This document provides tips for surviving medical school. It advises students to follow lectures to build a foundation of knowledge and re-read materials to fully understand new concepts. Students are told to read efficiently and avoid distractions. Maintaining a work-life balance is also important - students should enjoy their time in medical school through friendships and occasional breaks, while still prioritizing their studies. Commitment, hard work, and helping patients are keys to finding reward in becoming a physician.

1. Surviving Medical School
Trying Times
Elena E Solomou, MD, PhD
Assistant Professor Internal Medicine-Hematology

2. Commitment Stresfull
To be a doctor…..
Responsibility
Lifetime
reading
Rewarding Help people
and save
lives

3. • First of all, YOU chose to became a doctor.
• Stick to your decision and go for it!
• If for any reason you realized that someone else
and not you took the decision to became a
doctor…..
• Go for your dreams
• Life is short, live it!

4. MEDICINE

5. Tips to survive Med School
• Follow the lectures —> you can get the points that are
important to build the rest of your reading
• The class time is never enough to teach you everything! It is
a “trigger” for you to read and “digest” all new information
• Go home every day after the class and re-read what you’ve
learned in the class, READ THE BOOK, and explore some
more options!
• Web based learning….
• You can not became a doctor by reading only notes!!!

6. Read Efficiently!
• The time you spend for reading is very important to be
used efficiently- Avoid distractions
• Concentrate! It’s reading time! Avoid noise,music, twitter,
Facebook, etc…..
• Avoid reading in a “coffee shop”……
• Never leave everything to be read just before the exams
• Put exercise in your daily routine. Go for running or
jogging to “clear up” your head

8. Enjoy your Med School Years
• Med school is 6 years- no other school is so long
• During these years you will make life-long friendships
• You can not go out every night, enjoy the days you can.
• Don’t regret because you decided to spend a weekend
with friends….find sometime to read and make the most
of the next days….don’t go out next weekend
• Volunteer, summer rotations

9. • Support from your family and your professors
• There will be failures but it is not the end of the
world!
• Make your self-criticism and find out what is the
problem —> don’t do it again!
• The happy times are the most

10. • Commitment
• Hard work
• Treat the patients the same way you want to be
treated if you were a patient
• The greatest reward is the “THANK YOU” you get
from your patients
• This two magic words give you the strength to never
give up!

11. Enjoy your journey to med school, it is a long one
but it is magical!