Summer Extracurriculars

[darkwing92]

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Hey guys,

Firstly, I'd like to say hello to all of you guys here on this forum. Everyone here seems really nice and knowledgeable, so I thought I'd ask you guys about summer extracurriculars.

I am a sophomore at NYU. During my first year, I was pretty depressed and didn't get involved in much activities on campus. My first summer consisted of me taking a MCAT prep course, and lazing around the rest of the time. This summer, however, I want to do something more productive. I don't really know what activities medical schools like their applicants to do over the summer. Preferably, I'd like to do something in California or Singapore, but any help is appreciated.

Thanks for helping out!

 

[BadHorse]

hey dark, so I'll tell you what I wish was said to me, if there's anything you can think of doing that puts something positive into the world and would genuinely make you happy... do that. Do the ampersand hashtag poundsign exclamationpoint out of that. med schools like passion and YOU like not being a robot, it's pretty much a win win. if you're not so much with the ideas and the fun be different stuff (which I kinda doubt because you like to hang out in places like singapore, cali and NYU) you can do something traditional, med schools are always fond of research and volunteering and working hard for the money. Find research somewhere awesome with awesome professors doing something awesome. Find a cause you believe in and rock it, give to it and build it. Live a life you can be proud of and take joy in and med school and everything else in life will fall right into place.

Best of luck.

 

[NickNaylor]

I don't think it matters all that much what you do, but do SOMETHING that you can talk about on your application. For most people that seems to be research or some kind of volunteering/shadowing, but it certainly doesn't have to be limited to that. If you want to travel, see if you can do it in the context of something that you can talk about in an interview (I have no idea what that "something" might be).

 

[LizzyM]

There are several common activities for summer after sophmore year:

Research, full-time, in a lab at your school or another school (often one closer to home or one in an entirely different area of the country)

Seasonal work in a camp or in a business, e.g. road construction, house painter, lawn care, caddy, resort area or ballpark food service

Expansion of a job or volunteer activity one engaged in during the school year or a new gig (volunteer at a camp for kids with medical issues, Special Olympics, hospital volunteering, working as an EMT or CNA etc)

Adventure activity such as hiking a long trail or engaging in an coast-to-coast bike ride for charity.