Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): My favorite M1 class was probably Foundations; it was very Biochem heavy which I have always loved learning about! It was a nice switch from Anatomy and I felt like it gave me a great foundation moving forward in medical school. My favorite M2 class was wither Cardio or GI; I found these the most interesting, and my knowledge from these courses have aided greatly thus far in third year!

Top Choice for Specialty: EM or Surgery

Top Tips for Success from Hanna:

• 1. Try to go to class as much as possible! It really makes a difference to be in person. 
• 2. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different studying strategies if something isn’t working. 
• 3. Don’t feel pressured to do the same activities/studying strategies as your friends. You will thank yourself later for branching out and trying out different things!

Hanna's “Yearbook” Quote: “Ogres are like onions. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers.”

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): Neuroscience

“While it was one of the more detailed and difficult courses, once you connect all of the pathways, it was so interesting to see their effects on our sensory and motor output. Learning the outcome of different lesions was like a very intricate puzzle!" 

Top Choice for Specialty: Pediatrics and OB/GYN are at the top, but still deciding! 

Top Tips for Success from Brie:

• Find what works for YOU and stick with it! Collaborate with your classmates and share resources, but do not get caught up in what others are doing once you've found your routine.

• Practice questions, practice questions, practice questions. Wherever you can find them, use them!

Brie’s “Yearbook” Quote: "Human knowledge is never contained in one person. It grows from the relationships we create between each other and the world, and still it is never complete." - Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): Neurology

“I loved how if you really understood the anatomy pathways, you could almost answer any question on the test.” 

Top Choice for Specialty: Internal Medicine or Surgery (still very undecided!)

Top Tips for Success from Justin:

"I think the best thing anyone can do is to be consistent. I try to study the same amount each day rather than studying all night long two days before the test. I also highly recommend doing practice questions the day before the test and treat it almost like a practice test."

Justin’s “Yearbook” Quote: "Keep on keepin' on."

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): Heme/Lymph   

“I enjoyed learning about the complexities and intricacies of the various leukemias and lymphomas. I'm also fascinated by the body's various immunological processes, so it was interesting to learn about how interconnected cancer is with the immune system.” 

Top Choice for Specialty: Internal Medicine, with a Hematology/Oncology Fellowship  

Top Tips for Success from Jaewon:

• Don't get resource FOMO; find what works for you and roll with it. Don't be intimidated and feel "left out" just because you're not using the same resources that your friends might be using!

• Anking is not always king; adapt to the class! Charts and diagrams work better for some classes and Anki works better for others. Find what works for each class depending on the type of content.

• Health is wealth; Physical/mental health should never be left behind! Studying isn't everything in medical school; it's important to take care of yourself and take breaks when necessary. Sometimes it's better to rest and refresh.

Jaewon’s “Yearbook” Quote: "Insecurity is loud. Confidence is silent."

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): Cardio 

"I really enjoyed learning the physiology and the mechanisms of the various drugs."

Top Choice for Specialty: General Surgery

Top Tips for Success from Mason:

• Med school bootcamp has been my favorite study resource. It has great short lectures with easy-to-follow explanations. My best overall advice for medical school/studying is that consistency is key. Learning does not happen over 1 day. Learning is best achieved by consistently putting the time in over the course of several days, weeks, and months. Consistently working towards goals over a great amount of time is how students become physicians.

Mason's “Yearbook” Quote: Enjoy the process

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): Neuro!

“Once I (finally) learned the pathways, I liked being able localize where a lesion might be from a patients symptoms. I’m also a visual learner, so drawing and mapping out pathways was cool! ” 

Top Choice for Specialty: Pediatrics

Top Tips for Success from Maddie:

• BALANCE! You will learn your best when you’re taking care of yourself (working out, getting enough sleep, spending time with loved ones, etc). Don’t compare yourself to what everyone else is doing!

• Practice questions really helped with my learning! Don’t worry about waiting until you’re ‘ready’… I found them to be helpful even when I was still solidifying topics.

• Use active recall (Anki works best for me) and tailor it to your own needs. Talking through topics with my classmates was something I also used in every class!

Maddie’s “Yearbook” Quote: "Be curious, not judgmental." - Ted Lasso

More from Maddie: Medical school can be really overwhelming, and sometimes you just need someone in your corner telling you 'you're doing great!' Don't hesitate to reach out for anything, we're all here to help each other!

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): Foundations

“I really enjoyed the intersection between genetics, biochemistry, and medicine. The professors did a great job of giving us the building blocks that we’ll need for the rest of our time in the classroom!” 

Top Choice for Specialty: Anesthesia or GI

Top Tips for Success from Drew:

• Start preparing for exams early. A good method is to review material either the day of or the day after you learn it in class. The earlier you prepare, the less you will need to cram.
• Do not get too crazy with outside resources; this may overwhelm you. EVERYTHING you need to know for exams will be inside the powerpoints. Study them carefully!

Drew’s “Yearbook” Quote: “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot."

More from Drew: Find ways to enjoy life outside of medical school. Spend time with friends, go on walks, exercise, etc. I personally made it a priority to workout twice a day, and I found that really helped with any stress I had! And always ask for help from peers, professors, and those in the OME if you need it. We are all here to help you along this journey.

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): Foundations

Top Choices for Specialty: General Surgery, Trauma Surgery, Vascular Surgery or Interventional Radiology

Top Tips for Success from Meg:

• Find a buddy who studies similarly to you and talk through big ideas out loud one or two days before the exam.

• Brain dump when you sit down to start studying.. before opening notes, see what you can remember from memory and write on the white board... challenge yourself to reason through pieces you don't remember and don't be afraid to be wrong because getting it wrong usually makes you remember it 10000x better next time around.. check your work with your notes after.

• Try different study methods for different topics; it is okay to have 8 different ways of studying that work for you depending on what the content is. I liked the variation of having different options for studying and it made it less mundane that way for me.

Meg’s “Yearbook” Quote: "Squeeze the juice out of life"

More from Meg: I have ADHD and am comfortable talking about and sharing my experience of navigating that with others who may be curious.

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): Heme/Lymph 

"I loved learning about blood cancers and seeing the impact our oncologists make on patients and their families and thought the content was super interesting and relevant!"

Top Choice for Specialty: Peds Oncology

Top Tips for Success from Zoie:

• Find a routine that works best for YOU! Avoid comparing yourself to what others are doing and getting lost in the multitude of resources available. Don’t be afraid to switch up study methods/resources for different topics and classes.

Zoie's “Yearbook” Quote: They may forget your name, but the will never forget the way you made them feel.

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): Neurology "

I think the brain and nervous system is the most complicated and interesting thing on earth! So crazy and cool how much it does!"

Top Choice for Specialty: Neurology

Top Tips for Success from Brian:

• (1) Be flexible and varied in your strategies. Make sure you have multiple “tools” which you can use and be willing to try new approaches when content is more difficult. 
• (2) Save practice questions until the days leading up to the exam. Spend the majority of your time practicing review and recall of information studying.

Brian's “Yearbook” Quote: “We are what we repeatably do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” -Aristotle

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): I love reading murder mysteries, and localizing lesions with Dr. Franklin is the ultimate "who dunnit?"

Top Choice for Specialty: Med-Peds, Neurology

Top Tips for Success from Julia:

• 1. Ask questions!! It's okay not to know the answer:) Our faculty are wonderful and they are always there to help you better understand concepts 
• 2. Study strategies that work for some people, may or may not be the right method for you. Don't be afraid to try a new study method, but also have confidence in the strategies that work for you!

Julia's “Yearbook” Quote: A fully saturated sponge is not a happy sponge... so make sure you wring yourself out once in a while :)

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): Anatomy

Top Choice for Specialty: Orthopedic Surgery / General Surgery

Top Tips for Success from Kam:

• 1) Three pass throughs of content with spaced repetition of the information is essential 
• 2) Class isn't that bad, overcomplicating with outside resources can give you double lecture 
• 3) Slides can get noisy - find ways to boil the information down to how you conceptualize it

Kam's “Yearbook” Quote: "Hahah, you mean like, singin' and dancin'? Nah, not me man - I just surf." -Cody Maverick (Surf's Up)

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): MSK! 

"The course was very well organized and engaging."

Top Choice for Specialty: Orthopaedic Surgery

Top Tips for Success from Edward:

• 1. Treat medical school like a job. By scheduling blocks of time for dedicated studying, you will stay on top of course material and still have time for things outside of medicine that you enjoy. 
• 2. Connect with M2, M3, and M4 medical students that have been in your shoes. 
• 3. Find outside resources that fit your learning style and stick to them (ex. Anki, Sketchy, Amboss).

Edward's “Yearbook” Quote: If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): I don't have one favorite, but I really enjoyed anatomy, foundations, and heme/lymph. A lot of these classes connected the dots on things I had a little bit of knowledge on and helped me ease into the first year of medical school and set a great foundation moving forward.

Top Choice for Specialty: TBD

Top Tips for Success from Amanda:

• Top study tips are spaced repetition, don't be afraid to try a new method to study, and sometimes writing something out helps a lot!

Amanda's “Yearbook” Quote: "You could rattle the stars- you could do anything, if only you dared" -Sarah J. Maas

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): MSK or Foundations

"I really enjoyed Foundations for its intricacy walking through concepts as a whole as well as getting into the mechanism; while MSK, I enjoyed because you could focus on clinical skills & observation to achieve a diagnosis."

Top Choice for Specialty: Internal Medicine or Pediatrics

Top Tips for Success from Reagan:

• Develop relationships and cultivate an environment that supports you to succeed. Set goals and standards for yourself, but give yourself grace. When you need perspective, remind yourself it's not about the grade, it's about your future patients.

Reagan's “Yearbook” Quote: God brought you to it, he will bring you through it!

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): Foundations! 

"With my chemistry background I was very comfortable with the material and loved the problem solving (compared to straight memorization) that was required."

Top Choice for Specialty: Anesthesia

Top Tips for Success from Kate:

• 1) Find a routine and stick to it! I have a solid schedule and it keeps me on track. 
• 2) Keep up with review to say on top of the material and be prepared for the exams. 
• 3) Take time for yourself outside of school, chores, and working out. All these things are important, but it is also so important to relax and do something you truly enjoy.

Kate's “Yearbook” Quote: “Nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, and difficulty.”

Favorite M1/M2 Class(es): My favorite class thus far has been anatomy because I enjoyed learning the different muscle groups and their importance in various functions and movements of the body.

Top Choice for Specialty: Otolaryngology

Top Tips for Success from Louise:

• 1. Adapt your study strategies to your needs. Don't use a resource just because others are. 
• 2. Dedicate time to studying but also dedicate time for yourself.

Louise's “Yearbook” Quote: "Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions" - Albert Einstein