What is Medical School Actually Like?

The question I get most often about medical school is, “Is it hard?” The only honest answer is yes and no. Starting out medical school is extremely difficult. The sheer amount of material that is thrown at you in a little amount of time is overwhelming and honestly seems impossible. However, you adapt and develop a routine and the amount of material (though ever increasing) is no longer overwhelming. Eventually, you run into a new problem: fatigue. You have your study schedule down and you know what you need to do to make the grade, but burnout starts to set in. Monotonous and constant studying for two years straight can really take a toll on you.

Two years of actual “in classroom” schooling doesn’t seem that bad when you say it out loud (I mean, I have been in school all my life, what is another two years?). But two years of medical school is a different story. Before starting medical school, I never worried about getting burned out, I only worried about being able to make the grade. It is interesting to see how your mindset changes once you are actually in the game. The studying is constant and the stress of boards looming in the near future creates an increased level of stress that never seems to go away. While learning the material gets easier and easier, the stress and repetitiveness make it hard. At the end of the day, it is definitely doable as long as you keep the end goal in mind.