<p>For the summer following freshman year which of these would be the best use of time: research, shadowing or volunteering/community service? My son has opportunities for all 3, no details yet though. thanks</p>
<p>Well, D2 took a service job (paid) in a place she always wanted to live so she could enjoy herself and her free time during her last summer off.</p>
<p>D1 worked a service job while living at home to pay for her car insurance.</p>
<p>Didn’t seem to hurt either kid in getting accepted to medical school. In fact D1 said she ended up talking with more than one interviewer about working as waitperson. In many ways being a physician requires some of the same kinds of skills that being a good waitperson does.</p>
<p>In fact, there’s been considerable discussion by med students here on why working as waitstaff or in other service jobs is excellent training in skills a future doctor needs.</p>
<p>See this post: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15616273-post7.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15616273-post7.html</a></p>
<p>~~~~</p>
<p>I guess what I’m saying is your son can do several things during his pre-sophomore summer–he can shadow, do volunteer service and still work or do research. Shadowing and community service aren’t full time things.</p>
<p>And remember adcomms do value real world/real life experience. </p>
<p>(On a cynical note, D1 recently complained that all new MS3s had to take a “interpersonal communication skills” course during her transition to clinical training block. She said it was required because so many direct-from-undergrad students had little or no real world experience dealing with employer-employee relationships. She called the class: How NOT to p*** off your boss.)</p>
<p>I’ll tell you how my son’s summers were -</p>
<p>[ol]
[<em>] Full load (14 credits) of courses, research as a research assistant and volunteering as part of Health Leads program. A killer summer.
[</em>] Research as a participant in NSF REU program at his own school. This led to a first author published paper for him that he eventually presented at a conference. Since REU was at his own school, he also crammed in another summer course. He also registered for an MCAT prep course in the evenings. He dropped out of that after 2-3 weeks since he didn’t find it useful (bad instructors). Continued volunteering at Health Leads. Another hectic summer.
[li] Registered for a math course and a Bio lab. Bio lab got cancelled. He will spend most of his summer filling secondary applications for medical schools. Hopefully, not as hectic as the previous two summers.[/li][/ol]</p>
<p>I would put your son’s choices for 1st summer in this order: 1) Research 2) Volunteering 3) Shadowing. Both Research and volunteering require time. Hence, the earlier he gets going the better. Also, your son can accomplish some of the stuff in winters. My son did an EMT-B course in his first Winter, a lot of shadowing in his second winter and MCAT preparation (took the test at the end) in his third winter.</p>
<p>Kal123, thanks in advance for answering me if you do.</p>
<p>I’m currently looking at 2 labs for research, 1 in clinical research and 1 in basic. Should I do the clinical because I heard it’s easier to get published in that one? People tell me research is pretty helpful for medical school application.</p>
<p>Also, could I realistically study for the MCAT while working hard to get published? I know most people take the MCAT during junior or senior summer but I’d really prefer to take the test before it changes in 2015 as I hear. </p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>Have them all and do not forget to enjoy the summer spending time with firends. Summer off will not last forever, say goddbuy to it after graduating from college.</p>
<p>jonchap15,</p>
<p>you should join whichever lab seems more excited about training and educating a novice and the one that will give you the most hands-on experience. Like you said, it’s easier to get published in clinical research and it’s not like med schools don’t know that also. Medical schools that want research in their applicants aren’t looking for productivity, they’re looking for interest and involvement so it doesn’t really matter which of the two you do as long as you’re an active participant and not just a set of hands going through the motions. At this point you’d be better off focusing on trying to establish good practices and understanding of what doing scientific research is all about than focusing on trying to get papers. This means choosing the lab where you will actually be able to interact with the PI or a very senior post doc/fellow regularly and where their goal is to allow you to have your own small project.</p>
<p>WayOutWest… great link about working as a waiter. Interesting thing is that my husband’s an MD and he was a waiter during his college summers. I think those jobs are tough to get where we live though if you can’t promise to work at least part time after the summer.</p>
<p>
I am just a dad of a pre-med - not a pre-med myself:) Seriously, what get’s published depends on a lot of things. It’s hard to reach broad generalizations like that. On the other hand, the research prof. might give you a pretty good idea of the chances of publication. Some of them were very open with my son about the chances of publication.</p>
<p>
My son tried to follow something called as “Berkley study schedule” through out the fall semester of his junior year. He used to grumble that he was falling behind the schedule for lack of time. Once he came home for the winter break, he got on schedule of studying for 2 days and taking a sample test on the 3rd day (both AAMC and Princeton Review) until 2 days before the test. He relaxed for the last two days. Whatever it was, looks like it worked for him - he scored a 38:)</p>
<p>This year, they got rid off MCAT writing section and introduced an elaborate experimental section containing the MCAT 2015 material. Even though it was optional, my son finished the section and thought that without his Biochemistry knowledge, a lot of the questions would have been very hard. He got a $40 Amazon gift certificate for taking the experimental section though :)</p>
<p>RE: MCAT timing.</p>
<p>Please remember that scores from the current MCAT will not be accepted by medical schools after the 2015-16 application cycle.</p>
<p>^ Good point. Didn’t pay attention to that …</p>
<p>Some might have a different opinion, but from my D’s experience, publication is not important for a Med. School applicant. It might be important for the Residency applicant, this we still have to see, as far as I know, again, if you are below certain score in your Step 1, you are out for some selective specialties. Yes, stats are first and foremost, the rest has to follow, but it is trailing in importance.</p>
<p>At least as far as the charting outcomes in the match data are concerned, “publications” in residency apps have a very different meaning than in most other scientific circles. In the residency process a publication can mean as little as a “poster presentation at your school’s med student research day” whereas most people mean “published in a peer reviewed journal.” This is why the average number of “publications” for medical students is in the mid to upper single digits while many PhD programs require only 1 and think multiple (e.g. 3) is extremely productive.</p>