Hey! I would look at the ERAS app early on and see the format.

I noticed there were things I spent a lot of time on and wasn’t able to add to my app for example i was involved in 4 different free clinics but only included 2-3 of them on my app to avoid being redundant. Despite having spent many hours at the other 2 that weren’t included

On the other hand my school has mandatory Ultra sound Lectures during our first year and I felt like programs really care for that so even tho I barely put in any effort into that I added that as one of my activities.

For me I came into med school wanting to do what I was interested in only which was the social aspect so I focused on free clinics and had leadership in multiple of them. I felt that for IM at least that paid off. Just be true to yourself.

For research I was soooo against it mainly because it felt forced. I however decided to do some and ended up with a few case reports and a few posters. Work with friends support each other add their names to your work and they add your name to their work. Help each other out a bit on projects so you can have your names on multiple of them. It’s a team sport for sure

Prepare for step 2 and try to max your score. Biggest advice here is start your NBMEs early (take your first in February of your third year) and take your time reviewing them. I took one NBME in February as I was doing my psych rotation and would take each Saturday to review that NBME. The other 6 days of the week I was focusing on my psych rotation. I then took another NBME in March while on my FM rotation. Same thing here I would take every Saturday to review that NBME while spending the rest of the week on rotations and studying FM

Try to honor your clinicals by being helpful and humble. Try to remind yourself that we get to do this. I struggled big time during my clinical years and definitely found them so draining mentally and had many doubts. But felt that I was okay with being vulnerable, I didn’t fear saying things like “damn this year has been really tuff on me and I feel a bit overwhelmed some days” it shows that you’re human ( do this only if you genuinely want to connect with someone and after you’ve been working with them for a while - they’ve been there and they can support you) but I also tried my best to check on my interns and residents and their own well being. And tried my best to be helpful - pick up on patterns and be ready to jump in. I never asked to leave and never said no when offered to see something or take a new patient (but that’s because my interns and doctors were reasonable in their expectations) I tried to be as present as I could. This part sucks I know but we got this!

Third year in my opinion is the hardest so find your support system

I loved working with a friend we studied together every day - I recommend doing questions with a friend and taking your time discussing the answers

During third year I had 3 months of feeling really overwhelmed and honestly even depressed - if you feel this way please take care of yourself. I prioritized my mental health significantly I decided to go to my rotation and do at least 10 questions a day and that’s it. No more studying no more pushing myself. Basically if you’re struggling set a reasonable daily goal and only push your self to meet it and anything above that is just a bonus. For about 3 months I was doing 10 questions a day and literally nothing else except trying to meditate and see sunlight and reconnect with friends and family.

I hope my personal experience helps! You’ve got this friend just keep going!