Advice

So I've been gathering all this advice from various people from the time... well, I guess from the time I was a little girl, dreaming about becoming a doctor. But the most relevant advice for school has come recently from people who have gone through medical school, or have at least finished their first two years. And believe me, ALL of them are EXCEEDINGLY willing to dispense with advice. Sometimes I wonder just how useful they are. Or perhaps they just simply bear repeating over and over and over again?

A third year friend of mine at Tulane told me to do all the things he didn't do. Like, do well in class. I suppose he meant, do as best as you can in class. Don't just say you'll study hard and do well on the Boards, because, well, that's probably a plan for failure. But then, clearly if you are barely passing your classes, you can't possibly think you will do well on the National Board exams, right?

Loads of people say, don't procrastinate. But then, when have people encouraged procrastination? And of course everybody says to have a "balanced" life, to keep doing the things you enjoy doing for the sake of your happiness, blah blah blah. We even had a speaker come in and talk to us about "wellness."

I've wondered every day, what is the secret to success in medical school? How do you become a dermatologist? A radiologist? Or an anesthesiologist? These are the most competitive specialties and unless you have an uber fantastic record, you can basically forget about your chances. And then there are the slew of other specialties that are competitive as well: radiation oncology, many types of surgery, etc. How do I match into one of those programs?

AND THEN there's the question of, shouldn't you simply practice what you enjoy??? Or what about the question of, shouldn't a doctor, morally speaking, practice what is best for the community??? But those are questions for another post. Or two. Or a million.

Do you, my dear friends, have any advice for me? Perhaps there is no "secret" to success? Perhaps I simply do not possess the IQ high enough for such a feat?

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A new section! I'm going to put something random here that I'm currently studying in one of my classes. Just... because it might be interesting. Or COMPLETELY USELESS. :D

What I'm studying: Erector spinae muscles.