As I have less than a month left before school starts again, I thought it would be a good idea to list a couple of things you should do before starting your intense journey into medical school. Generally, you should prioritize your mental health and seriously consider taking a vacation, of however long, before you start medical school. Once you start school, there will be little time for you to take a break or recover from the rigorous curriculum. Like the upperclassmen that have advised me before starting medical school, please do yourself a favor and fit in a decent time to relax this summer before medical school.

Back To School Shopping

So, the first year of medical school was technically one of the most expensive years so far, you factor in moving costs, equipment costs, study materials (laptop, study resources, etc). I highly recommend coming to medical school prepared as once school commends, you really do not have much time to shop around. I would refer to the things that the school recommends to buy, such as certain medical equipment for class and study resources that you may need later in the school year. I have also compiled a list of my medical school essentials in this blog post right here if you need a guide.

I would definitely take the time to compile a list of things that you would need for medical school so you wouldn’t have to worry about it during school.

Research

If you can find a research gig before medical school, that would be fantastic. That is if you choose to spend your summer doing some work. Most people choose to take a full vacation before medical school and I think that is definitely not a bad way to spend your summer before medical school. If you can get research, I would highly recommend you do it before medical school or during your summer off. I know medical students who have done research with medical school and it is incredibly difficult to do both and succeed in both unless you are the top percent in your class.

If you can find some light research work before medical school, that would be ideal. If not, don’t be afraid to take the summer off and relax. It will be one of your last vacations before medical school starts.

Volunteer or Work

Unless you really need to work, I highly suggest you do something else that is more work your time. I think having a complete vacation before medical school is essential. And this is coming from someone that never believed in taking time off if you have time to study. But I realized during medical school how important it was to take necessary breaks between studying in order to optimize your brainpower. I have experienced burnout due to not properly planning and implementing breaks during medical school and I thoroughly regretted my decision.

I firmly believe in having appropriate breaks and vacations so if I could redo my summer before medical school, I would not have to do anything other than taking a nice long vacation or doing some light research work while relaxing most of the time.

Pre-Study

So this is where it starts getting a little tricky. I fully support studying before the second year of medical school but I do not think it is necessary to study before starting medical school in general. And that’s simply because incoming medical students don’t have any idea of what to study in medical school until they actually start medical school. I know of students studying before medical school, but they actually got more stressed and studied the wrong material instead. It is better to wait before studying the wrong information and save all that studying motivation until school actually starts.

Now, the summer before the second year would be different. This is the year you will be taking your board examination and I would actually highly recommend you to brush up and review some basic concepts, such as anatomy, microbiology, etcetera. If you can lightly review what you have learned during the first year, I think it will make your second year transition way smoother and more successful. BUT DON’T OVER-STUDY AND BURN YOURSELF OUT BEFORE THE SECOND YEAR STARTS. Please. For the sake of your mental health later.

Relax and Have Fun

This was honestly the best advice I received from my upperclassmen before I started medical school. I was glad I took a vacation before the chaos of medical school. If you can’t do any of the above before medical school, at least consider taking an extended break of at least two to three weeks of no studying. Of pure relaxation and fun. This will give your brain a nice reset before it’s crammed with an insane amount of information over the next few years. To minimize burnout during school later, I highly recommend doing this. This is absolutely crucial the summer before the second year as well, as the second year of medical school is the absolute hardest year in medical school.

Things I Think You Should Absolutely Consider Doing

1. You really need to relax and do nothing but fun things somehow.
2. You need to celebrate the fact that you got into medical school.
3. You need to do some back-to-school shopping. (Refer to my top 10 medical school essentials.)
4. You need to hang out with friends and family as you won’t see them for a while.
5. Look into a Facebook group or group chat your classmates may have created for the incoming school year. You will find a lot of valuable resources on those platforms. At least I did.
6. Start budgeting. Evaluate how much living costs you will be receiving and how much you could spend year month, considering rent and other living costs. Any extra money could be returned to lower your student debt if you’d like.

And that’s all the important things I would’ve told myself in the past if I were to redo medical school from the beginning. The summer before starting medical school is honestly not too big of a deal. The most important thing is to enjoy what little vacation you’ll have left. Hope you enjoyed reading!