balancing involvement in social scene

[pmdc222]

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I'm starting medical school in approximately a month and a half (eek!). I am not moving cities for med school and I've been here for 7 years. Therefore, I have a well established social network already in place as well as a serious relationship. I feel very fortunate to not have to deal with the stresses of moving, learning a new city, meeting all new people etc. However, I'm a little nervous about balancing the life that I already have and creating new social circles in med school. I don't want to sacrifice my current support system of friends but I also don't want to be that person who never hangs out with classmates. I want med school and the people there to be a part of my life but not my whole life. Does anyone have any experience with or advice about maintaining this balance?

Thanks!

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

I don't want to be a downer, but I imagine you're going to find with what social time you get, it's going to be easier to hang out with your new med school friends than your old social friends.

Not to say you'll put them on a backburner, but you're going to find situations where your friends are going to want you do something on a Friday before an exam and you have to turn them down because you need to study, but after the Monday test you'll go out with all your classmates to celebrate the test when your friends are all busy with their own things.

I'm in a similar situation. I moved a bit of a distance in state to go to school, but a few of my good friends ended up moving to a town an hour away. They understand they'll only see me at certain times that work for me, breaks and between tests and such. I think the "true" old friends will understand as long as you set aside at least some time for them, but understand it won't be as much.

 

[Kateb4]

Sorry but.. this is life! When you get married, have kids, pursue various career options, friends and partying just have to move on. Like Johnny said, you will keep in touch with your true friends, maybe not in the same way as before, but if you want to succeed in medical school, school has to come first. You can have a social life, but it will probably be with the people that you have more in common with (i.e. the other med students). It's not a bad thing, but people just grow and change.

 

[chanjurban]

I'm starting medical school in approximately a month and a half (eek!). I am not moving cities for med school and I've been here for 7 years. Therefore, I have a well established social network already in place as well as a serious relationship. I feel very fortunate to not have to deal with the stresses of moving, learning a new city, meeting all new people etc. However, I'm a little nervous about balancing the life that I already have and creating new social circles in med school. I don't want to sacrifice my current support system of friends but I also don't want to be that person who never hangs out with classmates. I want med school and the people there to be a part of my life but not my whole life. Does anyone have any experience with or advice about maintaining this balance?

Thanks!

I'm in the same boat. I just finished up my first year. I haven't had as much time to hang out with my before-med-school friends, but I still managed to keep in touch with them and see them occasionally. You will see your classmates enough that you won't have to worry about not hanging out with them. It surprising how much you can actually goof off during the school day. 🙂

Here's what's going to happen... Your classmates will know no one in the area. Therefore any (and all) out-of-school social time they spend will be amongst themselves. They will socialize relatively often. Don't feel like you have to join in on everything. Join in when it's comfortable for you. You may miss out on some stuff, but it's not going to affect any new relationships. And if it does - well, those weren't exactly social relationships worth devloping now, were they? In the meantime, see your other social circle when you can. I can almost guarantee though that it will be less often than what you were accustomed to before.

It's good to have some real world sanity available to you. Believe me, you're better off than your classmates because you have relationships outside of school. You WILL see a decent bit of drama between your classmates because they literally CANNOT get away from each other.