<p>Hi Everyone,</p>
<p>I'm a freshman at college now, and I was wondering what pre-med students should do the summers before medical school.</p>
<p>I was thinking of applying to a couple of research programs, but is there anything else I could apply to/do during the summer?</p>
<p>^You will be extremely lucky to get one. Try to do it at your college - better chance. Getting a job has been another unfullfilled dream. Even to get volunteering positions require being very diligent and persistent as some of them have very long waiting lists. Use your connections to get some doc’s shadowing and be persistent in getting into some volunteering. There are also non-academic interests that you might be pursuing, like some of your favorite activities that you do not have time during school year (example - learning a new musical instrument, taking private lessons, catching up with your HS friends who are also back home for summer). Some kids are taking summer classes at local college.</p>
<p>For the love of … </p>
<p>Go to Hawaii, go tour Europe, go to the beach or mountains and go hiking. Take a trip with a couple friends and camp out at Yellowstone.</p>
<p>Sit on the couch and sleep.</p>
<p>Play golf.</p>
<p>Visit family and friends.</p>
<p>Unless you need the money, do something away from school b/c the next 7-10 years it’s going to be hard to get more than a short break unless you have a somewhat unusual training program. Believe me 70-80-100+ hour weeks (class, study, hospital, call, research +) aren’t remotely uncommon and even when you are ‘off’ you feel like you ought to be reading or studying something. This may be the last time you get to relax and take a break for a long time – you’ve graduated college, you haven’t started the next phase yet, you might be free from commitments for one of the few times for the next several decades.</p>
<p>I had 3 weeks b/w College grad and 1st day of MS. I go married right at the end of MS and started Residency orientation 17 days later. I literally was on call June 30 of my last year of training, went home and packed, drove out of state, unpacked-moved into a new place and started work July 5 (I think I slept through the 3rd and 4th) and was on-call July 6th in my new job. I’m pretty sure Reagan was President then. I just recently took a couple weeks off and did absolutely nothing – no summer school, no lab research jobs, no vacations, no 2000 miles drives, or 6 airports, or family stuff, no Educational CME conferences. I literally think that the longest I’ve done nothing since I was 18 and just finished my Freshman year in college and it was great.</p>
<p>I repeat – take a break, relax, and have some off time while you have a chance.</p>
<p>^But to get there, everybody needs medically related EC’s these days and not doing them in a summer will be disadvantage in comparison to all other applicants to Med.School. All of relaxations are possible in combo with some EC’s. You cannot possibly stay in Hawaii for 3 months or spend day after day on a couch (the most dangerous place for those with back problem), you cannot be with friends for 12 hours every day, they are usually also busy with something else. My D. did all of the above, including incredible trips abroad and spending hours every day with friends and slepping sometime until 2pm, but she has been doing some “meanningful” (her word, not mine) EC’s every summer while in UG. She never needed to take summer classes though, which lots of her friends did, was not able to find summer jobs, summer internships. At least she had the last two at her college during academic year. And she loved all of her volunteering positions, which were not easy to obtain either.</p>
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<p>Agree, but only do the above AFTER you have been accepted to med school…like the summer before…</p>
<p>The overall message here should really be more something like “try to maintain balance in your life”…</p>
<p>Some of your time in the summers should be spent shadowing Doctors, working/volunteering in an ER, and where possible, doing research etc…then read the books you always wanted to read and spend time with friends…Med school IS a grind but you have to be admitted first.</p>
<p>You really do need to accumulate meaningful hours in medicine related ECs to be competitive in admissions these days…A strong MCAT and GPA alone will not punch the ticket.</p>
<p>If you want to do research during the summer, you will need to apply to more than a couple of programs and cross your fingers. My D applied during winter break last year to 13 or so programs. She was VERY fortunate to get an early acceptance in February to a paid 10 week/400 hour program, but from what I’ve heard she was extremely lucky to get that. Many qualified students apply to that many programs and don’t get accepted anywhere. </p>
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<p>I think we are talking past each other </p>
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I believe DuncanIdaho read the OP as “the summer before med school” and the other posters read the “summers between UG years 1 and 2 and 2 and 3 and 3 and 4”. I agree with both positions. 
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<p>Bulk up your EC’s in the summers between UG years (and before freshman year) while having some fun, but that summer between graduation and med school (which could just be a few weeks in some cases) …well, rest, relax, recreate, recharge. You’re gonna need some memories to pull you through the hard times.</p>
<p>^^^ This is of course assuming no gap year between UG and med school, voluntary or otherwise.</p>
<p>Early years: Get a job medically related (or volunteer)
Senior years (esp after senior year and before med school) Travel Europe and have fun</p>
<p>Indeed curmudgeon nails it again. I did misread the original post as asking about that single summer – damn I’m old and prematurely senile too. It’s 100 degrees outside in the middle of September and the AC is broken – I think I’d rather be at work.</p>
<p>Get in first, but do take a mental and physical break that last summer – you see what happens when you don’t! I officially rescind part my post or at least put a large asterisk on it.</p>
<p>^Agree. But last summer as mentioned above might be just very few weeks. And yes, it was 90F here yesterday, and thank goodness that I was freezing at work wearing sweater.<br>
This is absolutely true: "If you want to do research during the summer, you will need to apply to more than a couple of programs and cross your fingers. …She was VERY fortunate to get an early acceptance in February to a paid 10 week/400 hour program, but from what I’ve heard she was extremely lucky to get that. ". My D. could not get into program like this even though she had worked there before and was very qualified. She is doing her research at her school, which was actually easy to get. Apply everywhere and hopefully you will get in somewhere.</p>
<p>^ It’s hard to imagine, but statistically speaking, how hard is it really to get into those research programs? High school level—what would it be equiavlent to (ie RSI, Simons, etc)…</p>
<p>Also is SMDEP recommended? Has anyone done this? Also does public health policy internships cut it as medically-related?</p>
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<p>The one my D did this summer was 20 students out of 800 applicants. She couldn’t accept the position fast enough! :)</p>
<p>^ Oh wow. May I ask which one it was specifically?</p>
<p>^ It’s hard to imagine, but statistically speaking, how hard is it really to get into those research programs? </p>
<p>Well, my D. did not get into one as college senior with perfect GPA and previous Med. Research experience at 2 places. Also she applied in February to place where she was previously employed in another research lab with very good refences.</p>
<p>Has anyone done an SMDEP here? Do you guys recommend it?</p>
<p>bump,…</p>
<p>My daughter did SMDEP at Case this past summer. She loved it!!!</p>
<p>^ Did she get a lot out of it?</p>