No internships this summer... womp womp. How to put summer to valuable use?

[buttahz]

I'm currently a junior, soon to be a senior. I didn't apply for those 8 week SURPs/REUs, and I got rejected from the couple internships I actually applied to. It seems like my classmates are getting sexy internships left and right, and my lack of an official activity this summer is really going to hurt me.

So, are there any creative suggestions to spend my summer? I'm taking a gap year, or two, so I'm not taking the MCAT this fall. I have an EMT license, so I could do some volunteering, and soon to have a driver's license, but that's obviously not a full time thing.

I have half a mind to take a break with the premed activities and just do something fun (train for a marathon, take the lead of my church youth group again, go camping, drink like a fish, maaaaybe get a job.) But I feel like the summer ECs are just supposed to get better and better by this stage, and I'm falling behind.

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[Loveless]

How about a summer Americorps VISTA program?

 

[buttahz]

http://www.americorps.gov/about/programs/vista.asp
^This? It's a year long commitment. Thank you, though, it seems like something to consider for a gap year.

 

[Planes2Doc]

I'm currently a junior, soon to be a senior. I didn't apply for those 8 week SURPs/REUs, and I got rejected from the couple internships I actually applied to. It seems like my classmates are getting sexy internships left and right, and my lack of an official activity this summer is really going to hurt me.

Internships are necessary for getting a nice job in the business world. They aren't necessary for medical school at all. Research would be pretty beneficial if possible. Or you can work on beefing up those ECs.

So, are there any creative suggestions to spend my summer? I'm taking a gap year, or two, so I'm not taking the MCAT this fall. I have an EMT license, so I could do some volunteering, and soon to have a driver's license, but that's obviously not a full time thing.

Continue doing things for your application. If you can score an EMT job during the summer, that would be good. If you volunteer for an EMT position, that'll be even awesomer because you'll look like an awesome caring person, and ADCOMs dig that.

I have half a mind to take a break with the premed activities and just do something fun (train for a marathon, take the lead of my church youth group again, go camping, drink like a fish, maaaaybe get a job.)

What? I'm confused... How can you take a break from doing things you are passionate about, and therefore enjoy? Seriously though, you can definitely do the aforementioned activities and put them on your application. I'm sure ADCOMs are relieved to see people that do things outside of medical school admissions, since it shows that you aren't a robot.

But I feel like the summer ECs are just supposed to get better and better by this stage, and I'm falling behind.

Remember, only on SDN is there an enormous emphasis on ECs. A typical pre-med going through their pre-med advisor will do clinical volunteering to kill two birds with one stone, checking off both volunteering and clinical experience from the list. Then shadowing is a must as well. Aside from that, non-clinical volunteering and entry-level clinical jobs are not mandatory. In fact, if you spend too much time on them, your grades and future MCAT score might take a beating. Don't fall into the SDN trap of devoting your whole college life pretending to be passionate about things that ADCOMs want you to be passionate about. In the quest of beefing up those ECs to overpriced ballpark frank levels, your stats might take a nasty beating. In that case, your beefylicious ECs will not make up for lackluster stats.

 

[xffan624]

I'm currently a junior, soon to be a senior. I didn't apply for those 8 week SURPs/REUs, and I got rejected from the couple internships I actually applied to. It seems like my classmates are getting sexy internships left and right, and my lack of an official activity this summer is really going to hurt me.

So, are there any creative suggestions to spend my summer? I'm taking a gap year, or two, so I'm not taking the MCAT this fall. I have an EMT license, so I could do some volunteering, and soon to have a driver's license, but that's obviously not a full time thing.

I have half a mind to take a break with the premed activities and just do something fun (train for a marathon, take the lead of my church youth group again, go camping, drink like a fish, maaaaybe get a job.) But I feel like the summer ECs are just supposed to get better and better by this stage, and I'm falling behind.

Get a job, volunteer, etc. I'm a non-trad, but most of my summers in college were spent working at Kmart, living with my parents, and saving money for the next school year.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Get a job, volunteer, etc. I'm a non-trad, but most of my summers in college were spent working at Kmart, living with my parents, and saving money for the next school year.

Ship my pants?

 

[Loveless]

http://www.americorps.gov/about/programs/vista.asp
^This? It's a year long commitment. Thank you, though, it seems like something to consider for a gap year.

Yes and no. Look on the right side of that page; below the big red search button, click 'advanced opportunity search'. There should be a filter called service terms, with the option to choose summer only programs. IIRC, they're usually 8 to 12 weeks. Not sure if the summer programs pay you a living expense like the year long ones do, but you should get a small education payment at the end regardless.

Here's the full scoop.

It's a really fulfilling experience if you can hack it (even though you may not accomplish much ).