A Day in The Life of a Medical Student…United States Edition

The globe’s medical students may share common goals, but do they also share common experiences while in medical school? We’re excited to debut a new series aimed at giving aspiring future doctors a peek inside life at medical schools around the world by going straight to the source: the students themselves. Up first? A third year medical student in the United States.

Introducing Katherine...

Medical school doesn’t just vary from country to country; it also varies from year to year. Take 25-year-old aspiring pediatrician Katherine Lindauer. Having covered the basic sciences during the initial two years of medical school, the curriculum has now moved onto clinical rotations in topics such as Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Psychology, Pediatrics, and OB/GYN with classes largely centered on practical teaching and discussions. (Next year, she’ll move onto electives and a few other mandatory rotations.)

Katherine rises early every day -- around 6:30 am. And while her course load is small (less than a handful of classes a week -- no more than one a day) her workload is not. As a participant in a special program for students working in underserved and rural areas at her Michigan medical school, Katherine heads to the clinic every day -- usually from 8am to 5pm with a one and a half hour lunch break -- interacting with various members of the healthcare team.

While Katherine works hard during the day and does her fair share of studying at night as well, she also prioritizes other hobbies and non-school activities, including cooking, late-night catching up with friends, and running.

The Personal Element

While television medical procedurals often portray medical students and residents as beleaguered low-men-on-the-totem-pole, this has not been Katherine’s experience. She says, “Most teachers (MDs, DOs, PAs, and NPs) are excited to work with students and treat me in a respectful and collegial fashion.”

The learning environment also has a surprisingly personal element. Explains Katherine, “I get to work in small hospitals and interact with the doctors who are teaching me one-on-one. I don't spend time with any of them outside of school but they do share a lot about themselves with me while working in clinic.”

But opportunities for connection aren’t limited to students and teachers. In fact, Katherine’s most meaningful medical school memories derive from interactions she’d shared with patients. She says, “Getting to sit with two patients who were in diabetic ketoacidosis, talk to them about their struggles with diabetes, and come up with strategies together for how to deal with blood glucose issues they were having. It sounds like a small thing, but I also have diabetes and being able to connect with these patients personally made the experience remarkable for me, and I think it was helpful for them, too. I don't often have the time during the middle of a clinic day to just sit and talk with a patient so those experiences were a luxury.”

Make Your Priorities a Priority

Medical school is demanding, and Katherine has one major piece of advice for students trying to juggle it all: deciding on their priorities before even stepping foot on campus. She explains, “For me, my relationships with my family and significant other were important for me to preserve, and I didn't want to lose sight of my faith. Making time to talk to loved ones on the phone and go to church on Sundays, even when I'm busy, has absolutely been essential to me during my time in medical school.”

Medical school in the US is a long haul. After completing four years of undergraduate study, medical students spend four more years in medical school before an additional three to eight year residency. It’s hardly surprising that burnout is a common phenomenon among medical students in US, but there is a solution, proposes Katherine: “I think a lot of medical students in the US struggle with burnout in school because the hours are so demanding and it can be easy to isolate yourself with your studies. We struggle to recognize mental health concerns in our culture and may not speak up about issues like depression and burnout, but these are the things that ruin careers. Keeping my studies in perspective alongside my well-being has been the best decision I've made since starting school.”

Medical schools are not all created equal. Nor are all medical school students. But despite differences in schedules and curriculums there are also plenty of commonalities -- both inside and outside the classroom. Knowing what to expect in medical school can not only help you succeed once you’re there, but can also help you choose a program, school and destination which best suit your needs and preferences.