Preparing for MS1 year

Last updated: July 2024

What I Wish I Knew before starting MS1 year:

What should I do to prepare for med school?

Apart from finding housing and finalizing your move…nothing! Take a break, enjoy time with friends and family. You deserve it—you’ve worked so hard to get here! No need to study. Med school will be a tiring (but rewarding) experience so enjoy the time off while you have it.

Okay, but I still want to prepare for med school...anything I can do?

Here are some suggestions (definitely not required) if you’re the type that likes to prepare

  • Explore how you’d like to take notes in medical school. Most people tend to go fully digital. This can be a good time to think about what technology you want to use. Perhaps it’s time to invest in an iPad or new laptop; try out Notability, explore how to use Anki. If you’ve never used Anki before, that’s totally okay, you can check out this intro video to see what the hype is about. Some UCSF students swear by Anki, others never use it through med school, some adopt it during STEP 1 studying. Either way, would recommend at least learning about what it is and deciding if it is right for you.

  • Read Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carole Dweck, PhD. Important to have a growth mindset for med school and beyond. See this page for other great suggestions

  • Figure out how to cook! There are no dining halls at UCSF! For some, med school may be the first time you have to cook for yourself!

  • Figure out your self-care routine: what fills your cup? what do you do to de-stress? will you have access to that in SF and if not, what can you replace that with? It’s really important to find a hobby outside of medical school.

  • Again, no need to study. But if you’re truly bored-out-of-your mind, the first month of medical school is mostly musculoskeletal anatomy and physiology (think major bones, muscles, nerves, vessels) if you wanted to preview ahead. Though most people would truly recommend against studying.

  • If you’d like, you can review the academic calendar for the upcoming year. The calendar for 2024/2025 can be found right here! You can also look ahead at the 2024/2025 exam schedule that will give you the dates of all your exams for the entirety of MS1 year to help you plan travel and other important life outside of school.

What supplies do I need?

Your first year, a stethoscope and laptop (you can find a link to the IT requirements for UCSF students here!) are all that you really need. Clothing-wise, it’s good to have 1-2 business casual/professional outfits for when you have clinic days (or depending on your CMC setting). Also a formal outfit is good to have (for white coat ceremony or in case you go to a conference). There are some textbooks etc. that will be sent out during the summer - these are optional, as you will be provided with “readers” for each unit that will contain necessary content should you need it.

Pen light, reflex hammer, tuning fork realistically will not be used until your second year. UCSF will give you scrub access so those are not necessary either unless you want your own!