Pre-med Questions with Gurleen!

Well, I ran slander campaigns on all my opponents.

Great idea.

Cats out of the bag. I really only had one opponent and it's a two person job, so we were both elected. Hi, everybody and welcome to the podcast. My name is Stephanie and I'm joined here by my colleague Dr. Sarah Davis, who's also my mother. How you doing?

I did good. How are you doing?

I'm good. I am now the alumni representative for my class.

Fantastic.

So I. Congratulations Senate, but I'm excited about the alumni role because it's, it's going to be fun. And I'll get to go to all these alumni events, network, get people on.

The podcast, people on the pod. Yeah. So what exactly does your job entail or do you know?

I just like set up various events, put on things like head shot day.

Or like, oh, really? That's a big deal.

Yeah. And, and then go to like alumni events for my school. So like a doctor will like some doctors sign up for it and then we'll send a list out to the class to be like, there's six spots for a dinner this day, like, and a doctor will take a group of students out to dinner and stuff like that.

Oh, but it's always. Got it. You've always got to be one of the six, right? Well, are you first crack at it? I do have first crack at it.

But I wouldn't take up a spot every single time.

You wouldn't do that every single time?

Yeah, yeah.

My retina doctor is an alumni of your school. Okay, maybe, maybe, maybe. So. So. Wow. Well, that's fantastic. Was it a big election? Like really contentious and you had to take out lots of ads and like, how'd the whole thing go?

Well, I ran slander campaigns on all my opponents.

Great idea.

Cats out of the bag. I really only had one opponent and it's a two person job, so we were both elected.

Okay.

But I think everyone was scared to run against us, so I bet that's it.

Who is your. Can you reveal who your co chair is?

Brumo. Alex.

Oh, okay. Fantastic.

Yeah. So for my speech, I got up there and I was like, I'm sorry, you guys don't have any other options other than me and Alex. But.

But we're basically the dream team.

And I promoted the podcast in my speech. I was like. Because by that day I knew that we were going to be the only ones running. So I was like, I have 240 people with their undivided attention. Might as well shout out the podcast.

So what I'm Hearing is we're going to have a lot of new listeners this week.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

Oh, that's great. That's great. The. Just thinking about the podcast and last week's episode. Did you have to Google pedagogy after talking with Will? Did you know that term?

No. When you say pedagogy, my first thought is thinking of an anatomy pedagogue.

What isn't it? What's an anatomy pedagogue?

There are TAs for anatomy lab.

Oh, okay. Well, that actually makes sense. I. I googled it because he used the term talking about, like, education, and it basically is just like, the study of, like, learning and teaching is pedagogy. So just wanted to see if you know people who listen to the pod, you know, for our, like, all of our regular listeners, if anybody. If other people. I didn't. I don't know if that was just like, a regular term that everybody knows. I didn't know it, but I learned something new on the pod.

Well, I'm glad you're still learning in your old, old age.

Old, old age. Yes. Okay. I also want to get the reviews, and I'm not just saying this to get, like, credit credit or anything, but I'd like to know how you enjoyed all the meals that I meal prepped for you last weekend.

So you just want some praise and some credit?

I do want some credit because just for our listener. So Stephanie came up to visit last weekend so that she would spend a little bit more time. And also just because I wanted to do something nice, I decided to cook and meal prep for her all day on Sunday so that she could stay a little bit longer and then she wouldn't have to get home and have to worry about meal prepping for the week.

Yeah, it was awesome. Very, very helpful.

So I made things like basil pesto meatballs. How were the meatballs?

The meatballs were great. The meatballs were my fave, for sure. I didn't finish all of them, so I froze them.

You know, do you always meal prep like that where you eat the same thing for breakfast, the same thing for lunch, the same thing for dinner, or. No.

Yeah.

That's your thing.

Yeah, yeah. People are like, I can't imagine eating the same thing for lunch every day. And sometimes for dinners, I'll, like, make, like, three, and then I'll kind of figure it out for the rest of the days. Like, I'll have, like, this week I made chili on Saturday and I had it, and I really only had enough to get me, like, Two or three days. But then I had some ravioli in my fridge, too, and I made that on the days that I had a little bit more time.

Yeah, but otherwise, you just have the same lunch, same breakfast. Actually, I have the same breakfast a lot, too. That's. That's not so unusual, I think.

Yeah, I'll do it. If I'm really fixated on something, I'll go two weeks in a, In a.

Row, every single day.

Yeah. But then I'll get really grossed out by it, and I don't want it.

And then you never eat it again.

Yeah.

Okay, switching topics. I don't really have a good transition, but did you see what I texted you this morning?

I did.

So I kind of just. This has been brought up just because, like, I want to ask you how you respond when people kind of have that demeanor about going into a less competitive specialty. Like, essentially, I've found myself in multiple conversations where it's like, I am talking about, like, plans for the summer, and then people are talking about, oh, well, I, I, I have to do research this summer. And I'm like, I don't really think I want to do research this summer. Like, I might want to do something else or. And they're like, oh, well, you're not going into a competitive specialty, so, like, you should go live life for the rest of us. Like, you should go live life. And, like, being, like, just the way that they say it. It's like that they're so much better because they're going into some sort of competitive specialty, or so they think. Yeah. Yeah. And it's like, oh, it's just also really bothersome. And I don't have a great response because I'm also like, you can choose what you want to do, too. It's not like, oh, my God. Well, I am working so hard, and I'm so great that I have to do this and I have to make my life miserable and, like, I have to do all, like. You know what I'm saying? It's just. Yeah, it's irritating.

It is. Well, remember, Preston talked about that. He said, like, people are like, oh, well, that's so great that you're doing that. You know, just so condescending. I don't know. I mean, your generation seems way more fixated on this, like, competitive specialty. Like, I'm identifying with this more than more than mine was or, I don't know, more than my group of friends was. And it, it was there. I'm not saying it wasn't there. I, I remember One of my friends was like, she was very, very, very, very sharp. She had, like, I don't know, you know, class rank, whatever. She's like, in probably the top five people of our class. And she always wanted to be a pediatrician. She did become a pediatrician. And I remember her saying, see, we didn't really talk about our specialties that much until it got a lot closer. Like, until we were really applying and all that. We weren't talking about that first year. Like, we had no idea. We didn't even know what any of that stuff was. So. But I remember when we were talking about, you know, applying and everything, and she said, you know, it's really obnoxious when I tell people that I want to be a pediatrician. They think I'm dumb. And I'm like, yeah, that is really obnoxious. But she was just like, huh, that's kind of annoying. But then she's like, ah, whatever. I mean, the fact was, you know, she's wasn't dumb. She was way smarter than most of those people. And so it, you know, she just kind of had to be like, you know, whatever. You can think whatever you want. So I don't know what exactly you're supposed to say. I do know you have to kind of work on, like, how you feel. I mean, just like, kind of. Preston talked about, like, the whole thing is like, you've got to choose whatever specialty that you want to go into for the reasons that you want to go into it. And prestige is just a terrible reason to choose a specialty, especially if it's not. Doesn't match your skill set.

Well, that's what I think. It's like so much like black and white of, you're either going into a competitive specialty or you're not going into a competitive specialty. And it's like, two things rather than being like. And I was talking to Maddie about this this morning, too, and she was like, well, I'm interested in peds, but I'm also interested in stuff like surgery or, like, other stuff that's more competitive. And, like, I don't know why I have to box myself into one of those categories, either being in a competitive specialty or not. Like, why can't I just try to figure out? It's just like, the way that people are talking to her changes based on what she's saying that she's interested in.

Yeah, and that's crazy. I mean, I think that it's all just so ridiculous. Okay, what's also really ridiculous is that how competitive a specialty is changes over time. So, for example, before I was applying, like, probably about 10 years before that, internal medicine was one of the most competitive specialties. And, you know, kind of for good reason. Like, you had to be really smart to be an internal medicine doctor. Right. You had to know about all this stuff. And surgery was not a competitive specialty. It was before my time, all of this. But surgery people were like, oh, yeah, you know, those are just the dumb cutters. Like, they.

And.

And even stuff like orthopedic surgery especially was just like, oh, yeah, those were just kind of, you know, the dumb guys that just like to use big tools and. And all that stuff. Well, so. So people that are older than I am, it was very different as far as, like, what was a competitive specialty and what wasn't. And then it kind of changed some. And I have watched it go up and down throughout the years. Anesthesia sometimes was really competitive, and then it was not competitive for a little while in there because they were really worried about nurse anesthetists kind of taking over. And so for a while, they weren't matching that. They weren't filling all their spots. And then they kind of figured out all of that, but they kind of figured out, like, how to do that, and then it became a competitive specialty again. So this sort of idea of like, okay, I'm going to go into this or that and, and thinking also that, like, when you. When you are a practicing physician, that everybody's going to know, oh, this is a really competitive specialty is so ridiculous because people don't know what competitive specialties are.

Yeah.

And so even things like an ob GYN has gone up and down throughout the year. Sometimes it's more competitive, sometimes it's less competitive. It's also not totally black and white as far as, like, it's not like just because you're doing a less competitive specialty that you are just going to be able to get into any program of your choice that, like, I did family medicine, which is, yes, if I. If you want to match in family medicine, you're going to be able to match somewhere in family medicine. But the programs themselves only have, or at least they used to only have like seven or eight spots per year. So I wanted to go to a very particular program because that's where dad was, and I really liked that program. Well, there are only eight spots, so, you know, I had to have one of those eight spots, so I had to be, you know, good enough to. To match there. So still had to have good enough. Good enough. That's Right. Better than average.

Better than average.

But, you know, just. Just to kind of say, like, it's not like, just because you want to go into a less competitive specialty means that you can just completely coast and you can, you know, not. And that you're automatically going to match into the program that you want.

I think it's less about even just that and, like, the identity of the specialty, but also just like, I just get irritated with the fact of, like, oh, I don't have, like, I have to do all of this stuff because I'm like, I have to do this. And just, like, the complaints about having to do that because, like, you want to do something right, quote, unquote, like, better or whatever. And I'm just like, I just think it's sad. It's like, if you are constantly complaining about how much you dislike research, but you're like, oh, my God, I have to do it. Like, I have to do it. And it's just like, I don't know you. Do you get what I'm saying?

I don't know. I would say the thing that helped me the most with all of that was surrounding myself with people who really just had a great. A great balance and great understanding of saying, you know, I'm going to do this because I'm passionate about it, and this is just really what I want to do. I'm not doing this because I want to say that I'm a. Whatever I'm doing. This is because I really, really love it. And I do think it's less.

It's. The more the idea is not even like, oh, I want to go and do this specialty. But what they tell us is, like, you need to do all this stuff in case you want to go into a. A specialty, a competitive specialty. You know what I'm saying? So, like, especially, it's not even. It's not even just people who, quote, want to go into a competitive specialty, but, like, people who, like, don't know what they want to do. So it's like, oh, my God, wait, I have to do all of this stuff. Like, I need to do the most because I need to have options. Do you know what I'm saying?

Yeah, and I. I got caught up in that as well. I was just like, okay, well, I don't know what I want to do, and what if I'm rotating something? I'm like, oh, my gosh, all of a sudden I want to be a neurosurgeon. You know, I've just. I've got to, like, work Hard so that I keep all of my options open. I think that that's a reasonable thing to do as far as like excelling in your rotations and, you know, doing well in school. Where for you guys, what, what gets crazy is all of this research and stuff. We just, we didn't do that. I, I think it's just so absurd that that has. Again, especially if you want to go into a specialty that, and you don't want to go into academics and it has literally nothing to do with research. Why in the world would you need to do research in order to be a urologist?

It's like the way that it's discussed. It's not an option to not like it's. We have this summer to do research. We had a whole meeting today about how this summer was to do research. It's not framed as an option.

What are you going to do?

I don't want to do research.

I'm not going to do it.

I don't want to. And I might do a small project, but I'm not going to spend 10 weeks doing research.

Especially like working in some lab or doing something that you have no interest in. And you get paid a little bit.

You get like a stipend or something. But at the end of the day, I think a big push of why they want to do it is because it's labor that they're getting. So like they have a whole program for it and you get like, like 1500 bucks or something for 10 weeks and God, that's terrible. Yeah. And that's how they like incentivize, quote, incentivize us to do it. And they're like, oh, you get this money and you get this experience and like they just need, they just need the students to get the research done.

God, medicine is just so terrible to people. I mean, first we take advantage of the pre meds. Oh, speaking of that, our intern is here. Ok. Okay, okay. I'm gonna, I'm going to admit, admit our intern, Girlene.

Hi there.

Hi. We were just talking about the medical system and about how we. It takes advantage of, you know, everything from, well, you know, take advantage of residents for cheap labor, for medical students, for cheap labor and for research. And then people who have podcasts take advantage of the pre meds as their interns.

Oh, no, I love doing it.

Good answer, good answer, good answer.

But Girling, welcome to the podcast. Do you want to give an introduction for yourself?

Sure.

I'm Gurlene Mann. I'm a sophomore at Southern Methodist University and I'm on the pre med track, studying biochemistry.

Yay. Oh, wait, did you change that? Weren't you biomedical engineering the last time we spoke?

Okay, yeah, I did change it.

Okay, well, good. I don't have to do all those engineering classes. I think that's. I think that's wise.

Definitely the right move. So Gina is here to ask us some questions that she has about just the premed journey. Um, yeah, so we can kind of. You can bring some stuff up and we can talk about it.

Yeah, fire away.

So my first question was that. So a lot of the MCAT prep is very expensive, and a lot of my friends, we just wonder, like, is it worth it? Are, like, textbooks more worth it? Or the online courses or, like, what did y' all do to prepare for them?

Cat?

Well, my mom did really bad. She got like a 504.

So, like, I really still take issue with that whole thing. But the. I did a. I did. Well, again, we're talking about dinosaur times, but this is just for historical purposes.

Tell her about the lottery ticket thing.

Oh, yeah. So I. I took like. So we had Kaplan then. I think Kaplan's still around now. And so. But I had to drive to this place, like, 45 minutes from where I was in school. And there was just like this little room that had these computers in there, because, of course, I didn't have a computer in my, you know, in my dorm or anything or my sorority house. And so we'd get on those computers and like, answer questions. Actually, the questions were on the computer, I think. Then we hand wrote it onto, like, a little sheet, and then, you know, and then checked ourselves, and it was just a beat down. And then you'd listen to these tapes that had the answers on them, and then they would give you this explanation. So you had a little cassette tape player and you would listen to them. And I remember just feeling, like, so demoralized. But There was a 711 across the street. And so I started playing the lottery a lot. And because I just sit there and think, oh, man, if I win the lottery, then I don't have to take this test. And I did not win the lottery. But when I remember mentioning that, like, that I was studying for the MCAT at the Kaplan center, and somebody was like, oh, yeah, you end up playing the lottery a lot. Well known.

So that's what she did back in the dinosaur ages. But essentially, yeah, the money thing, I have a lot to say. Have you started prepping for the MCAT at all?

No, not yet. I'm Starting this summer.

Okay. So you have some time. And also like before I remember, like I literally had no idea about it honestly, until like the day, the first day that I planned on like sitting down and like making a plan because there's just so much stuff and it's like so overwhelming and it's like where do you start? But like you'll figure it out. You just kind of have to set some time aside to like figure out how you want to go about it. So there's a lot of different companies that have like prep like classes that you can take and you can do like online classes. They'll have them like synchronous or asynchronous and, and I think like I know Blueprint has some, Kaplan has some. I don't know, there's, I don't remember all the companies, but there's a bunch. And some people find that helpful. Especially if you're the type of person who like needs to be like, I have to be on this, in this class at, you know, whatever it is 5pm to 6pm like I have to like have some deadline set. I had a friend who like that she was like, I need to, somebody needs to set deadlines for me. But they're really expensive and like if you're trying to go the cheap route, I probably wouldn't do those classes. One thing of how they try to incentivize you to like buy their test prep stuff and buy their like buy their classes and stuff is they have you take these like half length practice test. You take a ba, a quote baseline test. Like it's a half length test, it's like a three hour thing. And like I remember taking this half length and sitting down and being like, okay, I'll see like where I'm at, where my base is. You if you haven't started studying for the MCAT yet, you have no idea what's going on. Like I didn't even, I thought it was just going to be like a bunch of questions about like science and stuff. Like I didn't know that you had to read passages. I didn't know that you had to. Like I had no idea what I was doing. Which obviously like I hadn't started studying yet. So I sat down to take this half length test and I don't even know what my score was but it was like so low. Like I think I scored like almost the lowest that you can.

And she called me crying.

Yeah. And I was just like, like what? Like, am I, like am I so dumb? Like why, like, how am I ever going to be able to do well on this test? But right after you take one of those half lengths, it pops up and it's like, here's how we can get you to get the score that you want. You can buy our class thing and, and pay a thousand dollars and like, we'll get you to where you want to be. So first step, I would say is beware of that. If you're gonna take a half length practice test, when you sit down and start, it might be okay to like go on there and just kind of look what the questions are like, just to kind of get an idea of like what you'. But I wouldn't even submit it. I wouldn't look at my score and like, I wouldn't use that to be like, oh my God, I really need to spend a lot of money on this test prep stuff because like, the more money I spend, the better I'm gonna do. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

And don't you think they intentionally make those even harder than this actually is 100 part of their whole business model.

Part of their whole business model. So in regards to. I beat a tik tok at some point of exactly like how much I paid for everything. But I. So I got the Kaplan books, which I got used and I spent like 50 bucks on, which was fine. I think it was, it was good for the sense that it gave me like an outline of like everything I need to go over. I didn't think it was like necessarily the best thing for my learning, but I was like, okay, I need to learn two chapters of chemistry today. Like, and I knew I needed to do that. But then for my Anki decks, I. Those were all free. You can find those online on Reddit. So that was 50 for the Kaplan books. Then I did UWorld for practice questions. This was probably the, one of the most expensive things. I think it was probably like 250 or $300 for like a 3 month subscription.

I think that was your Christmas present. Yes.

These were all Christmas presents that was expensive. And I think I, I think it's practice questions are the most helpful if you're going to spend money on something. I would spend money on practice questions. Uworld is like supposed to be the best. I would say if you're trying to cut costs, maybe that would be somewhere that I would cut costs. But three is the AAMC question pack and that was somewhere around like 250, $300. And that's like a must. So like the that's something it has. It gives you a bunch of questions for a bunch of different sections and like five or six practice tests. So like if you're gonna spend money on one thing you have like, that's like you have to do it because these are questions that are written by the people who write them. Cat. So this is like, that's like the one thing. Prioritize spending money on that. And then if you're like, okay, like I think and then the Kaplan books you can probably get used for 25, 50 bucks so that it's like, okay, you could spend a little bit of money on that. And then if you can find a cheaper way to get more practice questions that's not uworld, then that might be unique. Might be an option.

Those full length practice tests from the AAMC or whatever, that's like, isn't that like there's only so many of those? And that seemed like that was real important with the studying.

Yeah, right. Yeah, that's kind of. Yes. If you're going to buy practice tests, buy the ones from the AAMC rather than the third party tests. And if none of this makes sense to you, like I didn't know what anybody was talking about until I like sat down and started doing stuff.

So she did have a TikTok that kind of went through how she studied too. That was. I feel like that's somewhere in your TikTok feed is a bit overwhelming. I think you've got whiteboard stuff and you got stuff circled all around. I was like, it's, it's a little bit comical to watch when you don't really know what she's talking about. But you know, as you get more into it, you should go and watch that. You should go and watch that TikTok. It's very.

So how many practice tests did you take before the mcat?

I think I took seven total. Probably around. Yeah. I think I took like one or two third party tests and then I had, I think it was at the time they had five AAMC practice tests that.

Those third party ones, same. Didn't you score like lower on those than you did on the other ones? So I think that's just important to remember too. Sometimes people start freaking out. But supposedly those double A and C ones should kind of correlate fairly well with your score. I think I've heard people say that like as you're. When you start taking those and if you've really studied the material and you're going along taking those practice tests, if you're not really getting close to your goal score. Then you might have to sort of look at do you need to postpone the test or that kind of thing because those should track within like a few points margin of error. I've learned all this on various Facebook groups.

But the reason that you want to take the, like, it's like, okay, what's the point of taking the third party test then? Is because you want to take as many as you can. And then also you want to save the, all the double AMC stuff till the end because you don't want to waste, you don't want to spoil questions. Like, you want to be sure that you are doing like the, the best that you can can. So like you're practicing the most efficiently rather than like spoiling all the questions when you don't know what's going on. If that makes sense.

Yeah, that makes sense. Is imposter syndrome as a pre med student normal? And do you have any advice on how to overcome it?

Ooh, that's a good one.

If you ask my mom, she'll say she, she doesn't have imposter syndrome. She's just great.

So. Okay, I didn't say that I'm great. I just think I'm great. No, I just, I, I don't know.

I, she doesn't get it.

I don't really, I don't really get it that much. I mean, there's lots of times when I don't feel, there's times when I feel like, oh yeah, other people know more about me than different things, but I never feel like I don't belong. But although I guess there were times in my, like when I was a pre med at ucla, I didn't have impostor system. I just knew I didn't belong. Like I had gone to a really crappy high school. I was not prepared at all to be in the classes that I was in with people who were, had taken AP Biology, AP Chemistry, all kinds of stuff that, you know, I hadn't taken any of that stuff. So I didn't feel like, oh gosh, you know, I, I don't play along. I was like, no, I just gotta like study hard and, and do better. I, I always felt like I had it in me to do it, but it was just, I was going to have to work harder, which, which I did. I didn't think I was, you know. Yeah, I didn't think I was not capable of it, but it was, it was tough to do. But, and I do think that there was lots of I mean, everybody on my dorm floor was pre med. And I think only like three people I knew ended up actually applying to med school. And I think for so many people, they just got so caught up, they were really into being like, I'm pre med, I'm pre med. And people would ask me that and I was like, I don't know, I'm taking all of the pre med classes. I'm also just gonna see. I didn't make being pre med my whole identity. And again, that's just kind of my personality that just sort of worked for me rather than like thinking. I just felt like it seemed too overwhelming to be like, okay, now I've got to do four years of college and then four years of med school and then three to however many years of residency. And I felt like if you start thinking about that too much, you're just like, oh my gosh, I can't do it all. So I was more like, you know, I'm just going to take this one quarter at a time, see how I do and you know, and just kind of keep plodding along. And that worked out for me.

I think something that is helpful if you implement this now and continuing throughout, like your medical education, just going off of not making your whole identity pre med, like if you find all of your self worth and self fulfillment in, in your grades and in the point that you're pre med and you know, in getting into medical school, then like that's not setting yourself up for success. You know what I'm saying? So I think like just finding, you know, you're like, everyone's in whose premeditate is in college and trying to figure themselves out. So just like trying to figure out who you are, like beyond just that, I think really helpful for that imposter syndrome to be like, okay, my self worth is in other things rather than just this. I think that helps with some security and all of that. But yes, it is normal. I think the whole culture, it gets better. I think definitely still happens as a med student, you know, but as a pre med, you are constantly being told that you're not good enough. You are constantly being told that like, oh, well, everyone drops out of that. Like, oh, like, oh, you know, oh, I was pre med freshman year, but now I'm not. And like just so much, you just see so much of that that you're like, oh, well, like should I be here? Should I be doing this? You hear those stories about people not getting into med school. You hear about people who are great and not getting into med school, it's like, okay, well, why do I deserve it? You know, and that, I don't know, I can. Again, you're trying to prove yourself. You're trying. You're constantly being told you're not good enough. And it's really. It's honestly really, really tough. But like, again, you just have to find validation in yourself and other things and also understand that, like, there's so many people who do do it. And like, I wasn't anyone special. Like, I was pretty mid and I did it and here I am and like, like, you know, there's. And my classmates, I mean, there's some people who are super geniuses and there are some people who like, are like, submit honestly and like, kind of coasted through college and. And they're here. And so it's. People have skill sets in. In different parts of their life. And being a pre med sets you up in a position where you're never going to feel like you are good enough. And you kind of just have to understand that.

I don't think you're mid. I think you're perfect.

Thanks, mom. Like, do you, like, was that helpful?

Yeah, definitely. Like, you don't have to be perfect all the time.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It is really toxic and it's really hard when the whole idea is just like, trying to prove yourselves to the. These admissions committees and stuff. It's. It's tough.

Yeah. Over and over again.

Yeah.

And that kind of goes into my next question, which is how did you balance all the components of being a pre med in undergrad while also balancing having a social life?

This is like, something I preach, and I still preach. We were kind of talking about this earlier just about, like, people feeling like they have to do this and have to do this, like, do a stuff that you're genuinely interested in. Like, I feel like that really was my path is. I. I didn't know for sure that I was gonna do the med school thing. And I found a research project that I, like, was actually interested in and, you know, started going down that path a little bit. And then that led me to have a relationship with this professor who introduced me to like, another project that I was like, oh, that's kind of cool. I want to be involved with that kind of. Like, if you're, you know, obviously there's still stuff you got to do, right? You got to take your biochem classes and you have to do well in them, which can be overwhelming. But, like, in regards to, like, balancing everything else, try to choose Things that you actually are interested in. And if you do that, then, like, you'll be able to like it. Not everything is going to feel like a boxer check and a chore at the same time. There is still, like, a lot of stuff that you're doing when even, you know, you could be interested in a lot of different stuff. And then your play is kind of full. Balance takes work. And, like, it's. You have to get your work done so that you can go out with your friends. You have to be like, okay, I want to go to the game day this weekend. Like, I have to get my work done. You have to, like, set deadlines for yourself, plan ahead. I think I felt like I was pretty good at that. Like, you're gonna have to miss out on things once in a while, which is okay, but don't beat yourself up about that. But at the same time, like, do the, like, do the social thing over the studying for the test, because you're gonna remember the social thing more than studying for the test.

And I think that this is true at all phases of your career, is that medicine will gobble up your life if you let it. You know it. There is always. You can always study more. There's always one more thing you can learn. There's always, like, one more thing you could put on your resume. There's always one more patient you could see. And if you don't put up some boundaries and some limits, it will overtake you. And you're pretty soon you're burned out and miserable. And so you have to just. I think you got to kind of start that process now of saying, yeah, I'm going to study for this amount of time and I'm going to study this stuff. And you know what? I feel like I know the material pretty well for the test. I think I'm going to do pretty well. But you're. You're kind of get over that thing of, like, I have to be perfect. I have to know every single thing because you. You aren't going to. And you've got to make time to be social. You've got to spend time with your friends. You got to spend time doing things that you enjoy that are not to go on your resume, because if you don't, number one, you'll be miserable. But you're also not going to be a very interesting person.

So enjoy. Enjoy college.

Yeah. Go out to all the game days.

Yes, that's right. Go and have fun. And, you know, you don't have to stay out till 4 o' clock in the morning or anything, but.

But if you want to, that's okay, too.

It's been done. Yeah. So, yeah, hopefully you can keep asking your friends and come back because I know there's a lot of those questions that come up over and over and over again. And it's, you know, it's hard to know. It's hard to know what those right answers are. And you can look on Reddit, but please don't look on Reddit.

It gets so toxic.

Yeah, there's so much misinformation on all those different things, too. I mean, people answer stuff as if they really know, and you're like, oh, my God, you have no idea. So, yeah, I think you have to be really careful of the people that are, you know, spouting off information as if they know it all. Stephanie, she's just been there. She did it.

Yeah, true, but everyone's. Everyone's like, journey is different too. So you kind of have to understand that you'll get, like, a lot of advice and, I don't know, you kind of have to take it, but also sift through it and see, like, what applies to you.

You giving her advice on taking advice?

Yes, unsolicited.

Good. Start doing that now. Yeah. Well, thank you guys for listening.

You know where to find us on Instagram @Generations MD. Tick tock Generations MD. And if you have any questions or are interested in being a guest on the podcast, you can email us@askgenerationsmdmail.com and we will talk to you next week. Bye, guys.

Bye. But.