Hey guys! This weeks video is just a time-lapse of some studying I did one day this week. I’ve been studying in my dad’s office, so I’ve been WAY more productive, and in this video I managed to study for about 4 hours in a row! I spent some free time catching up on work from our previous blocks in medical school that I’m not too comfortable with yet Hope you enjoy it!
This week I wanted to talk about feeling overwhelmed with med school work and dealing with self-doubt and the so-called impostor syndrome
Here’s a topic that I get asked about quite often, and some points of view on how I stay motivated
Hope you enjoy it!
These are strange and scary times indeed! Everywhere we look, every social media account, every Instagram post, every news article is centered on one thing and one thing only – Coronavirus. The impact that it is having across the world is mind-boggling to see, and the stories of the effects (and after-effects) it is having on a global scale is sometimes difficult to comprehend in its scope.
I would like to open this blog post up to anyone who reads –
I would love to know your story and how this has affected you and your family? Where in the world are you? How is your country handling the pandemic? How has it affected you personally? What are your daily lives like at the moment? What are your circumstances? What are you most worried about? What has been the hardest thing for you to deal with at this stage? How do you foresee the coming weeks and months?
Feel free to write as much as you’d like! Who knows – maybe we can gain hope or perspective from the life you’re living right now!
It’s the one great thing about the internet – it allows us to connect with people across the world and to hear and share their stories. I’ve certainly shared many of mine over the last couple years, and would love to know yours now!
Keep safe!
Wade
It seems like it’s been ages since I sat down and wrote an actual piece for the blog! This week marked exactly 6 months since I started medical school, and it has been one hell of a crazy ride so far! I’ve had a week off now as we have just finished our 3rd block exams, and for the first time since I received my acceptance for GEMP in January I have been sitting and thinking about how much my life has changed in the space of just 6 months.
Things move so quickly that it’s easy to forget oneself, and to forget the big picture and how things are turning out. This year has gone by so fast and yet simultaneously so tiresomely slow at times with hundreds of hours spent sitting in the library over course packs, lecture notes, and text books. It feels like those 8 years of trying to get into GEMP (and the almost 16 years of wishing to become a doctor) have been erased in the blink of an eye, and the new rate of learning to become a doctor has equally become such a natural progression in my life. And that is CRAZY! It is literally my dreams coming true with every day that passes, and that was a dream that for so long seemed like an improbability! As things stand, in 3 and a half years I will be a doctor!!
I’ve been at medical school for two months now (only? It feels much longer than that!!) and the most incredible thing so far has been getting to know the different people in our class and hearing their stories of how they got in to medicine!
As someone who spent 8 years trying to get in, I know only too well the feeling that it will never happen, and it seems downright impossible most times… And that gave me the idea of starting this new series for the blog – Wits GEMP Class of 2022 Student Stories.
Our class is made up of students with such vastly different backgrounds and ages, and it really is inspiring to hear their stories! I know a lot of people who stumble across this blog are in some way on their own journeys of getting into medical school, and oftentimes it is a painfully long and lonely road… I hope these stories give you the hope and desire to continue with your journey, and will show you that your dreams are within your reach, so NEVER GIVE UP!
This past week we had our first block exams – my first set of exams in medical school! I’ve been studying pretty much non-stop since my first day, but it feels like you’re constantly behind in terms of the amount of work that needs to be covered… This block focused on a variety of subjects, including pharmacology, microbiology, pathology, immunology, public health systems, nutrition, biomedical ethics and and and….. I’ve really enjoyed the first block, but the stress certainly caught up with me as we approached the exams!
I am also looking at starting a new series for the blog, where some of my class mates can tell you about their journeys into medicine. It really is quite fascinating to hear how everyone had a very different path to medicine, and listening to their stories always inspires me – and I’m sure it will inspire you too!
I hope you enjoy the video! Thank you for watching!
If you’re needing some motivation and inspiration to study, try studying along with me in this video. I used to watch a ton of these types of videos when I was trying to get into med school – I found them to be quite helpful, and I hope you do too!
I tried this one without any music – I generally prefer to study without music because I tend to get distracted… But if you’d like one with some chilled music in the background, let me know!
I have my first block exam coming up soon, so there will be TONS of studying to be done in the next couple of weeks! Good luck with your studying, and please let me know your thoughts!
As per a request from one of the readers of the blog, and in keeping with the transparency of my medical school applications I mentioned in my previous post, I’ve decided to include a copy of the motivational letter I submitted to Stellenbosch University as part of my medical school application this year.
As mentioned in a previous post on how to approach a motivational letter (see here), they are personal and subjective and thus there is no one right way in which to write one. I actually had few different versions of my letter depending on which program I’d be applying for, where the focus would change slightly depending on the overall application for that institution.
My South African Medical School Journey 