You know you’re a med student when…

By Lucy Zhu, MS2

1. You’re constantly going through anatomy flashcards on the bus, with the person sitting next to you awkwardly trying to look away from what you are studying.
2. You look at an ad for a store called “ACE Hardware” and automatically think ACE inhibitors (Angiotensin-Converting-Enzyme inhibitor).
3. You come out of the anatomy lab after dissection smelling like a mixture of formaldehyde.
4. “NAVEL to navel,” “3, 4, 5 keeps the diaphragm alive,” and “I 8 10 Vegan Eggs AATH 12” make perfect sense.
5. You scour your email and put into your calendar exact places for free food.
6. You go to talks and other events for free food, even if the topics don’t exactly pertain to you.
7. On Friday and Saturday nights, you are often found studying while the rest of the world is relaxing.
8. You look at small bumps on your veins and think you have thrombosis, or you look at small light-brown spots on your arms and think neurofibromatosis 1.
9. “First Aid” is not just a kit filled with medical supplies but rather a book; “Step” is not a part of a staircase but rather a life-turning exam; “Gunner” is not a person who loves to shoot but rather a person who loves to… study.
10. “High-yield” facts and “buzzwords” become crucial for passing exams.
11. You’re “proud” of the number of Gold Stars you’ve collected off of your Starbucks reward card and use it to measure the amount of studying (and procrastinating) you’ve done.
12. You try to make mnemonics for things that totally don’t seem to make sense, but they do when you put them in funny combinations together.
13. You look at slingshots sold at toy stores and think IgG antibodies.
14. Your white coat is filled with a bazillion things, from white coat clipboards to pens and pencils to penlights, reflex hammers, medical dictionaries (or phones), medical translators, etc.
15. You have a gazillion badges for each of the hospitals/clinics you go to.
16. Your idea of fun is going to suture lab and practicing stitches (perfect the art!).
17. You’ve used a chain saw during anatomy lab.
18. You’re incredibly sad if your computer crashes because all of your weeks of notes (or the ones you haven’t backed up) are gone.
19. You can’t wait till your tests are over so that you can go back to the rest of your life that you forgot/neglected – catching up on movies, laundry, chores, cooking decent food, getting massages/manicures/pedicures/spa treatments, basketball/football games, or whatever.