Did I mess up? What should I do over the summer?

[palosantoenjoyer]

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Hello!

I am a current freshman at a T3 LAC and I wanted y'all's advice on summer activities and if I am behind or not.

My current situation is :
I have no summer research, no research experience, no volunteering, no clinical hours. I tried to apply for a EMT course over the summer but I was told that the slots have filled up. In terms of classes, I will not be getting a 4.0 gpa this year so I am also behind on GPA. What should I be doing right now so I can make the most out of my summer? I come from low-income background so I am unable to do anything expensive and I also do not have reliable access to a car.

I am also open to any advice about the general pre-med path.

Thank you!

 

[Goro]

Contact your local houses of worship about volunteering opportunities for people less fortunate than you.

Try local food banks or soup kitchens

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Hello!

I am a current freshman at a T3 LAC and I wanted y'all's advice on summer activities and if I am behind or not.

My current situation is :
I have no summer research, no research experience, no volunteering, no clinical hours. I tried to apply for a EMT course over the summer but I was told that the slots have filled up. In terms of classes, I will not be getting a 4.0 gpa this year so I am also behind on GPA. What should I be doing right now so I can make the most out of my summer? I come from low-income background so I am unable to do anything expensive and I also do not have reliable access to a car.

I am also open to any advice about the general pre-med path.

Thank you!

Dude. We haven't hit the summer yet. Have you taken a class to prepare you for doing summer research? Unless you have done research as a high school student, few faculty members will hire a freshmen-becoming-sophomore to be in their lab.

How far behind are you on your GPA? 3.9? 3.8?

if you want advice about the premed path, read the SDN article archive... we've been helping people for over 20 years.

I agree with Goro... your SLAC should have community service opportunities that you should be taking advantage of.

 

[LizzyM]

Summer might be a good time to get shadowing hours. Do you have public transportation or intermittent access to transportation such that you could get back and forth to a physician's office a few times over the summer to accumulate 30-50 hours of shadowing?

If you have a hospital within a reasonable distance, you might enquire about any opportunities to volunteer in the emergency department, or entertaining kids in the pediatric ward or holding babies in the NICU. Some specialty outpatient clinics also have roles for volunteers who play with kids (hand out crayons and coloring sheets) while they wait for their appointments.

If there are any nursing homes or rehabilitation facilities in close proximity to your home, you could enquire there. Some could use help moving residents here and there, helping with activities, and so forth. It is a gray zone between clinical and non-clinical as they aren't, strictly speaking, "patients" but "residents" but it does get you exposure to a licensed health care facility and people who are different than yourself and in need of your help.

I agree that soup kitchens, food pantries, big sib programs for kids without role models, homeless shelters, are good places to look for volunteer opportunities.
It is also reasonable to get a job, any job, that puts you in touch with people you might not otherwise interact with. Retail and food service can be very eye-opening as you learn to deal with the public and to work and help people who are different from yourself. I spent a summer working in a restaurant kitchen with people older than my parents. One of the cooks liked to talk about how he'd been snatched from death's door thanks to new technology, that piqued my interest in a very niche field and one thing led to another resulting in a job at a major policy organization right out of school! So you never know.

Summer after 2nd year, when you've had more lab experience, is soon enough for a summer research position.