Good Summer Job/Experience for Pre-meds?

[goleafsgo]

Hey all, i need to decide what i want to do this summer that will not only be a fulfilling experience for us pre-meds, but will also look good on a med school application.

something other than volunteering at a hospital, i did that and they dont let you do a whole lot..
what have some of you done during past/upcoming summers?
some input/ ideas would be awesome!

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[uclacrewdude]

wash my car.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

Do an internship for a biotech company. Good pay yo!

 

[Adapt]

Attend a medical spanish course in mexico or in south america.

 

[goleafsgo]

cmon people, join in!

 

[jhk43]

Eat your vegetables.

 

[goleafsgo]

urgh.. not many people want to share their ideas eh?

 

[drdr2010]

take a 3 week community college course to become a certified nurse aide/assistant.
good money, great clinical experience.

 

[Plastix.MD]

Work at a hospice as a non-paid volunteer on weekends. It will open your eyes to death and create a genuine form of empathy towards your future patients.

 

[freesolo]

volunteering at a nursing home probably, and maybe some stuff with habitat for humanity. Oh and 2 summer classes, and an mcat course =o, and working as many hours as possible at a fastfood place.
Fun fun summer coming up.

 

[TheRussian]

I would suggest to take an EMT course, it's more fun then being a nursing assistant. Of course after you finish the course you should get a job at a private ambulance company and make bling bling.

 

[underAchiever]

I would definetely recommend the EMT route. It takes a little longer than CNA training, but CNA work is brutal.

 

[rewindthemovie]

how much does emt training cost usually?

also, am i able to do either the nursing assistant or emt since i'm only 18? I'm just trying to get an early start on working in healthcare for med school apps

 

[dsblaha]

Best summer job=YMCA summer camps.

One summer I was the unit leader for the laser tag/paintball camp. You have no idea how good it feels to shoot 15-16 yearolds with paintballs.

Paintball in the morning, beach in the afternoon. It only paid $8/hour but it was worth it. At the time, that was not too bad. 1998.

 

[mlw03]

i worked two summers as a patient transporter in the hospital. pay is on-par with retail work (7-8$/hr), and you pick up lots of tidbits of info. it's also a good way to learn some medical terminology. you also get to see healthcare from the perspective of a non-doctor. i think this will help keep me grounded when i am a doctor. you learn to appreciate the contributions of the nurses, technicians, even the janitors and food-service people.

 

[goleafsgo]

the EMT route seems cool.. pardon my ignorance on this, but can anyone just walk off the street and get EMT certification? or is this something you have to apply and get into? also, one can be certified in a summer?

 

[goleafsgo]

hmmm just looked this up.. looks like it takes 2 weeks for certification in the US, and 2 YEARS in Canada, where I am

 

[Marxuslp]

.

 

[Doc Martins]

If you're interested in doing research, the National Institutes of Health has a lot of opportunities. www.nih.gov

 

[avicoo]

I think volunteering for an organization such as Hospice is impressive, character-building, and shows you can handle what comes with a medical profession.

 

[Daedalus]

Check with your local or state EMS website (CA's is http://www.emsa.ca.gov/)
for a list of training locations. You can usually find classes at your local community college. The cost is usually a few hundred dollars. Or you could check with your university/med school. I took the class at UCLA. It was more expensive than the CC route ($600), but I think the extra cost was well worth it.

 

[avicoo]

I think you might have the wrong idea when you ask people here for good ideas in this department. Try to think of something unique. Something that will give you the kind of experience you are looking for, fit with your character and goals, and might just be out-of-the-ordinary.

 

[fullefect1]

I am going down to Mass General to see if I can be a patient transport. The only thing bad about it, is after reading their description, I found out that the transporter also has to transport died paitents. I am kinda scared.

 

[goleafsgo]

Originally posted by avicoo
I think you might have the wrong idea when you ask people here for good ideas in this department. Try to think of something unique. Something that will give you the kind of experience you are looking for, fit with your character and goals, and might just be out-of-the-ordinary.

believe me, i have been thinking about this for a while now, i've done a ton of research work, and volunteering at a hospital, nursing home.. i am having trouble coming up with something different. i'm just trying to get some ideas from a wide range of people with different experiences.

 

[avicoo]

Originally posted by goleafsgo
believe me, i have been thinking about this for a while now, i've done a ton of research work, and volunteering at a hospital, nursing home.. i am having trouble coming up with something different. i'm just trying to get some ideas from a wide range of people with different experiences.

Sorry, I didn't mean to indicate that you hadn't I just think you should aim for out-of-the-ordinary. I am also getting the impression that many schools like to see travel/cultural experiences so you may not want to discount travel opportunities particularly ones that may allow you to be involved in health care or looking at another country's health care system.

 

[rewindthemovie]

what exactly does a patient transport do?

i know it seems obvious, but i don't want to get the wrong idea. do i just move a patient from one place to another?

i don't think i'll be able to do the emt thing, i'm only 18 and it seems you have to be 21.

 

[Trekkie963]

Originally posted by rewindthemovie
i don't think i'll be able to do the emt thing, i'm only 18 and it seems you have to be 21.

I've been an EMT for three years. Just turned 21 this past December.

Being an EMT is a great experience. If you are interested, I highly recommend it.

 

[rewindthemovie]

Originally posted by Trekkie963
I've been an EMT for three years. Just turned 21 this past December.

Being an EMT is a great experience. If you are interested, I highly recommend it.

great! now i need to find a place around where i live that i can be trained @

 

[raptorattack]

Originally posted by Trekkie963
I've been an EMT for three years. Just turned 21 this past December.

Being an EMT is a great experience. If you are interested, I highly recommend it.

How well does becoming an EMT coincide with being a full-time student?

 

[TheRussian]

Originally posted by raptorattack
How well does becoming an EMT coincide with being a full-time student?

It's doable. I took the EMT course during my spring semester of my freshman year and I had 18 credit hours of class. The class takes up a lot of your time but if you are good at time managment then it's not that bad.

Keep in mind that in order to be licensed as an EMT in the US you need to complete an EMT course which consists of about 130 in class hours. After succesful completion of the class you need to take either the state or the national exam and pass that. If you take the course over the summer you will probably not be licensed until september or october, depending on when you take the test.

To make the class worthwhile you really have to get involved either in a volunteer EMT core or at a private ambulance company after you get licensed. Otherwise there is no point. I know plenty of pre-meds that took the class and never did anything worthwhile with their certs and I think that this makes no sense.

I'm licensed in MA so if you have any questions specifically about the class and licesing in MA let me know. Also if you are in the Boston area I can recommend a good place to take your EMT course.