Summer after 1st year of medical school and residency

[Bohica]

Hey guys, I have a quick question about the time spent during the summer of the first year after med school. I was accepted into a clinical research program this summer but I was notified that the funding for the project didn't come through the week before I was to start. The school I attend is very small and is not known for its research and I was unable to sign on to another project with such short notice. Up to this point I am struggling to find any medically relevant job on campus and believe I may not be able to come up with anything. My question to you is how will this impact my status as an applicant for a residency program. So far I'm in the top 10% of my class but I'm concerned "taking the summer off" will look poorly on my application. I have spoken with several classmates and get a wide variety of responses from "residency programs couldn't care less about how you spent your summer, board scores and Lors are all that matter" to "that might keep you from getting into a competitive residency program" Could any of you give your opinion on the impact, if any, this will have on my status as an applicant? I'm concerned that while filling out an application or during an interview for a residency program I wont have anything to write/discuss. Currently, I'm thinking about specialties such ER, peds, IM. Thanks for the help, it is greatly appreciated.

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[BabyPsychDoc]

Hey guys, I have a quick question about the time spent during the summer of the first year after med school. I was accepted into a clinical research program this summer but I was notified that the funding for the project didn't come through the week before I was to start. The school I attend is very small and is not known for its research and I was unable to sign on to another project with such short notice. Up to this point I am struggling to find any medically relevant job on campus and believe I may not be able to come up with anything. My question to you is how will this impact my status as an applicant for a residency program. So far I'm in the top 10% of my class but I'm concerned "taking the summer off" will look poorly on my application. I have spoken with several classmates and get a wide variety of responses from "residency programs couldn't care less about how you spent your summer, board scores and Lors are all that matter" to "that might keep you from getting into a competitive residency program" Could any of you give your opinion on the impact, if any, this will have on my status as an applicant? I'm concerned that while filling out an application or during an interview for a residency program I wont have anything to write/discuss. Currently, I'm thinking about specialties such ER, peds, IM. Thanks for the help, it is greatly appreciated.

1. Go on a round-the-world trip - then you could discuss your love for travelling and your impressions, or

2. Start studying for Step 1 - you never know, the difference between 235 and 255 may make or break your application, or

3. Ignore the advice above and just enjoy your summer off - you will need to be focused and re-energised in the year to come.

Have a nice holiday and do whatever you will ENJOY doing.

 

[IndyXRT]

I did absolutely nothing of note during that summer, and it was wonderful. If you insist on doing something, volunteering always looks good and can be rewarding. Depending on the field you want to go in to, you could look for an away rotation early in your 4th year where you could do a research project (some are set up with this in mind) that you can mention on your residency application and talk about at residency interviews.

 

[Winged Scapula]

What you do your first summer is of relatively little importance.

If you are striving for an extremely competitive residency, then it might behoove you to do something related to that field this summer, but to go as far as say that you won't match is ridiculous.

Do something fun and interesting, or worthwhile, study for Step 1, etc. because it really comes down to Step 1, grades, LORs, etc. and not what you did or didn't do your first summer.

 

[michaelrack]

The summer after the first year of med school is the last summer vacation of your life. Enjoy it. Things are only going to get worse.

 

[Luv2Cut]

Well I lost out during the summer between 1st and 2nd year. I had back surgery that summer, then a month later gall bladder surgery. Then I had to make up my neuroanatomy final in mid July because I missed it during finals week. I was so bummed, but I had big plans to do some shadowing that summer and learn some medicine with real patients. I even had big plans to hang out in the ER the 4th of July weekend and see if I could sew up all the lacs that came in.

L2C

 

[deleted109597]

I even had big plans to hang out in the ER the 4th of July weekend and see if I could sew up all the lacs that came in.

Wow. King of the gunners. Seriously, you'll do enough suturing in your career that one weekend won't make any difference. Eventually being in the hospital loses its "coolness". I promise.

As to the OP, I did summer research. I presented a poster. I went on 19 interviews over the last two years. Not a single one ever asked about it.

 

[DrDre311]

I did absolutely nothing of note that summer except play golf and I think it worked out exceptionally well.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Wow. King of the gunners. Seriously, you'll do enough suturing in your career that one weekend won't make any difference. Eventually being in the hospital loses its "coolness". I promise.

Luv2Cut is an attending already; I think he realizes by now that its not always cool.

 

[Luv2Cut]

Wow. King of the gunners. Seriously, you'll do enough suturing in your career that one weekend won't make any difference. Eventually being in the hospital loses its "coolness". I promise.

Dude, I wasn't trying to be a gunner in those days, I was just a little 1st year medical student wanting to learn how to sew people up. I had met the senior ENT resident that spring and he told me how he used to troll the ER looking for lacs to sew up as a student. So, my lightning fast mind decided I was going to do the same thing. I also got to know one of the GS residents and she would call me when she had something emergent come in that needed to go to the OR and let me scrub in or just watch.

I think it payed off too. I'm a FM doc. I may not be a Winged Scapula or DrDre but I can hold my own in skin closures. As a student, I once had an GS attending say to me in the ER, "I hate to admit this but those are the prettiest sutures I've ever seen from a freakin student. What are those? Vertical mattress?" I just smiled.

Bohica, the point is that do something in your free time or summer vacation that you want to learn. It may not something that particularly furthers your career, like a research project or something. But you mentioned your interested in ER, Peds or IM. Shoot. Go hang out in the ER and just shadow or ask the attending what you can do to help. One of those days the attending is going to turn around to you and say, "You've seen enough of these I&Ds you wanna give it a try now?" Then your all over it.

L2C

 

[dragonfly99]

Yes I agree not critical to do "research" etc. for the specialties you are talking about. If you wanted to do derm or ortho I would say gun and gun, try to do research with a doc in that field, etc.

I would say take a couple weeks vacation, then talk w/attending(s) at your hospital see what you can learn over the summer shadowing some people (part time) and then get some "nothing" job to make a little money. My advice is to call up the ER and/or pediatrics or IM program director at your teaching hospital and just explain your predicament, just say that you want to shadow some docs, who does he/she recommend. You know, I totally didn't realize when I was a student, that letters of recommendation are so KEY and that when you do 3rd year you seldom work with 1 attending more than 2 weeks, maybe 4 if you are oh so lucky. So get to know a couple of attendings now, it will be SO totally helpful when you do 3rd and 4th year....they will remember your face. Personally I would go for talking with the ER program director...that way you can get to see both pediatric and adult cases, etc. if you are shadowing someone in the ER. At your stage any clinical experience is a plus.

One other idea I have...I know the AMA has some sort of program where med student or resident can work with DiscoveryHealth to make a TV program (related to health care). It's a 4-6 week internship. You may have missed the deadline, but I thought it was rolling or something.

I also know that the New York Academy of Medicine has some sort of one month "history of medicine" fellowship/stipend that they give out for people to do a paper/research on a topic related to medical history. You might want to google that...perhaps they have funding available for that.

Also agree w/other posters you can always do an elective near beginning of 4th year that you can talk about on your residency applications. Remember this whole thing (medical career and the residencyapplication process, etc.) is a marathon, NOT a sprint. I don't think folks will hold it against you that you go to a school w/less funding and you lost out on funding @the last minute.

 

[michaelrack]

Wow. King of the gunners. Seriously, you'll do enough suturing in your career that one weekend won't make any difference.

Not true of every specialty. There are a lot of internists and psychiatrists who aren't very good at suturing.

 

[deleted109597]

Not true of every specialty. There are a lot of internists and psychiatrists who aren't very good at suturing.

And should probably stay that way. When would a psychiatrist need to suture? When someone gets cut at home? Seriously?
Medicine, maybe, after taking a punch biopsy or something, but even then, they need to turf it to someone who knows what they are doing.
And I will say, that even in the busiest of EDs, one weekend of suturing will not make excellent approximations in the future.