Student to Student: I want to be a doctor... It's been a tough year trying to stay on top of everything

INSPIRATION BEHIND THE SERIES

Young people deserve to hear from the perspectives, opinions, and experiences of other young people.

I believe we can learn from each other and help each other as we navigate the Irish education system.

I aim to draw from as many points of view as possible, making sure this advice is relevant to as many different students as possible.

The articles over these 10 weeks will look at study skills, career route options, Leaving Certificate reflections, school experiences, and so on.

THIS WEEK’S SUBJECT

Maha Shahzadi is a 17-year-old 6th year Leaving Cert student with a passion for learning and making a difference.

With a love for human anatomy and disease diagnoses, she aims to pursue a career in medicine and healthcare, specifically as a physician.

“I’m hoping to do medicine in the future,” she said. “I have a huge interest in the human body and like the social aspect of being a doctor,” she explained.

I think becoming a doctor will feed both my interest in human anatomy and would also satisfy my desire to have a positive impact in the lives of the people around me.

"I also believe there is a lot of room for development in the way we provide healthcare and would like to work as a physician who reforms that in the future.”

Already anticipating nay-sayers, she said: “I am under no impression that medicine will be easy but I am willing to put in the work it takes for me to get there.”

Beyond academics, she likes sharing her experience as a student going through her education with other students in the same boat via her studygram @digitaldiaryofms.

Maha is currently doing Maths, English and Irish plus German, Chemistry, LCVP, and her favourites, Business, Biology.

“So far, the Leaving Cert for me has been a whirlwind, to say the least,” she said.

To summarise her general feeling of the senior cycle so far, she said: “In one moment, everything seems manageable, I understand everything that is being taught to me and all my notes are up to date and perfectly organised.

“In the next moment, I feel totally lost, overwhelmed by all the information that I don’t understand, and find myself playing catch up on notes. 

It’s been a tough year trying to stay on top of everything and trying not to burn out at the same time.

Her advice to other students has come from a truly personal place.

“I think what helped me stay strong during the past year is taking it a day at a time and starting fresh every week, despite whatever way the previous week went.”

Maha very honestly shared with me her biggest struggle this year: “Trying to manage my homework while also making time for regular study/revision.”

“I really underestimated the quantity of homework we were going to receive during 5th year.

“On days where I did add study into the mix, that usually resulted in me staying up late at night and tired in the morning, ultimately leading to a burn-out.

I believe that my failure in balancing the two caused the decline in grades which really impacted my self-esteem and my attitude towards school.

However, here’s how Maha’s overcame these struggles; by one, doing the homework that is due the following day and adding a bit of study each night, and two, trying not to base her self-worth on her grades, and asking for teacher’s feedback on every mistake made and how she can improve in the future, instead of resenting the subject or school altogether.

In terms of study skills advice, Maha said: “Something that I wish more teachers got us to do is doing past paper questions straight after we finished a topic in class.

“My biology teacher always assigned past paper questions as homework right after we finished a chapter in class and I found that to be extremely helpful when it came to prepping for my Christmas/summer exams.”

She explained that this was because you then know what kind of questions frequently come up from each topic, and you can make your revision more exam-focused.

This method really helped me avoid wasting time learning unnecessary information and instead I invested my time in learning what’s actually important.

“With that said, following this method doesn’t mean you abandon the other parts of the topic because you can still potentially be quizzed on them too. This method simply helps identify the information you MUST know inside out and off by heart if you want to achieve high grades.

“My biggest takeaway from this year is to know my priorities. ‘You can’t do everything’ is the advice I always got but never actually implemented. I have this terrible habit of trying to do everything. She calls herself a ‘toxic perfectionist’.

It was just too much for me to handle with the pressure of the Leaving Cert, which meant I had to narrow down what my priorities really were.

“I had to make the hard decision of stepping down from all the clubs that didn’t quite align with the future goals. I found it really difficult to come to terms with this decision of mine and even experienced a bit of FOMO for quite some time, but I had to keep reminding myself of what really mattered for me in the long run; that is, getting good grades to get into my dream course.”

Along with managing your time, Maha spoke about staying motivated.

“Everyone tells you how hard it is to get into medicine. As self-doubt sets in, you are questioning whether you are ‘“good enough’, your motivation begins to fade and it becomes harder and harder to work towards a goal you don’t believe you’re worthy of in the first place.”

To overcome this, she said: “Change your perspective. Think about all the people who did make it and ask yourself, if they can, why can’t you? Don’t look for all the reasons you won’t make it but all the ways you could and will make it.

“Stop finding excuses and start looking for areas of improvement.”

Her final advice, from one student to another was: “Last, but not the least, don’t you dare doubt your own abilities before executing the task first.”

Firmly, she added: “I know it is all easier said than done, but I promise you, the hardest opponent to overcome is yourself. Keep going until the end and only then begin the new journey ahead.”