Category: Medical school

Mentors, thank you for parenting me

Parenting is one of those things most of us end up doing but never get any full training on. It’s awkward. Some people are good at it; some people are terrible at it. Sometimes we never know if the parent is simply terrible at parenting, if they have a…

5 ways to have an outstanding mentorship relationship

Mentorship. We all do it; we all benefit from it. But we rarely talk about how the mentor-mentee relationship looks. We rarely talk about ways to improve a mentorship relationship or even have decent mentor-mentee relationships. In fact, many of us lik…

Surviving medical school with depression

I was first diagnosed with major depressive disorder as a preteen after my teenage sister died. I attempted suicide three years later. This would be the first of several attempts and the first of countless times I felt my life was not worth living. But…

Doing good in the world as a medical student

Aside from grades and test scores, medical students are selected based on their selfless qualities such as altruism, passion, service-orientedness, resilience, advocacy, and others. Many of my medical school classmates did remarkably selfless things be…

Bracing for change: the escalating importance of USMLE Step 2

It’s a well-known fact that medical school has grown increasingly competitive over the past decade. While this is true that getting into medical school has become somewhat harder, what is more concerning is that for many students, admission to, and pay…

Please don’t ask about my test scores, Mom

Being a medical student in a family that does not have any doctors, honestly, has many perks. Although I may not have all the experience a tenured physician has in diagnostics and clinical management, I recognize the importance my current exposures in …

Advice from graduating medical students to new ones [PODCAST]

“We need you to join the ranks of this time-honored profession with new eyes and determined minds and eyes that see medicine’s problematic foundations and minds that are willing to act on it. Because it is you, future medical students, who will s…

It’s time to end the USMLE Step 3 exam

The COVID-19 pandemic put a pause on institutions that we did not think were pausable, allowing us to ask critical questions regarding their relevance and necessity. One such institution is the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE).  Duri…

In crisis, danger and opportunity are present

“I am the one who knocks … I am not in danger, I am the danger … Play in a rage …” While the first two quotes may be better attributed to the former high-school-chemistry-teacher-turned-drug-dealer Walter White in AMC’s hit show…

6 ways to give quality feedback to medical students

Feedback is an integral part of growing as a clinician. We all have room for improvement, and each and every one of us is a work in progress. We all grow by having others observe us and discuss how we are doing with each of us. Giving feedback also bec…