A lot of people believe that dating a med student is challenging since they never have time for you but that is not really the case. Speaking from my and boyfriends’ point of view there are times that can be challenging but at the end of the day we still have time for one another, and we go on dates and have fun.
If you’re not a med student what you need to understand is that school is one of our top priorities. We worked hard to get in and we knew what we were getting ourselves into and we will continue to work hard because we care about our future and we care about becoming a good doctor. You also need to understand that there will be times when we’ll be busier than ever and swamped with finals and paper and in those times, we just need your support and understanding. But there will also be times when we’ll have more time for dates and trips hanging out so it’s really not that bad.
What you can expect when dating a med student
- When we really need to study, we really need to study.
That’s more often than with other programs but it also means that we’re already under a ton of stress and tired and we just need you to understand and try to be supportive. Yes, we may not be able to spend as much time with you as we would want to but making us feel guilty about studying and not spending the time with you is not doing anybody any good. Maybe try to offer to help; for example, for me, it really helps if someone is asking me questions as a way of revising before the exams so my boyfriend does it a lot. That way we get to spend time together and I get to study instead of panic.
- Spending a lot of time in the hospital
Hospital is the place where we truly learn and gain experience, therefore we want to spend as much time as possible there and learn as much as we can. For the last year, this wasn’t such a problem since we weren’t allowed to the hospital as much due to covid but this also means we will want to seize every moment we can get. And when we’ll become doctors, we’ll spend even more time in the hospital treating patients.
Even though school takes up a big part of our lives and inflicts yours, what you need to know is that dating us is not impossible and definitely worth it. You can still see each other every day or maybe 4-5 times a week when we’re really swamped but you’re not going to be dating a ghost, that’s for sure. If you’re not willing to be supportive and understanding then that’s on you and you don’t deserve your significant other.
And here’s for the med students:
Don’t let your significant others make you feel guilty for studying and for your hard work. It’s not fair to you because we all know how hard we work to build us a fulfilling future. Don’t let them make you choose between them and career. Take your time for them when you can and spend as much time as you can with them but don’t ever feel guilty for wanting to be successful and taking time to work for that.