Knowing Your Meds

After several weeks of being a lounge lizard, today marked my return to paid work. Even though it was pretty tough to scramble out of bed about three hours earlier than I’ve become used to, it was worth it. I started doing casual teaching at uni about four years ago, and have always found tutes and pracs to be thoroughly enjoyable – for me, probably because of those moments where you explain something to someone and they actually get it. One particularly interesting breed is the medical student. For those that come through straight out of high school, it must be a funny world – a bit like living in a bubble. Academically, it’s a steep learning curve and they’re thrown into a curriculum where they have to grasp things that some of us might not encounter until the second or third year of a science degree. And putting up with the often more confident (and er, sometimes overbearing) postgrads, some of whom have gone out and worked for a few years, must get a bit annoying sometimes.

Today was my first tute with a bunch of second years that I’ll be seeing twice a week for the entire semester. I’ve only ever had one other group before, a couple of years ago, and they were great. Sitting back and watching how they interact, taken together with my experiences in prac class, I couldn’t help but draw parallels between my current charges, and the ones I’ve dealt with in the past. It’s fair to say that each tute group is sprinkled with different personality types. This is a short guide to your garden variety med students – or at least the ones I’ve crossed paths with so far.

The Eager Beaver
Polite euphemism for the postgrad who likes to hear their own voice. Factually, they’re generally right and have a good grasp of what they’re talking about. Hard to tell if they take the lead to help the rest of the group or just to show how fantastic they (think they) are.

The Mother Duck
Generally a female postgrad. Genuinely interested in other people, mature and open-minded. Like The Star (see below), is particularly considerate of other people in the group, and tactful, even when disagreeing with the point that someone else is making. Occasionally seems as if they’re holding back just to give others a go.

The Lateral Thinker
The one who brings new meaning to “covering all bases”. Makes the most impossible scenario somehow sound plausible. Usually has a brilliant scientific mind and is very enthusiastic, but might be a little insensitive, hot-headed or immature. Probably could have been just as successful as a rocket scientist or nuclear physicist.

The Sweetie
Usually the shy one. Might take a while to pipe up and get confident enough to contribute to group discussions, but when they do, they generally show very elegantly that they know their stuff. This makes you want to cheer.

The Star
Just plain nice. This person is easy to get along with, uniformly chirpy, considerate of other people in their group, and is also bright, but doesn’t hog the spotlight. The Star is also the one who will happily strike up a conversation with you, even if you bump into one another out on the street.