<p>First I want to say, I'm asking this question for a friend, I haven't graduated high school yet :(</p>
<p>But anyway, my friend is in his first year at a top 20 university, and is a Math/ Biology major, with hopes of med school later on. We were talking and he wasn't sure what he should be doing over this summer. He told me that he was interested in REU, but personally, I'm not sure if he would be selected for that with only one year of college experience, I thought they would be looking for someone with more experience. Any advice for what he should do over the summer?</p>
<p>Things I've heard of: (I'm not really knowledgeable about this, so please correct me, I'd feel really bad if I was wrong)</p>
<p>1) Volunteering in a Hospital- I didn't think that there would be much he could do there
2) Travel to a foreign country and to do something with medicine there.
3) Research (like REU)- Would he be able to do this after his first year?</p>
<p>Thanks guys, so remember, only things for rising sophomores.</p>
<p>The research gig and hospital vounteering are not mutually exclusive and are both good ideas. My D took a language immersion course in Spain and then immersed herself in shadowing and volunteering.</p>
<p>I don’t know what REU requires, but many students are able to find funded or volunteer positions in labs during the summers, even their first one. Traveling to a foreign country can be an excellent supplement to one’s medical experiences in the United States, but it probably would be better to get some experience here and to seek out “legit” medical experiences abroad. There are a lot of shady programs that let you pay big $ to go and do way more than a pre-medical student is qualified to do. It is often better to find one through a hospital system. Physician lead medical missions are pretty common. Hospital volunteering is a good basis for being prepared for a medical mission and for finding one.</p>
<p>That’s part of the reason he was interested in REU, a lot of the programs will give you a place to stay, put you on the meal plan of the college, and give you around 5,000 on top of that, which IMO sounds like a really good deal. I’ve worked over the summer (lifeguard) and got considerably less than that.</p>
<p>Thanks for the help too, I’m going to forward him this, and if he has anymore questions I’ll just have him email me what he wants me to write.</p>
<p>1) What a volunteer is able to do at a hospital will depend upon each hospital’s policies. Some hospitals offer special summer programs for potential pre-meds. Some severely restrict where in a hospital a volunteer can work and at what kinds of activities . (Insurance and HIPAA concerns). In any case, a new volunteer shouldn’t expect to be scrubbing into surgeries. Mostly it will be grunt work (stocking, running errands, being a go-fer for patients in the waiting room, etc) until hospital personnel feel the individual has proven his reliability and maturity. Might or might not not get past that stage in a summer.</p>
<p>Know that there are other places a pre-med can volunteer–group homes, nursing homes, rehab hospitals, public health agencies (like Healthcare for the Homeless or Planned Parenthood). Get creative.</p>
<p>2) Overseas medical experiences are not always looked on all that favorably since those kinds of junkets are expensive and mostly available only to people who can afford them. It’s better to get some hands-on US experience first before heading overseas. (And if you do go overseas, it’s usually a more useful and meaningful experience if you can bring some specific healthcare training with you, like having an EMT or LPN.)</p>
<p>3) REUs are funded. They pay a stipend (how much will depend upon the program and its length. REUs usually do not pay $5000 for 8 weeks. More like $2500-3500 for 8 weeks.) plus provide living accommodations in a dorm with a meal plan. </p>
<p>REUs are competitive and require applications, transcripts and LORs.</p>
<p>In theory REUs are open to student at all stages of their academic career; in reality students with 2 or more years of college are more likely to get tapped than those just finishing their freshman year. Can’t hurt to try though.</p>
<p>Your friend might have better luck finding a research position at his home university for the summer than going the REU route. </p>
<p>And you can do more than one of the above in a single summer, as curm pointed out.</p>
<p>At some point in their academic career, both my kids have done all of the above. Occasionally doing 2 of the 3 listed in a single summer.</p>
<p>Thanks, he told me that he is going to apply to REU with low expectations. Apparently he really wants to try going to some other universities. When you say home university do you mean the one near where he lives, or the one where he goes to school?</p>
<p>Home university = one which he currently attends</p>
<p>Freshman applicants are disadvantaged for the REUs because they lack specialized lab skills one would learn by already having some research experience under their belts. Since a summer program is short, many researchers don’t want a newbie whom they have to teach from scratch. (Time consuming and the student won’t really be able to achieve any kind of meaningful results if half the program is spent teaching lab techniques.) They want someone who already has useable lab skills.</p>
<p>Anyting that you can get into…some places (like our home town) have nothing, even some more popular volunteering positions have waiting lists. Then, you are in the best situations, enjoy, spend time with friends, hit the pool, read…whatever makes you happy, but then you have to mange to do everything during school year, which is possible.
The start for searching is usually about Feb. I do not know what you can get now, unless you have connections.</p>
<p>Is it too late for this summer? Yes, for the fully funded REU positions, but if you read through the other posts you will see plenty of ideas for ways you can have a productive summer. For example, last summer my D. volunteered doing grunt work in a college lab part time, took an online Psych 101 course (to get a pre-req out of the way), and did foreign language immersion. Would she have rather worked in a lab? Sure. But it wasn’t meant to be. </p>
<p>During this past winter break she applied to a number of REU positions. But I want to caution you, some of these positions are highly competitive. For example, one program told her that they had 875 applicants for 25 spots. A 3% acceptance rate! The advice she received from her school was to apply broadly in order to increase the odds of finding a position. </p>
<p>She got lucky and she will be doing research this summer. What would she have done if she had not gotten the REU gig? She would have networked like crazy to try and find something, anything, medically or research related, with the idea that each step will help her get closer to her goal.</p>
<p>Anyone who would like a paid summer research position should start your planning the previous fall. Find programs that fit both your goals and interest. Choose about a dozen(or more if you wish) and don’t just apply to the big name programs. Line up LORs ahead of time and be ready to have transcripts and anything else the programs request that you send. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you start in Feb., you won’t be going anywhere. Feb. 1st is the deadline for applications to most of the best programs. And rising freshman should not let anyone talk them out of giving it a try. I spent the summer in NYC doing (paid) research at a world class lab the summer after my freshman year.
Anything is possible.</p>
<p>“the fully funded REU positions” are practically impossible to get in. D. has tried at the place where she used to work and had awesome recomendations…with her perfect GPA, similar experiences and various great LOR’s she could not because of many connected kids were in front of her. But it all was different at her college, she had no difficulties obtaining all kind of EC’s and a great job.<br>
So, I say, take whatever, any dirty job, it is worhtwhile, otherwise, just enjoy yourself, shadow/volunteer if you have connections or be persistant and do not pay attention when people do not reply, just try over and over and over, something might come up. Start right now though, this very moment, it is May already.
BTW, it was actually good for D. not getting that “the fully funded REU position”. She ended up doing Med. Research at her UG, lasted for few years, ended up with great presentation, wrote grant proposal, great LOR’s and nomination for Phi Beta Kappa, all came from the person in charge of lab who ended up dean of D’s college. Worked out much better than “fully funded REU position”</p>
<p>Sorry, but I disagree. Both kiddos have had a very different experiences with REUs. D2 was accepted into 3 competitive REUs on her first attempt. (Including one with <5% acceptance rate.) D1 applied to only 1 program and was accepted on her first attempt. (Surprised the heck out of her…) </p>
<p>The key is to apply early and widely (and not just to the usual suspects: Harvard, MIT, Columbia, WashU, UCSD, Emory, etc) plus have strong grades and LORs. Some unusual/useful lab skills also helps. </p>
<p>Acceptance rates at REUs range from 3% to ~35% depending on the program. NIH-Bethesda accepts about 15% of applicants.</p>
<p>^It depends on your location and connections. In our home town, it is not possible as nobody was positioned for our program better than my D., there is no question, but they accepted kids from HS in front of her because they had MD parent. We are in such a small place, that we know many people and their families. If it is possible in some places, it is impossible to get into even volunteering in others. But anyway, it is way too late now for that.<br>
No complaints, we never try to break into locked doors, there are many that are wide open and it usually works better at the end, as it did for my D.</p>
<p>Thanks this thread has answered some of my questions. I did not know what to do so didnt apply to anything and now its end of my 2nd year and I may only manage to get this small research thing thats not even that related to my field and only a small amount of hours per week but at least it’s something</p>
<p>Miami, it does not depend on your location or connections. You constantly talk about there being no positions of your hometown of Toledo unless you had connections. How about a kid going outside of their hometown? My daughter went 3,000 miles away for her REU, it was a great experience. Most kids need to cast a broad net and go where they have the opportunity. Nice that your kid could bask in all Toledo had to offer for the summer, but for most, that is not so. It’s nice that your daughter got into medschool without doing squat in the summertime is great, but please don’t tell others that. Also, congrats to your daughter on being Val of her class which you have told us a thousand times about. I’m sure the other 33 of the class feel bad.</p>
<p>Son who just finished up MS1 spent all 3 summers away. His univeristy did not offer some of the more specialized classes in bio, so he stayed with his sis who was attending school 3000 miles away. He was able to take anatomy and physiology with a fantastic lab (WayoutWestmom is familiar, I am sure!) As far as money to pay for it, his univeristy was able to cover some costs, but he did have to petition and ask.</p>
<p>The two following summers, he was able to do research in 2 unlikely schools, Harvard’s SPH for medical research and Yale’s school of management…again he asked. Upon return from those schools he enrolled in summer session 2 courses (missed summer session1) at our local 4 year to take classes that again were not offered at his home university…more genetics, virology, immunology, medical micro and others. He had saved some of his scholarship money and work study funds (later just $earned from working during the school year) to pay for his classes and gas to get to campus.</p>
<p>He also fit in some shadowing during the summer, and while attending summer classes met with some professors who later provided avenues for more research. </p>
<p>Some opportunities can just fall in your lap while others you need to put yourself in a position where you can actively seek out experiences during the summer months. Initiative and perserverance will go a long way. It will be a skill that you will put to good use after you have become a physician!</p>
