Admissions blog: a day in the life of a second-year MD student

The first two years of the four-year MD Program introduce the knowledge, skills and professional attitudes medical students need to develop throughout their careers. Students learn in a wide variety of educational and clinical settings. As Danny Mansour, a second-year MD student notes, “There’s so much breadth in terms of the teaching style that U of T offers. If you’re a person who needs someone to teach you the material, you are covered with the traditional didactic lectures. If you’re not that person and prefer to learn via small group learning, there’s case-based learning (CBL) as well.”

The first two years also allow students to explore their medical interests and get a feel for the different areas of medicine.

Like many students, Mansour has found that his initial thoughts on his areas of interest and specialization have shifted throughout the program. 

“I was initially interested in cardiac surgery and interventional cardiology because I enjoyed cardiovascular physiology when it was taught during my undergraduate classes, and I like working with my hands. I observed each a few times and the scope of practice wasn’t completely enticing me as much as I thought it would. Then, nearing the end of my first year in the MD Program, I was sitting in an ethics seminar that was being taught by a dermatology resident.  At the end of the session someone asked him what made him interested in the field. He mentioned that he was actually initially interested in cardiology and immediately my ears perked up; I decided to set up an observership to experience it for myself and I haven’t looked back since. I loved how quick-paced it was, the fact that there’s procedural work involved, it’s really visual, and you can get very quick/immediate gratification working with and treating your patients. Dermatology hit all the points that I had been looking for in the avenue between surgery and medicine. Seeing the breadth of conditions with crossovers in immunology, infectious disease, allergy, rheumatology, pathology and so much more not only made it so interesting but when combined with seeing the impact it had on a patient’s quality of life, both physically and emotionally…I think that’s what resonated with me the most.” 

What happens beyond the classroom also plays a significant part in the lives of MD students and provides opportunities to explore other areas of interest and develop friendships.

Mansour, for example, played an active role in this year’s Daffydil, the Faculty of Medicine’s annual musical which raises funds for cancer research.  He also represented his academy, Wightman-Berris, in the annual academy challenge.  More recently, he has been photographing fellow 1T8 students for the Humans of 1T8 – a project started by the 1T7 MD class. I’m a really visual person so it’s been a blast being involved as a photographer as well as getting to know my colleagues even more through interviewing them. “

Here, Mansour outlines his typical day as a second year MD student:

7:00 a.m. My alarm goes off. I sluggishly reach for my phone to turn it off and debate whether or not today is the day that I’ll actually immediately get out of bed and get my day going. The prospect of not needing to take a hurried shower, making a proper breakfast, and drinking some tea to decompress before my day starts is enticing. The prospect of another hour of sleep is, however, overwhelmingly more enticing and I set another alarm for 8:00 a.m. and let hurrying in the morning be future Danny’s problems.

8:00 a.m. My alarm rings for a second time and I decide, okay, time to ACTUALLY get up and get my day going. I take what most people would call a “long shower” (15 minutes), opt for some cereal instead of eggs because of time constraints, get dressed, slap on some sunscreen, and head out the door at 9:00 a.m.. Thanks to U of T time, I have exactly 10 minutes before the morning lecture starts and I power-walk it to campus while I decide what song will put me in the right mindset. Today, it’s Unstoppable by Sia.

9:10 a.m. I walk into class just as the lecturer is getting ready to start and go to my usual spot: left side of centre in the 4th row. It looks like this week we’ll be learning about Rheumatology; it’s nice to be learning something different almost every week because it keeps you interested and engaged. I start off strong taking proper notes for the first lecture, highlighting key words, holding on to every word that the lecturer is saying and copying it verbatim into my notes only to realize that what they said is already on the slide.

10:00 a.m. Time for a 10-minute break before the next lecture starts! I talk to my friends and ask about how their weekend was and we decide to go grab a quick coffee before the next lecture. We get back at 10:15 a.m. (a busy Starbucks line) but luckily the lecturer is still on the conflicts of interest slide. Not surprisingly, they have none. Second lecture of the day and this coffee was much needed as I begin to feel myself slipping and imagine it must be 11:00a.m. by now only to look at the clock and realize it’s 10:30a.m. I refocus, but ultimately decide I deserve a little break to browse Reddit.

11:00 a.m. Another break, some more socializing, and the coffee has finally kicked in! I’m back to taking proper notes and learning about all the different distributions and joint involvement in arthritis. “Hmm…that’s odd, that’s really similar to what mom has been descr-NO…although? Just make a mental note.” My stomach begins to growl and it looks like it’s lunchtime!

12:00 p.m. I make my way to the student lounge trying to hurry so that I can get to the microwave before the rush of hungry med students all line up. Today it’s Day #3 of pasta for lunch but hey, it’s still pretty good. I find a place to sit in the lounge and begin chatting with everyone. Before we all know it, lunchtime is over and we all pack our things and head back to class for some more lectures.

4:00 p.m. Class is all done! I have vocal and dance rehearsal today for our upcoming performance of Daffydil: The Musical in a few short weeks at 5:00p.m., so I head back to the lounge to do some work and send some e-mails before then.

5:00 p.m. Daffy time! First stop is chorus practice. We start off with some vocal exercises +/- some silliness and then dive right into our group numbers. “No trills!” the chorus lead commands as he shoots a half-joking, half-serious glare at me. I continue to trill because YOLO as he rolls his eyes. If I had any anxiety during the week, this is the place where I just get to laugh, make jokes, sing, and dance all my stresses away. Studying can wait; right now it’s all about having fun and getting ready to put on my last Daffy show of medical school! After an hour and a half of vocal rehearsal, it’s time to head to dance! I wonder which number we’ll be practicing. I hope it’s the opening number, that’s always my favourite. 49857 box steps later, it’s time to pack it in and go home as I say goodbye to everyone.

8:10 p.m. I get home, put my bag down, hang up my coat, and switch into more home-friendly clothes AKA pajamas and sweats. I heat up some food I made the other day, go to my room, and do a bit of Facebook/Instagram/YouTube/Reddit browsing as I eat.

9:00 p.m. I get started on some work. I open up my agenda and begin chiselling away at it one step at a time. Nothing is more satisfying than being able to cross off something on my list and, I’ll admit, there are times where I add simple things to my agenda just to get that very satisfaction. Come on, I know you all do it.

12:00 a.m. My eyelids are beginning to feel heavy and I decide to call it quits. I brush my teeth, wash my face, and hop into bed. I tell myself that I really shouldn’t be on my phone before going to bed, but here I am scrolling through Tumblr, checking Instagram, and Facebook.

12:30 a.m. Okay, that’s enough for one night. I put my phone on my desk, begin to think about my day, and before I know it I’m dozing off and wondering, again, if tomorrow will be the day where I actually get up immediately after my alarm rings at 7:00AM. Probably not.    

Danny Mansour is a second-year medical student at the University of Toronto (1T8). He is in the MD Program and plans to work in the field of Dermatology. He is currently undertaking a research project with Dr. Elena Pope in Pediatric Dermatology at SickKids.  The research project is looking at identifying risk factors for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers in children and young adults.