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what is up guys karma medic here and
welcome back to another dose if you're
new to the channel then hi my name is
nasser and i'm now a final year medical
student studying at king's college
london and in today's video i'm going to
be debunking or confirming the 10 most
common myths about medical school make
sure you watch this video to the end
because these are things that i wish i
knew back when i first started
so the first myth that everything that
you learn in medical school is important
technically kind of true i mean i guess
you do need to know quite a lot of
things in a lot of depth for each of the
body systems a lot of pathophysiology
does turn out to be quite important and
have good clinical application but it's
not quite what it was like back when you
were in high school back when we were in
high school the syllabus was the bible
and you kind of needed to know
absolutely everything that was on the
syllabus you needed to know definitions
memorize pretty much everything but once
you get to medical school sort of the
cellular biology or biochemical pathways
okay you might need to know them for
certain exams but in the bigger picture
they are not as clinically important or
relevant and as you move from high
school to medical school there's sort of
the shift of you focusing on what it is
that you need to know what you think is
most important and what is relevant for
your upcoming exams and clinical
practice as opposed to just knowing
absolutely everything let me show you an
example of this
all right so this is a clinical medicine
textbook which is absolutely huge as you
can see it's honestly quite heavy for me
to even just hold in my hand this has
way more information than you'll ever
need to know practicing medicine as a
doctor and then this little book over
here has pretty much everything you do
need to know to practice clinical
medicine as a doctor at least in your
foundation years so this is high school
where you need to know all of the
syllabus and then this is medical school
where you need to know what is relevant
for your exams and for clinical practice
don't get me wrong knowing a bunch of
extra information from this huge book
it's probably going to be helpful but
absolutely not necessary
so myth number two medical school is so
difficult that you won't have any free
time this i i want to completely
disagree with i like to think of
studying the degree of medicine just
like studying pretty much any other
degree at university you're going to
have times where you have to do a lot
more studying and things are going to be
more intense and you'll have less time
to do the activities that you want to do
but generally as a whole as a degree you
definitely have time to do all the
things that you want like
extracurriculars hanging out with your
friends having a social life
relationships etc i would actually argue
that the first couple of years of
medical school might be even easier than
traditional life sciences degrees
because you don't have as many
assignments and exams and essays running
throughout the year you just have these
really big exams towards the end of the
year i hope this youtube channel and
other channels here on youtube show you
that you can absolutely have a complete
life outside of medical school you can
pursue other interests like i have this
entire youtube channel i still play all
my sports still hang out with my friends
have a great social life relationships
etc so it's definitely possible
obviously different students will have
different commitments outside of medical
school you know part-time jobs or taking
care of family members etc but as a
whole i think you'll have as much free
time as any other degree you just have
to know how to manage your time well so
you can make the most out of the free
time you actually have
so myth number three if you fail an exam
you're gonna get kicked out of medical
school sheesh i mean this this really is
not true at all so first things first
the past grade isn't set ridiculously
high there are going to be exceptions
here and there but generally exams
aren't trying to trick you they're just
trying to test you on the material that
you need to study so if you put in
enough time to study the material
understand it well and commit everything
you need to to memory then you're
probably going to pass but if you do end
up failing an exam it is definitely not
the end of the world i've definitely
heard this before i know before i got
into medical school you know there's
this big notion that if you fail an exam
you just get kicked out and that's it
this is definitely not true at least
here in the uk if you fail any exam then
you have reset exams where you get an
opportunity to take that exam once again
and even if you fail that recent exam
sometimes there's even another
opportunity to prove yourself to prove
that you can move on to the next year
and also know that at least in my
medical school if you're on the
borderline between pass and fail they
look at each case individually so they
look at all of your previous grades and
the extenuating circumstances that you
had etc etc to decide if you should pass
or fail the year also once you fail an
exam you get put in what's called the
academic support program so this is
quite literally a program to help
support you to make sure that you don't
fail the reset exam or fail the next
exam that you take you get
individualized teaching one-on-one
sessions extra practice in the cadaver
lab if you're in earlier years or extra
practice doing examinations clinical
skills etc if you're in the further
years and so generally speaking the
medical schools try to take very good
care of you because they don't want you
to fail medical schools want to have a
high pass rate of students that get
accepted to their degree so if you fail
an exam it's definitely not the end of
the world you know think about what went
wrong in your practice and you're
studying and how you can improve that
moving forward to make sure that you
don't fail again
myth number four is that the sheer
amount of work and studying that you do
in medical school can have significant
effects on your mental health now this
one is definitely true medical school is
a very long degree here in the uk the
standard program is either five or six
years i know in the us and canada it's
four years it's a pretty long degree
especially if you've done an
undergraduate degree already like myself
so i've definitely gone through periods
where i've been more motivated for
medical school i've been really excited
to jump out of bed and go to clinical
placement and i've definitely been
through periods where i just i do not
have the motivation to go in and try and
learn and do my own independent studying
at home et cetera et cetera so the key
thing to understand is that because
medical school is such a long degree
it's such a tough degree is that your
mental health is going to go up and down
throughout the whole process so one of
the important things that needs to be
learned is how to cope with that stress
how to manage your stress in whatever
way works for you so you can continue to
study and learn and be active in the
hospital throughout all your years at
medical school if you are going through
a rough time mental health wise please
know that you're not alone you know as
happy as i am in all these videos
because i am genuinely happy like 99 of
my life i've also been through periods
where i've been really down i've been
really stressed and you know medical
school has just become too much on top
of everything else in my life so just
know that you're not alone it happens to
pretty much everyone in medical school
and there are plenty of support services
to help you through times like that
every school will have the appropriate
place where you can reach out to people
who might be able to help if you're
going through a particularly difficult
time so make sure you use those
resources you reach out to people your
friends your family and also your
medical school if you need
myth number five is that medical school
is boring and i could not possibly
disagree with this any stronger i have
seen some of the most incredible things
i think i'm ever going to see during my
time in medical school and that ranges
from everything from babies being
delivered right in front of my eyes to
being involved in surgery to i don't
know crazy diagnoses and rare diseases
and pathology that you know i feel like
i might never see again in real life
there's just so many interesting cases
that you get to see as a medical student
that the vast majority of people the
general public will never be able to see
and it's it's amazing on top of that if
your medical school has a cadaver lab
that is an incredible privilege of an
experience it's something that i don't
think i'm ever going to forget you know
physically being in front of a human
being and being able to open them up and
look inside them and dissect all kinds
of different parts it's truly an
incredible experience and then besides
that you know most people who are in
medical school find medicine very
interesting i personally i'm always
fascinated about what i'm learning
whether that's in my lectures or things
that i see in clinic you know i like i
genuinely spend my free time thinking
about oh like how did the lungs expand
and contract and like which muscles are
pulling at this time how does oxygen
diffuse across the alveoli these are
things that i find very very interesting
and i like to think about because i find
them interesting so yeah for me medical
school has been genuinely exciting
throughout the entire time
alright myth number six is that everyone
in medical school is extremely studious
now this is kind of true kind of not
true i think in medical school you get
the entire spectrum of people you do
have people who spend literally every
waking moment studying in the library or
preparing for exams reading up on
lectures etc and then you have people on
the far end of the spectrum who just
like to go on have tons of fun you know
cram for their exams last second and
blah blah blah i think it's probably the
same as most courses since medicine
generally is quite competitive to get
into i think you'll probably find a
higher percentage of people that are
more academically oriented that are more
studious but it's definitely not every
single person and if you are not that
type of person don't worry you'll
definitely find other people just like
you who like to have a bit more of a
relaxed life more things to do outside
of medical school have a whole life
outside of academics there is really the
whole spectrum
myth number seven is that medics live
and breathe medicine 24 7. now honestly
in my experience i have found this to be
kind of true generally when i'm hanging
out with medics even outside of a
medicine context we tend to talk about
things that we did in the hospital
things that are coming up for us whether
that's about exams or assignments or
applications you know it definitely does
take up a big part of our brain so a big
part of what we think about and a big
part of our discussions for sure i think
it's only natural because such a big
part of our life is dedicated towards
medicine but as with everything else
it's really important to find that
balance and make sure that you have
other interesting things to talk about
and other interesting things to do so
your whole life doesn't become medicine
99 of the day honestly most people in
medical school are full-on humans with
full-on personalities interests and
passion products outside of medicine
it's only a small group of students who
do absolutely nothing but study all day
and think about eat breathe and live
medicine
myth number eight is that it's too late
to start medical school when you're in
your late twenties or thirties i get
messages from people all the time who
have done a previous degree and are
telling me that they're gonna start
medicine at the ages of 22 23 24 25 and
is it too late are there gonna be other
people there my age am i gonna be able
to fit in etc etc and honestly from my
experience i think there has been
nothing negative for any of the people
starting medical school at a higher age
personally i started medical school at
the age of 22 and i found plenty of
other students who had started medical
school at about that same age and also
medical students who had started even
older at about 25 26 and honestly we've
all gotten along with each other very
well and we've also made friends with
the younger students who started medical
school at 18 and everyone's gotten along
just fine in fact some of my closest
friends on the course are currently
almost 30 and when i talk to them and
when we hang out and when we study
medicine i honestly never even noticed
the age difference at all i think
graduate or mature students studying
medicine probably enjoy the course to
the fullest because they've already
figured out how it is they study they're
confident in themselves they have their
own social life their own friendships
and relationships and so medical school
kind of becomes a lot easier to manage
at that time in comparison to maybe when
you're younger 18 19 going to uni for
the first time and having the big stress
that is medical school if you're a
mature student starting medical school
maybe you're almost 30 at this time or
you have kids at home what i would say
is that you know obviously your
priorities are going to be different
you're going to have your family and
your kids to take care of but having
spoken to people in medical school who
have that situation going on they've
honestly told me that they don't regret
their decision at all and that
everything has been a lot smoother than
they thought it was before they started
medical school
myth number nine is that there's no time
for relationships in medical school i
personally think this is absolutely not
true i've been in a relationship for the
four years of my undergraduate degree
and for these four out of five years of
my time in medical school additionally
plenty of my friends have been in and
out of relationships throughout these
four years so there definitely is time
to have a relationship if you want one
you just have to manage your time well
to make sure that you can keep up with
everything else that's going on on top
of medical school i honestly think it
would probably help if your partner was
in medical school because then it would
be easier to understand your time
commitments and your schedule and your
structure of constantly moving around
between different hospitals etc but it's
definitely possible if they're not
and then finally myth number 10 is that
most people go to medical school in
order to get rich and make a whole bunch
of money now i honestly think that this
isn't true this notion of doctors making
tons of money you know certainly is not
the case here in the uk and then even in
the us and canada most medical students
take on huge huge huge loans in order to
attend medical school and they pay off
those loans for many years to come
moving forward now don't get me wrong
doctors definitely get paid a decent
salary it's definitely above the average
starting wage out of graduation from
university but i do think it's in
proportion to how many hours they end up
working at the hospital how stressful
the job is etc and of course the money
that you need to pay back from taking on
your loans for studying for such a long
degree you know if you're in high school
and your goal is to make a lot of money
i really think medicine is not the
profession to go to there's so many
other jobs where you can make way more
money way faster than going to medical
school you know for example working in
economics computer science investment
accounting entrepreneurship starting a
business there's plenty of ways to make
way more money than being a doctor i
also think that if you don't really
enjoy medicine and have a passion for
medicine it's going to be hard to
continue that motivation and that work
ethic for such a long period of time and
then of course once you actually start
working your career is going to be very
very long so as a result i think anyone
who's going into medicine just with the
intent of getting rich is a bit
misinformed and they're probably going
to have a really difficult time keeping
up with all the demands of medical
school and then you know the demands of
actually being a doctor once they start
working all right and i think that is it
those are the top 10 myths that i wanted
to debunk or confirm about medical
school i hope you enjoyed this video and
if you're starting medical school this
year best of luck it's gonna be tons of
fun and i'm sure you're gonna really
enjoy it if you did enjoy this video
don't forget to leave a like on it and
also subscribe to my channel to more
content like this in the future i'll
catch you in the next one peace
[Music]
in this video we're going to be
confirming or debunking the 10 most
common myths about medical school make
sure that you watch the video the whole
way through because i wish i had known
all this stuff before i started