How to Have Fun During Medical School!

There’s this myth that your medical school years will be among the most miserable in your life.  Emphatically false!  Personally, medical school was an amazing period in my life.  Some of my fondest memories take me back to those crazy days.  I had a blast as did most of my friends!  Here are five tips that can help you have a similar experience.

  1. Make friends in your class. This should go without saying.  If you don’t get this one right, you might as well not even bother trying the others.  I said medical school was fun, I didn’t say it was easy.  Having a core group of real friends will ease the pain significantly.  When I was a first-year student, Tuesday nights were my favorite.  A group of friends would come to my place and we’d all watch House MD.   There’s nothing like feeling brilliant during class then missing the diagnosis every episode of House alongside your friends.
  2. Treat yourself. This one’s really good!  After each test, no matter how you think you performed, go out with your friends.  This treat is for the hard work you put in studying, not for the grade you get.  Getting a good grade will just be a second reason to celebrate.  I partied much more during my medical school than I did in undergrad.  Typically, I went out with med school friends and we always stayed out of trouble.  The good thing about hanging out with classmates is that we had the same stressors.  There’s nothing like venting with people who understand exactly what you’re going through, then partying hard to relieve the stress!  Just a word of caution, stay sober and stay out of trouble!  Party doesn’t mean “act a fool.”
  3. Mentor Someone. At some point during your medical school career, you’ll realize that you are at the bottom of the barrel.  The attending is the boss.  The fellow is the henchman.  The resident is the troop.  And the med student is the underling.  You go from being the smartest kid in class, to getting coffee for your team.  Your self-esteem can take a real hit.  An easy way to regain your confidence and help someone at the same time is to mentor a premed.  Perhaps I’m being selfish with this point because I’d like to see every premed have a mentor.  Nonetheless who better to mentor a premed than a med student.  It’ll bring you great joy!
  4. Volunteer.  Similar to the mentoring point above, volunteering is also a great way to have fun during medical school.  Many students sign up to volunteer in student-run clinics.  You spend so much time with your head in the books that it’s easy to forget why you decided to pursue a career in medicine.  Volunteering in a clinic will remind you.  My favorite volunteer experiences dealt with exposing primary school students to the field of medicine.  Figure out which volunteer activities are most fulfilling to you, then make time to do them.  In the end, I firmly believe that people are most fulfilled when helping others.
  5. Find a hobby. Med school might as well be called the hobby killer.  Too many students start with a hobby they love, and graduate with it as a distant memory.  I was always impressed with classmates who kept up with gymnastics, music, and other things of the sort.  It was easy to see that they tended to be some of the happiest students in the bunch.

Nowadays, there’ so much negativity about pursuing a career in medicine.  Don’t believe the hype.  Medicine is an awesome profession and medical school is one of the best parts of the journey.  These are five things that helped me have a blast while learning to care for life.  What suggestions do you have that can help make your time in med school enjoyable?  What hobbies do you hope to keep while in medical school!