As an MBBS student, I understand how difficult MBBS life can be. Your engineering and business friends are out enjoying their lives while you are immersed in books. However, this is not always the case. You will experience some remarkable moments that they could never have imagined.
Let me familiarise you with all aspects of MBBS life.
Page Contents
Bookshelf makes sense
The bookshelf requires a significant amount of attention. Taking out one large book throws the rest of the books off balance. It becomes the focal point of the room.
After the first year, one realizes that a single bookshelf is insufficient and adds another to the room. And this cycle will keep on going till the CRRI period.
Pharmacology becomes the base
Pharmacology practicals book must be read for 3 hours on alternate afternoons for a year and a half.
It involves role-playing sessions with academics and hours of practice with mannequins, which were tedious at the time (but came in handy during the internship when they expected you to collect samples like a pro!
Proffessors makes it 5 PM
We were waiting for the clock to strike 4–30 so that we could go right away. We made a point of making goofy expressions at professors who kept their lectures till 5 p.m.
They’d display their authority during the following viva if they remembered the student’s face throughout such an incident.
Practice makes it clean
With practice, one may maintain the study table clean by relocating books from the bed or putting additional notes on a soft-board. It’s a no-no to have a messy study table!
Identifing histopathology like a pro
Hours must be spent in the pathology laboratory attempting to interpret histology samples. Even after the course is completed and the final professional examination has been passed, those histology slides still seem Greek and Latin. In terms of pathology practicals, we designed inventive ways to identify slides throughout the examination that had nothing to do with tissue features!
Identifing histopathology like a pro
Buying the same book again and over since the editions change so frequently (and I hate e-books!).
Purchasing many copies of the same book after deciding that the primary “daddy” book is tough to absorb in one sitting and time is limited. The fact is it doesn’t make sense, keep with your latest edition, that’s enough.
Breakfast at the beach
Waiting for Sundays, the happiest day of the week, when the alarm clock didn’t go off at 6–30 a.m. We also had “breakfast at the beach” days on Sundays.
Attendance detentions
The dreaded list of attendance detentions that would emerge two days before the final University admit cards were issued. Those who had been sleeping for the whole year would be wide awake in the last days before the list was announced, offering prayers to the celestial figures in the hopes of escaping detention.
Post University holidays
The anxieties leading up to the announcement of final University results. The whole post-university holiday is spent watching the college website for results.
The anxiety for PG exam
The anxiety regarding postgraduate entrance exams, which begins just after the final year university examination, just when one assumed that finishing MBBS would put a stop to all sleepless nights.
Memories with patients
The opportunity to work with a wide range of patients, some of whom say some very memorable things. In a fit of rage, an 18-year-old girl said to me, “What do you know about love and marriage?” This was shortly after I had advised her, with worry, that getting married and having a kid at the age of 18 was inappropriate. She was 18 years old, pregnant, and anaemic, and she needed a blood transfusion. Such incredible love fascinates me!
Friendships lasts for lifetime
In medical school, your classmates are some of the most interesting people you’ll ever meet. You meet all types of people, from Sheldon Cooper to Miss Scarlett O’Hara, and they’re all there, under the same roof.
Friendships formed in college last a lifetime, and they grow even more valuable after graduation. Nobody has witnessed you suffer as much as they have. Nobody has ever seen you stay up all night the night before an exam. Nobody has ever been a partner in a crime like they have.
Social life an MBBS student
When you’re the family’s first medical student: At 10 p.m., the phone rings. “Beta, Your uncle is sick with diarrhea.” “How should we proceed?” The entire medicine and its dosage are explained, along with recommendations for when to see a doctor. “However, it is really severe. Isn’t it possible to double the dose?” Following that, a 15-minute presentation will be given to explain the right dosage and side effects…
When you meet someone in your family who graduated from MBBS 50 years ago. “Which Pathology book do you read?” “Robbins?? Oh. It’s your generation’s turn. You don’t read traditional novels. That is why all of you doctors are useless.” He will give a long speech on his own life.
You’ll receive 2–3 unknown uncles or aunties at any gathering (family/city), “Ohhoho Doctor Saheb.” How are you doing? “How many years do you have left?” And the conversation continues without knowing who he or she is. But it’s the question “Do you remember me?” that’s the most difficult.
College life an MBBS student
The length of a typical day is determined by the academic year.
In previous years, there was no push to crack PG. You know you’ll have enough information at some point. You’ll devote time to your interests and to improving yourself. Build yourself from the ground up. Either enjoy life to the fullest or prepare yourself for any challenges that may arise.
In later years, you know the time has arrived. Your entire existence revolves around your studies. You simply continue to read. If you’ve identified your objective, your attention should be like Arjun’s bird’s eye story. And if you don’t have a goal, you’ll just wander aimlessly. However, the majority of the people in the area are studying.
When relatives of patients are questioned about their medical history in the surgical ward, they explain everything with pain. Finally, ask for a prognosis; it gets more difficult when you know the prognosis is poor. If you don’t know, you can reassure the patient with confidence.
On the next day, he will say “You all doctors are looters,”. You’ve drained my blood and made me feel ill. I was normal. You did this to me after I came in with a complaint of backache.”
When it comes to research, few professors say, “Wow. “You are going to be India’s future.”. Okay, Answer this. What is the point of research if you don’t know the textbook?” “You are outstanding,” says a few friends. “I hope I could be as talented as you.” “He’s insane,” said the majority of your friends.
Exam days of an MBBS student
The day before the exam, searching for previous year’s papers, a list of important questions, and deciding what to focus on and what to ignore!
On exam day, you should plan to get up at 8 a.m. and go through everything again before the 3 p.m. exam. But even if you get up at 10:30 a.m. and spend another half hour trying to explain yourself, I’m sure I’ll be able to handle it. When you walk into the exam room at 2:45 p.m., a friend asks you a question, and you feel as if you’ve forgotten everything.
During examinations, you have set aside 15 minutes for each question. As a result, by the time the paper is due, you will be able to complete it successfully. However, after an hour, you only had time to write the third question. That is how doctors’ handwriting came to be…
On the viva day, they will say “What have you done in Anatomy?”. “How can you be so illiterate – this is such a simple question?” when you are unable to answer with testis embryology.
- You wake up in the morning, not because of the alarm clock, but because your roommate yells, “Piece of sh** today’s class is HOD’s “
- You may enter the 8 a.m. lecture at any moment until the lecturer permits you to do so.
- So now that you’ve entered the classroom, you’re hoping that the professor won’t require you to seat in the front row (particularly since you’re late! ), so you can go back and finish your beautiful nap in the back.
- You go to the tutorial, you haven’t studied, you haven’t ever heard of the topic, but you can’t afford to miss the attendance, no matter how insulting it is!
- You recently passed Neet and have no freaking clue what books to read; you ask others, including teachers and seniors, only to realize that you again have no freaking idea. You’re on your own. People just present you with the same set of options, but no one is there to make the decision for you!
- You just got rid of Neet, and you assume that’s the end of your difficulties.
- You realize how important sleep is in your life.
- You realize the value of home-cooked food!
- Examiner in viva will ask you questions until you fail to respond, not until he has asked you all that has to be asked. It is against the Examiner’s ego’s code of conduct to not be able to pose a question that a student cannot answer!
- You return home and assume the identity of Doctor Sahab. When you return to college, the professors and seniors treat you like a ping-pong ball!
- You see books more than bae (Unless if you have somebody to call bae)!
- Your colleagues from other branches have Saturday off as well, but you don’t receive more than one holiday on Diwali!
- State champions fail here, but they don’t cry!
- You mostly date medical students since dating outside of the profession has two huge drawbacks: first, it takes a long time to go out and hunt for someone, and second, it only takes a short time to break up with your bae because she won’t understand why you couldn’t give her more time!
- You learn a lot about the individuals you meet. Smart people can be jerks, dumb people can be kind, good-looking people can be cheats, ugly people can be lovely, IQ isn’t directly proportionate to common sense, friends for life are just friends for a limited time, ass lickers abound, and so on.
- You become diplomatic; if not, you tend to isolate yourself from people.
- You learn what your relationships are capable of.
- Caffeine rushes through your veins on exam days. You can read entire books in a few hours.
- A short note is never short in an MBBS exam!
Finally, one is never the same after completing an MBBS program. It alters you for the better for the rest of your life.
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