Somewhere in the first semester, everyone figures out that they're not going to get the grades they were used to in their undergraduate years. For many, this will be known on day one. This is a very disturbing time when many of us ask ourselves (secretly), "Do I belong here"?

"Surely," you think to yourself, "But how can someone getting a 65% on a Physiology test (or any test for that matter) have any business cutting on someone else's leg with a sharp knife."


The answer is simple. Unequivocally, yes, you do belong here. Medical school is difficult because there is a lot to learn. It's hard for everyone...everyone. It's hard because someone's designed it to be hard, so they can get a good distribution on the tests. It's hard because it was hard for them when they were in your shoes. It's hard because researchers discover something new every minute that professors believe "you really should know." And it's going to stay hard until it's over. Ten times a week you're going to be brought short with the certainty that you're the only one in the lecture hall who can't remember the catabolic pathway for homogentisic acid. And everyone else in the lecture hall will be quietly sinking, and thinking the same thing. As an aside, after biochemistry is over, still no one knows the pathway.


The good news is that the first two years are nothing like what you've chosen as your life's work: clinical medicine. Ask any practicing clinician or upperclassmen in the hospitals.


So you can't tell anything about how you're going to enjoy being a doctor from what's happening to you now. And you'd be a fool to give up now after all the trouble you went through to get here. It's best to just tuck your chin and walk into the snowstorm. Study hard and try not to be too distressed when you can't remember anything you learned last month. Keep reminding yourself that it's happening to everyone else too. Make as many friends as you can and see if you can get them to confess that they're just as overwhelmed and just as doubtful as you are. Go out to lunch. Laugh at yourself and each other.


Try to do your best while at the same time not taking things too seriously. Take a day (or days) off. Take up jogging, or soccer, or softball. Be open to seeking out help if you need it. Join a club or two. Find a mentor doctor that you like and convince him/her to take you to lunch. Do something clinical in the summer of your first year to remind you of why you're here.


Stick together. Be tolerant of those in the top of the class and help those at the bottom. Remember, some of those people who graduate at the bottom are still some of the most most compassionate, respected, and knowledgeable phsyicians. Time flies, and you'll be somewhere else before you know it. Don't ever give up.