Blueprint Med School Blog (formerly Cram Fighter & Med School Tutors)

The blog for Blueprint Medical, supporting your MedEd journey with our exam study planner, tutoring, residency consulting, and advanced boards.

Finding Your Calling: A Guide to Choosing a Specialty Beyond Competition

I did everything they told me to do. The brilliant, high-achieving upperclassmen who were matching into competitive specialties because of their sky-high USMLE scores had given me the non-secret of how to ace boards. Turns out, it was the same guidance that any “How to score high on USMLE Step 1” Google search would have

Sep 07, 2023

7 Secrets to Success I Learned from My Greatest Med School Mentor

Someone who comes to mind when I ask myself “What does it mean to succeed in medicine?” is one of my medical school mentors, Dr. E. His work ethic and throughput were so astonishing that he has been the subject of many a blog post that I’ve written. During our years together, I learned how

Jun 15, 2023

The Importance of Being a Lifelong Learner in Medicine

The field of medicine is one that is constantly evolving and changing. From new technologies to advancements in treatment options, future physicians must continuously stay up-to-date to provide the best care for their patients. This means not being satisfied with simply completing your formal education, but instead seeking out new information and skills to improve

Feb 06, 2023

The Best Piece of Medical School Advice I’ve Ever Received

Even for the most stellar students, medical school can feel overwhelming. From figuratively running through Anki flashcards between lectures to literally running through clinical shifts, succeeding in med school often means having to juggle many tasks at once. Fortunately, there are countless students who’ve completed the same journey you’re now on—like me. And from one

Aug 30, 2022

What Really Matters in Medicine?

The writing is on the wall. Though most things in this field happen slowly, there is a noticeable trend away from test scores and towards empathy and humanism in medicine. With burnout consuming the field in addition to a staffing crisis, it only makes sense that some of these “softer” skills become more important. When

Jul 19, 2022

Are We Obligated to be Cordial in Medicine?

It was a day like any other in “the heart room.” I was a relatively newly minted attending anesthesiologist, inducing a patient with some level of mitral stenosis. The echo read “atrial mass causing pseudo-mitral stenosis.” Sounded innocuous. Rather than exercise a “trust, but verify” mindset by double checking the echo images with my own

Jul 07, 2022

Don’t Miss Out On This Powerful Medical School Lesson

I’m struggling. When caring for a morbidly obese, dialysis-dependent cancer patient, nothing comes easy. Especially IV access. Despite being on peritoneal dialysis, affording us the use of both arms, I’m getting nowhere. I’ve got 2 blown IVs, one in each arm, and the one that he came in with from the floor is not functional

Jun 21, 2022

Medical School – Is Now the Right Time for Me?

Nowadays, the “nontraditional” medical school matriculant is almost the rule, more than the exception. Whether one jumps straight from college to medical school, takes an accelerated BA/MD, or takes a decade off in between for a career switch, the decision to go to medical school is a weighty one. Every doctor had to make it

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