<p>I did really bad in Orgo this year which caused me to have to take it this summer.</p>
<p>I won't give up despite how many years it takes to finally get my studying habits in order.</p>
<p>I never stick to schedules I set up for myself (my OCD side of the problem).
Something that I give myself 2 hours for (probably should take 1 hour), I complete in 3-4.</p>
<p>Should I throw my laptop out for less distractions (though I need music to concentrate).</p>
<p>Will exercising and eating healthy help my problem? Lord knows admissions don't what a fat medical student.</p>
<p>Yes, I will be seeing a psychiatrist and as much as I did not want to resort to drugs, I am sure I will because all the stuff I want to accomplish in my undergrad life doesn't seem possible (research project, volunteering, shadowing, CNA certification + job, etc etc).</p>
<p>My main question is: Can I change and how do I change?
Has anyone else faced these timing issues?
Does ADD NEED DRUGS?!</p>
<p>Your doctor may suggest other coping strategies, but for people with severe ADD, medication has proven effective. Stay on top of it, though. Too much or the wrong kind can have the wrong effect. You may need to work with your doctor to adjust your dosage.</p>
<p>Does the medication have any negative effects mentally or physically?.. I wouldn’t want to have altered thinking or it affecting my heart or something. I live alone in a dorm.</p>
<p>Every medication has a chance of having side effects. You will need to work with your doctor to find the correct medication and dosage. For example my 9th graders ADD med makes it so he’s not hungry. Luckily he doesn’t take the meds on the weekends and so he seems to make up for it then however the doctor does keep track of his weight just in case.</p>
<p>I heard many (if not majority of) students in med school are very organized in their lives in general. In the “study” year like the second year, most students self study like 10+ hours everyday for several months before the board test. In the rotation year (the third year), the “work” regularly exceeds 12 hours and it oftens starts very early (e.g., some/most students get up around 4:30 am during some tough rotations everyday.) </p>
<p>It seems being resilience rather than being smart is more important. This kind of personality sometimes shows up in other aspect of their lives as well. For example, a female student would go to the gym everyday and always jogs at the steepest slope and at the extremely fast speed. She ran at Boston’s Marathone, but she arrived at the finished line well before the explosion. Some of her students joked to her that she must be happy that she trained herself so rigorously regularly so that she could finished the marathone so fast this time.</p>
<p>Another student is also like a “control freak” who would go to the extreme to make sure that everything in his/her life (getting the good grade is just a very small part of what he/she thinks should be under her/his complete control) will be in the exact way she/he wants it to be. For example, he/she would put in 14 hours everyday for 2 months for preparing for the board test when the “average” study hours is “merely” 11 hours for the majority of students. So his/her STEP-1 score would be over 260 while the class average is merely, say, between 235 to 240 at most.</p>
<p>An issue is whether OP is willing to devote/sacriface so many years in such a stressful environment in order to be in this career. For example, to ne a surgeon, it requires 4 (college) + 4 (med school) + at least 6 (just a general sergeon, I think, in residency.) It is 14 years of your life just for the training here. (the college years are the least stressful years! For more than a half of these 14 years, you may need to be on call over night - oftentimes sleep starvation here.)</p>
<p>I do not mean that it is very difficult for OP to break into this. I just try to list a couple of downside for anybody to be on this career path. (there is also student loan issue - the average is about 160k to 200k, I think, assuming that there is no contribution from the bank of mom and dad.)</p>