Summer between M1 and M2

[medstu2006]

Hey everyone. I finished my M1 yr about 2 weeks ago. I have been looking for research jobs but couldnt find any. Now I have nothing to do for the whole summer. Is this a bad thing? My mom's sick, so I would like to stay in my homeotwn and my options are limited. I couldn't do the preceptorship at my medical school since it's in another state and I really wanted to be home to take care of my mom. I am interested in Neurology. Should I shadow a neurologist or something? I am just worried cause I feel I should be making use of this time doing research. What do you all suggest and what do students usually do between M-1 and M-2 yrs.?

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[RxnMan]

Hey everyone. I finished my M1 yr about 2 weeks ago. I have been looking for research jobs but couldnt find any. Now I have nothing to do for the whole summer. Is this a bad thing? My mom's sick, so I would like to stay in my homeotwn and my options are limited. I couldn't do the preceptorship at my medical school since it's in another state and I really wanted to be home to take care of my mom. I am interested in Neurology. Should I shadow a neurologist or something? I am just worried cause I feel I should be making use of this time doing research. What do you all suggest and what do students usually do between M-1 and M-2 yrs.?

Is there a med school where you are now? You might be able to call them up and see if you could arrange a preceptorship. Schools will have an office dedicated to students doing away electives, so that's one place to start.

If there isn't a school in the area, you could call up the major hospital in your area and do the same.

Or you could just, you know, enjoy spending time with you mom. Or do a bunch of 12-oz curls!

 

[medstu2006]

Thanks for the advice. The hospitals I called don't return my calls and other dont care.

181 views and 1 reply?
Please help me out here, I feel like I'm screwed or something.

 

[deleted77919]

You could try calling neurology offices. Honestly, most in private practice probably won't want to deal with someone shadowing them, but if you call enough people it's possible you'll get one to agree. You can come in one day a week for a few weeks, or spend a week comming in every afternoon. This way you get to learn something about neurology over the summer. It is not necessary to do something just so you'll have something to put on a resume. The things people did the summer is not even on the radar of any PD's I have spoken with.

 

[Dr JPH]

I dont think Neurology is terribly competitive, but on the other hand there is a lot of great Neuro research going on right now all over the country.

Shadowing is another option as you mentioned.

Personally I wouldnt do anything too hard core. I had friends who did crazy research, worked, traveled, did medical missions, built hospitals in India, volunteered at schools.

Personally, I drank beer and played Vice City for 2 months.

 

[Shredder]

who cares about m1/m2 summer unless you wanna do plastics or derm. I might do pizza delivery or fast food, just anything to pass some time. I wish this summer didn't even exist or I could take classes to get ahead like in undergrad

 

[taXi]

As someone with a mother with MS, I would look at the opportunity to spend time with her as a blessing. The time goes by so fast when you are in school, and even phone calls can be difficult to make on some days.

But of course you do want to stay somewhat productive when it comes to your career. Neurology may not be extremely competitive, but the extremely competitive neurology residencies are. If you are aiming for high achievements, as your expressed disappointment in a lack of research position suggests, then demonstration of early interest in your desired field will be of benefit. I would look for something close to home, even if it is just shadowing a neurologist a few times over the summer. Consider approaching docs of related fields as well, such as PM&R and neuroradiology. If you spend a few days with each, spread out over the summer, you will likely learn a lot and perhaps have an interesting story to tell at residency interviews down the line.

Best wishes to your mother and your family. Again, do make the most of any time you have with her. Opportunities will be fewer and further between as your studies/training progress. Good luck!

 

[megadon]

If you can't get into research, shadow. Does your mom have any doctor's she close with? They are probably your best bet for hitting up. Plus, a lot of practices have some kind of research going on that I am sure they wouldn't mind you doing some scut work on. Like organizing some spreadsheets, etc. My preceptor works pretty full bore with seeing patients, and I am sure if I offered to help do some administrative crap with their research he would gladly oblige.

 

[dubrovnik]

who cares about m1/m2 summer unless you wanna do plastics or derm. I might do pizza delivery or fast food, just anything to pass some time. I wish this summer didn't even exist or I could take classes to get ahead like in undergrad

Good use of time. Why not go to Wall Street and get paid $8000 for a summer internship at Sachs then?

I'd recommend calling up all the local labs and trying to land a last minute position in some research field that you're interested in. Stay close to your mom - family is more important.

 

[SanDiegoSOD]

What do you all suggest and what do students usually do between M-1 and M-2 yrs.?

Do you live in a major city (i.e. Large City, or State Capitol)? If you do, and are politically motivated, it may be worth looking into an internship with an organization that has something to do with health policy. That could be with the legislature, state medical society, something in the executive branch (governor, dept of health), or even a private company. You may not know much about health policy now, but after 8 or 10 weeks in one of these organizations, you may be surprised by how much you've learned.

 

[Shredder]

Good use of time. Why not go to Wall Street and get paid $8000 for a summer internship at Sachs then?

I'd recommend calling up all the local labs and trying to land a last minute position in some research field that you're interested in. Stay close to your mom - family is more important.

Yeah I'm limited geographically to a midwestern state, trying to establish residency here and it breaks some rules if I venture out for over a month. Besides those internships would prolly go to Ivy League finance majors possibly planning to work there later on rather than med students with no intention of ever returning. My summer's just over 2 months too and good internships generally run about 10 wks

 

[sanche60]

Hey everyone. I finished my M1 yr about 2 weeks ago. I have been looking for research jobs but couldnt find any. Now I have nothing to do for the whole summer. Is this a bad thing? My mom's sick, so I would like to stay in my homeotwn and my options are limited. I couldn't do the preceptorship at my medical school since it's in another state and I really wanted to be home to take care of my mom. I am interested in Neurology. Should I shadow a neurologist or something? I am just worried cause I feel I should be making use of this time doing research. What do you all suggest and what do students usually do between M-1 and M-2 yrs.?

download the matchoutcomes file that is on critical mass
's sig. I think it will ease your mind about the importance of research. more simply, not having any research experience at all doesnt have any drastic effects on your ability to match in most specialties (plastics and derm showed some differences but the number of people without research was so small in my opinion its hardly conclusive) . Given neurology is definitely easy to match in to begin with, i wouldnt be sweating bullets if i were you. I would however try to at least do something this summer that you can put on your cv.

 

[MSKalltheway]

I also think that spending the time with your mother would be most important. If it really comes down to it that residency programs wonder why you didnt research this summer, you can always explain to them that you have more important things to worry about, already being in medicine, you would hope they understand this. If you are having a problem with getting in contact with people (as I once did when I was looking to shadow some docs), I literally threw on my white coat, showed up on the floor and asked to speak with Dr. so-and-so if they were available. Being "politely agressive" as I call it finally got me some attention, and I opened a lot of doors for contacts actually. Also, you can always do things like do case write-ups on the wards and do 4 week research electives during M4. I doubt those with multiple pubs during med school did them all during this summer. I wouldnt worry too much, few places care about research all that much unless you are looking into derm, plastics, ortho, or the top residencies in a given specialty. It can only help, but its towards the bottom of a long list of criteria for match selection from my reading. Most people I know are working for maybe 6 wks, and traveling for the rest

 

[Critical Mass]

Sleep.

 

[AK_MD2BE]

To the OP
I know it sounds cliche, but spend every day that you can with your mother. My father passed away when I was 18 and I would give anything to have a week, much less a summer, with him. Sure you can do a little bit of research or studying, but really enjoy the time you have with your mother. Ask anyone in our age demographic who has lost a parent and they will tell you how much they miss their parents and how they would give anything to have time to spend with them. Good luck on your decision and God bless!

 

[54578]

I don't thibnk 7-8 weeks are really going to matter. I was planning on doing research, but am so burned out after this first year that my motivation collapsed. Relax, take care of your body, sleep, maybe work in a clinic if you desire (but you'll get SO much of that 3rd/4th year) and just enjoy the summer (your last one). Really, residencies are going to be so overwelmed with transcripts, recs, CVs, board scores, etc that one summer probably wont mean that much. In my opinion of course :0)