<p>I am a sophomore currently and was wondering if I should spend my time this summer doing research or shadowing a physician? I am already doing research during the school year and I have a family friend willing to let me shadow him but would it be worth not doing research to shadow the whole summer?
Thanks</p>
<p>Do both, it is not a big deal. Shadowing is just few hours for few days, if you find anybody who will let you in. This is the key and the most obstacle - to find a physician who let you shadow. So, consider yourself very lucky, but do not let the Research opportunity to slip away either.<br>
After saying that, it is better to do everything during school year and spend your summers wiht your friends, relax, have fun. These summers are precious, you will never ever be free in a summer after graduating from college.</p>
<p>But summer is also the only time to do research (or volunteer or anything really) full time so that’s an important opportunity as well. Balance and free time are important, but you can still hang out with friends and relax while doing research and shadowing. I certainly would not let a summer go bye where you do nothing.</p>
<p>It really also depends on what one’s school year is like. Compared to my school years, a full time research position during the summer was nothing as classes (not counting homework/studying), my d1 sport, and my fraternity easily ate up as many as 75 hours/week.</p>
<p>But back to op. Do both.</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses. But the problem is that my college is far from home and my shadowing is back home, so I would only have the option to do one or the other.</p>
<p>It’s much easier to find shadowing than a research position so start now and you’ll easily have a shadowing position for the summer. You could even ask the person who offered if they know anyone in your area because as much as you appreciate their offer, you really want to still work in your lab but want to shadow someone. Otherwise start trying to find docs near your college who let kids shadow. They certainly are out there. Your pre-med advisor may even have a list already.</p>
<p>"But summer is also the only time to do research (or volunteer or anything really) full time "
-No reason for full time, unless you get that awesome position that pays whole lot. D. was in research for 3 years. Great relationship, great experience, great LOR, nomination to Phi Betta Kapa. When Research is at your school, it has many “fringe” benefits. D. could not get summer Research position, she has applied. She had great summers, sleeping in (sometime until afternoon), spending lots of time with her HS friends, travel abroad. These will not repeat ever. Use them wisely while they last. She volunteered and shadowed in her summers though. She did not think about those too much, they were few hours here adn there, just little add ons in her application.<br>
Again, Research position is very easy to obtain at your school and for my D. it was impossible to obtain outside of her school, despite of straight A transcript and great recs. Shadow D. was also able to do only with our friends and her family phisician and not everybody was responsive even among friends. So, I would definitely do both if both are available.</p>
<p>Why don’t you schedule you Research to start when you are back to school?</p>
<p>Do the research. Shadowing involves fewer hours. D did her shadowing in high school one summer and she has two acceptances so far. In addition, look for leadership opportunities and volunteer opportunities particularly in hospitals. interacting with patients. Those experiences build the essays for your primary and secondary applications.</p>
<p>As far as I know, HS experiences are not part of applicationt to Med. School. Interacting with patients might be important, but my D. did not have any at all. She was accepted to 4 (including top 20) out of 8 that she has applied. She had worked in Med. Research Lab for 2 summers while in HS (great summer job for a HS’er) having about the same responsibilities as in lab while in UG. She did not include the HS esperience anywhere. They were part of her application to UG.</p>
<p>My D used her high school experience extensively in her applications. She’s had 9 interviews, 2 acceptances (the rest are non-rolling so she’s still waiting). To my knowledge none of the interviewers ever said anything negative about including high school experiences on the application. Of course, she also had college research to the tune of over a thousand hours, teaching and clinical volunteering.</p>
<p>My D. did not have enough space to use all of her UG experiences, she skipped some major, really major things…she simply could not fit and did not care to use additional space (I do not remember if there are any). We know that adcoms are really busy, they basically skimmed, I cannot imagine that they read closely. D. was accepted to 3 out of her 5 interviews, the other 2 put her on waitlist and she withdrew. She had an additional spot in her bs/md - no interivew required, no application fees either.
It looks like it is OK to put HS experiences, I guess, if you have space for them.</p>
<p>Yes. As suggested in some earlier threads, some experiences can be compiled into one section to save space.</p>