[HFerguson]

(Original post by RollerBall)

1. Towards end of first term, first year
2. Just before first year exams
3. Every time I went on MedSoc throughout the first two years.
4. Second term of second year.

Hmm..

serious, introspective "do I really want to be doing this?" moments?

[RollerBall]

(Original post by HFerguson)
serious, introspective "do I really want to be doing this?" moments?

A combination of:

• Do I want to be doing this?
• Is medicine worth this ****?
• Do I actually just want prestige/money
• **** patients.
• Am I happy having my entire life made up already?

Etcetera, etcetera...

[digitalis]

(Original post by HFerguson)
serious, introspective "do I really want to be doing this?" moments?

Honestly mate, just wait until third year. That will be your first proper experience of the day to day life of being a doctor, which you haven't really had so far. You will have good memorable times, yes...but also a lot of heartsink times where you will be bound to think 'is this all worth it?'

[RollerBall]

(Original post by digitalis)
Honestly mate, just wait until third year. That will be your first proper experience of the day to day life of being a doctor, which you haven't really had so far. You will have good memorable times, yes...but also a lot of heartsink times where you will be bound to think 'is this all worth it?'

I suppose I'm pretty much ****ed then.

[Syncope]

For me, it was during third year. Our third year goes on forever (Mid September - late August) and the sheer length of it was soul-destroying. I loved finally being in my first clinical year but, as Digitalis said, there's a lot of crap that comes along with that too. Plus I decided to throw in a major life event at the end of the year, just to make things a bit more stressful as I was planning that too. Towards the end of the year, as exams approached, a few of us were having a conversation about resitting the year if we failed exams - and I genuinely couldn't face the thought of doing it again.

[GodspeedGehenna]

(Original post by digitalis)
Honestly mate, just wait until third year.

Why third year specifically? Or is this just in reference to when you start clinical years?

[digitalis]

(Original post by GodspeedGehenna)
Why third year specifically? Or is this just in reference to when you start clinical years?

Just starting clinical years I reckon.

[medic101]

All the time. I didn't like basic sciences. The structure of the course and many other things, but I kept going - people would say it gets better in third year. Until third year came . . . . the summer breaks are shorter during clinical years, some days are good but some are bad (some really bad). Sometimes you turn up and there's no teaching and sometimes it depends on who is teaching on that day (they can be bad or good). You learn to improvise and find alternative activities - clerking, clinics etc
I have especially found fourth year better than third year but the exams and the sheer amount of work and what I have to remember and no reading week make me wonder if I'll come out ok at the end of this year. Then after that, there are only 6 months from the start of final year till exams.

I know it's worth it because I can't imagine doing anything else. Even if I won that 126 mil this weekend I would carry on with med school.

[harmony23]

Third year, spending my evenings till half 6 on a respiratory ward where the consultant was an arse and nobody else wanted to know. I tried to put in a cannula and I accidentally got blood on the bedding and the nurse went mad at me. When I was on ward rounds it was basically telling people, "Well if you're going to smoke 150 pack years then you've got to expect some lung problems", and then move on.

I was like, I can't do this for the rest of my life.

But then I spent a month on psych and was happy as larry to be there

[Giggy88]

(Original post by harmony23)
Third year, spending my evenings till half 6 on a respiratory ward where the consultant was an arse and nobody else wanted to know. I tried to put in a cannula and I accidentally got blood on the bedding and the nurse went mad at me. When I was on ward rounds it was basically telling people, "Well if you're going to smoke 150 pack years then you've got to expect some lung problems", and then move on.

I was like, I can't do this for the rest of my life.

But then I spent a month on psych and was happy as larry to be there

This sounds depressing . I think third year is also the point you realise that its the final year for all you friends doing a 3-year degree and they all start job interviews etc.. and you are just about half way through your degree and are treated like a kid, even though you've probably have worked much harder throughout the years. If you especially didn't like basic sciences and then see clinical teaching in a negative light it makes one think what's the point of all this ***.

[Heartbroken9]

(Original post by Carpediemxx)
Ive never thought why am i doing this, but i am still unsure if i even want to be a doctor. I am using the foundation years as a trial run to see if i enjoy it, or whether i need to admit to myself i really cannot work in medicine.

this

[Kinkerz]

Third year. It was miserable. And intercalating now is so much more engaging.

[yawnmonster]

in the midst of finals at the moment.....but I'm sure that's only a temporary feeling. For me doing an intercalated BSc in immunology was the year that cemented it for me. I definitely want to be doing medicine. All medical students get ignored by consultants. The key is, I hope, is that we all remember it and remember what it's like to be bored and ignored and try and look after our students in the future.

Or if we are too busy, tell them to go home rather than letting the keen ones hang around like lemons for hours on end.

[RollerBall]

I actually prefer medicine now I'm in third year...