Don’t Waste Your Summer Break!

You have at least 8 weeks (maybe longer) this summer and you need to use this time wisely as you continue to make yourself the strongest applicant possible! When reading your application, it should be obvious that you maximized all of your time as a pre-med student, and this includes your Summer Break. Spending every day of your Summer Break sleeping in and spending money is not the move. 

As you prepare for the upcoming Summer Break, below are a couple things you can consider doing this Summer or in future years. 

Provide some meaningful service in your community

You must show that you have a commitment to service in your medical school application. When I’m reviewing an application, there’s almost nothing worse than seeing candidates who otherwise have great applications but have little to no community service. How does it happen that you want a career centered around helping people (because that’s why we all go into medicine, right?) but couldn’t find time in 4 years of college to do so?!? The Summer Break is a great time to find a service activity that you can do over a period of time. Sustained service with projects is definitely preferred over doing several projects only once or twice. So, as time allows, consider finding a service activity that you can do 2-3 times a week, every week throughout the Summer. Something that you’re genuinely interested in and something meaningful to your community. During this time, in particular, you may be able to find some experience at a COVID vaccine clinic or something else related to COVID relief. Youth Summer Camps, volunteering at a hospital, or helping out at a local non-profit organization are all options to consider as well.

Take a BCPM course

Your biology/chemistry/physics/math GPA MATTERS (in all caps for a reason). So you need to do whatever it takes to make sure those grades are the best they can be. For some people, that means taking these courses when they have less of a load, i.e. in the Summertime. Taking Orgo in the Summer was one of the best moves I made as a pre-med student. The class was smaller, the professor knew my face and name (so well that she later wrote me a letter of recommendation), and I had more time to focus just on this class—all of which led to a better grade in the course. You may find that taking one or a few BCPM courses in the Summers is a good option for you too. 

Get a job

Not to sound like your momma or anything, but you could use the Summer to make a little extra cash. This job can be related to medicine or not. You need to show on your application that you can work as part of a team and a having a job is one way to do this (don’t worry, there are also others). Making money during the Summer (and not blowing it) may also allow you to not have to work as much, or at all, during the school year so you can focus on your coursework and other things.

Get medical exposure

If your college is affiliated with a medical center, they often allow undergrad students to shadow. I know that at my University, it’s often hard for students to find opportunities to shadow during the school year because you’re competing with so many other pre-meds for a spot. But as other students leave for the Summer, this may be your prime time to shadow at your campus medical center. Be sure to check with your pre-med advisor (I’m starting to feel like a broken record on the advisor message. You have met with them, right??) to see if Summer shadowing options are available. 

If you are going home for the Summer, check with your personal physician. Your childhood pediatrician or family doctor may be happy to have you shadow them in clinic (they may even feel like they had a hand in your desire to go into medicine, use that to your advantage!) or ask your mom/dad/grandma’s doctor if you can shadow them. If yours are anything like mine were, they’ve told everybody they know (including their doctor) that you’re gonna be a doctor anyways, so there’s your foot in the door! Or look up the local NMA (National Medical Association) or minority medical society in your town and send an email asking about shadowing opportunities while you’re home for the break. 

Volunteering at a local hospital, hospice center, VA, etc are also ways you can get some medical exposure during the Summer.

As mentioned in a previous post, clinical exposure is SO important! Get it whenever you can and as MUCH as you can!

Work on research

I’ll write about this more later, but you really need to get your hand in some research to be a strong applicant. This research doesn’t have to be in a sterile lab with white mice, there are many types of research that are being done on your college campus and professors are always looking for help. Your level of involvement can vary. Of course, it’s best if you could do enough to be able to put your name on a poster or journal article submission, but you may find that some researchers are looking for students to enter data or other tasks that you could fulfill in a Summer. This may be a paid opportunity or could lead to more involved work with the project after the Summer. Your school should have listings of research opportunities. Look into them!

Study abroad

Of course, this isn’t really an option this Summer due to COVID. But keep this in your back pocket. I studied abroad in Ghana, West Africa, the Summer after my Sophomore year and it was such an incredible experience. And a talking point in every interview I’ve had since then. There will be a whole post on this later but if you have an opportunity for international experience, take it!

Participate in a Pre-med/Pre-health Summer Program

As mentioned in a previous post (one day, I’ll learn how to hyperlink old posts in the text) SHPEP and other pre-health summer programs are invaluable. Especially if they are programs designed for students under-represented in medicine which, as the young folks say, just “hit different.” Many offer a stipend which is a nice added bonus to all of the experience and exposure you’re get from these programs. These applications usually open in January, so be on the lookout for them in the future. 

Visit your family and relax (for a little while)

Being pre-med is stressful, I haven’t forgotten that at all. Even though I’ve listed many things you could be doing in the Summer, please also find some time to visit your folks and to relax some. The key word there is “some.” Two months of relaxing and kicking it is for people who aren’t after a white coat. Again, for the people just skimming this because it’s too wordy: Two months of relaxing and kicking it is for people who aren’t after a white coat.

So that’s a big list. And there are probably many things I didn’t include. This post definitely inspired several ideas for future posts, so stay tuned. In the meantime, figure out which of these you plan to do this Summer and start making preparations. Do you have other suggestions of what pre-med students should do in the Summer? Things you’ve done or have heard about. Do you have any questions about whether or not something is “worth the time” for your Summer Break? If so, feel free to include it in the comments below or send a private email to me. I love reading your emails and will respond asap.