Dealing with competitiveness, cliques...

[SRNALola]

Hi I just recently started an anesthesia program and am disheartened to find that many of my classmates are cliquey or very competitive. Though everyone is seemingly nice, I feel like I have no real friends in the program. I guess I made the assumption that though I'd be working hard, I would make friends along the way. I've never had a problem making friends wherever I went to school and worked. Is anyone else having this issue? How are you dealing with it?

[srna25]

smile, nod and be friendly enough but don't get caught up in the drama and politics of school. stick by the old adage, "Other people's opinions are none of my business" . . . and you'll do fine.

[MeTheRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Unfortunately that's the nature of the beast. SRNA's are extremely cut throat. My class, for example, had students that would discover information and hoard it for themselves instead of passing it along. Things like moved test dates, specific topics to focus on for exams, and clinical pearls or references that made a big difference. I guess they thought they would shine if everyone else looked bad. Also when it came time to apply for jobs, I made the mistake of mentioning a few local jobs I was looking into. By that evening, several classmates had quickly applied for the same job and forced themselves into earlier interviews than me. Like I said, cut throat. And some of them can kiss a lot of a**, which makes them even more dangerous. Luckily I did find a few true friends in the program, and we remain friends after school. Hopefully you've made one or two genuine friends, it really makes the program go by much faster.

[Da_Milk_of_Amnesia, MSN]

^ Gotta agree with that person. IT all started out nice and stuff, but it quickly turned ugly...FAST. I have my group of friends and thats all I need, everyone else can crap in a hat and wear it. We don't necessarily hoard info as said above, but I'm certainly not going out of my way to certain people. It is what it is, after this semester I'm done with didactic so I really won't see anyone anymore except the people who matter in my circle. It's the nature of the beast, welcome to CRNA school.