CaffeinatedPonderer Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Just curious. I'm used to 4-month summers where I usually have enough time to start/finish a decent industry or research project. With the 2.5 months of summer, I'm not quite sure what to do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svp2k5 Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Most people go travelling. A few participate in research projects (there are projects where you work for both summers). Some people set up observerships. I went to europe both summers, as well as did a trip across the continent.... much better than hanging out doing "research" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lansky Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 But..wouldn't it be to your advantage to do something medically related in the summer? Would an applicant with summer research and observerships look better then one who did not do anything medically related during the summers when applying for matching? Lansky Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheena815 Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Please tell me there are actual *paying* jobs available for med students in the summer?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unknown user 7 Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Travelling would be fun. No? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n00b Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Aren't med students always complaining about student loans? Where do they get all this money to travel for months every summer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheena815 Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Traveling would be awesome, of course, but I simply cannot do it with loan money. I just can't. I was totally debt-free and self-sufficient in undergrad (thank you, nepotistic summer job with good salary and RESPs!) and having debt really, really bothers me. Like a lot. I want to make it as minimal as possible, so I really need to work in the summer months and want to minimize spending money on things I don't really need. I plan to travel lots once I'm a doctor and can do it in style. (I'm so not cut out for backpacking and hostels, lol.) I get my one vacation out east to visit my dad (paid for by him, since he decided to move halfway across the country!) and that's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crush Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 oh no, we don't have money... but we DO have huge lines of credit! woohoo! Many of us have the "I'm going to be a doctor now, I'll be able to pay it off" mentality. And many (but definitely not all) UWO med students especially tend to come from well-off families who pay for tuition, cars, condos, etc. I'd say there is a pretty good split between travel/international dev't work, research, observership/clinical electives. I found time to do a bit of all 3 and would recommend all of them (unless you really hate research). Travel because you want to take a break from 1st and 2nd year and it's summer vacation time, research to further your career interests, and observerships/electives because it provides new motivation for being in medicine after the year of being in boring lecture. I just wanted to add that getting a research job as a medical student seems to be waaaay easier than in undergrad. IT almost seems like once you say the words "I'm a med student" they don't care much about your credentials or past experience. Many people are successful in getting research jobs for ~8 weeks - so there's extra time for elective and travelling. Just be upfront in your talks with potential supervisors, they'll give you a smaller project that will be doable in that timeframe. crush Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svp2k5 Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 Traveling would be awesome, of course, but I simply cannot do it with loan money. I just can't. I was totally debt-free and self-sufficient in undergrad (thank you, nepotistic summer job with good salary and RESPs!) and having debt really, really bothers me. Like a lot. I want to make it as minimal as possible, so I really need to work in the summer months and want to minimize spending money on things I don't really need. I plan to travel lots once I'm a doctor and can do it in style. (I'm so not cut out for backpacking and hostels, lol.) I get my one vacation out east to visit my dad (paid for by him, since he decided to move halfway across the country!) and that's about it. There is definitely ways to be smart with money and be able to travel extensively in the summer. For starters, most everyone in medical school qualifies for the full OSAP loan. Meaning you will get ~$14,000/yr in funding from OSAP (for years 1, 2, 4 with $19,000 in year 3). The advantage here is that you only have to pay back the first $7,000 from your loan (so essentially you get $7,000 bursury, except in year three where you have to pay back the first $10500). Second, apply to the UWO bursury. You can receive anywhere from $1,500 up to $9,000/yr (this is in addition to OSAP). As well there are scholarships given based on need (these are automatic if you apply for a bursury). These scholarships seem to range from $1,000 to $6,000/yr. As you can see there are plenty of sources for some extra travelling cash. Like yourself, I went debt free throughout undergrad, by working good jobs in the summer, and keeping a close eye on spending. Unfortunately with the way the school year is set up for us, the oppurtunity to get a decent paying job is poor. If you are going to go into research, people seem to be making in the $4,000 - $5,000 for the eight weeks. This income can then be deducted from your OSAP loan (meaning approximately $9,000 from OSAP instead of the $14,000). As I mentioned above, you only pay back the first $7,000 per year so really you don't come out ahead by working. I guess this is kind of scamming the system a little bit. BUT this may be the last opportunity to have an extended period of time off in the foreseeable future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughboy Posted July 18, 2008 Report Share Posted July 18, 2008 BUT this may be the last opportunity to have an extended period of time off in the foreseeable future. I concur with my back-row right-side colleague. If you're gunning for a Complicated Specialty, do something medically-related for part of the summer if your ocpd tells you that you absolutely have to (but for heaven's sake, don't do a CTU elective). But also take the time to do something fun for an extended period. 'cuz ya know what? Medicine's still gonna be there for you in 10 or 20 years. Your youth and lack of dependants won't be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheena815 Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 I suppose you guys are right about that. I do have a scholarship and therefore am not going to even be in that much debt... I don't know why even a modest debt bothers me so much! I guess I just feel like I should be working. About the summer income though, I thought you were allowed a certain amount before OSAP would start docking your funding? I mean, if making 5000 means 5000 less in osap, I definitely won't worry about it, but I thought it was kinda like the car value thing- under a certain amount and it won't affect you? (I took the estimator to test this theory a while ago and it seemed to give me the same estimate with, for example, 2000 and 5000 for estimated summer income. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostintime Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 I looked through the summer research opportunities. Before anyone says anything about how we should genuinely want to do research not for the money, etc. I'm just wondering if there's actual higher-paying research positions out there. The highest I've seen are almost at 5k for 12 weeks, which amounts to about what I've been paid in undergrad. So being in a MD program doesn't give us any benefits in terms of pay? I know people who do admin work in hospitals can get paid up to $20/h and the vast majority get paid much better than research students. I like research and everything, but I guess I'm just wondering why it pays so little in comparison to admin. I used to think it was just an undergrad thing, but apparently not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thecoolest47 Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 Second, apply to the UWO bursury. You can receive anywhere from $1,500 up to $9,000/yr (this is in addition to OSAP). As well there are scholarships given based on need (these are automatic if you apply for a bursury). These scholarships seem to range from $1,000 to $6,000/yr. are these bursaries the ones that were sent out around the same time as our acceptance letters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostintime Posted July 19, 2008 Report Share Posted July 19, 2008 are these bursaries the ones that were sent out around the same time as our acceptance letters? It came with my package. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gob Posted July 28, 2008 Report Share Posted July 28, 2008 The highest I've seen are almost at 5k for 12 weeks, which amounts to about what I've been paid in undergrad. So being in a MD program doesn't give us any benefits in terms of pay? Not really... students generally don't go into summer research for the money. I do research because I enjoy it, it keeps me busy, I get to do observerships in the clinic and OR pretty much as I please, and it's been very generous to my CV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostintime Posted July 28, 2008 Report Share Posted July 28, 2008 Thanks for the reply Gob. Did you do clinical research? Hmm, I heard clinical research is more paperwork (but still interesting I hope haha). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gob Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 Thanks for the reply Gob. Did you do clinical research? Hmm, I heard clinical research is more paperwork (but still interesting I hope haha). Yes, I have been doing clinical research for the past 2 summers. Re: paperwork, it depends what you do... when you are submitting your project for ethics approval, that is a lot of paperwork. And if your project is a chart review, that is tons of paper work. But I know lots of people, myself included, who are working in the lab, or in the clinic, measuring different parameters in patients etc, and there isn't much paperwork involved. One of the nice things about this program is that there is something called SRTP and SROP... both are research grant programs that publish a list of projects available for 1st and 2nd year med students. There are a lot of different projects, in all different fields, and I think this is a pretty good way to get your feet wet if you are interested in research. Hope this helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lostintime Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 Oh that sounds pretty interesting. I'd rather interact with patients than just looking at past results done by other people and analyzing statistics all summer. I've done lots of bench work, so this should be a nice contrast. Only downfall is that it's in London and I kind of wanted to go home for the summer. Oh well, I might change my mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jikuty Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 Do you have any more information on doing international work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gob Posted July 29, 2008 Report Share Posted July 29, 2008 Do you have any more information on doing international work? As a matter of fact I do... this link talks about SROP at the top and GROH (the international version of SROP) at the bottom. Hope it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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