Guys I Feel Completely Lost -- How Should I Spend My Summer?

[DarkArcher]

My social anxiety and depression really have prohibited me from taking initiative and completing the necessary steps for said goal. Heck even for my own things that I need to get done (car repair, shopping, etc) am I hesitant and nervous to go out for. I suppose I'm not exactly cultured in the real world. Anyways, I thought I'd just provide that to preface.
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I just completed my second year of college. My science and cumulate GPA are around 3.8+. I am not in any organizations. Currently, I have no experience in basic volunteering, shadowing, and so forth (am I behind?). To be honest, I am confused as to what approach to take. If this has been covered in other threads, I'd be happy to read them. I just wanted to make a personal thread first to get multiple feedback. But one very valuable lesson I learned from here is not to treat each EC like a checklist but rather show dedication.

So, how should I spend my Summer? What are some EC's I should be covering? I am not working, so time isn't particularly an issue. I like to break everything to its smallest detail, so sorry if I reply to your advice with questions that may seem obvious.

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[deleted577188]

Let's see, you can do research (this is often set up before school lets out and I'm assuming you're done with your sophomore year), volunteering (non-medical and medical based), shadowing (to see if you actually want to be a doctor), MCAT studying (although it's hard to advise this when you don't have a single EC to support your hopeful acceptance to medical school before your MCAT might expire), taking classes to keep on track with your degree program (probably not your case or you might've mentioned this), and some people don't do anything but chill and work lightly (this is common among people who have decent EC's already though).

What I've listed are the very general, basic "cookie-cutter" EC's. I would get to emailing professors to try to see if you can join someone's research lab at the start of next semester, and do some volunteering. You'll have just a year of these if you apply next year. Many people are going to advise not applying until you have demonstrated your altruism, and even more importantly your commitment to these various activities I've listed.

You gotta remember, many applicants have been doing these for years, not just a year before they apply. Personally, if I was in your situation I would do 2 strong years of what I've listed, take my MCAT next summer and apply right after graduation.

 

[GrapesofRath]

I'm hardly any expert in "social anxiety and depression" so I don't want to comment too much on them, other than you should be aware and realize these are things that will cause problems in the field of medicine and medical school if they you struggle to cope with them and have issues in social settings interacting with people. This is just to point out so YOU realize that you can't just focus on your GPA/building up your medical school application while not being able to work on your issues of social anxiety and depression which sound like they are impacting your life if you haven't joined any clubs or done any EC's in 2 years of college.

If your question is what EC's you should be covering, you need to spend alot more time on SDN and talking with your pre-med advisor, professors, medical students, successful pre-meds and the like before you start focusing on when to apply to medical school and the like. Get input from others who know alot more than you, do your own research on here, on many other sites like this and by asking questions to those who've been through the process, then carve out a plan. No cookie cutter plan like oh do research, volunteer, get a job etc will help you. YOU need to be able to see and discover this on your own, and have people help you with and spelling out the little pieces and specific bits of advice, NOT your forcing your overall plan and goal down your own throat.

 

[DarkArcher]

@onyisraw: When do most applicants usually take the MCAT and apply for medical school? You're right, I should have started all this last year (couldn't the year before due to a surgery). When applying on the AMCAS, do we list both the years and the number of hours we spend on a particular EC? I don't want to treat it like a "cookie cutter" as mentioned, but I do feel I may be able to get more hours this Summer volunteering and perhaps have a meaningful experience. Then during the school year, I could cut that down to 3 hours per week. Of course this also depends on the hospital or select organization.

@GrapesofRath: I don't feel the anxiety or depression will be a problem. My main problem is just taking the first step. Once I've accomplished that, I'm usually comfortable with all the obstacles or pressures of a task. That's just me -- not everyone's anxiety/depression is the same. I understand, I'll read more on here. It's just that I feel I need a structure or plan to follow. It may seem like I'm leaning towards a "cookie cutter" model, but that is not my intention.

Also, thank you both for your responses.

 

[deleted577188]

@onyisraw: When do most applicants usually take the MCAT and apply for medical school? You're right, I should have started all this last year (couldn't the year before due to a surgery). When applying on the AMCAS, do we list both the years and the number of hours we spend on a particular EC? I don't want to treat it like a "cookie cutter" as mentioned, but I do feel I may be able to get more hours this Summer volunteering and perhaps have a meaningful experience. Then during the school year, I could cut that down to 3 hours per week. Of course this also depends on the hospital or select organization.

Yes, you do list when and for how long you did the activities you add to your application.

The bottom line is that it looks like you don't know what you're getting yourself into as of yet. Do some clinical volunteering and see if the setting fits you. Shadow a doctor or two and see if you would like to practice medicine for the rest of your life.

Also, I forgot to comment on your social anxiety/depression part. If it's a problem in your everyday life you should definitely seek outside help. SDN cannot help with this.

SDN is for help getting into medical school. I told you some things you can do to start getting involved and help your application. I'm not saying you have to do exactly what I outlined above. Those are just some examples to get you thinking about what YOU might want to do. We can tell you "talk to pre-med advisors, search SDN and carve out your own plan" every day of the week, but I figured you were here for help. That's why I told you what I did above. Good luck!

 

[NeuResurgens]

As far as the anxiety - this could potentially be a big obstacle to everything I'm about to suggest, so you may want to contact a professional if you have been unable to overcome these problems up until now. These suggestions are specific to how to get a feel for medicine and whether it's right for you - but they will not ease social anxiety. Difficulty interacting with others can be a big roadblock when it comes to becoming a doctor.

3.8 is a very good start. You may be a bit behind the people who have known they want to be doctors for a long time, but this is not to be worried about since these types are few. For summer, if you want to test out your affinity for the medical path, start with shadowing. If you end up not enjoying shadowing, you'll save a lot of time by not continuing the medical path. If you do like shadowing, start volunteering at the hospital. Get some exposure to patients - ED, Pediatric and OR volunteering are particularly good for this. If you continue to enjoy this, then you have a lot more options going forward. From here, you could do community volunteering to find out how altruistic you are (or maybe discover a particular passion, like teaching, counseling, community service, underserved populations etc.) or you could try to get involved in research.

It sounds like you're still pretty fresh and pluripotent, so you could go in a lot of different directions right now. The best way to spend your summer will be to get your feet wet investigating several of those directions. You could also spend some time developing a hobby or passion outside of academic pursuits.

 

[DarkArcher]

@UNMedGa: Thanks! I'll try to find a shadowing opportunity this Summer. And as you mentioned, some hospital volunteering. I would also like to get your opinion on when you would apply for medical school if you were in my situation. To my knowledge, the applications are only open each Summer from May to July or so forth?

 

[NeuResurgens]

@UNMedGa: Thanks! I'll try to find a shadowing opportunity this Summer. And as you mentioned, some hospital volunteering. I would also like to get your opinion on when you would apply for medical school if you were in my situation. To my knowledge, the applications are only open each Summer from May to July or so forth?

Before you think about applying, you'll need to take the MCAT. This is often done in the spring after your Junior year, although you should take it whenever you're ready and there is no strict timeline. Make sure you've taken a year of general chemistry, biology, organic chemistry as well as a biochem class in order to be maximally prepared. The MCAT also has psychology and sociology, so you can also take courses in these topics, although the material on the MCAT should be simple enough to self learn these principles. You should apply once you have your MCAT score, and you should submit your application as soon as possible. The AAMCAS application is open from May - around September, with the earliest submission date in June. Sometimes, if you take the MCAT during the application cycle (like I'm doing in August) it would be advisable to wait until the following cycle to apply. This will be the following Spring.