I think it depends how you think about it. It can often be helpful to have somebody who you can talk to about the process, and about what you might be expecting from it in the future, however you shouldn't allow it to distract you from the tasks that you have to complete. It can be very tempting to spend all of your time with one person if you already know them, when you should be trying to network and get to know the other people who are around you. This will be a better way to spend your time, and should mean that you are more successful in the future of the process. The academy can often be very hard to get through anyway, so you should of course use any support that you can get hold of, but you have to be able to walk the fine line between support and distraction, which can sometimes be a little bit hard to draw.