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7 Skills to Develop Before Medical School

Every year, thousands of intelligent and highly motivated college students study hard, excel academically, pass the MCAT and get accepted into U.S. medical schools. Family and friends applaud. Getting there was tough, but staying and finishing may be even tougher.

Excellent work and study habits developed in college will have to be fine-tuned and recalibrated for the rigors of medical school. Having chosen a career that includes perhaps the most rigorous testing path of any profession means looking for ways to be more productive without severe negative consequences.

Many students burn out, drop out or are just plain miserable during their medical school journey. For many, the first year especially is a rude awakening.

By developing or expanding on good habits and being open to new tools to help ensure success, students can go beyond surviving medical school. They can thrive as they work toward the goal of becoming a medical doctor.

Here are seven important skills to bring to med school, experts say.

1. Be open to new study methods.

Undergrad study habits may not lead to success in med school. Be willing to shift gears quickly to other learning modalities, experts say. Become more of an active learner versus just passively absorbing information through lectures.

Active learning may be uncomfortable at first but will become an essential skill. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable, says Dr. Demicha Rankin, associate dean of admissions at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. “It’s going to be hard, but know that you can do it.”

[Read: What a First-Year Medical School Student Can Expect.]

Another suggestion is to become a better reader, to handle the volume of information that will be present from the beginning and will only grow by the end of medical school. One doctor said he learned to speed-read.

Dr. Jerome Taylor, an assistant professor of surgery at the Yale School of Medicine in Connecticut, recalls being bowled over by the tremendous volume of reading he faced in his first year. “It’s like trying to drink water out of a fire hydrant while the hydrant is going full blast,” a professor had warned him.

He found that to be true. However, Taylor had a plan to succeed — he simply had to learn how he learned best. That included learning to speed-read.

Rankin says she took to reading more for enjoyment and not just focusing on copious amounts of schoolwork. This helped her to become a better reader and to appreciate the distraction of reading for fun.

2. Get organized.

Start with making your bed daily, some experts suggest. That may sound trivial, but it sets the tone for the rest of the day, even during medical school.

Create a clutter-free workspace, says Dr. Kevin Jubbal, a physician entrepreneur who focuses on medical education and whose YouTube channel offers a cornucopia of tips and advice on succeeding in medical school.

It’s also important to maintain a schedule. Jubbal strongly suggests laying out how you will spend your day. Document when you will attend class, then decide when you will study, eat and exercise. Do this daily using a calendar.

[READ: 5 Ways Medical School Is Different From College.]

3. Become more efficient with your time.

By becoming more efficient, you leave more time for effective study, which leaves more time for more sleep and more time to invest in self-care.

Your brain can function optimally only for a certain amount of time. Compare it to gym exercise. After having an optimal workout, you need to rest to rebuild stamina, experts say.

Look at studying in med school the same way: Work hard, then take breaks, Jubbal says.

Rankin, who worked while attending college as an undergraduate, says she treated medical school like a full-time job. The anesthesiologist allowed herself to enjoy learning because of her reason for attending med school: “My purpose was not simply to pass a test. It was to learn to save someone’s life.”

4. Practice good health habits.

Work-life balance is important in med school because it will lead to improved productivity. Don’t spend weekends catching up on schoolwork — have a social life that leads to feeling more refreshed during the week, Jubbal says.

Plan nutritious meals. Eating healthy will lead to improved performance. Have an exercise regimen to help manage stress. Don’t forget to focus on mental health — take advantage of mental health counseling if you feel the need.

Also, don’t be afraid to ask for help if you fall behind in studies. Asking for help is a sign of strength, not a sign of weakness, Rankin says. Learning early the importance of getting help when challenges arise can make you a stronger medical practitioner. In the end, experts say, patients will benefit.

5. Learn to accept criticism.

You will be knocked down at least once, Taylor says, and probably more than once. You’ll have to figure out how to get back up.

Prepare yourself to be on the receiving end of critiques and even criticism, but don’t take it personally, experts say. It may soften the blow to always remember that any harsh analysis is preparing you to take better care of your patients.

Give yourself grace, Rankin says. Having a mindset that it’s okay to make a mistake led to her success. “Don’t expect perfection,” she says. “Be intolerant of failure. Put your best food forward.”

[Read: Why It’s Still Hard to Get Into Medical School Despite a Doctor Shortage]

6. Find your community.

There’s an African proverb: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”

Don’t try to go it alone in medical school. It’s important to have a community, so investing in a social network to boost morale and productivity is a key to success in med school, experts say.

7. Have a spiritual grounding.

It helps some students to have a spiritual grounding, either in a house of worship or through meditation or other means.

Rankin says she took opportunities to attend church with her classmates. “It was nice. It gave me a chance to reset.”

Taylor says going to church helped him find opportunities for social interaction and for helping cope with hard times. “If I didn’t pass a big test, I’d pray about it.”

Attending worship also helped him remember why he got into medicine in the first place — to help people.

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7 Skills to Develop Before Medical School originally appeared on usnews.com

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