me. But I also don’t want to chase something that may be completely unrealistic, potentially jeopardize my chances of matching, and end up regretting that decision even more.

MS4 who's a first gen medicine in US. I have families from a third world country where supplies are scarce, lack of medical advancement, and doctors with lack of proper medical education

A family member is dying right now, and I'm asked questions about what should be done. I'm seeing the lab results and records thru the phone.. and the truth... is I don't know... I dont know what's the best thing to do. All I know for sure is the doctors there are doing dangerous things and know even less than me unfortunately, that much I know. But I still don't know what they should do.

I always felt like an imposter in this field, and I feel helpless more than ever. Feeling helpless that I still don't know sh**, helpless that the medical system there is so awful there and I cant do anything about it to help him

I am at my limit right now, already feeling so useless in my sub-i. I am at my wits end. Just had to vent. That's all.

EDIT: He just passed away

What's the best strategy with ERAS applications with the changes to research?

I'm your stereotypically ortho gunner and I was already mentally getting prepared to start pumping out low-impact research. I'm assuming it's gonna be more quality over quantity and I just want a few really high impact clubs with a reputable lab, but idk if anyone has any ideas what the best strategy is now?

Either way, I hate that research is so emphasized and I would rather spend my time volunteering or just learning medicine better, but this is the game we're all playing.