Why Not Watching Enough College Basketball Is My Greatest Regret: Guest Post

Leah Kroll is a medical student at NYU. She writes about her life as an MS4 in this post from MotivateMD:

I made it through the rigors of pre-med. I made it through (almost all of) med school, with a few scars to show for it. And now that I’m a big, bad MS4, I finally have the time and the distance to reflect on all the literal blood, sweat, and tears it took to get here... I am a loud and proud Duke Blue Devil. It was my dream school despite my born-and-raised New Yorker parents saying, “South of the Mason-Dixon line? Absolutely no way!” My 4 years there surpassed my wildest expectations. But I failed to live all of my Duke dreams out. 

I’m proud of the person that I have become as a result of persevering through the MCAT, Steps 1 and 2, clerkships… you get the picture. But throughout all of this, since the moment I decided to go into medicine, the pressure to succeed has been a heavy weight dragging me down. I had to have a 4.0 every semester in college or I wouldn’t get into medical school. I had to run myself to the bone trying to excel as a medical student or I wouldn’t be a good residency applicant. I had to get at least XXX on Step 1 or I would be worthless. 

At Duke, basketball is king and I went to as many games as I could in the beginning. But as my medical school aspirations grew stronger, the number of games I attended dwindled to a pathetic 1 during my senior year season. Looking back on the night we won the NCAA tournament during my freshman year, I remember 2 things: 1. The electric rush of taking part in the ultimate Duke experience 2. Taking myself out of the party when the clock struck midnight so that I could retreat to my all too familiar spot in the library. My organic chemistry midterm was in 2 days and I had to get an A.
Every year at Duke, a good chunk of the undergraduate student body (The Cameron Crazies) sets up a tent village outside Cameron Stadium. For months, students live in these tents hoping to score tickets to the main event of the year: Duke Vs. UNC. My non pre-med friends tented every year. We pre-meds never did. After all, would we get enough sleep in the tents to study as much as we needed to? We had to keep our grades up. 

I got that A in organic chemistry. But, at what cost? 

We take the best care of our patients when we take the best care of ourselves. My relationships and interests outside of medicine keep me happy, healthy, and well-rounded. They help me be a better doctor. Regularly watching Duke basketball with my college friends, for example, has kept me sane as I grapple with the rigors of medical school. 

If my memory serves me correctly, organic chemistry came up in medical school just once: a 3-day metabolism and biochemistry unit in my first year. Other than that, my knowledge of electron pushing has not made any contribution to my medical training. Duke Basketball, however, has come up many times with my patients. It’s something that really excites me, and the people I meet in the hospital can relate to that. It makes me stand out from the assembly line of faces and scrubs poking and prodding hospital patients all day. 

Rooting for a basketball team brings all sorts of people together, and it’s that one common goal that serves as the glue. Cheering for a team is not unlike rallying around our patients to help them beat their illnesses. That’s how Duke basketball makes me a better doctor- it reminds me how to connect with almost anyone. 

I only wish I had participated more in my college years. I would have been happier then and it would make me a better doctor now. As hard as it may be to remember when pursuing a profession that requires us to compete and claw our way to the next step, there is such a thing as holding on to academic excellence too tightly. Albus Dumbledore said it best: “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that.” Wise guy, that Dumbledore.

Looking for more inspiration as you journey through your health professions career? Check out MotivateMD.

Books For Fourth Year Medical Students

You see the title and think "Books for fourth years? Do MS4s even show up to class?" Haha, well depending on where you are for med school, there may still be significant rotations to take during the fourth year. Books for those rotations are addressed in the books for MS3s post. However, there are two types of books fourth years should consider: board exam prep books and residency planning books.

Confused again about why board exam prep is listed here? Step 1 is in the rearview mirror, and maybe Step 2 CS/CK as well. However, all US medical graduates will have to take Step 3 at some point and trust me: sooner is much, much better than later. USMLE Step 3 is a comprehensive exam that covers all the same topics as Step 1 and 2, but with more clinical applications. Additionally, the exam is longer, requiring two separate days to complete.

To be honest, any Step 3 prep book should be fine. If you liked the style of First Aid for USMLE Step 1, then stick with First Aid for Step 3. The real key to success here is to do questions from a qbank, like Kaplan's USMLE Qbank. As they say, practice makes perfect. However, do not fall into the trap of "Two months, two weeks, two pencils (or two days)" as a schedule for Step 3 prep: the exam is as tough as Step 1 and Step 2. If you do not take it seriously and do not study, you will fail. I repeat: you will fail. While the test is not as critical as Step 1, it is *not* a blow-off exam.

Okay, that got intense - on a lighter note, the second topic is of more interest to your future career. As you prepare for interviews, you should have a good idea of what your field is about and what you need to do to prepare. If you are still figuring out what to apply for, Iverson will help narrow that down as well.

   

While the Iserson book is somewhat dated, it is still an excellent resource to refer to as you go through the process, as Iserson provides a good system for comparing programs to each other on the interview trail. Additionally, this site had a series of posts in the past dealing with residency interviews: Residency Interviews Tips, Parts 1 - 5. The posts are quick easy reads with the intent of providing high-yield information for interviewees.

 Enjoy fourth year! Good luck with residency applications!


Updated 2015-12-25