A medschool retrospective

As of 31st Jan 2025 I have just passed my medical school finals 🥳.

M1

You meet a ton people you’ll be living with for the next 5 years of your life so cherish them
You study way too much for a bunch of tests that don’t matter in the long run
- No, the structure of each of the amino acids won’t come in useful
You make a whole phone app just to avoid getting into trouble with missing attendance
You play cards during lessons since everything is online
You see your friend go pink-guy mode in a lift
You get an ECG done in class and realize you have another (benign) abnormality different from the one you had a year ago
You are the only one to get a question right in a quiz because the diagnosis was in an episode of House MD
You become the team guinea pig on various occasions including but not limited to getting tied down in a hospital bed 🤪, but you somehow get out of having to wear a diaper in front of the school for a skit
You get skincare advice from classmates which sets you up for the next few years
You slog through 4 days of anatomy lessons in a row (bruh why)
You spend a bit too much time on books and reports to prove a point
You should play more

You autopilot through class with more of the same
You butt-message the entire batch and it turns into the permanent group chat title
You show up to a wet lab with bedhair looking like a baby chick while everyone else is dissecting chicken embryos
You skip class to play in an online SEA-scale competition and come in 3rd
You put in a bit too much effort in teaching classmates how to code but somehow it turns out alright
You print a bootleg T-shirt and stickers just to mess with friends
You bring your voltex controller to school because why not
You get a bottle of mountain dew for your birthday
You get invited back to JC to teach the computer club outside of lesson time
You should play more

You have a wardrobe malfuncion on the first day of school and somehow handle it
You accidentally stab your supervisor in the eye within 3 hours of meeting him on the first day of a posting (forgive me Dr L)
You get to play with potatos and LN2 for an afternoon
You get scolded on the need to introduce yourself properly
- To the ANA MO I met at the OT, yes that advice definitely came in useful for the next few years and I’m wholeheartedly grateful for it
You spend too much time arguing if two slices of bread counts as “two sandwiches”
You carve out time to hop out of the country with classmates and accidentally wreck one of their knees in the process
You learn what a space occupying lesion feels like
You get some degree of caffiene dependence
You make dumb mistakes like getting confused and ask someone if they suddenly needed to pee instead of if they suddenly started sweating
You mess up someone’s name twice in a row and it turns into the permanent group chat title
You realize some of the textbook stuff you teach your juniors in previous years just doesn’t apply in the real world
You get a tower of instant noodles for your birthday
You calculate that knowledge about ball pain (the testicle variety) constituted 1.1% of your grade for the year
You realize that the practical medschool exams are a whole kind of roller coaster
- Everyone has a plan until they get ~~punched in the face~~ a practical ^{bag valve mask} station that not a single soul studied for
You should play more

You see your peers from pre-uni days who took the road more travelled getting on with their life and wonder what could have been
You get time for sidequests
You discover that odd postings mean you get to try good food from all over
- 3 months in KKH means you could get fresh prata absolutely drenched in curry every other morning for breakfast
- Chicken rice at 7 in the morning for breakfast right after 5 back-to-back P1s^{really sick} at the emergency department
You realize you can kind of grow out your hair
You talk to a patient and end up getting an impromptu 1:1 tutorial from them cos’ turns out they’re a doctor too
You set questions about ball pain for your juniors to do for exam prep
You see a friend volunteer to get hypnotized in class but it wears off within the day
You narrowly avoid stepping in (human) poop thanks to a stranger calling out at you in time
You should play more

You realize you’re the oldest ones left in school and have big shoes to fill
You get the time for sidequests of your choice
You get time to have an adventure abroad before crunch begins
- You can now say that you’ve worked 5 minutes from Akihabara for more than a month; and you can also now say that you’re sick of akiba
You surround yourself with good friends pushing each other to study
You move knowledge from unknown-unknowns to known-unknowns
You sit for what many say will likely be the most stressful exam in your life
You play cards in the waiting room instead of studying