What Should I Do This Summer?

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I haven't posted on CC since I was in high school, but I need some advice!</p>

<p>I'm a first semester junior who wants to go to medical school like everyone else on here.
I have a 3.5 overall GPA and a 3.23 science GPA. Bad, I know. I'm trying to bring it up. My worst grade is a B- in orgo. I'm in a non-science major that incorporates some science classes, so I do have a way to try and take more science, hopefully some biology classes, which I tend to do well in (my weakness is math.) </p>

<p>Needless to say, I know that with my bad grades I'll be taking at least a year off before applying to medical school. I don't know yet if I'll need to apply to a post-bacc. Pre-med advising at my school is terrible. </p>

<p>Here's my med-related stuff:</p>

<p>I work 8+ hours a week doing clinical research. I've shadowed two physicians, and I worked in a bio research lab for three months, although I really didn't like it (same doc I do the clinical research with). I do some volunteering, working with children's hospitals and with kids with autism, although not substantially enough for my liking.</p>

<p>My past summers have been: working as a biological assistant at a government agency, working at a science museum (I also work at a natural history museum lab on campus), and traveling overseas doing various historical research projects. </p>

<p>So, my question is: what should I do this summer? I know it has to be medically related. I think my options are:</p>

<p>a) work in a lab. I would hate this, but I'll do it if necessary.
b) do some kind of medical service trip to Latin America or something.
c) work on a domestic health care project.
d) Studying/taking classes. Not really an option for me because I don't have the money. But I know I have to do MCAT prep eventually...
e) something else? I'm totally open to suggestions. </p>

<p>Suggestions for how to get more volunteer experience over the summer would be great, too. Thank you so much.</p>

2

<p>Your medical ECs look on the light side. And your research profile is definitely weak. You should probably work on strengthening those. </p>

<p>a) that would be fine.
b) waste of time and money
c) that would be fine
d) bad idea–summers are for getting your ECs done </p>

<p>BTW, since you mentioned money is an issue. Those grade-enhancing post baccs (which are usually course-based master’s programs) offer zero FA except for loans. You’ll need to plan for that.</p>

3

<p>Ok, I was overly harsh about option B. Medical service trips <em>can</em> be useful if you can get some meaningful experiences from them. You do get to see a really different way of medicine being practiced. However, unless you already have substantial US healthcare experience you may not get much value from your mission experience.</p>

<p>Most medical mission experiences require a significant payment. If money is tight, you can find similar volunteer options right here in the US. Consider inner city health clinics, homeless healthcare clinics, the Rio Grande Valley, Navajo Reservation in NM-AZ, Sioux Reservation in SD, etc.</p>

<p>(Paid mission trips don’t especially impress med school adcoms. It’s mostly a sign that you can afford them. Full disclosure: D1 did do a medical mission trip. However, she paid for it herself, stayed for 3 months and had medical training [EMT-I] before she went so she was able to actually work and provide healthcare services. That said, not a single interiewer even mentioned her international experiences. )</p>

4

<p>As WOWmom said, you need to focus on something medicine-related during the summer. I see you attend Yale, which is great, but that you’re a non-science major. Be sure to think about your LORs, some of which should be from your science professors. You’ll also need to plan on when you’d like to take the MCAT. It’ll take some serious studying, which you might want to include onto whatever summer activity you do. Can you do something more clinical than research, if you hate research so much? Maybe with Yale’s autism program, which is so highly rated. Or maybe even do some kind of research on autism?</p>