It’s hard to believe that a week ago I was settling down in my new apartment and preparing for a day of orientation activities. 

Moving into my apartment was a struggle in itself and I think I am going to really reflect on my apartment and moving mistakes this upcoming weekend so that you don’t make the same mistakes when the time comes. 

However, let’s discuss orientation!

Prior to orientation, we were required to finish up some information modules that introduced us to our three courses, the faculty, some administrative information, and financial information. We also had some CITI training that needed to be completed and we were assigned Biostatistic modules. I did not finish the CITI training prior to orientation or the Biostats modules, so I spent most of the nights after orientation working through those requirements. 

Monday 

Monday was not quite the start that I wanted for my first day, but it ended up being pretty great. My main concerns were about making a good first impression and whether or not I will make friends.

For this day, I was very stressed out about wearing business casual clothing. My thoughts revolved around “will these clothes fit me?”, “are my classmates actually going to wear business casual?” and “why can’t we just be casual?” 

I recommend trying your clothes on the day before so you don’t end up trying on five different outfits. I typically lay my clothes out, but because of the mess in my room, I did not do that. 

After settling on a business casual outfit, I prepared a matcha and headed out for the day. I tried recording an Instagram story post and discovered that is a true art that I have not mastered. (How do Vloggers do it???)

Regardless, I ended up being perfectly on time as my classmates were headed to lunch. After receiving my ID card, I was feeling overwhelmed because everyone seemed to already have friends and I was all alone. Fortunately, I ran into some non-traditional students and we were able to talk and learn more about each other until the first information session. 

Now, most of the orientation was boring. There is so much information about public safety, technology, and the curriculum. In the middle, the M2s planned a succulent planting activity where we were able to go outside and plant our own little succulent. If I have a picture of mine, I will post it below!

This day was very exhausting for me personally because of the new stimuli. I was fortunate to have gone to undergrad at this institution and knew the medical school campus a little bit, but it was still overwhelming. There was an optional social event at a brewery in the city nearby. After some peer pressure from my friends and family back home, I ended up going and meeting one new person and talking to her about her amazing life. (She was also non-traditional). 

Tuesday 

Tuesday was infinitely better than Monday. I still struggled with making friends and it made me feel self conscious because it felt like everyone else already had their buddies. 

However, I slowed down and reminded myself that was all in my head. This day was a bit more difficult to remembering everyone’s names because we were wearing masks all day (again) and we were all wearing the same shirt for our community service session. 

The first session of our day was an amazing talk from the Vice President of Equity and Inclusion. This faculty member was my professor for an online sociology course, and let me tell you, he was just so incredible (both as the professor and speaker). 

The main theme for our orientation included diversity with a special focus on race as a political construct. It ties nicely into our school’s focus on using the social determinants of health. 

The speaker discussed his life and challenged us to think about race and how we plan to be physicians in the future. There was so much information from this alone but the main takeaway was to include your humanity, treat the other (especially patients) as you would a loved one, and include the full picture of a person’s life. 

The best part of this day was going out into the community and serving them. I was assigned to a community center. At this center, at least fifty students were tasked with picking up garbage along some streets in the town. 

We did this activity from about 12:45pm to 3:45pm. I really gotta know three other students and their lives. I specifically asked the two nontraditional students about their relationships and how they were balancing with medical school. (I also asked how they met their significant others because I find those stories to be adorable). 

The community service really opened my eyes to the low socioeconomic status of the neighborhoods. The main street’s trash consisted of chip bags and alcohol bottles to which I wondered where they were coming from. That question was easily answered because there were little convenient stores that took EBT and sold all sorts of unhealthy (but cheap) items. It really illustrated the food desert that exists in my university’s area. 

After the community service session, I was exhausted but we had another session before dinner. This session had us take some terms and put them in order of what we value most. 

The terms were the following: stability, relationships, equality, belief, joy, preservation, individuality, and prosperity. Each of these terms did have a definition on the back but I do not have a picture of those. 

Each individual was required to put these terms in order and then tape them to the white board in the front. We spent the rest of the time looking at the patterns and discussing how these terms will probably change over time. 

Why don’t you try doing this activity in the comments below? I would love to see how you put them in order!

At the end of the day, we had dinner on the school’s lawn. They had a pizza truck that spent the entire evening making pizza. I mentioned I was vegetarian and they let me customize my own pizza! At this event, I ended up talking to some more people and it was honestly just so relaxing. The pizza was also delicious!

Wednesday

On Wednesday, there were more information sessions! The first session was some more administrative information about academic policies and professionalism. 

The other two activities were a bit more interesting. One session covered all financial information we need as medical students. There was a representative from the AAMC for this session who went over everything from loans to interest to credit. 

This session was not very useful for me for the most part because I had already educated myself on all the terms after I graduated from undergrad. The session was super important and I am glad that my school wants us to be as prepared as possible. 

The third session of our day was about Long Term Disability Insurance. Our medical school pays for this while we are in medical school in order to protect us in case anything happens. The example given to us was “what if you become a surgeon but then you break your fingers? Well you wouldn’t be able to practice” (I100% only thought about Dr. Strange after that comment).

In all seriousness, this session felt like we were really cared for and at the end, we can decide if we want to continue paying for this service when we graduate. 

After this session, we were split into small groups to discuss the reading. The reading was all about race as a political construct, racism, and how it impacts medicine to this day. If you are interested, we read chapters 1, 4 and 6 from “How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century” by Dorothy Roberts. 

Another session was from the librarian which was very informative and important because the school gives us all our textbooks as free ebooks. Finally, this day included some fun activities from the M2s. They covered “A Day in the Life” and important resources we can use for studying (Boards and Beyond, Amboss, Anki, and so much more). 

Thursday

On the last day of orientation, we were given a few presentations about learning and how to be successful. They also gave us a session on resources that are available to us if we are struggling with studying. They also explained how we would be graded. 

This day felt difficult to get through because I knew I would only have two hours to get ready for my White Coat Ceremony. However, these sessions flew by and the next thing I knew, I was walking across the stage to get coated. 

Overall Impressions

I am very pleased with my medical school and it is perfect for me. As I mentioned, I went to undergrad at this university. 

I was very nervous about returning because this school is not very diverse. Being Indian, it was very difficult for me during my four years. I also felt my classmates were not challenging me during my final two years. It felt like there was not enough intellectual stimulation. However, medical school is the complete opposite. 

The class is very diverse with so many students coming from various backgrounds. Every individual I have met so far has been very kind and I am just so happy to be around students who will challenge me. 

The other part that really surprised me was how supportive the school was to its students. They gave us so many resources to ensure that we know we are not alone here and that we can get the help we need. We were given various mental health resources and academic resources. Even during the White Coat Ceremony, the speakers emphasized the importance of taking care of yourself and making time for self care. 

Overall, I am incredibly excited for my medical journey and I am very grateful that I ended up at this institution.