Planning Beforehand is Essential
If you’re attending medical school, the first thing we want to say is congratulations! Your efforts paid off, and you’ll soon be on your way to starting your clinical career. Before your first semester, use your summer to plan and enjoy yourself. By starting the planning and executing processes now, you’ll have ample time to de-stress, focus, and make sure your current goals align with future ones.
How is the Summer Before Medical School Different Than Undergrad?
Remember when you started at a brand-new university for your undergrad? You most likely had to spend your summer vacation taking care of different factors like the costs of your housing situations or figuring out a schedule that worked for you. The summer before medical school isn’t too different than this. The main contrast is that you’ll want to come to terms with the idea that a clinical curriculum will challenge you in many ways your undergrad didn’t.
To achieve this, you’ll have to develop the mindset to handle any obstacle that comes your way and be proficient with your time management and self-expectations. Once you do all this and develop the right mindset, everything else you need to take care of during the summer will be simple!
5 Things to do Before Starting Medical School
Spend as Much Time with Family and Friends as Possible
It’s not an understatement when we say that your first semester of medical school will be hectic. You’ll have to juggle classes, schoolwork, and extracurriculars all at once. You’ll most likely find that you don’t have as much time as you did before to spend time with people. It should be a top priority to spend as much time with your family and friends as you can during the summer months before your first semester. You’ll be more relaxed knowing that you made some more great memories with them instead of stressing out about medical school before it even started.
Resolve any Finance Issues
Students often find that they will have to take care of financial issues during the summer months that lead up to their first semester of medical school. Using this time is wise because you’ll have enough flexibility to handle costs or problems as they arise, which could include anything from moving fees to ensuring that all loans or grants process correctly. This is also the best time to start planning and implementing a budget that will help you save money throughout your time in medical school. Developing solid financial habits will help as you continue through your clinical career!
Take Care of Your Mental and Physical Health
To put it simply: medical school will be exhausting. You’ll have grueling hours of schoolwork and studying ahead of you, but if you optimize your health beforehand, you can beat the burnout. Many students use their summer to get into a fitness routine, start hobbies, or even develop healthier eating habits. You’ll want to find what works for you and stick with it, so you’ll always have something that allows your mind and body to completely relax. Also, taking care of your mental and physical health now will only make you sharper and more attentive!
Find Resources That Can Help Your First Semester Workflow
The difference between a smooth and rocky first semester is the accessibility to great resources that help your workflow. These include anything like eBooks, online lectures, schedulers, organizers, and more. The good news is that everyone can get these resources if they do their research!
To develop a list of the right resources, remember that you don’t have to look very far (YouTube, Merck Manuals, My Study Life, Google Calendars, etc.). All this is available online, so start your searches now so you can refine your list as you start going through your university’s curriculum.
Take Care of Leftover Admissions Requirements
With everything else on your to-do list, it can be easy to forget when you have only one more paper to sign or send to your university’s Admissions department. With your first semester right around the corner, you’ll need to take care of any Admissions-related tasks immediately. If you don’t take care of them now, your acceptance can be affected, and you might have issues attending your university.
What can AUSOMA Students Expect?
Here at AUSOMA, you’ll immerse yourself in our competitive, accelerated curriculum to achieve your clinical goals. That’s why we’ll always put you first and make sure you’re getting the experience and personal attention that you need. Our wonderful staff is also here to help you take care of any problems before you step foot onto our campus.