What do most med students do during the summer?

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I know most M1 and M2s get a break so what do most of them do? Is research a possibility and if so is it usually at their respective schools or do many go different places?

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I know most M1 and M2s get a break so what do most of them do? Is research a possibility and if so is it usually at their respective schools or do many go different places?

I can only speak for what people have done at my school, but most people did do something during the summer between M1 and M2 year.

You can do research anywhere, actually. Some people did research at our school or institutions affiliated with our school. Others did research back in their home town/state. Most people tried to do research in a field that they were thinking about going in to, but any research experience in an area that you have an interest in is great.

Some people did volunteer work abroad. I went to Guatemala for a month and did some volunteer work at a local clinic took some Spanish classes. Other people went to Costa Rica, China, India, and Ghana.

You usually don't have time to do anything after M2 year because that's when you'll most likely be studying for and taking Step 1. At my school, we finished M2 year in early May, and most people had taken Step 1 by first week of June. Now we're in the middle of a 2-week orientation for our clinical rotations, and we start rotations first week of July. In other words, no summer break.
 
Between M1 and M2: Went to London and France for fun. Came back and did landscaping and EMT work.

Between M2 and M3: studied for step 1.
 
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You can do research anywhere, actually. Some people did research at our school or institutions affiliated with our school. Others did research back in their home town/state. Most people tried to do research in a field that they were thinking about going in to, but any research experience in an area that you have an interest in is great.
How would one go about this? Are there certain research programs geared toward med students?
 
How would one go about this? Are there certain research programs geared toward med students?

I know of a couple (teaching) hospitals that have research programs for undergraduate & med students. And at schools that have a research project requirement, most students work on this during M1/M2 summer. I'm not sure there even is an M2/M3 summer because I think you start clinical rotations right after the year is over....
 
Between M2 and M3: studied for step 1.

Yeah, the summer after M1 is a true break. Most people do research, but there is a lot of opportunity to do fun stuff during that summer too -- it is your last summer "off". But that's it. Your summer after M2, as prowler mentioned is going to be occupied with studying for and taking the boards. You will probably work harder during this summer than during the academic year. Hardly a vacation. And after 3rd and 4th years you usually get like a week, not a real summer.
 
How would one go about this? Are there certain research programs geared toward med students?

There are a few ways to find out about research opportunities. One way is to talk to the faculty at your school. As you go through first year classes, some topics/subjects may stick out more than others and be interesting to you. You can always email or talk to the professor that taught the subject you were interested in. A lot of the lecturing faculty also have research projects that they're involved with. If they have nothing, then perhaps they can point you to a colleague of theirs that is doing research. This way you can also get some research done during first year and perhaps continue it during summer break. Of course, it helps if you've had prior lab experience and therefore don't require much training. But lab experience is probably not an absolute requirement.

Another way is to talk to your med school curriculum office or student affairs office and they can help point you in the right direction. My school sends out a list of summer research opportunities not only at our school but other schools/universities in the area. I'm sure other schools do this, too. The summer research projects are generally a few weeks (maybe 4 weeks), then you're done.

And as the above posters have said, you'll probably have no summer break after M2 year. It's just Step 1 studying, Step 1 taking, and prep for clinicals.
 
I plan on taking MPH classes to lighten the extra load.
 
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