premed10 Posted January 16, 2009 Report Share Posted January 16, 2009 Hi all, I'm trying to decide what to do for this summer and I need some help making up my mind. I need some research experience and leadership experience. I did my co-op at a research lab when I was in high school, however I did not really handle a project on my own since I was too young at the time. My question is, is my 4th year thesis going to be good enough for research experience or should I spend the summer doing NSERC or some other sort of research. For leadership experience, I know I will not be joining any executive committees at university clubs, since I will be graduating next year and as such have not involved myself in something that I find interesting enough to be exec for. What other leadership opportunities can I pursue over the summer? I'm interested in working at a summer camp but will that be good leadership experience persay? Is an adminstrative job good leadership experience? I plan to apply to med school this fall, so this is my last opportunity to gain some valuable experience before applying. Any advice is appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
future_doc Posted January 17, 2009 Report Share Posted January 17, 2009 Why not consider volunteering in the recreational therapy program for patients at a hospital in your city, it entails about 3-4 hours a week. This gives you personal contact with patients, including many long term patients, on a regular basis and you can organize activities that create fun for them like board games, baking or whatever interests them. Also, by encouraging them to discuss their life experiences, for a time, they no longer feel like patients. You will gain in empathy and compassion and get to see a side of patients, and to help, in ways you will never do again. You will also learn more about yourself. Summer, being a counselor at a sleepover or day camp does create leradership skills. You also have the opportunity to enhance your communication skills, verbal and non verbal, and to become a role model. There are camps for children who with motor control problems, for the blind, you can join Big Sisters and Brothers in your city and be a role model for a child starting now. And if you work at a day camp in summer, you can continue with volunteering with patients in a hospital. So, you have many many months to obtain valuable experience and to create a history for yourself that will also be valuable for the ABS and sketch. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
premed10 Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 thanks for the advice futuredoc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
premed10 Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 What about research? Is my honours thesis a credible research experience? And does it matter whether I do 3 credit or 8 credit...3 credit being no actualy lab experience just research and a written report for one semester...8 creit is a full year course and involves designing your experiment, working in the lab, and presenting the results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wut? Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Which one is going to give you the experience you are looking for? At least here in Alberta, AdCom's really don't give a crud if you've done research or not. We have many 2/3/4/5/so on applicants that have never done a minute of lab work in their life outside of class mandated ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
premed10 Posted January 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 Well I know that admission's committies look at leadership roles, and research experience , and I feel that I am lacking in both. Since I only have 1 summer before applying to medical school, and I dont think I would be able to get both a leadership role and a research role, at the same place, I need to decide what to pursue. I'm just wondering whether admission's committees at most medical schools, consider honour's thesis as adequate or credible research experience. If so, I will be doing my thesis during the next school year, and I can spend the summer pursuing leadership opportunities. Otherwise, well, I will need to make some important decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xylem29 Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 In general, research is only heavily favored by the research intensive schools. Moreover, if you want to use research as something that will really help your application - you need to be really involved with it, and that usually means at least 2 summers worth of research. Just one summer and then a fourth year project is probably so so - unless you manage to get a lot done. I'd focus on the leadership experience unless you feel that you'll be able to get something significant out of your research experiences. The people I know who got into medical school with very little volunteering and student committee/club experience did research each and every summer from 1st year and part-time during the school year until they graduated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alastriss Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 In general, research is only heavily favored by the research intensive schools. Moreover, if you want to use research as something that will really help your application - you need to be really involved with it, and that usually means at least 2 summers worth of research. Just one summer and then a fourth year project is probably so so - unless you manage to get a lot done. I'd focus on the leadership experience unless you feel that you'll be able to get something significant out of your research experiences. The people I know who got into medical school with very little volunteering and student committee/club experience did research each and every summer from 1st year and part-time during the school year until they graduated. Research is heavily favored by research intensive schools. True. QFT on the 2 summers. Honestly my first summer was so slow, then the thesis project picked up but when i stayed in that lab for another summer you could see the different in output speed. In any case, a lot of things that you may take away from a research experience can be helpful at any medical school. I look back and I realize that one of the biggest reasons for wanting to pursue medicine came from my research experience. It gives you an idea of some of the types of collaboration that MDs can be involved in, an gives you a sense of how it feels to be in a field that is constantly growing and evolving in the body of knowledge. The idea of life long learning is also something that you will experience first hand. It will help you figure out whether you want all these things in a career, because medicine certainly has a lot of these elements in it. Like everyone else said, it really depends on what you want out of the experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocean Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 i would say if you only have time to focus on either a 'research' or 'leadership' opportunity, go for an experience that allows you to work with people directly, like a rec aide volunteer, as future doc suggested. and don't be intimidated or boxed in by the word 'leader' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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