Two years ago I started the medical school application process. I learned a few things along the way and thought I’d highlight some of my past articles that I think are helpful for the application process.

This is a checklist of the most important things to keep track of while applying.

The Financial Cost of Applying to Medical School – Applying is expensive, this is a breakdown of what I spent to apply.

And this is how I saved money during the application process.

How To Use Google Docs to Streamline the Application Process. I found Google Docs to be incredibly helpful.

Thoughts on Interviews.

I hope these articles are helpful for you as you navigate the winding journey to medical school.

Update: Ryan at Practical Premed offers another viewpoint on using the internet to streamline the application process: How to Hack Secondaries with Google Docs and SDN.

It’s hard to believe my summer started over a month ago. I have to be back to studying in two months! I need to cram as much fun and relaxation as possible into these two months.

So what does a med student like myself do with a summer off? Research, shadowing, work? Nah, not for me, at least nothing too substantial. After a nine months of studying I need an adventure, so that’s what my wife and I are doing.

We road tripping throughout the west side of the country, planning on seeing as many national parks as possible. Right now we’re hanging out in Portland for a few days, but soon we will leave for Crater Lake, the Redwoods, Yosemite and beyond. It’s going to be awesome.

Other than that I’m going to spend the summer seeing friends and family, reading, writing (like that e-book I talked about) and biking. Here are the books on my reading list so far:

Finish Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. I think I started this book last fall, so it has taken me about a year to finish. Dense reading at times but so far it is worth it. The book is a fascinating attempt at reconciling art and science. That description does not do the book justice.

The Children’s Hospital by Chris Adrian. I listened to an interview with Adrian on NPR and was intrigued.

The Pearl by John Steinbeck. I’ve read a lot of Steinbeck, but not this one.

Hopefully I’ll finish a few more besides these.

Here are a few pictures from the travels we’ve done already:

Dog Mountain near Portland:

Ahh, summer is great! What are your plans?

Cowboys and Pit Crews.

- Atul Gawande delivers the commencement address at Harvard Medical School. Anyone interested in medicine should read this.

My Article on Men’s Health for Student Health 101.

-This is the only way I know to link to it. You can get to it by clicking on the icon for Men’s Health Checklist at the bottom. It’s not life altering work, but it is cool to see my own work published somewhere besides this blog.

Want a Better College Experience? Start Your Own Independent Project.

-Pre med blogger Ryan offers up some unique advice for college students. Also, congrats to Ryan on the new writing gig!

An International Service Corps for Health

-An interesting idea that needs to be fleshed out a bit. Would you be interested?

That’s all for now. More posts to come soon, it’s amazing how much writing I can get done in the summer!

I recapped 2010, which was a busy year for my personal life. Now that I’ve completed (and passed!) the first year of medical school I’d like to review my last academic year at Creighton School of Medicine.

We’ll start with the Fall semester classes with short reflections for each one.

Fall

The fall started with a few days of orientation, some team building exercises, social events etc. We quickly transitioned into lectures. Lots and lots of lectures. And Anatomy lab. Here’s how it went:

Anatomy

I posted my some stories about Anatomy several months ago so I’ll keep this brief.

Anatomy was one or two lectures a day and labs MWF. Labs were the most difficult part of Anatomy for a couple reasons. The labs were often after lunch when we were already tired from four to six lectures. Dissection is not an easy skill, and identification is often more difficult. We had some great TAs that helped us with both, which brings up an important tip- get on the good side of your TAs! They’ll help out tremendously, especially if they are in good moods. Help them be in good moods!

Netter is also helpful.

Molecular and Cellular Biology

Or MCB as we liked to call it. This class was an amalgamation of cell biology, genetics, biochemistry and molecular biology. 112 lectures of wonderful basic science, ugh. We also had small group meetings once a week where we discussed clinical cases that ideally related to what we were learning.

To be honest, this class kicked my ass at times. I think it was the volume of information that got to me. That combined with the stress of transitioning to med school (and preparing for a wedding) made this class my worst performance academically for the year. Wahoo.

Ethics and Legal Topics in Medicine

A hit and miss class overall. Lectures such as those on death and dying, problem patients and ethical problems in research were interesting but some lectures seemed irrelevant or at least not deserving of a whole 50 minutes. We also had small group weekly in this course, which was often fun and engaging. I enjoyed hearing other student’s perspectives on complex issues.

This course was not challenging academically, which was a nice break from Anatomy and MCB.

Interviewing and Physical Exam

How to talk to patients, how to listen to patients, how to examine patients. Basically the “doctoring” side of being a doctor. These are skills I think some people take for granted. However, these physical movements and do not come as naturally as one might imagine. Where to place the stethoscope on the body, how to position the patient during an abdominal exam, how to avoid asking leading questions etc. are all skills that take practice.

We had sporadic small groups where we would interview fake patients and then each semester we had an OSCE where we had to demonstrate correct technique in portions of the physical exam. This was our only year long course.

That concludes the academic portion of the fall semester, I’ll recap the spring semester soon.

I need some quotes!

Student Health 101 liked my last article and it which will be published in June. You may recall I asked for your help with that article a while back, thank you to those who responded!

My next article is about fitness and nutrition tips to get the year started right, to be published in September. Here is what I’m curious about:

What are the biggest challenges for college students to eat healthy  and exercise?

In your opinion, what are the best ways for college students to get exercise?

Do you feel that your fellow students take nutrition and exercise seriously? Why or why not?

If you want to help me out, answer any or all of the questions and write to me either by email (steve at mdjourney.com) or use my contact form. Please include your name, university and year in school.

Thanks in advance!

P.S. A recap of my first year is on it’s way soon, I promise.

My last final of my first year of medical school is today. 

Wow, it’s strange to think about that.

In honor of today, here is a picture of myself:

Apparently after so much studying, I have turned completely solid.

Seriously though, that’s a figurine my mom gave me as a gift for finishing my first year. I think it’s pretty cool, thanks mom!

Off to the neuro final…

Pre meds and those about to enter medical school: are you interested in an E-book that compiles advice, strategies and tips for surviving the first year of med school?

I am considering this as a summer project. I am thinking about interviewing other med students (bloggers, classmates, people who post on SDN etc) and combining their thoughts along with my own into an easily accessible e-book.

Points of view outside my own would be helpful considering my experience is just a small drop in the reality of the med school experience across the United States. Schools are different, people are different. I want to identify some broad principles that can be applicable to pretty much all first year medical students.

A few other thoughts:

• I think around 20 pages would be a reasonable length.
• A few ideas I’m tossing around in my head include advice for particular classes, handling relationships in med school, achieving balance and what to be thinking about in terms of the future.
• I think it would be really cool if this were a free resource.
• Essentially I want to make a great guide that would have been really useful to me last summer and throughout the past school year.

I would love to hear some of your feedback. Would you be interested in something like this?

If so, what topics would you like to see addressed?

• Potholes are bad. I basically had to jump my bike over one today that spanned most of the road.
• Fellow cyclists are much more friendly here than in Portland- they will always nod, wave or say hi. I think it’s because bikers are so rare here. When we see each other, we need to raise our fists and say “Solidarity!” or something like that.
• Omaha actually does have some bike lanes. However…
• I have seen cars driving in a bike lane on two separate occasions. Really?
• I bike past a donut place in the morning and the delicious scent always makes me want to stop. Perhaps in the near future.
• My commute time is about the same whether I’m biking or driving. I think the difference comes from the time it takes to find a parking spot and walk from the parking lot. I just lock my bike up in front of the Science building and walk in.
• Interested in bicycling in Omaha? Check out these links:
  • Omaha Bikes
  • Omaha Commuter Map
  • Community Bike Project Omaha
• My steed is pictured below- I call her “Serenity.” Can anyone guess why?

Yesterday I introduced myself to a man, examined his eyes, ears, mouth, throat and heart and then left, all while being watched and critiqued by another person.

OSCEs are weird. And awkward.

Nobody really knows what OSCE stands for, but I think most medical students know what it means.

For those in the dark, I’ll share. It’s a fake patient encounter where med students are evaluated on their clinical exam skills. It’s usually pretty straightforward, the doctors grading it are supportive and goes by very quickly.

But for whatever reason, it is a really stressful experience!

Most of my fellow students are the same way. We stress a little before, and then when it’s over with, we all say, “well, that was easy,” and get on with our lives.

My OSCE went fine, save for some shaky hands. One more awkward step complete on my journey through medical school!

Confession:

When I have to do some hard-core studying (like tonight) I like to play epic movie soundtracks through Pandora. I imagine that this music will be playing during a montage scene during a movie based on my life.

The premise of the montage scene is that before Steve saved the world, he had to go through the rigors of medical school. The epic music will start, and a scene will show me listening intently during lecture (maybe even raising my hand!), then cut to me studying hard at my desk surrounded by stacks of books and journal articles, then confidently passing an examination and so on. Can’t you just picture it?

It’s going to be awesome.

On a related note, this is one of the best movie montages of all time!

You’re the best, around… nothing’s gonna ever keep you down!”

Ok, back to studying or my dream of my own movie montage will never come true cause I failed out of med school.