Senior Med Student

Wow. After all that time and effort, I'm finally a fourth-year medical student! It's time to . . .

So, just nine months left to Match Day, eleven months left to graduation from the U of I's MD/PhD program. I wouldn't say that I've gotten complacent, but I'll just say that, right now -- life is good.

One of the best feelings in the world is to be *competent* at what one does, and right now, that feeling is definitely there. Although (most) medical students are a bit disgruntled about the merit of their medical education given its (1) high cost and (2) relative lack of structure, I feel that the U of I has done a commendable job in preparing students for the practice of medicine.

I've heard that the last year of med school is a time to refine one's skills and start orienting oneself to the specialty of one's own choosing. It's kind of weird to witness this change happening throughout one's medical class -- at the beginning of third-year, I'd say that most classmates had roughly the same body of knowledge (status post USMLE Step 1), but now, one can see certain students who are remarkably informed about, say, surgery or pediatrics. I've been blessed with a remarkably solid group of friends (photo above), and it's been cool to have people depend on R. for questions on neurosurgery, or J. for pathology, or (indeed) me for anesthesiology.

Anyway, I'm counting down the days left till I graduate. I've heard that M4 is the most enjoyable part of medical education, and I can't wait to get in on the action.