<p>I'm a freshman at a small liberal arts school majoring in Biology and following the Pre-Med path. This summer I've been told I should find places where I could do research at, but most places are saying I'm to young to start doing that and to inexperienced. Others are saying I should volunteer at a hospital just because it looks good on resumes. Another group of people are saying that I should shadow an orthopedic surgeon (my career goal).</p>
<p>Any students in Med School now who has any advice? Please and Thank you.</p>
<p>—find a summer job after your freshman year, one that involves personal contact with a wide variety of different types of people. (Ex. waiting tables, retail sales, counter work at a food sales outlet, summer camp counselor, etc). This gives you great exposure to the workaday world and a chance to develop/improve your interpersonal communication skills. (Talking to customers; talking with a boss. Both are skills that doctors need to have. Doctors call the former “patients” and and the latter “supervisors”. )</p>
<p>Since you won’t be working more than 40 hours per week, you can do some volunteering at a clinical site (hospital, nursing home, public clinic) and some physician shadowing when you’re not working. (You should shadow physicians in a variety of specialties, not just ortho.) Volunteering and shadowing don’t require a heavy-duty time commitment every day or even every week. </p>
<p>D1 worked as a full time life guard & swim teacher at a city pool; D2 sold gas and Slurpees in Yellowstone National Park. Both were fabulous experiences, but for very different reasons.</p>
<p>Many of the pre-meds we know used that summer to take Organic Chemistry. It’s a tough class, and the thinking was that it would be best to be able to focus on it exclusively. You could probably do a little volunteer work or shadowing in addition to that.</p>
<p>It depends on your goals. I knew I was going into academic medicine, so it was imperative that I start doing research ASAP. If this is your goal, you must start early. Applications can open mid Fall and can close as early as Jan. I did a wonderful research summer after freshman year. It literally changed my life. I don’t know why age should matter. I was 16 when I started college and nobody mentioned it. I was accepted at several programs that summer. Best of luck. </p>
<p>Sleep in, spend time with friends. These summers opportunities will not last. If it is possible to get a job in your hometown, go for it. It is not possible where we live.</p>
<p>OP, please do not listen to anybody that says to do nothing during the summer. Sleeping in and laying by the pool is not productive and could be a ding in your application. There are ALWAYS jobs wherever you live and showing something is better than nothing. The no job or doing nothing during the summer may have worked for one student, but it is not advisable and you probably won’t find anybody here onn CC, parent or student, that would advocate complete summer downtime. Oh…except for one. My bad.</p>
<p>Get a part time minimum wage job and enjoy the rest of your time. If you really want some intellectual stimulation as well, maybe do some MOOCs through a site like Coursera. I would highly recommend NOT taking organic chemistry over the summer, as the material is just too complex and abstract to really fully absorb and internalize over the course of a single summer (and I say this as someone who loved organic)</p>
<p>Only people with a combined admission or those with a 5/6 year plan to medical school can take the easy path during summers. Those applying at the end of third year need to show some accomplishments outside of college which are usually only possible during summers. Taking classes usually is not the most effective use of time for a premed.</p>
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