Continuing bhangra in med school?

[BhangraSUCKS]

Do whatever you desire. Not sure why people want to go to med school anyways, you can make a lot more money selling bootlegged bhangra music out of the back of your van.

 

[angeblah]

HAHAHA, love it.

 

[Raghavtrip]

It's definitely possible during the first two years, especially at pass/fail med schools that primarily evaluate you at the end of the block. If you're planning on dancing with a team regularly, I'd suggest setting hard rules for yourself like "I'll leave practice at 11 PM no matter what," "I'll only go to practice if I've finished ____ today," etc. and communicating those to your team so they know your limitations (unless a comp is coming up). I found over time that setting those hard deadlines is key to making sure you get the most out of practice, but at the same time don't stay too late and show up to clinic/class the next day exhausted/unprepared. This'll help your team be clear on how much they can rely on you and it'll make sure you stick to your personal study schedule and don't fall behind.

If you can't join a team, most med schools have set aside money for extracurricular groups and it's very doable to organize a set to perform at an existing med school event (like a fundraiser or something) or teach other med students and perform at random on-campus events or nearby weddings.

If anyone is reading this and considering joining a team, definitely go for it! At worst, you can always stop if you realize you don't have the time, but at best, you'll make some friends outside of med school, get some exercise, and do something that'll help take your mind off school.

 

[scaplash]

Can definitely corroborate what Raghav and Angela said. Practice and competitions certainly make it harder to keep up with clinic and school, but setting hard deadlines and continually striking a balance generally make it possible. That being said, medical curriculum is changing and there are some schools that have more regular exams than others (my school has an exam every 6-8 weeks-but others have an exam every 2 weeks)-so that also plays a role.

Also, having entered my clinical rotations and completed a research fellowship, I can say unequivocally that most clinical attendings talk to me more about Bhangra and how fascinating/interesting they find it than any research/volunteer/clinical experience I've had. So definitely dance-its good for the soul and if you're worried about residency, I'd say it works more to your advantage than you'd expect.
-Sonny

 

[psharms]

I agree with the recent posts! I danced M1-M4 on two different teams, and I will say that you have to manage your time very well. I only performed in 1-2 comps and some gigs per year because the timing of practices would interfere with exams quite often. I had friends who did way more than that though and were just fine in school (Mitra). I think the trick to dancing in medical school or any graduate school / time intensive profession would be to have a team that is understanding and flexible with your schedule too. And like Raghav said, setting your own rules is extremely important. For example, I would suggest taking time off from bhangra when you get close to boards.

That being said, dancing with both of my teams was such a blessing. Bhangra helped me get away from the stress of school, and honestly it made me study more efficiently because I had practice to look forward to. In retrospect, it may have affected my exam scores slightly, but I value mental sanity just as much as grades so I don't regret it at all.