lovestruck Posted May 23, 2013 Report Share Posted May 23, 2013 During my undergrad, I've worked every summer. I've been fortunate enough to work in labs and science related fields so it's served a dual purpose: income and furthering my career. Now that I've been accepted to medical school, I'm not sure what will happen to my summers? I know many medical students take on research over the summer. However, I'm just finishing my M.Sc and have had enough of research (albeit in the basic sciences working with rats). I would love to do clinical research relating to the fields I want to go in (at this point I'm thinking gen surg) but I don't know if I'd want to spent an entire summer focused on this. From reading on other forums, I've seen that there is little benefit to finding high paying medically unrelated jobs to pay back loans, as it simply lowers OSAP limits and takes away time you should be taking to find your future field for residency. But if I don't want to do research and I don't want to work somewhere for monetary purposes...what else can I do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellorie Posted May 23, 2013 Report Share Posted May 23, 2013 I am doing research But a lot of my classmates are travelling, doing volunteer work abroad, or doing pre-clerkship electives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovestruck Posted May 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2013 I am doing research But a lot of my classmates are travelling, doing volunteer work abroad, or doing pre-clerkship electives. What kind of research? I've spent the past two years doing in vivo experiments with an MD/PhD in the medical field, albeit it on rats so I've had my share of research! I would be interested in clinical stuff much more however! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted May 23, 2013 Report Share Posted May 23, 2013 Three main things I think - clinical electives, research, help develop the curriculum or vacation. Combination of all four of course is possible I did research in medical imaging, took clinical electives in intensive care and cardiac surgery, helped created content for the the global health course and developed our lecture cast system, and travelled to Europe on vacation over the two summers. I also did some prep for EC, took a course in geriatric medicine and completed the CSTAR summer interprofessional course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted May 23, 2013 Report Share Posted May 23, 2013 I would love to do clinical research relating to the fields I want to go in (at this point I'm thinking gen surg) but I don't know if I'd want to spent an entire summer focused on this. Go for it - I think this would be a great experience for you. As you can see, your project doesn't have to take up the entire summer. Maybe something retrospective Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
future_doc Posted May 23, 2013 Report Share Posted May 23, 2013 Research, publication, presentation, clinical elective overseas and mostly, lots of vacation and travel. There is absolutely no point working for money. Mainly, summer is meant to chill, as this time will never return again until retirement when health & mobility won't be the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazzle Posted May 23, 2013 Report Share Posted May 23, 2013 reading philosophy and being free for the last time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovestruck Posted May 23, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 23, 2013 reading philosophy and being free for the last time I definitely never thought of doing a combo of things! I think I'm so used to undergrad where you intensely focus on one thing over the summer and grad school where summer is just the same old project but now with nicer weather! I think I'd like to combine research, electives, travel and chill time. Only issue is 1) would it be financially irresponsible to use my LOC for travel? and 2) I'm getting a lot of harassment from some of my friends when I mention that I probably won'y be working during the summers. They keep saying its irresponsible to be making no money with a $200K LOC looming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted May 23, 2013 Report Share Posted May 23, 2013 I definitely never thought of doing a combo of things! I think I'm so used to undergrad where you intensely focus on one thing over the summer and grad school where summer is just the same old project but now with nicer weather! I think I'd like to combine research, electives, travel and chill time. Only issue is 1) would it be financially irresponsible to use my LOC for travel? and 2) I'm getting a lot of harassment from some of my friends when I mention that I probably won'y be working during the summers. They keep saying its irresponsible to be making no money with a $200K LOC looming! There is time and resources for travel - most of us do in fact travel quite a bit. As for the summers and income - it is hard even if you want to find something for just 12 weeks that helps your long term goals and pays. It is the nature of the system to not to have to worry too much about the funding until residency starts. I was told and now going through it still believe you should focus your summers on other areas that raw money making Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
future_doc Posted May 23, 2013 Report Share Posted May 23, 2013 Your friends are clueless, will never understand and are irrelevant unless they walk in our shoes. Too much information to others is not necessarily a good thing. Listen to rmorelan. Working for money in summer is entirely counterproductive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted May 25, 2013 Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 In my first year, I went on vacation to Florida for a week; did some short-term volunteering (e.g. for a high school premed camp); hung out; then I did the Explore Bursary program in Victoria, BC for 5 weeks. No research or paid work for me. In my second year, our summer was shorter, I believe it was 10 weeks. I did a 2-week family medicine elective to get a head start on clerkship - it was a great idea, I had a good time, reviewed/learned some basics, and was also able to bank 2 weeks of elective time to use during clerkship, whether for extra electives or time off. I ended up taking time off, haha. Then I went home to Russia for 3 weeks, IIRC. The rest of the time I just chilled - camping, whatever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Intrepid86 Posted May 25, 2013 Report Share Posted May 25, 2013 Now that I've been accepted to medical school, I'm not sure what will happen to my summers? There's no definite answer to this. You can do lots or little. You'll get a broad range of responses since it's dependent on individual goals and motivation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmitty Posted May 27, 2013 Report Share Posted May 27, 2013 Your friends are clueless, will never understand and are irrelevant unless they walk in our shoes. Too much information to others is not necessarily a good thing. Listen to rmorelan. Working for money in summer is entirely counterproductive. For most, I agree, but for some who are not eligible for any 'free' money, such as myself, this is not true. I can probably make about $12,000 over a summer in research and this would help a lot financially. Though obviously it is best if you can do as much as possible to help you get into the residency program that you are interested in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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