Student Doc 101: Your Guide to Thriving in Med School
Hosted by Michael Stinnett, Student Doc 101 provides a high-level briefing on the academic architecture and strategic vision behind the NYITCOM Arkansas State partnership. Featuring deans and lead faculty, the series offers an "under-the-hood" look at how a world-class medical curriculum is designed to solve the physician shortage in the Mid-South. This is the definitive source for institutional credibility, proving how the convergence of academic rigor and regional impact creates an elite pipeline for the future of healthcare.
Student Doc 101: Your Guide to Thriving in Med School
Identifying the Invisible Challenges of Training in Medical School
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Medical school moves so fast that “working harder” can quietly become the thing that breaks you. We sit down with Dr. Tracy Owens (Assistant Dean of Academic Achievement), Dr. Scott Henson (Director of Academic Achievement), and Stephanie Foster (medical education learning specialist) to talk about what thriving actually looks like when the volume is massive, the pace is relentless, and you’re expected to think like a doctor from day one.
We also clear up the questions students keep asking about osteopathic medicine. We explain what the DO pathway means, how DO and MD training align for residency, and what’s distinct about a holistic, whole-person approach including the additional hands-on hours in Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine (OMM). If you’re choosing between programs or trying to understand “DO vs MD,” you’ll leave with clearer language and a better feel for fit.
From there, we get practical about preparation and performance: which undergrad courses help most, how nonfiction reading builds the skill of handling long board-style exams, and why spaced repetition beats cramming every time. We talk routines that protect your brain, including sleep and exercise, plus what academic coaching looks like in real life: building schedules, managing unstructured time, doing multiple passes, and learning how to read questions, catch distractors, and close knowledge gaps early.
We also name the invisible challenges students don’t expect: imposter syndrome, self-regulation, and the “algorithm lie” that pushes you to buy resources you may not need. If you want a smarter plan and a calmer path through medical school, hit play, then subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave us a review. What’s the biggest challenge you’re trying to solve before day one?
Welcome And Guest Backgrounds
SPEAKER_02So, welcome to Student Doc 101. I'm Michael Stonett, and we're so glad to have you with us on this show where we go inside the medical school to show you a behind-the-scenes look of what it looks like. What does it take to be successful on this journey? And today, we're proving that while the path to becoming a physician is long and hard, you can still be strategic and you can still flourish. And to help you understand how to do that, I have these three guests with me today. We have Dr. Tracy Owens, she's the Assistant Dean of Academic Achievement at NYITCOM at Arkansas State University. We have Dr. Scott Henson, he is the Director of Academic Achievement at NYITCOM at Arkansas State University. And we have Stephanie Foster, she's a medical education learning specialist who works with me as another medical education learning specialist. So let's dive into the show and let's talk about how can students learn to thrive in medical school. Is everybody ready? We're ready. Awesome, great. Thanks so much for being here today. This is gonna be fun. So right now we're gonna do some quick background checks. So, Dr. Tracy Owens, tell us a little bit about you, what got you into medical education, and then we'll go, Scott and Stephanie.
SPEAKER_01Sure, thanks for having us on today. Um, I am from the state of Arkansas, always been in the state of Arkansas, love Arkansas State University in this area. And what brought me to being here in medical education after a long history of being in public education was just realizing that um what we need here in this area is more physicians. And so being able to be a part of this and to help medical students in their journey has just been a real pleasure.
SPEAKER_03Oh, fantastic. Scott, how'd you wind up over here? So I'm originally from this area as well. And uh started out in teaching, and then I went into coaching in career services, and then I transferred to academic coaching at NYIT because I like the field of coaching. And so you get to work with the students, you get to help them succeed in a very rich way that is um rewarding. And also, as Dr. Owen said, uh, we need physicians in this area, so this is a way to make this uh community better. Yeah, Stephanie.
SPEAKER_00Um, I am a graduate from A State. I um graduated from there, moved to Texas, and I was an elementary teacher for eight years. And then after getting my master's, I decided to come back to the area. And my master's is in educational technology. So that's originally what got me started at NYIT Calm. Um, but I love that I'm able to combine what I loved about the elementary school and connecting students with their learning, but also with my master's degree. And so just like what they said, we're trying to help the uh people who want to stay here and become physicians here and help them grow and become better.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I love it. I love that you all have a little bit different angle to get into medical education. So that's pretty neat.
What Osteopathic Medicine Means
SPEAKER_02So NYIT com, the it's a lot, and the some people will think that the com means college of medicine, and sometimes it does, but we know that NYIT COM, it's college of osteopathic medicine. So what is osteopathic medicine?
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm happy to start answering that question.
SPEAKER_02Go for it.
SPEAKER_01I knew nothing. I'm famous for saying this. I really, full disclosure, did not know a lot about osteopathic medicine. But I am thrilled to know more about it now. And I love the fact that the tenet, the basic tenets of osteopathic medicine is that the body is always trying to get back to its own state of healing. And there is a real um, the three things that we hear a lot of people talk about is the mind, body, and spirit all working together to bring about that state of healing. Osteopathic students are trained just like their allopathic counterparts. But the difference that we see a lot in the curriculum is is that tenant, that mind, body, spirit, and then also the extra hours that a student will spend in the OMM lab, the osteopathic manipulative medicine lab, an extra 100 hours of training just thinking about the body and how the body works.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's so neat. There's a there's a great story that we heard just yesterday of uh someone who had some shoulder pain and went to see an osteopathic physician, and the physician essentially just used his thumb to make the shoulder pain go away. No medicine needed, just a little bit of a thumb in the shoulder. And that's the really neat thing. So maybe you're wondering like M D is medical doctor, DO is doctor of osteopathy, right? And so when you see DO, that's a doctor who has been trained in the mind, body, and spirit application of medical treatment. And so it's really, really neat. Thanks for telling us a little bit about that. Something to add?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well, also add the um holistic nature of the DO program. Like, for example, my uh family physician is a DO doctor, and he always asked about the factors in my life. Like it's you can tell that he is concerned with the environment and the other life factors that are associated to see what is the root cause of what's going on. So I think that's really important because it's not just where's the ailment and then what medicine to take. It's more um about the full person. And so I think there's a real osteopathic, holistic, humanist side of the DO school that I think is really special. That's great.
SPEAKER_00Um, also the NDs and DOs have the same path or can have the same path for residency, true, fellowship, anything you're wanting to do. Um, you probably don't realize that you've met DOs, had DOs in your clinics or hospitals that you've been to. They are one and the same. The only difference is that on top of all the um normal body systems and everything that MDs also do is the additional hours for the OMN.
SPEAKER_02We great.
Why NYITCOM Chose The Delta
SPEAKER_02So what is the kind of purpose or the mission, or maybe we just the reason that NYIT COM chose this region, Arkansas State University specifically?
SPEAKER_03So um, well, NYIT COM, its school is in Long Island, New York, and they planted a um campus, a site of NYITCOM on Arkansas State University's campus to help with this region, the Delta region. So there's a physician shortage here, as in many rural areas of the country. And uh they established this school so that physicians, people students from here could become physicians and then also do their residency and practice um their medical career locally, so they can improve the wellness of the Delta region primarily.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02Have you heard like there's some type of statistic out there, right? And so we don't have to get exact, but like the number of students who are they train for medicine in a region, and then they practice residency in a region, and then they go back to practice in that region. And so, like, doesn't it seem like maybe if we put a school in the Delta, then students from the Delta would be more likely to practice in the Delta? Is that accurate or am I just making stuff up?
SPEAKER_01That's really accurate. It's very accurate. Um, I can't remember the actual statistic.
SPEAKER_02Let's call it like 110%.
SPEAKER_00It's not what it is. It was very 90, 90 something percent.
SPEAKER_02It's really high, right? Okay.
SPEAKER_01And one of the things I think that I know that I'm most proud of, um, having been here from the very beginning, is seeing students who went to Arkansas State University, they go to medical school here, and now they're in some of the residency programs that are are here locally. So they've done it all right here. And that's been, I think too, having come from a public school education, knowing that we are able to help students locally who might have not ever thought that they had the opportunity to go to actually fulfill that dream and to go back into their communities has been really, really, really rewarding.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I can speak firsthand to that because I was a teacher in this region and I have now had several of my former students from ninth grade English come through and finish, and one of them is already practicing uh medicine. And that's just it's so neat to get to see that because I'm like, I remember when we did mythology together. All right, look at that. That's super neat. All right, so that was introduction, that was background.
Preparing Before Medical School Starts
SPEAKER_02Let's dive in now to some of the questions. So if you're listening to the show right now and you're like, all right, let's get to it, here we go. All right, so point one is essentially this idea that med school is fast. Adapting to the volume and the velocity of medical education is a challenge. So, what I would like to ask, what can students do now before they get here to be more ready on day one? Is there anything students can do? What do you think?
SPEAKER_01We get that question a lot. You guys go first.
SPEAKER_03Um, well, I would start with just the courses that you're in now, the basic science courses in your undergraduate or master's degree. Um, of course, take them very seriously, but just remember that you're learning this for long-term attention. So you really want to understand the foundations, the basics, so that when you get to medical school, you you don't have to go back all the way to the basics. You can kind of hit the ground running better. Um, so I think that's very important. Take those upper level classes, those basic and biomedical science classes um very seriously. Learn all you can.
SPEAKER_00And also, if there's any kind of electives, like if you have the room and the ability to add on like anatomy or other courses that may not be required for you, doing that if you are even thinking about possibly going to med school. Biokin and micro is what I was thinking too. So many of our students get here and it's the first time they've ever been exposed to those kind of lectures, the anatomy environment, all the things. And that is one of the top things they say is that they wish they would have had more in undergrad.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I heard a student say, um, I think it was a session we did last month, that everything they learned in their undergrad biochem course was week one of biochemistry. It's like your entire semester course was done in our first week of biochemistry. And so it's like, yeah, you're gonna have to dig in or right there and so get some roots. And uh some of you are probably in gap years right now, too. Like they're done with their undergraduate work. So it's like, okay, well, then don't be done learning just because you're done with undergrad. That would be something I would add to there. And there are some ways that you can keep learning. What are some of those ways?
SPEAKER_01So I'm gonna be, I'm gonna go way back old school. But I know that we have, you know, my grandson, my granddaughter, they love videos, they love watching um someone teach them something and things that are short. But there is so much that can be gleaned from actual textbook reading. Um, and you know, if you're planning to be a physician, understanding how the the brain processes, retains, recalls information. I mean, dig into the neuroscience of how the brain actually works, um, learning how to use nonfiction text, reading through that. But one of the best books that we've seen that really talks about how the brain processes and retains information is make it stick. And that's pretty famous. Y'all have some other ideas on those books. Um Grit is another guide.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I would I would say just um nonfiction reading, any reading, if you're a good reader and you learn how to um comprehend text, um, then that can be really helpful because you know, whether step one or level one boards, it's an eight or nine hour reading test. Not to scare you, but it's a lot of reading. And so it is, it is um, you can kind of switch it up in modalities with videos, um, but definitely dig into reading, and it's just a good way to read these texts about learning.
SPEAKER_01And, you know, you're gonna be exposed to words you've never heard before. Words, crazy words. Pharmacology has the most confounding words sometimes. They're gonna sound made up. They're gonna sound made up. Dinosaurs. Yeah, the dinosaurs. But if you're not if you have the ability to, you know, like decode words and that kind of thing, and you get that oddly enough, by just doing a whole lot of exposure to to reading, nonfiction reading specifically.
SPEAKER_03And that and that's something that we as academic coaches, medical education learning specialists, help you with too, while you're here. Like we help with study strategies and schedules, but also how to read a question, how to read a board-style question, how to process that information, how to eliminate answers, how to catch distractors. So we also help with that um during your med school time.
SPEAKER_02So one of the things you would say then is nonfiction reading, and some of that nonfiction reading, then try to make it about how we learn. How does the brain work? How does the brain retain information? Books like Make It Stick, uh, books, books like uh Learn Better, other books, uh Powerful Teaching, I think is one. And uh there are some uh really, really good books out there for learning. That's great.
SPEAKER_01And even uh Study Without Stress.
SPEAKER_02Study Without Stress is uh written by a medical education learning specialist who's been in medical education learning for over 20 years, and so lots of experience with it. So the reason that book is written, and grit was I'm glad you mentioned grit, uh Stephanie, because uh students often don't realize the amount of resilience they're going to need in order to get through med school because uh med school's tough. It's a lot. And so that's that's really great information. One of the things I would like to add is I always want to encourage students, uh, begin now building the habits that you're gonna wish you would have had. And so we're talking about nonfiction books. So let's talk about a couple of those books. There's Atomic Habits, there's Powerful, the Power of Habit, and then Tiny Habits. All three, pick one of those books and start building now the routines that are gonna lead to success. Because if you wait to build the routine until you find out that your routine is flawed, you're already behind. What sort of routines do you mean? I mean like get more sleep than you think you need. Right? Like go to bed earlier than you're used to and wake up earlier than you're used to so that you're ready to go by eight o'clock in the morning, every morning. Yeah. Um, just got done meeting with a student who actually starts her day at 6 a.m. every day. And I'm like, that's fantastic during dedicated for board study. I'm like, maybe we start that at seven just so that you're ready for test at the right time. But the reality is if you learn to be uncomfortable and be okay. So just build those habits that sustain you through that, right?
SPEAKER_03And so one of those would be sleep. I think sleep's one, I think exercise is another, whatever that means to you, whether it's walking or the gym or a physical hobby, like those are very important because if you do that now, great, you don't want to stop once you get here in medical school. Right. If you're not doing anything like that now, you should start because it'll help you be healthier, help your brain work better, and help you um have more resilience when times get challenging. Oh, that's good.
SPEAKER_02And I think that's gonna be one of the challenges, though, right? And we'll we can talk about that later, or we'll dive into it real quick, is uh students will often forego self-care because the volume and velocity of med school is so intense that they feel like they need all of the time for learning, and then they don't realize how the brain works because they didn't read the nonfiction text before they got here, and so they don't know that sleeping and exercise are actually really, really good for the brain to build long-term memory.
SPEAKER_00Or how cramming is not good. Yeah, you may have done that all in undergrad. I mean, shoot, I did too, but that kind of stuff doesn't work, so you have to completely reframe everything.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, cramming gets you A's whenever your course is not medical school difficult. Right.
SPEAKER_01It's because cramming doesn't work because everything builds on itself. I mean, everything that you do in August of year one, you're still going to be going back to that in year four and into your residency program.
SPEAKER_02All right, so there we talked about the volume and velocity. Sounds like start reading some difficult stuff, do really well in the courses right now if you're still in school. If you're not in school, go through some medical terminology courses or something like that. Could all be beneficial.
Support Systems And Study Planning
SPEAKER_02So now let's talk about the students that are here. Once you get into medical school, it's one thing to get in, and it is another thing to flourish while you are in. So, Dr. Owens, how do you or your team kind of build that support structure for students?
SPEAKER_01So happy to have this wonderful team. You guys are so great. You really are. I couldn't ask for more better people to work with. But, you know, through our conversations and having worked with hundreds now of students that have gone through this program, sat in these halls, I think that we've been able to recognize and also looking at the science of learning, what are the things that we need to do? What are some things that we can do to help with those pain points? So starting early. So even now we're reaching out to the incoming class, um, and then being able to have like moments like this to talk about the things that they need to do. We develop other programs during orientation, even before you start orientation, where it's kind of an intensive but yet relaxed um way of just kind of getting your feet wet, helping you to um take a look at your schedule, what are the resources that come with your tuition dollars? How can you best leverage those things?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's great. That's great.
SPEAKER_03You have anything that you would want to add on how we support students? Yeah.
unknownSure.
SPEAKER_03Sure. All right. So there's a lot of unstructured time in medical school. Um, but it's meant for you to be able to go back over your lectures, take practice questions, um, get multiple passes at the material. Because as Dr. Owen said, when you're cramming for a test, A, there's too much information to cram for. But even if you were able to cram at the last minute and not study in a spaced repetition uh method, then you will forget the material because it will go in your short-term memory. But if you space it out and see things every day, and that's what we help with to make sure that you are maximizing your long-term retention with your study plan. So there's unstructured time meant for you to prepare for the test or the labs so that it lasts for the entire medical school. After medical school, you go to residency and it just keeps building on itself.
SPEAKER_01And I'll I'll pee back on that too, and say that medical education and medical knowledge is is really different, I think, in that it requires you to day one start thinking like a doctor. You know, you really have to start having those critical thinking skills, the ability to analyze information, synthesize that, and then apply it. And those are things that we do when she says stuff.
SPEAKER_00Um, and there's there's so many things to learn just in medical school, but then there's so many terms that day one we start using like the term passes. I don't know how many times I've tried to define to students like what a pass is. And so that's part of what our job is is helping you navigate through all the other things while you handle the studying. Um, so we're there to help you with schedules, we're there to help you with time management. And um we have tutoring and mentors and all sorts of different resources available. And so we try and give you as much as you possibly can use um to help you be successful to get where you want to be and to maintain that work-life balance.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. You know, we know that you can't study 24 hours a day through 65. No, I call that Grace Anatomy Medical School. You can't be on that train. You have to, and I think this goes back to the student who's successfully getting up and and hitting it at 6 a.m. and and has a good daytime, you know, work ethic. If they'll if you can do it during the day and let us help you when things start to go awry or you feel overwhelmed, then you know, you can at the end of the day have dinner with your family or or just take some time off watching a Graves Anatomy show if you want to.
SPEAKER_02Or the pit.
SPEAKER_01Or the pit. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Get it. Um and one of the things I think that we do when we're trying to support medical students, right? And you're listening to this show, it's because you're thinking about being a medical student, you're already applying to medical schools. Maybe you're already coming to NYITCOM. Hi, we're excited. But one of the things that we also get to do is when we're coaching with these students, right, is we help them to identify what belief systems there they may be having that are leading to particular behaviors, right? And so let me walk you through what happened today. This happened today. I had a student who was like struggling in different areas, and there was a fear of failure attached. And so I was like, okay, great. Now that we've named the fear, let's talk about what are you believing is going to help you overcome that fear. And the way that I worded this was a little wonky at first, but we got there. So here, bear with me, okay? Is I asked, um, what is the lie that you might be believing to try to overcome that fear? And she just stop for a second. It's not, I guess that if I work harder, that I'll do better. And I asked, I was like, so is that working? No. Like, and so the lie that if you just work harder, if you just do more, this student got three hours of sleep the night before the test, didn't work. This student gets about four hours of sleep most nights and never takes a day off. Why? I have to work harder, I have to work more. And so we identified that. And then I asked this question and I said, okay, so that's the lie that you're trying to overcome this fear with. I said, What is the truth that if you leaned into this truth, that it might help you overcome that fear? I had to think for a little bit. Well, maybe I I need to work differently and I need to get better sleep. And I need to realize that the things that I'm doing might be creating the fear.
SPEAKER_01And it's like, oh, there it is.
SPEAKER_02The lie that we believe will defeat the fear is actually feeding the fear. And we get to help students with that. Like, that's the thing people don't think about. It's like, oh, you're just an academic advisor. Like, no, no, there's so much more here because we're helping you identify the root causes of some of these challenges. And that's why it's so important to get people on your team as a med student. We get to meet with the students who are scoring in the 99th percentile, too. It's some of my favorite times. We also meet with the students who are in the one percentile because everyone needs some people to walk with them through this journey.
SPEAKER_01And I I love that. And I'm and I love it when we have those moments and knowing that, you know, it sounds trite, you know, the work's smarter, not harder. But when I say we've worked with hundreds of students, I really mean that. We have worked with hundreds of students and to be able to collectively keep their stories, to keep the things that have been of benefit to them and to just share them with the next generation of students is is really what we're about. And I I kid Mike because he uses the word optimize, but we really are the optimization team.
SPEAKER_02If you want to optimize med school, come see one of us, okay? Because there are lots of people trying to survive, and we're here to help you thrive. It's in the name. All right, so let's move into point two, or we're never gonna get through all of this.
Invisible Challenges Students Miss
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much. If you're still with us, it's good for you. There are lots of challenges in medical school. We've talked about some of them, so this one might be pretty quick. What are some of the potential invisible challenges, though? People know it's hard. What do people not know?
SPEAKER_01Okay. I think go ahead.
SPEAKER_02How about this? So, of the challenge here, I'm gonna throw a few out and you just tell me what you're seeing. Okay. So, do you think that students are more like overwhelmed by the volume of the content, or they're more um, more at risk of difficulty when they don't know how to critically think?
SPEAKER_03I have so I had one student uh when I first started, she would say that it's not the it's not that the content's too difficult, it's how to organize all of it. And what she meant was, you know, it's it's it's vast and fast, but also organizing it in such a way where you can get it done, still be able to unwind and be able to remember it long term. So that's what that's one of the things that we help with is organizing all the material, the resources, uh, the content. Um, I think that is that is hard. It's hard to know if you um if you haven't, maybe you've maybe you've been an athlete and you've had to organize a lot of your time. I mean, that can be helpful. School with activities can helpful be helpful, but being able to organize things is is very helpful. But and I mean people do that in different ways, but that's one of the ways that we help by creating personalized um schedules for students. Being able to organize all the things that you have to do in a day while at the same time, self-care.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think a lot of people are overwhelmed with um like they come into med school, they know it's gonna be hard, but I don't think they realize what aspects of it are hard until they actually are in it. Because not only is the content hard, but the volume of it's hard. Like um you may have been used to an undergrad having four or five classes a week, and you're seeing the same faculty over and over over the course of the semester. Whereas here you might see a 10 to 15 different faculty between lectures and labs in a single week. And so um, having all those different types of teaching and the learning styles and just all sorts of different things, I don't think people are necessarily prepared for that. And so that's another thing we can help them with is how to navigate that and navigate the labs and where when am I supposed to study and all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_02So, really, the time energy management is one of the challenges that people don't foresee coming in. But what I hear you saying is that if we can get an early jump on that, right, then that challenge is no longer a challenge necessarily, and you're actually ahead of the game now because you have a plan for that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I'll add to that and say that I think one of the invisible challenges that students have is just being self-regulated. You know, we talked about the volume and you know, and and the difficulty and and all of those things that I think everybody's kind of aware of. And but then the extra time, this being self-regulated, you have to have that. You have to be able to have some self-discipline. But then also, I think one of the things that may hit students square in the face when they get here, because the average medical student is a high achiever. They've always been at the top of their class. But then they get here and for the very first time they may not be. Yeah. And suddenly this feeling of I shouldn't be here, the imposter syndrome shows up. And it's sometimes really difficult for students to let themselves off the hook if they don't know the answer first, or if if they don't know how to answer, or they don't want to answer with in a group. I mean, there's small group learning that happens here, small group sessions, and and being open to being wrong, and being open to question and to constantly try to say, how do I know this? Why do I know it? What's the evidence that I have here with me that lets me be sure of my answer? I mean, it's a lot of debate and defend, it feels like to me.
SPEAKER_03Right. And I think um framing challenges in certain ways, for example, if you take a practice test and you don't score very well on it, that identifies your gaps. That's a good thing. You close the gap. Yes. And you identify gap and you close the gap until you get to your, you know, your actual test. So I think that's that's a big name of the game is identifying gap, close the gap. Um, and you know, it's it's okay to uh start out not knowing everything. And that's the way, you know, in a block before you take your test, there's usually four weeks. Well, the first week, you're not gonna be doing great. You're just building the basics. Yeah. But you still need to be okay with that so that it does come together over the course of the four weeks.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's like test yourself so that on test day is not the first time that you realized you had a gap. Like that's that's so scary. You know, like sitting at a test for the first time, I mean, like you read a question, you're like, I've never heard seven of these words. Like, test yourself often so that you can't identify those gaps. And it came back to me. One of the challenges that I think students are struggling with, and this is really good for those of you who are considering medical school, is the lie of your algorithm. Listen, you're gonna go into the Reddit world, and this one person is gonna tell you the panacea, as Dr. Owens likes to say. They're gonna give you what worked for them, or they're just gonna give you what they think worked for them. You're gonna hear one person's take, or on your algorithm, someone trying to make money from you is going to try to convince you to purchase their product. And you're going to potentially become over become overwhelmed with the various resource options. So, one of the ways that we try to help students avoid that, right, is that we have invested a significant amount of money in resources for our students so that our students don't have to spend money on other resources to be successful. So I want you to hear this, okay, everyone? We have students every year who are very successful and they don't spend a dime on an outside resource. It's beautiful. And so just remember this people in the algorithm, those marketers, they're trying to make you pay them for something. They're invested in you paying them. We are invested in your success because when you succeed, our school succeeds. So we don't need all of the things that these marketers are trying to do. We need you.
SPEAKER_01And your future patients.
SPEAKER_02Your future patients are depending on you.
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_02And so it's so important. That challenge is out there. I see students all the time come to us. They're asking us already from the incoming class, what do I need to buy? What resources should I have? Should I get this or this? And I'm like, none of it. Come to us, use the things that we have for you because it's going to save you a ton of money and a ton of time. All right, so those are potential challenges. We're going to wrap this up in a couple of ways.
Traits That Help You Finish
SPEAKER_02First, each of you gets to make one statement about what it, what do you need? What is a trait that you need to make it through medical school and become a doctor? Just one. No, pick one, right? Just say, okay, if I've got this. Now we're not saying this one will get you through. We're just saying these are some of the things that we've seen from students who are successful.
SPEAKER_01Be willing to make change. I was going to say that. Oh, no. Oh, what would you offer?
SPEAKER_02Be like, oh no, no, stop the recording. We're going to say that one. We're all going to say it at the same time. Be willing to make change. Yeah. No, that's a great one. So be changeable, be adaptable. Be flexible. If what you're not, if what you're doing isn't working, change what you're doing.
SPEAKER_01You gotta let go of it.
SPEAKER_02Got to, because that's what you're gonna ask your patients to do.
SPEAKER_01It is.
SPEAKER_02Right?
SPEAKER_01Yep. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02All right. What about anything else?
SPEAKER_03Or is that it? Well, I would add uh be consistent in your plan and that you stick to your plan. But when things derail, you're able to bounce back and be willing to change it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I feel like you just added be willing to change to that one too. But you also took mine. I was gonna say be consistent. And so, man, we can say come up with another one.
SPEAKER_00I have another one. Okay, go. Okay. All right, Stephanie's got this. Be self-reflective because you're not gonna be able to make the changes or anything if you were like, oh no, everything's working fine. I'm doing great. So if you can be self-reflective of wow, am I really using my time efficiently? Am I really getting good sleep?
SPEAKER_03And yeah, and that's something that's hard to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03But that's also why people in all kinds of professions hire coaches, and we are your hired coach, a part of your curriculum to help you if you can't see the blind spot, to see if we can help you see it.
SPEAKER_02All right, and so that was the last question about that. Now, you've given us your key takeaway. We're gonna go ahead and say that was the key takeaway from each of you, right? Dr. Owens to say, be willing to change, be coachable, be adaptable. Scott, Dr. Henson over here, he's saying uh that you need to be consistent, get a good plan and stick to the plan. Like if you can't stick to the plan, you don't have a plan. Right. Right? And then you're saying be self-reflective, be honest about yourself. Is what you're doing working? If not, change what you're doing.
SPEAKER_00Reach out for help if you need to.
SPEAKER_02Reach out for help. Now let's have some fun.
Fun Picks And Final Advice
SPEAKER_00This wasn't fun.
SPEAKER_02All right, this wasn't fun yet. We're gonna have fun now because you know what these are the people who are going to help you all, the listeners, through medical school. So let's I want to learn a little bit about you. So, one question we're gonna try and ask something from all of our guests on this show is there a particular TV binge that you're into right now or a book series that you think everyone should read and go. Who wants to go first?
SPEAKER_00Okay, I mean the pit. I feel like any person that's watching that that's pre-med, they are probably watching the pit.
SPEAKER_02I feel like it just lumped a bunch of people in. Okay.
SPEAKER_00I mean But you're not wrong.
SPEAKER_02The pit's great, right? The pit, Scott, over here, the pit. She has that I did have to tell him. The pit is where Andy Dwyer fell in season one of Parks and Wreck. Some of you will get it. Thank you for watching. All right, so the pit. Great. Yeah. And Scott, yesterday you mentioned ER. Same, one of the same main characters. Same kind of wildly. I mean, it's a hospital. George Clooney, is he in it? He's not, but I'm sure that his name gets mentioned at some point. Okay. So okay, we're gonna let Scott come back and tell us about a TV show that he has watched before. And uh, Dr. Owens, anything TV show book, a binge?
SPEAKER_01Well, um, of course, I'm old and uh I don't have all the cool shows that they're watching, but I'm a terrible, I'm a I'm a real NPR nerd. So I like listen to NPR, like to listen to podcasts.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I like podcasts that my husband and I we love to watch a good Agatha Christie movie.
SPEAKER_02All right. Are there some murder mysteries in there somewhere? Yeah, she's like the queen of murder mysteries, right? So all right. I know you listen to some podcasts, so come on, give us your podcast. Um, no, I don't have any podcast either to tell about. He just sits and stares at the wall. Is there a Bruce Lee quote you would like to leave with us?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, be like water.
SPEAKER_02I knew it. I knew he was gonna say be like water.
SPEAKER_03Be flexible, be like water, be willing to change. Give yourself grace, be consistent.
SPEAKER_02Give yourself grace. I heard Simon Sinek say that today. I probably got it. It's so good. All right, so that was Student Doc 101, your guide to thriving in medical school. If you made it through the end of this show, you did yourself a favor, and we're so excited to get to see you on our campus. If you're not sure yet about what medical school you're going to attend, I think we know the one. So be sure that you check out NYIT Com at Arkansas State University. Thanks so much.