Yup, that’s what medical school is all about, in social terms. You will feel like you are in high school, and that pretty much sums it all up. It all starts with orientation week, when you get to know people during the ethics lectures and the professor introductions. Then, in the evenings, there are gatherings held at various bars on and around campus for a “social hour.” During this period is when you will notice the nicest things about your classmates. You will enjoy every moment of it.
Then, the grind starts. You are in class 8-4, study from 6-11, lose track of your college friends, become frustrated that your family doesn’t understand why you can’t come home more often, start sneering at people in the hallways, start hitting on fellow classmates, rumors spread, exams hit hard, and before you know it, you are walking around smelling like formaldehyde, cutting corners to avoid certain people in the hallways, eyelids drooping while clutching your physiology notes, eating junk food and attending class at the crack of dawn with zombies fatter than you.
Due to all this stress, people need to vent somehow. It happens through the spread of rumors and talking about people. Since all you do is study and attend class, you will find that the majority of your conversations will center around exam material, about your classmates, and where the next drinking party is at.
The “high school” part stems from the conversations about classmates – one person says something to another, then that spreads to 4 people, and following this, you have exponential growth. This really does happen – and most of the time, the actions that set off the rumors would never be considered a big deal if there wasn’t so much stress. Let me give you an example.
In my class, there are roughly 5 groups of people – 2 of them are large groups of people, another group is rural/urban medicine program folk, still another is the MSTP students (MD/PhD), and finally the random creepy kids who hang out alone and are hardly present. These are the cliques of our class. It formed during the first few weeks of school, and has stuck ever since. See someone from one group speaking to another, and BAM – there’s something to talk about over dinner.
Within my group of friends, a few of them decided to organize a little trip to the nearest large city, but decided not to tell others in our group. Normally, this would not be a big deal as there probably were certain factors to consider (for example, car space, luggage, lodging accommodations, etc.). However, in medschool, its a different story. People starting scathing each other with their glares, sparks flew across dinner tables, thumbs frantically began dancing on cell phones, and an iron curtain was drawn between the two sides. Now, there were 6 cliques in my class.
The funniest thing of all was that even though there was so much commotion regarding the subject, whenever members of the two groups were forced to be in the same area (example: anatomy lab), it was so silent that I swore I could hear the cadavers chuckling. Nobody ever confronted the other as to why they weren’t invited, or anything of the sort.
In medical school, egos clash. Conversations break. Friendships sink. Unless you actively seek ways to do something about them. You have to dissolve your ego in some situations and just accept a mistake when it wasn’t your fault. You have to find ways to talk better to people, instead of saying things about them in their absence. You have to confront people (nicely) and directly converse with them about a perceived issue. You really should try. Medical school is tough as it is – but being good to people under stress is tougher. Something tells me it’s not going to get any easier once rotations, then residency, begin. The last thing you want to do is snap at your superior, or even worse, a patient.
What you make of your medical school experience is really up to you. I wasn’t the greatest at interacting with people, but I’ve learned a few things about how to handle or dissolve certain situations I find myself in. I hope to use this as I move on to M2 year.
