Author: Rachel

The intense lifestyle of doctors is not an unknown fact. The unsociable hours, the emotional drain, and the constant pressure of handling a human life, is not a hidden secret, but one that separates those that are in it for the wealth, and those that have passion driving them for the long haul.

Whenever referring to certain missed social or extracurricular events due to assignments or full teaching weeks, the hashtag #mediclife is often dropped into instagram or snapchat photos of late-night studying sessions.

For this week, I thought that it would be a good idea to give a brief overview of what life as a pre-clinical medical student is like at King’s, and what an average week would consist of.

We receive approximately 10 lecture-teachings a week, with 3 to 4 sessions of focused teaching that can be based in the dissection lab, the clinical skills centres, or just a classroom-based tutorial.

                                                             On any average day, lectures usually start at 9am, averaging 3-4 hours of lecture teachings a day, with one tutorial or dissection lab to complete. I am usually home around 6-7pm after a few hours in the library, and I then go off for a quick jog or attend one of the fitness sessions offered by many of the societies, and end with a nice dinner.

With 35 societies alone dedicated to students with degrees related to the health profession, events will come up at least once a week. I am currently the Publicity and Campaigns Officer for the King’s College London Friends of MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres – Doctors without Borders), meaning I would spent approximately 2-3 hours a week on average designing posters, creating Facebook events or updating social media accounts.

Certain weekends allow a day off to explore the city of London. Just this past Saturday, a friend and I managed to drop by the Natural History Museum, revising our human biology on the way. Otherwise, the library on a Sunday evening becomes busy again with people meeting Monday deadlines.

#MedicLife may be used to describe the days when timetabling has created exhaustive days, but life as a medical student is not as intense as the 4am study nights that some may exaggerate to be. Life as a university student alone, requires a lot more self-discipline and self-motivated independent learning, but with the right balance between work and play, good time management skills will allow anyone to make the most out of their studies here in London.