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  • The medical training path in becoming a doctor is an arduous and long journey, lasting anywhere

  • from 11 to 15 years after completing high school. That includes your 4 premed years

  • in college, 4 years of medical school, and 3 to 7 years of residency. These are the highlights,

  • the best parts that you'll surely look forward to.

  • Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com. These are the five best parts in your path

  • to becoming a future doctor. They say your fourth and final year of medical

  • school is the best part of your entire medical training process. In reality, it's only

  • the second half of your fourth year that's truly glorious, and that's because you're

  • just coasting and enjoying life before starting residency on July 1st.

  • During the first half of your fourth year, you'll be crafting your residency application.

  • Similar to your medical school application, that will include a personal statement, work

  • & activities section, research, letters of recommendation, and occasionally some supplemental

  • essays. You'll be applying in September, and doing residency interviews anywhere from

  • October through early February. Interviews, depending on the specialty, can

  • be varying degrees of stressful, but I found it immensely fun to travel around the nation

  • and meet fellow applicants from other medical schools.

  • Your average emergency medicine interview is going to be more relaxed than your average

  • general surgery interview due to trends in cultures between specialties, although it

  • will vary from program to program. At one plastic surgery program, I was asked

  • to fold origami while simultaneously explaining complex research. And at another, I was to

  • carve an ear out of soap and to make it as anatomically correct as possible. If you want

  • to hear more about my personal stories in medical training, check out my second channel,

  • Kevin Jubbal, M.D., linked in the description. The summer before you start medical school

  • is one of the best opportunities you have to enjoy your freedom. Unfortunately, many

  • premeds succumb to their neuroses and don't fully enjoy this summer. Instead, they're

  • stressed about what medical school is going to be like, whether they're prepared, whether

  • they should be studying now so they can hit the ground running, and getting their extracurriculars

  • or research lined up to have a head start. The reality is that the best way to spend

  • your summer before medical school is to enjoy it and live it up. If you've wanted to travel

  • to Europe, now's the time to do it. If you want to reach the leaderboard of Fortnite,

  • now's your best chance. The reason it's important to take this time for yourself is

  • because burnout is a serious problem in medical school, and not coming in from a relaxed and

  • rejuvenated state will hinder your performance. Speaking of summers, the summer between your

  • first and second years of medical school will likely be the last summer vacation of your

  • life. Most medical schools provide this time off, although accelerated programs will not.

  • You'll have approximately 3 months off, and this is one of the best times to capitalize

  • on research in your specialty of interest. Doing so will greatly improve your candidacy

  • when it comes time for residency applications, but you'll still have time for other things

  • during that summer. It won't be as carefree as the summer before medical school, but hopefully

  • you're able to do something special to enjoy the last summer break of your life.

  • Believe it or not, you'll look back on your premed years fondly as some of the best years

  • in your doctor training journey. If you're in college right now, you may be rolling your

  • eyes sayingsure, grandpa, and I'm guessing you also walked to school in the snow, 15

  • miles, uphill both ways.” While there is a tendency for people further

  • along the training path to downplay the difficulty of earlier stages due to recency bias, the

  • fact remains that your premed years offer the greatest flexibility and control of your

  • time. You will never again have so much room for

  • experimentation with which extracurriculars you pursue, which clubs you are a part of,

  • or what sports you want to play. In college I experimented with guitar, was on a dance

  • team, got into powerlifting, went to countless music shows, and did many stupid things too

  • with comparatively minor consequences. I also had the ability to take incredibly interesting

  • classes, some of my favorites including the history of electronic dance music and the

  • neuropharmacology of drugs of abuse. Obviously the two had substantial overlap.

  • I found that in medical school, I had much less time, and therefore had to be far more

  • selective. Rather than experimenting with rock climbing and running and dance, I focused

  • on just weights and cycling. Rather than being part to half a dozen clubs, I was part of

  • only two. If you've learned even a smidge of something

  • new in this video, show me some love with a like and gentle tap of the subscribe button.

  • Or if you're a gunner premed, let us know with a thumbs down.

  • There are many other peak moments that you'll remember fondly for the rest of your life.

  • While college graduation is special, and it had particular meaning to me given the less-than-straightforward

  • path my premed journey took, it wasn't nearly as meaningful as my medical school graduation.

  • The amount of sacrifice, perseverance, and pushing of your limits that you must confront

  • to finish medical school makes that moment all the more sweeter.

  • When you receive your first medical school acceptance letter, you'll be ecstatic, realizing

  • that you are in fact going to become a doctor. When you get the acceptance letter from your

  • dream school, you'll be over the moon. White coat ceremony, typically done at the

  • beginning of medical school, marks the transition from being a premed to now truly being part

  • of the medical profession. Similarly, Match Day is a culmination of your

  • hard work and seals your fate for the next 3 to 7 years of residency. And of course,

  • graduating from residency or fellowship is the final leg in the race, closing the final

  • chapter on your marathon to becoming a fully fledged attending physician.

  • I still remember the day I got my MCAT score report. I was going down the elevator as I

  • opened my email, letting out an excited yet non-sensical sound, getting glances from the

  • two other students in the elevator. I walked to a bench in front of Royce Hall at UCLA

  • and sat there for 30 minutes, reading and re-reading the score report to make sure I

  • wasn't misinterpreting it. And then I called my mom to give her the good news.

  • I want you to experience that same feeling; for the day you open your MCAT score report

  • to be one of your best academic memories. My team and I have been working tirelessly

  • to create the best MCAT study resource available. After over 2 and a half years, the Med School

  • Insiders MCAT course is now in early access, and combined with Memm, these offer the most

  • effective MCAT prep available. I'll be keeping all Med School Insiders newsletter subscribers

  • updated on the latest with regards to both, including when the full public release is

  • live, including newsletter-only discount codes. Sign up for my free newsletter at medschoolinsiders.com/newsletter.

  • If you enjoyed this video, check out my MCAT playlist or the 4 years of medical school

  • explained. Good luck my friends. Much love, and I'll see you guys there.

The medical training path in becoming a doctor is an arduous and long journey, lasting anywhere

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