Confessions of a Second Year: Beginning Again

First off, I’d like to preface by saying my views may not reflect everyone perfectly, but for the majority I think I’ve hit the nail on the head.

I recall first year days – reminiscing about the green pastures that would inevitably be second year. Boy was I misunderstood! I thought it would be first year plus, but it is indeed a whole new sport I’m playing now. Balancing all the same information and then compounding it with pharmacology, pathology, immunology, and microbiology is something I don’t think I could have been prepared to handle.  But on the positive side- things are really getting interesting. As difficult and detailed as the content may be, we’re really getting an idea of how everything plays out together. I bet most of us have had a few “Eureka!” moments that’d make Einstein roll over in his grave.

Grades- nobody is concerned about grades in the way I thought they might be. Everyone’s battle at this point is his or her own. I’m confident that there are few people that are performing much differently than before, but I’d say the majority is focused on passing the next hurdle. Our concerns reign much higher than quiz points these days. Plus, in the grand scheme, I think many of us have appropriately rationalized that any individual score doesn’t define us. (We’re really deep this year!)

You may have thought field trips were a thing of the past… until M2 year! So many of us have loved visiting our regional campuses in Rome, Albany, and Savannah this semester. Learning more about them keeps our minds set on the next stage in life. In a few months, we’ll be bright eyed and bushy tailed with patients at our disposal. May the life long learning we wrote about in our personal statements serve us well.

Did you think I wouldn’t mention it? Here it is! STEP ONE is certainly the red elephant in the room.  It’s on everybody’s mind. Many of us have already invested a couple months’ rent on resources. Some have literally been studying since day one of medical school. The stress this test brings is constant and varied throughout the population. But no matter the level of worry, we are all cognizant of it. This is not all bad. We need to be knowledgeable and informed about what is coming soon! PATIENTS! I’m so eager for the days that I’ll be trained to help people in need. If it’s just a few tests away- bring it on. I may be young, but I’m ready!

We’re so close to patient interaction we can almost taste it. The next milestone always seems to be the more desired one- and history repeats itself with the Class of 2018. We are taking each challenge head on and eager to reach the new heights we’ve been envisioning for some time now.

May the curve be ever in your favor – and ours!

Nellena Adekoya is a second-year medical student in Augusta.  Her interests include pig collecting, movie watching, and pap smearing.