For those who are thinking of med school as a future plan, this article is for you.

Certainty many of you have always dreamt of becoming a rich doctor who wears a white fancy blouse, saves people at the last moment, and gets a lot of respect. A real life super hero. But as an honest med student here, I want to clarify some things for you, away from all the fantasy created by TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Dr House.
First of all, to become that ‘superhero’, you have a super long path to pass: medical studies in Tunisia last at least 9 years. Let me tell you some facts about it.

• A medical student can’t have a healthy organized routine, simply because the time table changes every week and sometimes they change them again during the week. So your fun plans can’t be made early.
• The human body is very complicated, and that’s something you’ll realize seeing the amount of information a med student must memorize for one test; we need at least five full days to revise for a one hour test and of course, every detail you might ignore can solve an important part in the exam. So if you are a lazy person who thinks his intelligence is all he needs to pass, then med school is not for you.

• Dark circles will become a part of the person you see in the mirror every day, because sleeping is not always an option, specially during the exam period. So if you are a sloth, med school is not for you.
• Some of you may have heard of how med students have no life and all they do is study, but that’s not entirely true. We actually have a decent amount of free time, especially that attendance is not obligatory. Nevertheless, we have a two-month–long period per year that can be authentically called ‘pure mind torture’; a combination of stress, isolation, lack of sleep, deprivation of any human interaction (no exaggeration). So if your social life and psychological health are priorities in your life, then med school is not for you.
• If you want that path just for money and the respect, I’m sorry to tell you that med school is not a wise choice for you.

As an epilogue, I’d like to say that this is not an article to make you change your mind or to put down your dreams. But the beautiful aspects of medicine as an interesting scientific field and a noble job are already known, and the surprises a med student faces at the beginning aren’t pleasant ones. So it’s important to understand how things really are and decide whether your dream is worth all the sacrifices, or you just like the beautiful image in your mind. Good luck!