Paid summer activities

I’m really trying hard to find both a job/paid internship for during the school year and the summer, but I have had no success (had a few rejections). I have yet to work, and would really like to get something along those lines on my resume as well as build some experience. Additionally, college is expensive and I would like to help my parents pay for some of it.

As a college freshman, I would certainly like to make it medical related, as I hope to go to medical school (or business, another field that interests me). Nevertheless, I would really take anything (I feel a regular job at home is out of the question as no place will hire me for just 3 months)

Could you guys share some of the paid activities (internships?) you or your children undertook during the summer?

Thanks!

what can you do?
Drum up odd jobs for the three month you are home.
Summer jobs can include yard work, child care, dog walking, life guarding, errands for senior/ mothers helper, tutoring, washing windows, house painting…

My kids had summer jobs that were similar to the volunteer jobs they had since middle school.

Camp counselor for the summer – if you play a sport there are often some sports camps for younger kids that need teenage staff. Ticket seller at local pool – there are lots of seasonal jobs out there and while you would like to have something career related the rest of us started out with regular teen jobs like these.

Based on my D’s experience you may have the best luck looking for positions that are seasonal by nature like some of those suggest ed by EK. Employers can be reluctant to make a new hire just for the summer if you will be leaving for college as they can often find kids who will make better use of the training by sticking around locally. Sports camps (if you have that kind of aptitude) and mother’s helper gigs for kids who are out of school sound like a good place to start.

Can you get certified as a CNA over the summer at a community college?

Then with that skill, find a medical-related part-time job?

Not everyone gets a major related summer internship. Go to your placement office, talk to professors, talk to people you know in your field. But if you don’t get one, then get a regular summer job (go to the mall/stores/restaurants and apply) and volunteer at a hospital. Retail has high turnover and will hire for the summer. Consider one that also has high seasonal work. For example, a movie theater has higher summer work but also over Christmas so you can work over Christmas break too. It works out for them because they get natural seasonal workers that they need.

Get your lifeguard certification, many pools and camps hire for the summer.

@suffer Can you swim 300 yards without stoppping, tread water for 2 minutes using only your legs, and swim 20 yards, retrieve a 10 pound brick from the depth of 10 feet, and then swim 20 more yards holding the brick?

lifeguardswimtest

I am a project manager on a project through the medical school here at UMich. Over the summer, we hire research assistants to work on our projects (it’s a dry lab). I’ve now had 3 current or former student assistants successfully be admitted to medical schools. One even used our projects to talk about medical ethics and how it’s influenced his approach to medicine.

Projects are often looking for student assistants over the summer.

Summer REU’s (Research Experience for Undergraduates)! These are programs funded by the NSF that include undergraduates going to some university for 5 or so weeks during the summer and doing research with a professor. It’s all paid for and you even get a stipend, usually around $5000. They have it in a lot of scientific/engineering fields, including medicine. They are competitive and difficult for freshmen to get in, and getting two letters of recommendation can be tough since you haven’t had many professors in a related field. I suggest getting one letter from a professor and another from a high school teacher.
More information: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5517&org=NSF
Example: http://www.med.unc.edu/oge/stad/sure

Once you get to college you may be able to get training to become an EMT on the campus or in the town where it is located. Most graduate medical programs require many clinical hours with patient contact and EMT hours would count toward that and you could also earn $$ at the same time.