March 12, 2020March 13, 2020 monicarose

Reflecting on My Year as the Premedical Student Representative

Medical School, Pre-Med

The year serving as the Premedical Student Representative for Phi Delta Epsilon has been a really wonderful experience both personally and professionally, and I can’t believe it’s coming to an end!  In this post I’d like to comment on a couple of questions that came up a lot as I talked with many premedical students, briefly summarize my favorite takeaways from the Leadership Institute curriculum, and reflect on my year in this position. 

Common Topics I was Asked About:

Gap Year 
Lots of students asked me my experience and thoughts about taking a Gap Year between college and medical school so I wanted to post this somewhere all members could access it.  

My Journey:
In my personal journey to medical school, my decision to take a gap year came about for a few different reasons.  First of all, as I was going through my undergraduate classes and trying to find a place to fit taking the MCAT, I kept finding myself pushing the test off as I wanted to have about 1-2 months of study time.  I ended up scheduling the MCAT during the summer after I graduated from college so that I knew I’d have that dedicated time without class obligations. As I was ending junior year and planning senior year, I also just felt tired and started considering a gap year to have a bit of a break.  I had heard from talking to medical students that once you start medical school there really is no more “breaks”, and of course the process of medical school was going to be difficult, so I started feeling more and more that a break was what I needed to be ready. I really wanted to enjoy my last couple of semesters of college without having to also be taking the MCAT and going through the application process for medical school.

During my Gap Year, I studied for and took the MCAT, worked and became a supervisor at my scribing job in the emergency department, and continued volunteering with my hospice patients.  (Similar to how I previously discussed spending summer breaks.) I was also working on my medical school applications, which definitely was time consuming. After I was accepted to my top choice school, UNLV School of Medicine, in the end of December, I began planning my move back home to Las Vegas and also planned a 1-month trip to Hawaii where I stayed with my childhood best friend.  I graduated in May 2016 and medical school started July 2017, so it ended up being a little over 1 year of a gap for me. 

In General:
Everyone’s journey will be unique, so I’d like to share some statistics that were shown in a really wonderful MedTalk we had at the Chicago Leadership Institute about the Gap Year (data from AAMC). 

As you can see, the trend is definitely going towards more gap years when you look at the last few groups of medical students.  You can read lots of data and opinions, but I hope the takeaway is that if you spend your gap year growing and learning in your own way it can be a really great thing.

Do you really have time for your personal life during medical school?

The short answer is: Yes, but it takes work. 

Medical school demands a huge time commitment, but with time and effort put into planning ahead and prioritizing the things that are most important to you, it is still possible to have a resemblance of “work-life balance”.  Everyone’s journey in medical school is different, and I think we will all have good weeks and bad ones in terms of giving enough space to our lives outside of being a medical student. One important thing you can do is be honest with yourself about what things are important for you to keep in your daily life.  Also, be honest with your support system because no matter how incredible you may be at time management, medical school is extremely stressful, and you won’t be the best or the usual version of yourself all of the time.

Some of my Favorite Takeaways from PhiDE’s Inaugural Leadership Institutes:

I really loved Karen’s talk about this idea of equifinality.  It goes perfectly with the values of Phi Delta Epsilon, and how we support people of all backgrounds along their journey into medicine, but it is also an important point for all premedical students to keep in mind in general as they go on this journey.  Whether you end up on the path you originally planned, or your journey turns out completely different, the end goal is what keeps us going, and we’re always better for our experiences and adversities.

I also loved the work we did thinking about values, first of PhiDE, and also as individuals.  We don’t sit and think about our values on a daily basis, but whenever you do I recommend taking advantage of those thoughts in a few different ways.  As an individual, if you value family or friends, but then notice your schedule doesn’t have enough of that time, make an effort to arrange your schedule if you can.  As you reflect on your values, save your notes, because someday as you’re writing your personal statement those will be incredibly useful, if nothing else just to see how you’ve grown.

Reflecting on the last year:

The last year has definitely gone by so fast, and I’m grateful for this opportunity.  Having the opportunity to meet so many members of the premedical chapters at the Leadership Institutes absolutely was one of the highlights of my year acting as your International Premedical Student Representative! I love the instant bond we share as PhiDE Family so much, there’s nothing else like it.

This was the second time PhiDE had a medical student represent the premedical chapters, and I really hope the members feel they had (and will always have) access to a mentor as well as a friend.  It never stops being surreal to me that I’m someone students will turn to for advice, but I remember very well how crucial the insight from medical students was when I was in undergrad. One of my primary goals with my PhiDE blog posts and in interacting with my premeds was to normalize a lot of the things we don’t talk about openly but all experience.  I hope I normalized the fact that we’re not all motivated 100% of the time, and that no matter what you see on social media we all could improve on our work-life-balance. I used to see medical students and think they must know some secret or they must be super-human; but I hope some of you who have read and continue to read are comforted that we’re all in this together, faking it until we make it, and you’ll be in our shoes in a few very fast years.