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Before I entered Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) to pursue my medical degree, I was once a young pre-medical student who was curious about how life of a medical student is like. Time flies and year 2019 will be my fifth year as a medical student in UTAR. Looking back at the past 4 years I spent in UTAR, I would put a big smile on my face and have no regrets at all. If you are planning to pursue medicine, you might hear a lot about what to expect from people around you – especially about the workload. I would not deny the fact that medical school is one of the most challenging professional schools, given the massive amount of knowledge you need to learn in the short period of time. However, there are some things you might not know about studying medicine and life at medical school. I hope this article will reassure your will and clarify your doubts about the prospect of studying medicine.
Medical school is a place where you will grow as a person. To grow as a professional, to be a competent doctor in future, studying medicine comes with its expectations to work harder than most students from other fields. Like every other fresh medical student, I aimed to achieve the best grade possible during the first year of medical school. However, the reality hit me very soon and I found myself so unprepared for all the new medical terms. If you have a firm foundation in your pre-university study, you might find yourself slightly less uncomfortable coping with the stress. Still, you probably will feel like you are always trying to catch up with the pace. There is very little time for you to adapt the new study environment. The way you have been used to learning in pre-university will change drastically as medical school requires a lot of independent work.
Speaking of my personal experience, I did not get to sleep for more than 4 hours on average throughout the exam preparation period during my first year of medical school. It was stressful indeed and I always felt I have so much left to study. I spent most of my rest time in the library and our medical resource centre. I just could not afford to spend my precious time on other things than to study in order to keep myself in the right pace. If you unfortunately feel depressed during this stressful period (which many people tend to feel it too), you might want to consider having a support group. Here is a personal tip of mine which I find it practical – we should always try to find out why others can do better than us and we should learn from them. The brightest student in my class always showed an extraordinary passion towards learning a new thing. Hence, instead of pure memorization, I started to build my interest onto the subjects and understand them thoroughly.
Thus far, the paragraphs above only described the typical medical school’s hectic lifestyle which you can hear it from anyone. However, you might not hear it often from people that it is not all about hard work in medical school. As I mentioned earlier, medical school is also a place in which you will grow as a person. To be exact, growing as a person simply means that medical school is about more than learning things from a textbook. Personal development is crucial as a medical student to build an individual into someone who is capable of being a good doctor. When I first joined UTAR medical school, I joined the Medical and Health Sciences Society. My original intention to join medical society was that I wanted to be a well-rounded person. Throughout the years I joined the society events, I had many opportunities to take up leadership and organizational roles. All these experiences are useful in the future as a competent doctor should be able to perform an accurate decision under pressure.
Perhaps some people might think that all medical students are nerdy. They are not wrong to some extent as we really need to spend extra hours in our academic as compared to other courses. Having said that, the final choice is still yours. You do have options whether to be a nerdy medical student or to be a well-rounded student. There are many active medical organizations in Malaysia such as Asian Medical Students’ Association (AMSA), Malaysian Medics International (MMI), Society of MMA Medical Students (SMMAMS) etc. for medical students to learn and connect in a common professional platform. For those who are interested to pursue a medical degree in UTAR, you may join our own Medical and Health Sciences Society (MHSS) as well. One thing I like the most about being a medical student is that I always feel that I am in a good position to help people, for instance, volunteering in a health screening. This could be an important source of motivation in medical school.
To sum up all the four years I have spent in UTAR medical school till now, it was challenging, life-transforming and fun experience. Despite having academic as our first priority, I would strongly encourage every one of us not to forget about the importance of extra-curricular activities for our personal and soft skill development. Lastly, if you feel down or depressed about your current medical school life, do not succumb to it. No matter how long the rain lasts, there will be a rainbow in the end. Your hard work and effort will pay off one day. To end my sharing, I would like to quote a saying from my beloved lecturer – studying medicine is very much a marathon, not a sprint. When we are studying medicine, we are not just studying for the next exam but taking the steps on a course of lifelong learning.
Medicine - it is a lot more than simply gaining a degree.
Goh Wei Aun is currently a final year medical student in Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman. As the Chairperson of UTAR Medical and Health Sciences Society, he always strives for perfection in both academics and extra-curricular activities. Winning the UTAR Best Society Award 2018/2019 was the proudest moment in his medical school life. He also believes that medical student does not have to be a pure nerd.