When you’re trying to become a doctor, you may be wondering how to build confidence throughout medical school. It’s a weird dynamic because medical school sort of beats you down as you go along. But then you’re expected to go out into residency interviews and be the most confident version of yourself. So, as you go along the way, you have to find ways to pump yourself up so when you enter fourth year, you’re doing it feeling like the most qualified candidate out there.
If you’re a naturally confident person, then this process may not be as difficult. However, even the most confident of people can struggle with insecurities and self-doubt. When I first began medical school, I deferred a lot to my classmates, felt insecure about questions, and had to calm my nerves before every exam. I can’t even tell you the number of exams I did worse on because I changed my answers from right to wrong.
However, now entering my fourth year, I feel great about the applicant I’ll be. I know I don’t have the most excellent academic portfolio. I know that I don’t have the most number of publications. However, the things I have accomplished and the value I know I can bring to a program. And that is a product of building up my confidence over the past three years. Continue reading to learn things you can do through medical school to boost your confidence along the way.
Create your brand
When you’re figuring out how to build confidence throughout medical school, it’s important to create your brand. I truly mean this in a marketing fashion. Applying to residencies is mostly about fit. How well will you mesh with the other residents and meet the objectives of the program are important. Therefore, when you’re filling out applications and interviewing, you can find programs whose goals and objectives match your brand. It’s easier to sell yourself as a great asset when those two things align.
Creating your brand doesn’t mean that you are becoming a fictitious person. That is impossible to sustain. It means ensuring the applicant you want to be is evident through the activities your pursued throughout medical school. For example, if your brand is a service-oriented person, then you’ll have community service and service-oriented research projects. If your brand is academic excellence, then your transcript needs to have excellent grades, high test scores, and scholarly activity. Think about what is important to you, pursue those activities, and apply with that brand or identity.
Identify your weaknesses and improve them
It’s hard to be confident when there are areas where you are just weak. For me, I struggled with classwork and academics. I wanted to be a doctor for the patient-physician relationship, not necessarily the vast amount of information to learn. Although it’s be interesting learning how the body works, when you’re forced to learn the basics of microbiology and biochemistry, it gets a little harder to be engaged.
Therefore, that was a weakness that I had to address. I know that I shy away from learning hard things. But once I learn something and can apply it to a problem, then there’s a sense of pride that I have. It reminds me that if I just take the time, even though it’s hard, I can learn anything. Once I hit subjects or characteristics that need work, I dive into them instead of running away.
Just watching yourself improve over the course of is a great way to build confidence throughout medical school. It helps you enter interview season with the ability to prove your ability to grow. Resilience and overcoming adversity are big sellers for some programs. And that can only be done if you face your hardships, create a plan, and see it through.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
There is a lot of pride in medical education, from physicians to students. Therefore, it can be hard to ask for help. This is especially true when you are used to excelling academically, as most medical students are. Medical school is a different beast. There is so much material and so little time, with such high expectations of mastery. It can be hard to do it all alone.
Therefore, if you want to learn how to build confidence throughout medical school, it’s imperative that you be okay with asking for help. Physicians are lifelong learners, meaning there is an expectation of continuous improvement. Sometimes, in order for this to happen, you will need help. It doesn’t reflect negatively on you. It shows a sense of vulnerability and humility that is important for a physician. You don’t know everything, and there is always going to be someone who can teach you, including your patients. Learning to feel okay with letting others teach you is monumental towards your success.
Find ways to quell your anxieties
Another tip for how to build confidence throughout medical school is to learn what your anxieties are and how to quell them. Those anxieties can take away from how good you feel about the work that you’re doing. Do you feel anxious about exams? How do you respond when you’re overwhelmed? Are there aspects of working on a healthcare team that intimidate you? What is it that makes you feel uneasy.
Once you reflect on those anxieties, think about why they make you anxious. For example, if tough attendings make you feel uneasy, is it because you never feel prepared for the questions they ask you? If so, are you able to do a bit more preparation; reading on the case beforehand, or learning about proper treatments and management for a good conversation. If exams make you nervous, then what aspects of your studying do you need to improve?
Self-reflection will help you learn some coping mechanisms so you can remove anything that takes away from your ability to feel the most confident.
Surround yourself with positive energy
Medical school has a tendency to be a nidus for negativity. I don’t think it’s intentional, but just a product of putting several burned out high-achievers in an environment that isn’t inherently supportive all the time. So, when you are in those spaces, it’s so easy to absorb the doubt, negativity, and insecurities. Even faculty and advisors have a tendency to play things on the safe side, which can come off as them not believing in you.
All of these factors can make it really hard to have confidence. Groupthink is a serious problem and something you have to uncouple yourself from. It’s easier to do this when you have people to confide in outside of medical school. Also, if you can find some similar friends or allies in your school to keep your spirits up, then you can tune out the negativity. It’s hard enough to make it through medical school, but trying to do it when you believe that everything is horrible makes it that much tougher. Surround yourself with people who acknowledge things are hard, but actively find ways to make their experience as positive as possible.
Develop a growth-mindset
Growth-mindset is a term used in the psychology field which basically embraces change and development. When you’re a type-A, neurotic, person, you usually have a plan from which you don’t want to deviate. But mishaps, setbacks, and failures happen which can all derail your plans. Embracing a growth-mindset means you accept things are going to be hard, but your determination to overcome those hardships is stronger.
This way of viewing challenges helps you avoid sentiments of defeat. There is always a way to get to your end goal, even if that means getting there in a way that you didn’t suspect. You just have to be willing to accept that challenge, and view it as an opportunity to learn something, improve a skill, or gain something positive from it.
Key Takeaways
Learning how to build confidence in medical school can be hard, but is essential for a strong application season. Confidence, balanced with humility, will show that you are proud of the work you’ve done, but are open and inviting to new experiences. If you have any other tips, please share them below. But just know that believing you can become a physician is most of the battle. Taking the steps to make that dream come true will follow along.