The journey to get into med school is a long and, often, stressful one. As a result, many students feel plagued by the constant feeling of “pre-med anxiety,” which can stem from lack of sleep, heavy workload, MCAT anxiety, and general med school anxiety. Today, I want to share a specific technique for managing pre-med anxiety and lowering your stress levels—practicing mindfulness!
If you’ve been feeling MCAT and med school anxiety, you are not alone. That’s why we’ve created a free Reducing MCAT Anxiety course that will provide you with actionable strategies and techniques to reduce your anxiety. By signing up, you will also receive a free trial of Magoosh’s MCAT prep!
Mindfulness as a Tool for Managing Pre-Med Anxiety
In this video on using mindfulness to manage your pre-med anxiety (or any anxiety, really), I explain what mindfulness is and how it can help you as a pre-med student and beyond. I will discuss:
- The working definition of mindfulness
- Its relevance for pre-meds and beyond
- Mindfulness routines
Tackling Anxiety One Step at a Time
When the pre-med life starts to feel overwhelming, know that it’s okay to take time to rejuvenate your mind and body. Rather than focusing on everything you need to do, try taking a step back and creating smaller steps towards a tangible goal. Sometimes just getting started is the hardest part!
Here are some small, discrete steps we recommend as you prepare for the MCAT and med school applications:
- Sign up for Magoosh’s free “Reducing MCAT Anxiety” course and begin your free trial of Magoosh MCAT Prep.
- Send questions to Magoosh Student Help by emailing help@magoosh.com. Our team helps with more than just MCAT concepts, and can offer advice on what to do when you’re stressed, overwhelmed, or don’t know where to begin. Think of us as your sounding board.
- Watch Magoosh’s most popular video lessons.
- Take a free practice test!
- Put together your MCAT prep plan by reading up on last-minute MCAT tips, how to study for the MCAT in one week vs. one month, and what to do the day before your MCAT.
Make a list of these tasks and check them off as you go. The act of crossing things off your to do list can be incredibly rewarding and reassuring.
Mindfulness After the MCAT
Learning to be aware of your body, your needs, and the needs of others is an invaluable skill to carry into med school and beyond. Physicians devote so much time and energy to helping others, which is both rewarding and personally depleting. It’s incredibly important to learn how to refill your own cup (so to speak) so that you have the capacity to share your energy with others.
We hope that this video on mindfulness, as well as the tips and strategies from our “Reducing MCAT Anxiety” course, can help reduce your pre-med anxiety and boost your motivation to achieve your goals!
Leave a comment to let us and our community know if you have any other anti-anxiety strategies that work well for you.
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