<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I plan to be a doctor after graduating from some med school after UCLA.</p>
<p>I was wondering what I should do over the summer in terms of "starting my career," if that makes sense.</p>
<p>I'll assume you mean summer of your freshman year of UCLA. The first option is take classes during the summer sessions - maybe some general ed requirements or language classes that might be really time consuming. Stay away from taking pre-med classes unless you are taking them at UCLA.</p>
<p>Ideally you got some sort of research position, or some sort of medical exploration program. Of course, not everyone gets those sorts of things, and don't freak if you don't. It's really not a make or break sort of thing.</p>
<p>You should get a job of some sort for the obvious reasons ($$$) and then worry about how it will look (depending on your financial situation). If you can get some sort of unique job all the better (I was a counselor at Space Camp the summer after my freshman year), but during my interview at Kansas, my interviewer said that waiting tables (which I did during the summer of my sophomore year on through my junior and senior years) would probably help me as a physician, since I was used to talking to people that I didn't know, was capable of juggling many different tasks at once, and stuff like that...</p>
<p>Other things you can do are medical mission trips, study abroad if UCLA has some sort of popular program (my undergrad had a very popular program to Oxford that I now wish I had taken advantage of), and it's always a good idea to do some shadowing of MD's and volunteering when you have the time.</p>
<p>Basically, do what you need to do to survive the school year if you plan on not working while school is in session, but try to make it something where you are interacting with people - you can at least "sell" that aspect during your interview if it comes up. Try to find something unique if you can't get a research position. At a minimum do some volunteering or shadowing.</p>