So tired of medical school

I've completed my first 3 years of medical school and I'm currently doing an intercalated degree. I've reached the point that I've just become so weary of the constant bombardment of information and constant jumping through hoops and regurgitating for exams that feel near impossible to pass.

Every year of medical school has felt more overwhelming than the last and I am actually feeling almost afraid to finish my intercalated degree and go back into fourth year because I'm afraid that I don't have the capacity to cope anymore.

Having spoken to some of my friends who have already graduated and are working as FYs they seem totally miserable and not a single one of them seems to actually be enjoying it. I'm starting to wonder at what point things are going to get better and whether this is going to be worth it in the end.

I love medicine - I find it an absolutely fascinating subject, and working with patients is brilliant, but I'm starting to hate medical school and I'm just so tired.

Has anyone else felt anything similar? Any advice to help me pull my head back together and get back on track?

Reply 1

hayleyvictoria

Where are you studying Medicine? x

Reply 2

tibbles209

OP

14

Original post by MTW47

Sorry to hear this. i think to getter better advice you would have been better posting your thread under the current medical students and doctors sub forum. We are all desperate to start our studying so probably aren't much use. Hope it all works out for you.

Oops I'm sorry, I didn't realise there was a seperate forum. If a mod sees this - could you please move it for me? Thanks!

Reply 3

nexttime

22

I assume your third year was clinical. How did you find that? Although i also hear that UCL/Imperial 3rds years are kind of tame compared to 4th/5th so maybe that isn't the best comparison...

Also, what alternative careers do you have in mind?

Reply 4

Hippokrates

20

Have you tried talking to your tutor? they'll have seen this many times before and they'll be in the best position to help you realise if you're just overwhelmed or you really don't want to do medicine any more and they can help you either way.

Reply 5

clarusblue

14

Original post by tibbles209

I've completed my first 3 years of medical school and I'm currently doing an intercalated degree. I've reached the point that I've just become so weary of the constant bombardment of information and constant jumping through hoops and regurgitating for exams that feel near impossible to pass.

Every year of medical school has felt more overwhelming than the last and I am actually feeling almost afraid to finish my intercalated degree and go back into fourth year because I'm afraid that I don't have the capacity to cope anymore.

Having spoken to some of my friends who have already graduated and are working as FYs they seem totally miserable and not a single one of them seems to actually be enjoying it. I'm starting to wonder at what point things are going to get better and whether this is going to be worth it in the end.

I love medicine - I find it an absolutely fascinating subject, and working with patients is brilliant, but I'm starting to hate medical school and I'm just so tired.

Has anyone else felt anything similar? Any advice to help me pull my head back together and get back on track?

this isn't a very helpful question but if you were to leave medical school now what qualification would you get? i know at my med school if you leave after third year you get an unclassified degree so it's not very valuable. even if you don't want to do this for your career perhaps consider whether it's worth finishing the five years just for a decent degree - it would be a shame for your work so far to go to waste.

i do know how you feel though, although i'm calling my feelings the january blues. i don't have any motivation to work, i don't get any pleasure from seeing patients and i can't help but look at how understaffed and overworked the f1/2s are and think "why am i doing this?". for me the answer is that i've got this far and i may as well finish, and also i have no idea what i'd prefer to do. i think it's just temporary misery and will pass, hopefully yours will do the same.

Reply 6

tibbles209

OP

14

Original post by nexttime

I assume your third year was clinical. How did you find that? Although i also hear that UCL/Imperial 3rds years are kind of tame compared to 4th/5th so maybe that isn't the best comparison...

Also, what alternative careers do you have in mind?

My third year wasn't really clinical - we did have some wards and clinical placements, but it was still largely lecture and tutorial based. From 4th year onwards it is entirely clinical. That's my big fear really - that however overwhelmed I felt in 3rd year, 4th year could be even worse :frown:

I don't really have any other tbh, having gone through 3 1/2 years of this already I'm determined to finish and I'm hoping a medical career will be more enjoyable than medical school has been. I've been so single minded about wanting to do medicine since I was 12 that I find it hard to even consider other possibilities, however unhappy I am in my current situation.

Original post by Hippokrates

Have you tried talking to your tutor? they'll have seen this many times before and they'll be in the best position to help you realise if you're just overwhelmed or you really don't want to do medicine any more and they can help you either way.

I don't actually have a tutor at the moment - she retired last year, and as I'm doing an intercalated degree this year I've not been allocated a new one yet. There are probably support services at the university I could try, but I actually feel kind of embarrassed admitting how poorly I'm coping, when everyone in medical school is going through the same thing as me.

Original post by clarusblue

this isn't a very helpful question but if you were to leave medical school now what qualification would you get? i know at my med school if you leave after third year you get an unclassified degree so it's not very valuable. even if you don't want to do this for your career perhaps consider whether it's worth finishing the five years just for a decent degree - it would be a shame for your work so far to go to waste.

i do know how you feel though, although i'm calling my feelings the january blues. i don't have any motivation to work, i don't get any pleasure from seeing patients and i can't help but look at how understaffed and overworked the f1/2s are and think "why am i doing this?". for me the answer is that i've got this far and i may as well finish, and also i have no idea what i'd prefer to do. i think it's just temporary misery and will pass, hopefully yours will do the same.

I don't think I would get any qualification if I left now (as far as I'm aware) :frown:

I am going to finish medical school, I'm not considering dropping out. I'm just feeling really down about it at the moment and I need to sort my head out. It may become a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy, if I go into 4th year expecting it to be awful. Hopefully it will pass - I've gone through long periods of loving my degree in the past, so hopefully I can find that again. It just seems to be more and more outweighed by the stress and exhaustion the further I get into medical school.

Thank you for your replies guys - hearing other people's takes on my situation is helpful to give me a bit of perspective

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 7

Vian

17

Original post by tibbles209

Having spoken to some of my friends who have already graduated and are working as FYs they seem totally miserable and not a single one of them seems to actually be enjoying it. I'm starting to wonder at what point things are going to get better and whether this is going to be worth it in the end.

There isn't much I can say except that FY isn't supposed to be enjoyable. I hear it's the toughest time as a doctor, and gets better once you enter speciality training. I suggest talking to a tutor or a doctor beyond their FY.

Reply 8

MedMed12

21

Original post by tibbles209

I've completed my first 3 years of medical school and I'm currently doing an intercalated degree. I've reached the point that I've just become so weary of the constant bombardment of information and constant jumping through hoops and regurgitating for exams that feel near impossible to pass.

Every year of medical school has felt more overwhelming than the last and I am actually feeling almost afraid to finish my intercalated degree and go back into fourth year because I'm afraid that I don't have the capacity to cope anymore.

Having spoken to some of my friends who have already graduated and are working as FYs they seem totally miserable and not a single one of them seems to actually be enjoying it. I'm starting to wonder at what point things are going to get better and whether this is going to be worth it in the end.

I love medicine - I find it an absolutely fascinating subject, and working with patients is brilliant, but I'm starting to hate medical school and I'm just so tired.

Has anyone else felt anything similar? Any advice to help me pull my head back together and get back on track?

Can you take a gap year after this year? A break may help! A friend doing architecture did, but I know its abit different with Medicine. Think about it, but at the moment theres only two more years to go :smile:

now that you're doing a 4th year of Uni. Think of the goal to keep you going!
I hope you make the right decision! I think you're just tired of it, but in reality you'd be fine :smile:

Reply 9

Dragonfly07

18

I actually dropped out of pharmacy because I thought it was too overwhelming. If I stayed I would have graduated by now. Although I started a new degree, I think staying in pharmacy would have been a much better choice.

Don't drop out until you finish your degree. Once you finish you'll at least have a qualification. Even if it's **** right now, you will be very happy when you finish.

Reply 10

nexttime

22

Original post by tibbles209

My third year wasn't really clinical - we did have some wards and clinical placements, but it was still largely lecture and tutorial based. From 4th year onwards it is entirely clinical. That's my big fear really - that however overwhelmed I felt in 3rd year, 4th year could be even worse :frown:

I'm finding that the more experience i get, the less daunting it is. It seems that you may have some specific anxieties regarding clinical (you mentioned 'overwhelmed') - have you thought about what those are?

I've been so single minded about wanting to do medicine since I was 12 that I find it hard to even consider other possibilities, however unhappy I am in my current situation.

Its fine to be determined to finish, but i don't think that is a healthy attitude. It wasn't 10 years ago, and it isn't now. Its just denial. Maybe you should do some tentative research regarding other opportunities available to you. Or better yet, speak to someone about them.

The welfare/careers people are there exactly for things like this. Its their entire job. There is no need to feel ashamed for not enjoying something and seeking help.

Reply 11

Helenia

20

What is it that you found "overwhelming" in 3rd year? Your later clinical years are very different from the first few years of medical school, and it's a new challenge to try and get used to them - I know people who flew through pre-clinical and really struggled at clinical school, and vice versa. You mention the endless grind of exams/hoop jumping, and it sounds like you were rather intimidated by clinical work, but you still find the subject interesting. If you took away the exams, do you think you would enjoy actually studying medicine? If so, then press on and just accept the exams as an unpleasant but necessary hurdle. If you don't actually like medicine any more and wonder if you want to be a doctor, then it might be time to look for a way out.

As for hating FY1/2, I think it's a very mixed bag. I'm sure there are some people who hate it the whole time, but I expect there are far more people like me, who hated the long hours, the lack of appreciation and the crapness of NHS administration/understaffing, but actually deep down like seeing patients and looking after them. It's easy to feel totally overworked and stressed, but at the same time realise that you're really little more than a glorified secretary, especially as an FY1 - that sucks. I managed to deal with it by learning to take pride in what I did - even if it was "only" secretarial work, it is really valuable to the team to have an up-to-date list, to know what investigations have been requested for which patients and what the results are when they arrive and so on. Even though I wasn't saving lives all the time, and spent a lot of time writing TTOs, I liked to think I was keeping things running smoothly so my seniors could get on with the clever stuff. As an FY2, I got more responsibility, working in A&E and doing SHO-level medicine on-calls, and although it was knackering, it got more satisfying. Now I've done a year in a non-training post in ICU and I'm a CT1 in anaesthetics, and I love my job. Sure, the hours can be crappy, and it can get stressful, but I very rarely go home thinking "I wish I hadn't gone to work today."

Reply 12

Becca-Sarah

19

Original post by tibbles209

Oops I'm sorry, I didn't realise there was a seperate forum. If a mod sees this - could you please move it for me? Thanks!

I've moved this into our current medics forum in the hope of you getting less comments from people who've never been to medical school.

I'm in fourth year at the moment, having done an intercalated degree last year and my third year was also pretty non-clinical. It's not been as bad as I expected, if anything it's been less overwhelming than pre-clinical years because you start to realise that you do know things, and that the clinical years are for actually seeing what things look like outside of lectures and textbooks, so there's less of an information overload - I think it's about seeing things in context rather than learning lots of new things.

I think I did feel similarly to you at the end of third year to the point that I used my intercalated year as a gap year - I did a lot more going out and playing sport and generally did far less work than usual. It meant that I came back to medical school feeling fairly positive about starting clinicals instead of being absolutely shattered from four years of constant work. I don't know where you are or how bad your intercalated workload is, but sometimes it's worth sacrificing getting a high mark in order to chill out and go back to medicine feeling refreshed instead of overwhelmed.

Reply 13

Elles

17

Original post by Helenia

As for hating FY1/2, I think it's a very mixed bag. I'm sure there are some people who hate it the whole time, but I expect there are far more people like me, who hated the long hours, the lack of appreciation and the crapness of NHS administration/understaffing, but actually deep down like seeing patients and looking after them. It's easy to feel totally overworked and stressed, but at the same time realise that you're really little more than a glorified secretary, especially as an FY1 - that sucks. I managed to deal with it by learning to take pride in what I did - even if it was "only" secretarial work, it is really valuable to the team to have an up-to-date list, to know what investigations have been requested for which patients and what the results are when they arrive and so on. Even though I wasn't saving lives all the time, and spent a lot of time writing TTOs, I liked to think I was keeping things running smoothly so my seniors could get on with the clever stuff. As an FY2, I got more responsibility...

There are some whingy FY1s out there who fancy themselves as House or something - without the experience/common sense/skills to back it up who don't get to grips with 'running' the firm which is an important job.

I on the whole enjoyed it - unlike being a student, I was getting paid to spend time looking after patients & was actually relied upon in the team/rota. :eek:

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 14

Pigling

8

Original post by tibbles209

I've completed my first 3 years of medical school and I'm currently doing an intercalated degree. I've reached the point that I've just become so weary of the constant bombardment of information and constant jumping through hoops and regurgitating for exams that feel near impossible to pass.

If your 3rd year wasn't very clinical, then I wouldn't despair until you've tried 4th year. I think it is likely to be very different and less pressured compared to what you are doing now. Especially as you are intercalating. As a rule, intercalation is very hard, very pressured, and very academically draining.

In the more clinical years (in my case from third year onward), exams seem much easier to pass, and there is less "information overload" as you tend to be going over and practising everything you've already learnt once, and it's more about integration of knowledge and clinical application.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 15

nexttime

22

Original post by Pigling

As a rule, intercalation is very hard, very pressured, and very academically draining.

Oh wow really? Ours is like a year off before clinical starts :tongue:

Reply 16

AnonymousPenguin

16

Original post by nexttime

Oh wow really? Ours is like a year off before clinical starts :tongue:

Only if your project works the way it should. I'm definitely not seeing the year-off aspect right now :frown:

.

Reply 17

nexttime

22

Original post by AnonymousPenguin

Only if your project works the way it should. I'm definitely not seeing the year-off aspect right now :frown:

.

Even if it goes terribly and get no results whatsoever, there is no need to be working longer than the 8 weeks that you have allocated. I know that's easier said than done, but if you're being drawn into a longer commitment you need to put your foot down.

My year was fortunate though in being the last year to have 2nd year exams in Hillary. My entire 3rd year project was done and dusted before the end of Trinity 2nd year.

Reply 18

AnonymousPenguin

16

Original post by nexttime

Even if it goes terribly and get no results whatsoever, there is no need to be working longer than the 8 weeks that you have allocated. I know that's easier said than done, but if you're being drawn into a longer commitment you need to put your foot down.

My year was fortunate though in being the last year to have 2nd year exams in Hillary. My entire 3rd year project was done and dusted before the end of Trinity 2nd year.

It just seems to me that these are probably the easiest percentages to get so it would be foolish not to do as much as you can to get a good grade. Plus, it's reasonably entertaining and somewhat relaxed compared to previous years.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 19

hoonosewot

11

Hang on for clinical years, they're far more interesting than non-clin. Harder work in that it's more tiring, but the academic side of it isn't as bad i found. The stuff you learn is a lot more relevant to medicine and doesn't require the same kind of cramming for the exam because a lot of stuff you'll be examined on is stuff you've been doing all year. You'll be surprised at just how much you ended up learning without really meaning to.

(edited 11 years ago)

So tired of medical school

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