Happy Sunday! This week was the first week of second semester of MS2. I arrived from travelling a few days into the week with a raging cold! It’s pretty funny because prior to winter break I thought to myself - wow, I haven’t gotten sick in, like, a year. Ooops. And so I basically did nothing all week and this weekend was spent doing some intense catching up. The current block is called “Life Cycles” and it is basically what it sounds like. It’s centered on reproductive anatomy, physiology, embryology and all the fun path that goes with it. I’ve been looking forward to this block since first year since I heard everyone wants be an ob/gyn after finishing it, but we’ll see about that!

My biggest struggle right now is figuring out how to incorporate focused board studying during this last semester of med school. Step 1 is in June, and I plan on taking it really early that month to give myself two weeks of vacation before starting clerkships. My institution allots 6-weeks of dedicated board study time starting in mid April, but of course that’s not enough time. Studying for step 1 really does start the very first day of med school and I’ve studied for blocks with that in mind. But now that I have six months until step 1, it’s time to get focused and effective. I have a general idea of my study strategy but I will have a definite plan by the end of the week and will share it in my next post. For now, here are the resources I’m going to use: Pathoma, Firecracker, First Aid + UWorld qbank.



On Friday night, my fellow coordinators and I held a student/resident/attending mixer for our chapter of the Association of Women Surgeons. One of the breast surgeons on faculty was generous enough to host the event at her home. I had been looking forward to the mixer for months and was so excited to meet and talk with female surgeons and residents about their perspectives on balancing a surgical career, family and life in general.  We had an incredible turnout that included three orthopaedic surgeons, two breast surgeons, and the chief of surgery herself. One resident joined us as well as about 15 other med students. I’ve been drawn to surgery for a while now and it was so refreshing to get a female’s perspective on how the surgical climate has changed over the years in terms of welcoming more women. I mainly chatted with an orthopod who specializes in foot and ankle surgery. She was so cool and easy to talk to; and I really loved how real and genuine she was. Though she did stress that surgery, specifically ortho, is extremely competitive, she also made it clear that a supportive mentor is extremely important at any level of a surgical career. All of the surgeons at the mixer were incredibly supportive of other women choosing to pursue a surgical career and were extremely receptive to all of our questions. It was really great to be among such inspiring women. When I think of my future specialty I struggle with what I want my life to be outside of work and talking to the surgeons reminded me that I can have it all, but it will be hard work. And that’s okay, I’m a med student after all - delayed gratification and hard work are my specialty :).

I’m really looking forward to this week, since I will finally get to work with some pediatric patients in our teaching clinic. At my school we are separated into groups of six students + a faculty mento, called our “Societies” group. We start from the first day of med school seeing patients every week in the hospitals, teaching clinics or simulation labs. Up until now we have only worked with adults, and I am SO excited to finally work with kids. The children in this week’s clinic will range from a few weeks old to adolescence.  We will see real children and their parent or parent-equivalent with the goal of learning the unique aspects of the pediatric clinical encounter including the importance of development, prevention, and age relevant approaches to the pediatric physical exam. Did I mention how excited I am?

Have a wonderful week, everyone!