What To Do in Summer while Studying MCAT

[MetsFan96]

I am planning on taking the MCAT next summer- I will be at home, studying intensively and hopefully taking a Prep Course as well. I have shadowed a physician this summer, and am involved in a healthcare startup at my University. I do have a lot of community service as well.

What do you recommend I do while I study for the MCAT next summer? I will have completed my Sophomore year, and I do not want to spend the summer just studying for my MCAT and not be involved in any outside activities. I cannot imagine doing an internship while studying- Does anyone have any suggestions of activities I should pursue? Perhaps just joining a local volunteer group and helping out at random events throughout the summer? Or I could try and join a start-up/do an internship that is web-based that I can do from home on a computer?

Thanks!

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[IlDestriero]

Go out every night and work on your game.

 

[efle]

Think twice about taking a prep course. Even if money is no object, the best thing about them is their prep materials that you can buy separately. A custom-tailored self-made schedule for you will be much more effective than the general pacing they do in classes (eg. if you struggle more with topic X and already know Y well, only by self-studying can you allocate appropriate amounts of time). It's also really nice to have total flexibility in your summer schedule by self-studying, there's no problem working in vacations or unexpected days off since you can just move that day's content over to your usual break day.

Many people do 20-30 hours per week of part time work, taking a class, research for credits, etc. Full time + MCAT is a lot to handle, but part time + MCAT is a perfect balance if you're looking at 10-12 weeks of study time. If you don't need the money from a job or aren't interested in research, you could rack up a lot of volunteerism hours. Whether your job is work from home or not will probably not matter so long as it's a manageable number of hours per week.

Check out the MCAT subforum by the way, much better for this type of thing than the general Pre-Allo.

Source: Self-studied while taking a 25 hr/wk class, thought it was great. Scored 40+ on old MCAT

 

[Pusheen]

You can easily do 15-20 hours a week of some other activity, whether that be work, research, or volunteering. Do it in the morning, and study for MCAT in the afternoons and evenings. Or dedicate 2-3 days a week to that activity and spend the entire rest of the time studying.

However, that is IF you want to have little to no free time over the summer. If you want to have free time you should stick to just MCAT studying.

 

[Meeehai]

Go out every night and work on your game.

You joke, but my first round of MCAT scores suffered because of this.

 

[efle]

Whenever my room mate is low on motivation I just remind him this single exam is worth as much as his entire undergraduate grade record

You don't have to love the MCAT studying...you have to fear what happens if you don't !

 

[Lucca]

I am currently doing 40 hr/wk of research alongside studying. I wouldn't recommend it, especially since I find my research 10000000x more interesting than the MCAT. If you have a choice do 20 hrs + MCAT. 40 + MCAT is totally doable and I was putting in about 4 hours of studying + 8 hours of work every day for about half the summer but after a while it becomes harder and harder to stay motivated. Just make sure that you have free days to do full length practice exams. I have been studying for like 8-9 weeks now and I have yet to do a full length because I'm so ****ing busy all of the time. I'm really bitter, may end up pushing back exam because I won't feel confident until I can replicate a score enough times.

 

[ConfusedChemist]

Just be thankful you don't need to work 40hrs/wk like most students and do something you enjoy

 

[FutureSurgical]

Did it this summer. Volunteered, worked ~25 hours a week (+/- 5 hours), hit the gym each day, hung out with friends once or twice a week, and I'm already done with content review. Hell, I've had oral surgery too and I was able to do content review and start doing FL's.

I'd recommend taking a biochem course before studying, makes everything 10x easier to study.

 

[Banco]

You could easily volunteer a few hours a week.