Help me decide what to do this summer?

[woohoo]

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Hey everyone out there in premed land! OK, I have some choices to make regarding what to do this summer and I can?t decide. I mentioned possibly doing psychology research in another post (which no one replied to, thanks 🙁 ) OR I could take orgo I and possibly calc II although I don?t know if this is feasible since I barely survived gen chem OR I could possibly try to get some clinical experience. I?d really like to work at a community clinic or something similar but how do I find such places and how do i go about asking? I guess my questions come down to this: 1) is research in a non-science area looked at as ?bad?? 2) would it be suicide to take orgo over the summer and work? 3) what?s the best way to go about getting some clinical experience? My guess is i?ll only have time for 2 of the 3 options, am i right about this? Thanks all
😛

 

[CalBear]

i took the second semester of calculus during the summer and it was completely manageable. i chose to take it b/c there was no lab, which allowed me to also volunteer at a hospital once a week and continue my basic science research.

in regards to your question about non-science research, i don't think that it matters what type of research you do (i met someone at an interview who did anthropology research). it only matters that you used critical thinking skills to solve a question that you want to answer. however, you need to convey this in an interview. hope this helps and good luck deciding what to do!

 

[SMW]

If you barely survived general chem, then working while taking organic does not sound like a good plan. I took it during the summer, and it was all I could manage. So, one or the other. You should do whatever kind of research you're interested in. Psych is fine. Med schools like applicants who are interested in something -- not ones who are trying to second-guess what the adcom will like. Somewhere along the line you'll need to get some clinical exposure. Maybe your pre-med advisor has suggestions, but again, do something that really interests you. Do you want to work with kids, in the ER or what? You can start slow -- volunteer once a week for a few hours while you're doing your research or taking organic. It doesn't have to be a huge time committment. You know what? I never thought about what med schools would want, because I didn't decide to apply to med school until I was almost done with all my classes, volunteering, etc. If you do things you are enthusiastic about while doing well in the pre-med prerequisites, you'll be fine.

 

[vyc]

i don't know about everyone else but i would hate to waste a summer taking classes. that's what i do during the year.
the summer is for me to explore other interests, like research or getting clinical experience, etc.

 

[SMW]

I took classes during two summers so I could fit in all my prerequisites and still have time to study abroad one quarter and do an internship another quarter. Worked out great (except when I got mono during the summer I was taking physics). There are lots of different paths that work.

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

I think it's a great idea to take summer classes. I took them two summers. The first time I had speech and a chem lab so it was cake. the second time I had genetics and Organic 1. That was difficult but manageable and awesome to be finished with it after 5 weeks (we have short summer sessions). In reality, it is hard to graduate in 4 years without taking a few summer classes or killing yourself every single semester. By doing that, I only needed 9 hours to graduate this semester so I'm having a great time of it. 😀

 

[brandonite]

I've taken a pile of classes in the summer. I really like it - it's very relaxing. 🙂 I've had a good time with some of the people in summer classes. I've taken most of my arts requirements over summer session. Granted, they were Arts classes, but we usually had classes in the morning, and had all afternoon off, so we usually went to the beach or something like that... 🙂

 

[Peter Parker]

If you can try and fit any clinical experience in there, I would go ahead and do so. It's good to start clinical experiences early on. Many schools only want to see POST-SECONDARY extracurriculars and this is a related if not required one.