Didactic Year: Semester Three

Whew! It's been a while and this marks the completion of DIEdactic year! After a year of nearly 200 exams and 20 check offs, it's finally over. Well not really, we will still have exams during the clinical year, but not nearly as many.

This by far has been my most challenging and rewarding semester. The courses and workload didn't get harder, it was the same ol' thing. 10 classes, 4-5 exams/week, 28 credit hours, etc. It was my most challenging semester because I've been PREGNANT the entire time. The fatigue was overwhelming and no matter how much sleep I got, I still lacked energy. I couldn't tell if it was the normal PA student burnout I was experiencing or pregnancy symptoms.

This was my most rewarding semester because despite everything I was going through I managed to keep up my grades. I had several classes in which I managed to maintain an average of 98 or above. There were several times when I doubted myself because I'd choose sleep over studying, but in the end everything worked out.

Throughout didactic year I set goals to challenge myself to work hard. First semester my goal was to maintain an average of 95 or higher in all my classes. (crazy right?!) Well I didn't get it, my lowest grade ended up being a 92%. But after that I stopped! As long as I was making good grades and passing all my classes, why stress about a certain average!? Surprisingly, after that semester my grades continued to go up. I guess because I wasn't stressing about it so much and just let things happen naturally. You'd be surprised how much stress can interfere with your life. That being said, even if you don't do well on all your exams or find yourself struggling, don't stress about it. Just figure out how to do better next time. Use your resources (friends from home, classmates, advisors, etc.) Sometimes all you need is someone to talk to or a break so that you can regroup and collect your thoughts.

As the clinical year starts, I'll be sure to continue blogging to share my experiences. It should be very interesting with the baby bump growing. I'm going to do as much as I can until it's time to deliver. My clinical rotations begin mid-January and I will be starting with Family Medicine.

As always, feel free to reach out to me with your questions.