USMLE Isolation? You Are NOT Alone

  • /Reviewed by: Amy Rontal, MD
  • (Even Batman felt like this while studying for his USMLE.)

    Studying for the USMLE can feel like an exercise in social isolation.

    Even for those (especially for those?) of us who live amongst our medical school classmates, which in theory ought to be less isolating, the whole process seems to reward those who either hermit up or awkwardly dodge the 500 pound elephant in the room  that we’re studying for the most important exam we will have taken to date.

    The truth of this  that we are spending 10-12 hours a day preparing for an extremely important exam  is enough to drive anyone crazy. But there seems to be something about the human condition that fosters a deeper and more troublesome tendency to drive itself further into oblivion by insisting to itself that it is completely alone during difficult times.

    I want to take a moment to tell you that you are not alone in this.
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