Champagne For My Real Friends, Real Pain For My Sham Friends

For any of you considering going into med school, here's a little piece of advice that will save you a lot of time:  DON'T BE FRIENDS WITH YOUR CLASSMATES.  You also should most definitely not date within your class, but that is a different story for a different time.  Med school is like high school without curfews.  I'm not gonna go into details bc that would make me as dumb and childish as my "colleagues" (yes...they make sure we call each other that here)...BUT I will tell you this.  Trust me: 95% of the people you are friends with in med school are not really your friends.  The remaining 5% that are the ones who you don't actually study with or share material with. The ones you talk about non-scholastic stuff to.  They MIGHT be your friends.  But proceed with caution  This is the rarity based on the theme of "gunner-ism", or worse "sniper-ism" that you will encounter in your courses.

Your real friends will continue to be the ones you've always had.  The ones you rush off to see as soon as schools over. Even if they live in Gainesville, Tampa, LA, NC, Naples, or TX. (Or soon Barcelona.) The ones who have played with your hair while you've cried on their lap watching Mulan.  The family who listens to you yell and complain about your med school friends for 30 minutes when they really just called cuz they missed you.  The dad who begs you to let him provide an ipad for you bc he thinks it'll help you.  The sisters who never question why you can't talk on the phone, but are ready to drop what they're doing to listen.  The friends who jump on the opportunity to see you when they visit or when you ask them to lunch bc they legitimately love you and try their best to understand your lack of time.  DO NOT IGNORE THESE PEOPLE.  If it's a choice between med school friends and pre-existing friends/family....always ALWAYS choose pre-existing friends and family. 

Save yourself the emotional push and pull of med school friends.  You want your heart to be intact and your altruism to be at the forefront on your list of qualities when you enter your career.  (And on the rare occasion when you get to see your pre-existing friends and family.)