I often hear “research,” but is that the only option? Can you shadow a doctor all summer long?
Get a summer job so you can pay for it.
Yes, you can shadow in the summer. You can also volunteer in the hospital or nursing home or anywhere else that you want.
Summers are for doing ECs–physicians shadowing, clinical volunteering, community service, working–or some combination of the all of those.
Summers are an excellent time to get a job, particularly one the requires working with the public. Waiting tables, , counter service/sales, sales clerk, summer camp counselor–all these jobs teach you real life skills (dealing with difficult individuals, being part of team, negotiating/dealing with bosses good & bad, among many others) that are valuable for physicians.
Or you can look for a clinical exposure job–nurses’ aide, dietary aide, home healthcare aide, patient transporter–and get paid while gaining clinical experience.
FWIW, all jobs (even non-medicine related ones) are included when you fill out your AMCAS application just like other ECs.
IMO, it’s not a productive use of time to shadow a single physician for an extended period of time–e.g. one doctor everyday for an entire summer. There’s a limit to what you can learn. You should try to shadow several different doctors in a variety of specialties (especially in primary care fields) and at a variety of practice sites (hospital, public clinic, private office).
@WayOutWestMom Thank you! I already have a job through UROP (undergrad research) but that ends in the summer. I’m thinking of doing a combo of work, shadowing, and volunteering. I can work part-time and spend my days off shadowing/volunteering.
Become an EMT and do that work for a summer.
EMT-B (basic) requires taking & passing a course that typically lasts 1 semester (though there are intensive 6 week long summer courses offered in some places) and passing a state or national licensing exam. (Exact requirements vary by state.) Because each state sets its own licensing requirements, EMT-B certification often is not recognized outside the state where it was obtained.
In many areas there is a huge oversupply of EMT-Bs and paid employment is hard to come by. Many EMT-Bs end up driving ambulances, which usually requires a specialized driver’s license in addition to the EMT-B. (Again, state-dependent.)
EMT-I and EMT-P are more employable, but also take longer to earn. EMT-P is usually a 2 year full time program.
Various aide positions require no special education and often nursing homes will pay for CNA training for reliable employees after a period of employment.
If you lucky to get any job, grab it. Again, if lucky, do some light shadowing and volunteering. Overall goal for the UG summers is to enjoy yourself as much as you could, sleep in, DO NOTHING as much as possible. You will be so sorry if you did not rest enough. You will not get any chance at it later and it gets tougher after medical school, tougher and tougher every year, sometime you will feel that you do not have time to breathe, forget sleeping, gym, proper eating,…etc.
If you are in a research University with teach hospital, it is likely that you may get a paid research “job”, that will open your horizon a little bit.
^Extremely difficult to get in, need connections, otherwise may as well not waste the time.