FRIENDS, I HAVE A STORY TO TELL: HERE IS HOW TO SURVIVE PRECLINICALS
Hello. This is Josef, I quickly borrowed Lola's Crafts newsletter login details to share this. So this is a sponsored post. This is a sponsored post ooo. Eh, God abeg.
Hello, my name is Josef Apaokagi Oluwaloseyi Olorungbemidebe Otaobayomisugbonoluwaleke. I am a fifth year medical student in one university in Nigeria, and I have decided to tell you things I think you should know about preclinicals in med school.
This is not a scare post. I did not write this because I want to put fear in anybody’s mind, especially if you are just coming into med school. This piece is just a compilation of things people do not really talk about regarding medical education in Nigeria.
This post is about the things I wish someone told me before I started. While, I obviously wouldn’t have lived through preclinicals thinking this is the norms, I wouldn’t have been too disappointed or depressed when they started playing out. I would have just sucked it up and adult through better.
11 Notes on surviving:
0. MBBS 101:
First thing you need to know is that hardwork does not equal success in medical school. This will become clearer like day as you proceed.
1. Medical school is a jungle and the carnivores don’t mind eating anyone.
In this place, you must quickly find your feet and be focused. You have to ignore the noises and every “you don’t belong here” thought. Trust me, at some point things will make you doubt yourself, but you must soldier through. You should not take too much time to identify those that would be assets or liabilities.
2. Time is never enough.
Your tests and exams won’t come like a thief in the night; they would come like Kano trailers transporting onions to Lagos – loud, scary, and wouldn’t mind crushing anybody. The curriculum is structured in such a way that the management does not expect you to have the luxury of time. So every day must count. You have to make every day count. You have to ensure that you're accumulating small, significant, or big progresses every damn day. You have to take the tests as serious as the exams – the cheat is to accumulate as much marks as possible in the CA, because the truth is crazy things happen during exam period. I won't say more than that. May you not have reasons to go to the bathroom and cry hot tears hours to exam like me.
3. You have to quickly discern how to survive in medical school.
I'll suggest you briefly study your classmates and know how best to deal with everyone. Which of your classmates willingly will share updates or vital information? Which ones would rather die than tell others things they know would help the class pass? Which ones will go extents to bring confusion and disruption when they see that the class is making progress as a whole? Which ones are the real scholars and which ones cheat their ways into impressive results? Which ones have access and which ones are asslickers? When Ayra Starr said “animals dey in human form”, what she forgot to add is that it is in medical school you'll meet them. Now that I've told you, don't forget it.
4. You need a support system.
You can't do med school as a lone wolf. It may be possible but it's extremely herculean. You can't survive as an alien. You have to find your own people/person and stick to them. This is because this place will test you academically, emotionally, physically, mentally, financially, and in a thousand other ways. To survive, you need people/person willing to share your baggages with you. And they have to be people you're willing to share theirs too. You need a support system that is comprising of people who offer you help in diverse ways. A support system could be two classmates you know will always let you in on things going on in class; two senior colleagues who are always willing to help out in any way; family member who you can always share your wins and losses with; friends from home who are always praying for you; a resident doctor who is always percussing you until you resonate louder than a clear lung. You need people. I won’t say this twice.
5. You need to quickly recognise that privilege exists in medical school and everyone would use it best to their own success.
When you learn, which is most likely after the exam, that X, Y, Z got to know about a particular question before y'all even entered the hall, you won't be too pissed. When you see people who obviously did not study as hard as you make better grades than you did, you won't doubt or hate yourself; wallahi, you will just laugh and move on. When you learn about sex & cash for grades, you really won't be bothered because you have none to give. When you hear about some inappropriate relations between your classmates and some lecturers, it won't bedazzle you. When your classmate do some things that are not only crazy but dumb like leaking your class WhatsApp group chats to lecturers, I swear it won't pain you. When you don't have access to some vital information simply because you did not belong, I swear you will open your Guyton and read like you life depended on it. Privilege will always exist and because you don't have one, you should not be discouraged. Rather it should push you to study smarter and be better. Be better so that you don’t need to chase after lecturers to throw you crumbs of marks for you to pass. Be so good, they can’t fucking ignore you.
6. You need to promptly study your lecturers.
Which ones are the good ones, which ones are more rotten than necrosed intestine? Which ones wear a facade of just and fairness but are the best in bullshitting? You seriously need to know your lecturers and relate with them from an advantaged position. You have to study these people because one size doesn't fit all in med school, and whilst some lecturers are good apples, a couple are the remnant of what Adam and Eve ate in the Garden of Eden. You have to quickly align yourself with the student-centric lecturers who are more concerned with actually teaching and impacting knowledge. If you are calm enough, you will eventually be able to differentiate between the stuffy and stuffless that are teaching you. You must know how best to relate with them academically and personally, if such is warranted. You must be familiar with their games, and play according to their rules but tweak it to your advantage. These guys will determine if you'll pass or fail. You can't and should not want to be in their bad books.
7. You have to know yourself too.
You have been studying others, now is the time to study yourself. You must make plans and be intentional about winning in med school. You have to study and be damn truthful to yourself about it. If you don't understand a concept, be honest about it to yourself. Don't assume you know it or that you'll know it along the way. If you are deficient in a particular course, don't be shy and seek help from those you know will genuinely help. Tell yourself the damn truth every time; you can't afford to be deluded. Create a study plan and stick to it. The hardest thing in medical school is maintaining consistency in anything you do and that's the bane of the problem of many students. Be consistent. Be hard on yourself when it's needed & go gently when need be. If you fuck up, own your shit and work towards getting better. Don't lie to yourself or blame others for your own lapses. Always remember that the longer you stay in the wrong bus, the farther it'll take you away from your intended destination, so get out now before it's too late.
8. You have to have goals, else every day will look like an unending war designed to drain you out.
You have to know when you've surpassed your goals and when you're yet to reach them. You have to create time for rest and recharge because you can't win an unending war if your battery is drained. You must know what kind of doctor you want to become and what the best route to achieving that is. You have to carve your own niche and distinguish yourself. The first three years of med school — year one & the two preclinical years — are enough time for you to create long-term goals and short-term ones. By the time you get to clinicals, you should be living in a low-budget version of what you want your life post-med-school should look like. You should also know that it is okay to not have it all figured out. What is not okay is for you to not have any ambition. It is not okay to be in med school simply because others are there.
9. Accommodation, finances, feeding, & extracurriculars
These are important areas you can't afford to neglect too. If you live in a poor accommodation, it'll show in your studies. You don't want to live too far from classes; you don't want to be having accommodation issues; you don't want to have to think of shelter when you should be thinking of haemostasis. Food is equally important. Have steady supply of food. Cook. Learn to cook the basics and eat at home. Eating outside will finish your money faster than T.pain is destroying Nigeria. Medical school is time consuming and draining, so you may not have that luxury of time to do many extracurricular, so just pick one/a few things that can serve as hobby and also develop you beyond academics. As regards finances, dem no dey telli person; you won't have time to do many side hustles in school, have enough funds to carry you for a long while.
10. Relationships are important in medical school.
Please make valuable connections. Network with people from other institutions. Have mentor or people who inspires you to greatness. Be cordial with your senior colleagues and the sensible ones in your class. Because let's be very honest with ourselves; werey po gan ni medical school sha. Do not be caught unfresh; don’t involve in shaddy acts. People hear things and see things and talk about things.
11. Finally, you have to have God.
You need to tether yourself to someone or something that is greater than yourself. You have to let someone or something lead you. You must find solace in religion or spirituality or anything that makes you transcend this normal, fucked up, scary realm.
Medical school is one of those places where bizarre things happen & to survive, you need more than just your own capabilities. You need help. You need God. You need family, friends and an invaluable support system.