The summer between the first and second year is pretty much the last free summer. After second year, students have to take Step 1 of the USMLE exam. Then third year begins in July. There is also no summer break between the third and fourth year. I do keep hearing of some extra time during 4th year, but in theory, that’s supposed to be used to interview and different residency sites.

Anyways, this is my last free summer. Quite a few of my classmates are doing mission work. One has blogged about a trip to Africa. If you’re interested, you can read about it at doctajay.com. Other classmates are doing research to pad their CVs for those ultra-competitive residencies.

I had applied for an externship and my first choice was Chicago. Unfortunately I received an email stating that there was so much interest in the program and that they were sorry I couldn’t be offered a spot in the program.

I didn’t really have any backup plans. And because I really wanted to go to Chicago, I didn’t apply for any of the research projects on campus. So now my summer vacation has really become my summer vacation.

But I think I should do something. So I’ve told myself I’d review the material from this year. I think Anatomy is tested on Step 1 and there won’t be any Anatomy lectures next school year. Besides, a review never hurt, right?

So that’s the plan for the summer. Since I’m on vacation, I’ll probably have to draw from first-year experiences I haven’t previously written about.