I am a rising high school sophmore planning for next summer. I was wondering if it would look bad to medical schools if I took introductory physics and chemistry over the summer at my state’s 4 year university.
Do you mean take them as a high schooler over the summer? I can’t imagine that’s a negative but remember that those grades will have to be reported to medical schools and you won’t be able to replace them with grades from classes in college so make sure you do well in them.
Thanks! @iwannabe_Brown ! I know, I’m not even sure I am going to do it. Just exploring the idea
@Madeline25 , are AP classes not an option for you?
They are, along with IB and I am/will be taking them. I was looking for something during the summer that had a little more structure than self-studying. @plumazul
You take classes 9 months out of the year, use the 3 months of summer to enrich yourself in some other fashion.
For your own sake and for the sake of your application, DO NOT TAKE SUMMER CLASSES.
Cherish your summers while in HS and college. You will not have them off later on in life. Sleep in, have fun with friends. It also will show to everybody that you can handle a good load during school year which will take a great time management skills. Believe me, you will need an exceptional time management skills while at Med. School.
“Sleep in, have fun with friends”
What if all your friends are unavailable to have fun with as they got up and are taking a class(es), going to work, volunteering, are involved in sports, etc? As a hs student I certainly wouldn’t take physics/chem in summer but if you see yourself as have nothing else going on, why not take something not offered in hs. How about a film class? Consider taking P/F.
@Jugulator20 Yes, that’s more where I am coming from. Most people I know are pretty busy going to camps, traveling, etc. I like laying around and being lazy as much as anyone, but 2 1/2 months of it straight is a little much. I do sports but that only takes a few hours out of the day. What is P/F?
Pass/fail
If you have nothing else going on, then read. Read as much as you can about things that interest you. Maybe take some music lessons?
I meant do whatever makes you happy. Do not work too hard in a summer. Summers are way too precious at this point of your life. You will regret later if you waste them on classes. Just work harder during school year. It is important to let yourself to have some downtime.
Why not do some medically-related volunteering this summer? So you can see if you really enjoy working with/being around people who are sick or injured or disabled? My S was a volunteer with the community fire dept./ambulance core and at a community clinic. But you can volunteer at a nursing home, rehab center, hospital, or hospice center. Work at a non-profit that serves those who are physically or mentally challenged. If you are musical or artistic, perhaps you can share your skills. Another option: work on your foreign language conversational skills esp. if you speak or are learning a language that is in demand, like Spanish. (S’s experience at the community clinic did a lot to improve his Spanish…)
Volunteering is great. Good luck obtaining position though! The summer volunteering needs to be planned in February, do not miss that. There are waiting lines, got to get in line, contact people, very many will not respond.
Many volunteer during summer, sometime combining it with the sport and the job , which is even harder to get.
That is absolutely not true. Son contacted our local nursing home beginning of May and started volunteering there when he came home 2 weeks later.
The long lead times to volunteer are usually the case a hospitals or clinics with specific intake dates for summer students - of which they have a super-abundance. Hospice, rehab, nursing homes, etc…don’t have enough volunteers to have to manage the rush this way. And frankly, I think the experience in hospitals can vary a great deal - from ‘real’ medical experiences (which is great) to ‘meet and greet’ for visitors or working the gift shop (not great). So it makes sense to look for positions with organizations that actually need volunteers who provide service to their patients and clinicians.
"That is absolutely not true. Son contacted our local nursing home beginning of May and started volunteering there when he came home 2 weeks later. --At your location it is not true, but at ours, it is. Cannot issue a blank statement like this…It depends on location. In fact, one needs to contact many places that late to get any volunteering at our location. And some simply laughed, they said that the volunteering wait line was all filled past September, there was no chance in a summer. One needs to be very persistent to get any volunteering positions in May at our location and be ready to grab anything, including psych wards…And it was not even hospital or clinic at all, it was a humane society. The only place with un-filled spots was some kind of psych oriented in-patient facility, which was fine, but not everybody would take it.
Again, places with high unemployment in general will have plenty of older year around volunteers and they also filling lower paying positions, so forget finding any dirtiest summer job, nobody needs some temp. HS kid, they have people who are there year around.
Yeah you should, but the course is rigorous. I’m taking summer classes to get ahead, but be careful.
Sorry wrong post
oh nvm