During the last induction of medical doctors my school held, one of the guest speakers kept emphasizing, 'medical doctors are not rich'. I couldn't agree more.

A lot of people are studying medicine because they want to be rich. Parents keep talking about how their children will finish their study and buy them cars or take them abroad.

MEDICAL STUDENTS/DOCTORS ARE NOT RICH.

Comfortable, maybe, if the newly inducted doctors can manage money well, but not rich. In fact, unless you were doing something to generate money for yourself while in school, becoming a medical doctor leaves you with less than you had before you started studying and that includes your parents. 

  

Your course of study does not determine how rich you will be. Look around and you will see that most of the wealthy people around are not depending on their certificate to make money. They are making use of their skills and talents.

So if you want to study medicine in order to get rich, now is a good time to either change your mindset or withdraw. Medicine requires passion because it's a calling, a ministry of some sort.

You want to be rich? develop your skills and talents or go into the nearest studio and sing your own version of 'skiboroboskibo skiboroboskibo yekpa' after all it's generating cool cash for some people these days .

                      
   This is a huge misconception that most people have. It is widely believed that medical students are so concentrated on their studies that they do not have time to do any other thing. A lot of people are surprised when they hear that a medical student is doing something extracurricular especially if he/she is good at it, they think it's a distraction and most of these people expect such students to fail in their academics. 

  
   Let me introduce you to my course mates Nneoma Nwosu and Bella Njionye, the girls in the photo. Nneoma (the lady on black) is a dancer and an amazing one at that, she is also into fashion designing.

   Bella on the other hand is a make up artist and a business lady. A lot of my colleagues and senior colleagues are into a lot of things, we have photographers, make up artists, journalists, ICT gurus,writers, just to mention a few. Studying medicine does not mean you can not do any other thing, you just have to learn how to manage your time well.

                         

   It is true that medical students have lots of materials to cover in a relatively short time but we are not always reading not even when we have tests. You may see us carrying books around a lot (emphasis on the word 'may') but that does not mean that we are always studying. In fact, it is not every time that you see us with books opened before us that we are understanding what we are reading.
 
   A lot of people have this mentality, I did too, but then I found out that reading all the time does not guarantee that you'll pass, God's grace does. Every student no matter your department has to study well in other to pass and medicine is not an exception.

   
   Most times when we watch a movie and a particular actor or actress is playing the role of a doctor, the first thing we notice about that person is the fact that he/she wears glasses.

   When I got admission into the university, I bought glasses because "you dress the way you want to be addressed" and doctors in the movies always wear glasses. On finally getting into school , I found out that only about 30% of my colleagues wear glasses and majority of them wear it as a fashion statement not necessarily because they have eye problems. 

  
  Maybe the doctors we see around wear glasses because they read a lot with poor lighting but then people of other disciplines do too.There are doctors with good eye sight and there are also people of other disciplines who wear glasses (my parents for example).

   Wearing glasses is not a trademark of studying medicine, it either means that the individual has problems with his/her eyes (and anyone can have eye problems) or that he/she just felt like wearing glasses as a fashion statement.

                                    
    For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a medical doctor. Growing up, I had some notions of what a medical student should look like, these notions were fueled by movies and what people around, especially my parents, said.
 
   When I finally got admission after trying twice, I was excited, I was finally going to be a doctor. My parents gave me some money to buy clothes for school and with my notions as my guide, I entered the market and bought everything corporate, shirts, pencil skirts, blazers, cover shoes, handbags and even glasses ( I do not have problems with my eyes but then all the doctors l have ever seen and even those in the movies wore glasses).

   I was prepared for life as a medical student or so I thought . My hairstyle was simple and smart just like in the movies. When I looked at the mirror in the morning I was to begin school, I could already see myself as a doctor.
  
   After my first week in school, I made the following conclusions;
1. Movies only portray the easy life not the hard part but in real life, school is 90% hard.
2. My parents know NOTHING about studying medicine(no offense).
   For the next few days I am going to be debunking some of the notions (stereotypes) about studying medicine and telling you the 'truth' as I have experienced .

Please feel free to leave your comments and even share your experience also no matter your discipline. I look forward to that.

PS. I love you but Jesus loves you more.