— Ehi Ebodaghe, Medical Student.
Medbud Solutions, January 2022
Hi, my name’s Ehi and I’ll be graduating from St. George’s University, in June of this year. St George’s is a medical school on the island of Grenada, in the West Indes. I myself learned most of what’s in this article from first-hand experience and I thought it may help to share some of what I thought were the most valuable things I discovered. If you’re the plan and prepare type and you’re going to a medical school far from home, this may be the piece for you.
CULTURE SHOCK
If you’re from anywhere that’s not in the Caribbean, Grenada will likely be a novelexperience for you. It’s a beautiful island with a population of about 100,000 people, a small but exceptionally friendly and lively community that is welcoming but can take some getting used to. For those that grew up in the Caribbean, I reckon it takes a little less adjusting. But SGU has a massive international community of countless nationalities and ethnicities. So, at the very least, you’re surrounded by plenty people who are as new to the island as you.
NOT KANSAS ANYMORE
The SGU MD program is a post-grad degree and treats you as such. Most students have an undergraduate and have work experience in the medical field. Others, like myself, took a different path and thus have very little exposure to the field. The curriculum requires you to be much more self-motivated and self-directed. You are given the information that you need to know but it is entirely your responsibility to make sure that you know that information like the back of your hand. Nobody is going to spoon-feed you anything and you won’t get help unless you acknowledge that you need it and ask for it. While this may sound terrifying at first, SGU is/was home to some of the smartest, most driven people I know. It’s necessary to have a certain tenacity to make it through and that’s why it produces some truly phenomenal doctors.
INFORMATION INFORMATION AND MORE INFORMATION.
I’m sure you’ve heard before that med school is difficult and there’s a mountain of information to learn. Well, I hate to break it to you but it’s not an exaggeration! Medicine is vast and seemingly endless in its breadth and depth; it’s virtually impossible to know everything. However, this is not to say you cannot do well and become a great doctor. It takes a while to get into it, especially if you’re not used to the way the university delivers information, but once you find your own way of studying, you’ll hit your stride. It’s all about finding the most efficient and effective way to process information. For some who are visual learners, diagrams, flow charts and colourful visuals can help. For others who are more auditory, listening to lectures multiple times and watching videos of others explaining may work best. It all depends on you. Take time to get to know which methods work best for you as early as possible, you’ll make life so much easier for yourself down the road.
FRIENDS OR FOES?
One of the things that took a while for me to adjust to was the class size. Coming from a small school where my graduating class was under 30 people who all knew each other by name to a cohort of hundreds of students was a big shift. It was overwhelming sitting in the lecture hall that first day, but you just have to remember that you and everyone else in that class are at the same place in your journey. You’ll all listen to the same lectures, attend the same small groups and labs and write the same exams. Make friends, join study groups, and get to know your small group members. Med school may be hard but it’s that much easier when you have people to struggle alongside you. It’s also an effective way to make sure you cover everything you need to. Your study group and friends can hold you accountable on your progress and help identify (and even fill in) any gaps in your knowledge. There are no extra points for doing it all by yourself, and I think there’s no better time than med school to learn how to function well in a team.
OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
Now although your education obviously takes priority, down time is so important. Nobody can function at their optimum level without rest and relaxation, and there is literally no better place to do that than the stunning island of Grenada. It’s home to arguably some of the most beautiful beaches in the world with bright white sands and clear blue waters. Lush greenery meets your eye basically wherever you look. Waterfalls, hiking trails, fish Fridays, there’s something for everyone on the island. It’s important to find the thing that helps you unwind. It would be such a shame to go to school in such a picturesque part of the world and spend the whole time studying. Make sure to make the most out of your experience
All of this said, everyone’s experience is bound to be different. You really get out what you put in. So go all in, learn as much as you can, find ways to stay motivated, and build in time to relax. The med school experience is really once in a lifetime, so enjoy it while you can!
About the author
ehi is a final year medical student from St George’s University, Grenada, West Indes.
outside of school, she likes to create makeup content, spend time at the beach and read.
she believes in making lemonade from life’s numerous lemons and would reflect that with her fun but informative blog post on the medbud log website.