What to do the summer before freshman year as an undergrad?

[newusername1]

I will finally be in college this coming fall, and I was wondering if there is anything I could do this summer before freshman year to help increase my chances for med school (Ex: volunteering, clinical work, etc). I know I may be starting too early, but I want to begin preparing right away. Thanks for all your input!

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[Stumpyman]

Put your feet in the water with some volunteering, I'd say. By any means, don't overdo it.

 

[itsMileyCyrus]

Throw a crazy ass house party! It's your last summer before college! Spend some time with the ladies, make some new friends.

 

[Koosalagoosagoo]

Relax, trust me...

 

[auburnO5]

Relax, trust me...

This X 10000000000

 

[medicalman123]

Drink a lot, blaze, don't think about anything having to do with medical school

 

[JennMedeiros]

I would honestly relax as much as you can, If you want to, you can start studying for the MCAT (sounds insane) and do a little everyday. But I would honestly relax though.

 

[check1212]

I would honestly relax as much as you can, If you want to, you can start studying for the MCAT (sounds insane) and do a little everyday. But I would honestly relax though.

😱

I can't tell if that was sarcastic or sincere...😕

Either way, I would strongly disagree. Definitely go with the "honestly relax" advice and not the part in bold. Trying to review material you haven't even learned yet does sound insane, and you'll either forget everything you learned by the time you need to use that knowledge or form some bad habits/associations/misunderstandings that will mess you up when you have to learn it for real.

 

[JFK90787]

Start emailing the volunteer offices at local hospitals to see if you can volunteer in the ER. If you're bored of course. My summer before undergrad was mostly spent playing Halo 2 for 10 hours a day.

 

[sliceofbread136]

😱

I can't tell if that was sarcastic or sincere...😕

Either way, I would strongly disagree. Definitely go with the "honestly relax" advice and not the part in bold. Trying to review material you haven't even learned yet does sound insane, and you'll either forget everything you learned by the time you need to use that knowledge or form some bad habits/associations/misunderstandings that will mess you up when you have to learn it for real.

Alot of kids with 40+ MCAT scores started studying their freshman year. It's not as crazy as it sounds, but OP should probably just enjoy his summer instead.

 

[tenndoc]

try being an 18 yr old... since it only happens once and you will have plenty of time to prep for med school later.

if you are just hurting to get your feet wet, volunteer some, go have experiences, and be humbled a time or two. just get a taste of if you are really prepared to do all this work

 

[protonate]

I would relax as much as you can. I would also learn how to eat healthy/exercise regularly and incorporate it into your routine. If I were to do anything MCAT related, it would be to have a routine where you read an article about any topic i.e art, philosophy, news, etc... and extract the main idea from it. I would do 1 passage each and every day when you wake up (this should literally take you 3-4 minutes). Verbal is the most difficult section to raise your score so it helps to learn how to read effectively. That being said, DO NOT use any prep materials

 

[Omppu27]

Sleep in, work out, go to the pool, drink with friends that you won't see very often once everyone leaves to college.

Don't do anything school related... please.

 

[zhaozer]

Take a chill pill and spend time with your family. Once college starts, you'll be away from home and won't have too many opportunities to be with them for extended amounts of time.

 

[HealthHare]

Make money and get rid of your V card if you haven't already.

 

[newusername1]

Thanks everyone for the input; I am already relaxing a little, but I want to be prepared for med school. Is it recommended to volunteer in the ER. Or is there something else I can do other than volunteering at a hospital, for example, shadowing a physician??

 

[newusername1]

And is it better to volunteer in the hospital of the college that I will attend this fall (I live pretty close)? Or just any plain old hospital?

 

[JFK90787]

My big thing about about shadowing physicians is how old do you look? When I started shadowing I was close to 20 but probably looked closer to 16, and I got the overwhelming feeling from patients' comments that people were pretty uncomfortable having someone young in the room.

 

[zhaozer]

My big thing about about shadowing physicians is how old do you look? When I started shadowing I was close to 20 but probably looked closer to 16, and I got the overwhelming feeling from patients' comments that people were pretty uncomfortable having someone young in the room.

http://www.amazon.com/Self-Adhesive...49K4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1334101777&sr=8-2

 

[Neurosis]

Take as many General Eds at your local cc. Not even kidding, i wish somebody told me about this crap before I started college. Don't get me wrong, some of them are ridiculously easy but it's just a major pain not being able to take the classes you want until your a sophomore/junior. APs don't cover everything...learned that the hard way 🙁.

 

[ur2l8]

I would maybe volunteer at ONE place (relaxed somewhere you enjoy) and do things you like the rest of the summer. Don't make it like a college summer-possibly your last time to live young (jk haha). It's only a few months anyways. No need to start mcat prep definitely, that guys crazy. Youll learn it eventually, may as well not waste your current time, Just do well when your taking each specific course-39 here, and I started end soph year. My summer I believe I just shadowed a doc, read a ton of books I wanted to read, played sports, hung out with my friends and ex gf, relaxed definitely, etc... Haha

 

[Koosalagoosagoo]

Take as many General Eds at your local cc. Not even kidding, i wish somebody told me about this crap before I started college. Don't get me wrong, some of them are ridiculously easy but it's just a major pain not being able to take the classes you want until your a sophomore/junior. APs don't cover everything...learned that the hard way 🙁.

I did this and I am so glad I did.

 

[deleted393595]

I will finally be in college this coming fall, and I was wondering if there is anything I could do this summer before freshman year to help increase my chances for med school (Ex: volunteering, clinical work, etc). I know I may be starting too early, but I want to begin preparing right away. Thanks for all your input!

Start research

 

[plumhill]

Don't get arrested.

 

[I like meowmix]

Do something light that you'll enjoy. You'll have plenty of time to fill up the next few summers / schools years with EC's. Don't burn yourself out.

 

[dmf2682]

I was signed up to take classes, realized that was stupid, and then got a job delivering pizzas instead. Made a killing, started a bank account that I used to get my pilot's license during my senior year.

 

[newusername1]

I definitely look older than my age; I don't think there would be a problem with that. However, I am still confused on one thing: is it better to volunteer at a hospital or shadow a physician? Or are both pretty much required? Thanks everyone again for your help!

 

[PantherPride]

Take as many General Eds at your local cc. Not even kidding, i wish somebody told me about this crap before I started college. Don't get me wrong, some of them are ridiculously easy but it's just a major pain not being able to take the classes you want until your a sophomore/junior. APs don't cover everything...learned that the hard way 🙁.

Depends on your school, really. Knocked out all my gen eds by the end of freshman year thanks to AP tests

 

[NickNaylor]

Depends on your school, really. Knocked out all my gen eds by the end of freshman year thanks to AP tests

Just watch out for the handful of schools that don't accept AP credit under any circumstances and require you to take the actual pre-reqs rather than more advanced courses in place of them.

 

[CuttingCorneas]

I voluteered in the ER of a local hospital every day for a summer. Easy way to rack up 250+ hours of experience. After a while, the doctors would let me shadow them if it was a slow day.

Made things a LOT easier when thinking about applying, because there wasn't as much pressure to volunteer when school was in session. Not to say that I didn't continue looking for opportunities, but my hours got reduced from 25 hrs/week to 4 hrs/week, which was fine with me. 😀

 

[Porfirio]

I will finally be in college this coming fall, and I was wondering if there is anything I could do this summer before freshman year to help increase my chances for med school (Ex: volunteering, clinical work, etc). I know I may be starting too early, but I want to begin preparing right away. Thanks for all your input!

http://us.battle.net/en/int?r=d3

Just in time for summer.

Anyone else planning to play? We should start a SDN group.

 

[At0mic]

I definitely look older than my age; I don't think there would be a problem with that. However, I am still confused on one thing: is it better to volunteer at a hospital or shadow a physician? Or are both pretty much required? Thanks everyone again for your help!

Shadowing isn't "required" per se, but if you can get at least 40 hrs (that's the average most applicants have) you should be in the clear. Clinical exposure in the form of volunteering is mandatory. I'd say to spend your summer relaxing, but if you REALLY want to get some exposure, try shadowing a few docs to see how you like it. Sometimes even if you get a spot volunteering in the hospital, you really aren't getting any patient exposure.

At this stage in the game it doesn't really matter which one you pick.

 

[eagles22]

Shadowing isn't "required" per se, but if you can get at least 40 hrs (that's the average most applicants have) you should be in the clear. Clinical exposure in the form of volunteering is mandatory. I'd say to spend your summer relaxing, but if you REALLY want to get some exposure, try shadowing a few docs to see how you like it. Sometimes even if you get a spot volunteering in the hospital, you really aren't getting any patient exposure.

At this stage in the game it doesn't really matter which one you pick.

False. I had 0 volunteer hours. Also, 0 shadow hours. I am in medical school.

OP, you're not even in college, yet. Nothing will prepare you for medical school except going to medical school. Do something fun. Starting to study for the MCAT before even stepping foot on campus is a waste of time. You'll forget everything in 6 months anyways.

 

[Ron G]

get off sdn and lose your virginity before its too late

 

[At0mic]

False. I had 0 volunteer hours. Also, 0 shadow hours. I am in medical school.

What I probably should have said was "highly recommended/encouraged."

 

[YoungGregory]

Read a book or two, workout, party, sleep in, get a part time job.


Have fun, because after this your summers will be filled with classes, volunteering, research, etc.

 

[bigdogrob4284]

I don't know if you really need to relax. High school wasn't that bad (right?), and undergrad isn't terribly taxing, so you should definitely get started on some volunteering.

I don't think its the same situation, as say between undergrad and medical school, where people always say to relax.

 

[NickNaylor]

I don't know if you really need to relax. High school wasn't that bad (right?), and undergrad isn't terribly taxing, so you should definitely get started on some volunteering.

I don't think its the same situation, as say between undergrad and medical school, where people always say to relax.

The ultimate question, though, is whether doing that work the summer before you start provides you with enough benefits to warrant not spending that time cooling off and preparing yourself for undergrad. In almost every situation I would say that it doesn't. Sure, you can probably do something that's worthy of being included on your app, but over the course of the next three years you will almost certainly have higher quality and/or more meaningful activities to include.