What crucial life decisions will get me into medical school?

[Symmetry11]

I'm typing as a nontrad about to start his "reinvention" onto medicine (hopefully). I was looking for specific insight into whether I should keep a big group of people that are kinda my friends throughout this process? Or should I look to gain more like minded friends? Maybe no friends at all? Just trying to figure out how I should adjust.

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[futuremdforme]

Why would you ditch them just because you are going to pursue med school? You're probably at least 2 years away -- seems lonely. ;-) Unless your friends will actively discourage you, I'd keep them as long as I could. In terms of people who are like-minded, I'd say anyone with the same determination and grit that you're going to need will be a good ally.

 

[22031 Alum]

A huge part of medicine is the ability to interact with people who are different from you. That goes for patients/laypeople, AND for other people in healthcare. Unless your friend group is causing you to be involved in harmful things- like drug use- the fact that you think just dropping them is even an option is concerning. So maybe your big life decision can be not doing that.

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

I'm typing as a nontrad about to start his "reinvention" onto medicine (hopefully). I was looking for specific insight into whether I should keep a big group of people that are kinda my friends throughout this process? Or should I look to gain more like minded friends? Maybe no friends at all? Just trying to figure out how I should adjust.

I'm really not sure that I even understand what you're getting at here. Why would you end friendships (or "kinda" friendships) simply because you're interested in medicine???

Applying to medical school is extremely stressful. The only thing that made the process somewhat bearable was having supportive friends to lean on. It's been great to have friends who are interested in medicine to commiserate with. It's also been crucial for me to have friends with different interests to help me keep perspective and realize that medicine isn't everything--I'm actually a whole person with other passions/priorities and that's okay. If you're a naturally introverted person, I can understand that. But why wouldn't you want to have at least some people in your life to hang out with and who can support you through an insanely daunting career path?

 

[Mad Jack]

I kept all my friends when I decided to take the plunge, because we're like, actual friends. They're not just disposable people I keep around to help my life goals and entertain me, they're people I care about, trust, and treat like family. Ditching your friends because of your career aspirations is both nonsensical and a good sign that you may not care about these people all that much to begin with.

 

[Goro]

The title of your post has nothing to do with the question you're asking here.

Support groups are very important in this process.

I'm typing as a nontrad about to start his "reinvention" onto medicine (hopefully). I was looking for specific insight into whether I should keep a big group of people that are kinda my friends throughout this process? Or should I look to gain more like minded friends? Maybe no friends at all? Just trying to figure out how I should adjust.