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10 GIFs that Sum Up My First Year of Medical School

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I feel like this accurately describes my medical school experience! I could not start my mornings without coffee, and I could not function during classes or study without coffee. Fun fact: I actually wasn’t a huge coffee fan until I started med school.
If I did not have coffee, this is how I would be in classes. Actually, let’s be real, this is how I was in classes, even WITH coffee in my system. 8-hour class days are no joke.
No matter how much coffee I drank, this was me on a daily basis. CONSTANTLY. EXHAUSTED.
These points were literally how I studied for my exams. Studying is a technique that is learned, almost like an art form. You can’t just study the same way as your friends do, you can’t cram the night before, and you have to take time for yourself in between sessions.
Getting those small bursts of motivation meant everything. And it could last for a moment, or a week.
People always assume because I went to school on a Caribbean island, that this is what I did 24/7. People constantly asked, “when do you have time to study?” This actually describes maybe 1, 2 nights a semester when I actually had the time and energy to go out.
My friends are what helped me get through it all. They were there to listen to my venting, to be my study partner, and the people who understood what I was going through. We had our fun times, too!

And finally, when that last exam was over for the semester, and you FINALLY had some time to relax and unwind during break…
What people thought I did after finals…
What I ACTUALLY did after finals.

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Merck Manuals Student Stories is a collaboration between The Merck Manual and current medical students, offering readers a glimpse of what it’s like to experience medical school today.

Featured Contributor

Avani Patel MD

Avani Patel

Avani Patel, MD, MHA is a PGY-2 psychiatry resident at the University of Mississippi Medical Center with plans to pursue a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship in the future. Read posts by Avani.