After finally getting into medical school and passing through all the hoops and loops, you suddenly feel like you’re not enough, that you shouldn’t have been accepted in the first place, that you won’t become a good doctor ...this is imposter syndrome. I’m sure many of us have experienced this as medical students at one point or another, so what advice would you give to someone experiencing this?
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Keep going and don’t give up. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes, they’re a great thing. You’ll learn something new about yourself and it’ll bring you closer to your dream. Just think about why you wanted to study Medicine in the first place and why you want to be a doctor. Because when times get tough this can get you through.
Such a great point about not being afraid to make mistakes - it’s more important to make them and learn from them!
My advice would be to not compare yourself to other medical students , I know definitely easier said than done, but as long as you know that you’re doing the best that you can, it shouldn’t really matter what everyone else is doing around you.
I completely agree with that, it’s so hard to not compare ourselves to others but it’s important to remember that we are all in this together and should be helping instead of competing with one another
it's a normal feeling to experience, especially when you're on a course full of incredibly competitive and intelligent people. but you made it on this course! which makes you one of those intelligent people :)
It's completely normal to feel that way, and I'm sure the majority of med students feel some kind of insecurity/imposter syndrome type feelings at some point (even the people you wouldn't expect to!). I think it's important to just take a step back and remind yourself that you're here because you are enough and you are fully capable of success because you've already made it this far!
Having a supportive circle of friends both on your course and from outside your course can really help too. Revising, studying or going through content with other people on your course can be really daunting and can put you in a very comparative mindset but if you surround yourself with lovely, supportive people that you get along with it can be super super helpful to go over things together! I also lived with friends from halls, none of which studied medicine, in my 2nd year and having the house as a kinda 'med free zone' meant that I could study with my med friends at uni then come home and switch off if I needed to :)
Definitely agree, living with non Medics is something that keeps me sane every year
Don't internalise everything! It's important to express how you're feeling because bottling it up can make it so much worse. Vent if you need to and remember that your journey will be unique to everyone else's and it's important not to compare them.
My opinion is controversial but I think it is human nature to compare yourself to other people, but use it to your advantage. It is extremely inspiring to be surrounded by such inspirational people, and helps you become a well-rounded person. But don't ever let other people ever doubt your own self worth.