A YEAR IN THE LIFE: HAVING A SOCIAL LIFE IN MEDICAL SCHOOL

BY GRANT MERCER – Endless nights at the library, nonstop caffeine consumption, a nonexistent social life – this is how most people envision the life of a medical student. The good news is that this does not have to be the case. While studying does account for much of a medical student’s time, free time does exist and a social life is possible.

First-year medical students – Andrew Hey, Leigh Anne Kline, and Evan Mercer – have all found a good balance between study time and social time. Here is how they do it.

ANDREW HEY – At the University of Louisville School of Medicine, free time can be scarce.  Still, Andrew finds one to two hours every day during the week to hang out with friends or take in some gym time. He is training to race in the Louisville Half-Marathon so carving out time for a daily run is especially important to him.

Andrew tries to do most of his studying during the week so that more of his weekend can be spent with his friends. During the weekends, Andrew socializes almost exclusively with his fellow medical students. He observed that this occurs for two reasons: “First, medical students will have the same breaks and schedule so they can hang together at the same free times. Second, medical school is tough. Many students feel only those who go through the process understand the rigor of becoming a physician. With that pain in mind, medical students like to hang out with others who understand what they are going through.”

Each class has a social chair who organizes events. Luckily for Andrew’s class, he serves as the social chair and organizes a social event every week. Some of these activities  have been ice skating, going to a pumpkin patch, and bowling. He is partial to physical events since they are great stress relievers. After every exam, he organizes another event to destress and relax. The most popular choice – a pub crawl, of course!

Andrew is also the president of the ULSOM Wilderness Medical Society. Every semester, he arranges two outdoor trips. So far, he has organized a camping trip in West Virginia, a rafting excursion on the Gauley River, and a ski adventure in Indiana. So much for thinking med students never leave the library!

The big social events of the year are the Cadaver Balls – one in the fall and another in the spring. For the fall event, students break out their best Halloween attire. Turns out, a little spookiness is a great stress buster! In the spring, the Ball is more upscale. The students break out their formal wear, dine at an upscale Louisville restaurant, and finish the evening dancing at an equally fancy reserved venue.

Andrew observed that, “Medical school has been the hardest and most fun time of my life, so far. Everyone here is feeling the same stress, and that stress brings the class closer together. It creates a dynamic bond that will be cherished forever as we become physicians.”

LEIGH ANNE KLINE – With the Wake Forest School of Medicine starting in July, the first few months of the school year are prime for enjoying the North Carolina outdoor scene. Medical students find that Winston-Salem, with its gorgeous parks, is perfect for hiking, kayaking, or sailing. And of course, there is always that favorite of med students everywhere – just hanging out by the pool with classmates.

The amount of free time the medical students have really depends on the week. During the weeks leading up to exams, most students are hyper-focused on mastering every detail that might show up on the test.  However, most first-years still find time for a few hours for hanging out with friends. Some favorite activities during these intense study weeks are checking out local craft breweries, group dinners, or game nights.

Leigh Anne serves as the social co-chair for her class and plans some really cool events. A Halloween party, a holiday party, and a Med Prom – Leigh Anne has them all covered. In January, she helped organize a fun ski trip to North Carolina’s Beech Mountain, a highlight of the year! Sometimes the students compete in trivia nights, complete with a baked potato bar. Who could turn that down? At Christmas, there is a holiday bake-off to make sure everyone gets their fill of cookies.  The classes love the competition, but also just getting together for a great time.

Like Andrew, Leigh Anne mainly hangs out with her fellow med students because of scheduling. She noted that we are “all busy studying at the same time, but are also free every three weeks after the exams.

 

EVAN MERCER – At Vanderbilt University, students have class every weekday morning and clinical activities three out of the five weekday afternoons. In addition, Vanderbilt has a quiz and essay due over each weekend.  While the schedule is busy and studying is always the first priority, Evan pushes to finish his studying by eight each evening so he can have a few hours each day to relax. He uses that free time to play intramural sports – anything with a ball – in which med students from different years are competing against each other. Nothing like a little class rivalry!

Like Andrew and Leigh Anne, Evan enjoys the outdoors, especially hiking and climbing, and finds a trail to hit or a cliff to scale every week or so. He also finds the time to cheer on the Commodores. Evan did his undergraduate work at Vanderbilt, so he has become an unofficial tour guide to Nashville sites for his classmates, showing them restaurants, parks, and other places around the city. Group chats have proven to be a great way to connect with others. Evan said that there is a “group chat for everything – runners, hikers, going to a movie. If you put it out on the group chat that you would want to do something, somebody will answer back.  It’s a great way to make friends.”

There are a number of social committees that coordinate great events for the school. For instance, they plan a monthly Friday social where students from all four years come together. Additionally, they have an annual Cadaver Ball, a year-end celebration that was originally started to mark the end of anatomy lab. This year, the theme was “The Greatest Showman.” Students from all four years attend, along with faculty members. Student musical groups performed, everything from acapella soloists to rock bands. In addition, each class presents a series of funny videos.  Evan’s contribution this year was organizing a video of first-year pranks on the upper classmen. No word yet if Evan suffered any retaliation for that.

Evan remarked that he “loves socializing with the medical students in my class. I’ve been able to start several traditions with the medical students in my class, such as going to a restaurant every Monday night to start the week off right. While I usually study by myself or with small groups, I take every chance to hang out with all the people in my class. I also don’t feel that I’m just restricted to hanging out with medical students. I have been able to hang out with other graduate students through mixers, intramural sports, and co-sponsored activities (such as a Law and Medicine lecture).”

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This is the last in the “Year in the Life of a First-Year Student” series. Stethoscope magazine would like to thank Andrew Hey (University of Louisville School of Medicine), Leigh Anne Kline (Wake Forest School of Medicine), and Evan Mercer (Vanderbilt School of Medicine) for their help during this past year. What great doctors they are going to be!