Summer between Freshman Year and Sophomore Year

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

Hello College Confidential Members!

I am a rising sophomore at Boston University who is on the pre-med track. Since my freshman year is over, it is time to think about activities to do in the summer.

Here are a few things that I am doing over the summer:
-Volunteer at a local EMS
-Volunteer at a local hospital
-Shadow student for an MD at a cardiology office
-Shadow student for a PA in the ER
-Sports writer (NBA) for a semi-popular sports website

What types of activities do you all recommend I should do over the summer? Am I gaining enough clinical experience or should I pursue more medical related activities?

Ultimately, my goal is to go to medical school or PA school so any advice for finding activities that relate to both goals would be appreciated.

2

Anything would be fine. I don’t think what you do for the month or so before school re-starts will make much of a difference to your future plans.

3

To improve your chance whenever possible you should try to do more physician shadowing, research in medical related lab or volunteer in a hospital.

4

That’s plenty for this summer. The only thing I did during my first summer was 80 hours of clinical volunteering, and med school adcoms were fine with that. More is always better though, and expect to be ramping up shadowing, clinical volunteering/employment, and preferably research in subsequent years.