Summer Opportunities for University Students
Four ways to make the most of your summer as a STEM student!
Looking for ways to get involved this summer break? Whether you are looking for ways to strengthen your resume/CV, gain new skills for an interesting job in the future, or you want to try something new, you have come to the right place! As a university student, you have what may seem like a short 4 months, but with the right planning, ones that you can make long and worthwhile months filled with new experiences ahead of the following academic year. In this blog, we have gained valuable insight from university students in healthcare and science-related programs from all across universities in Ontario to share some of their tips and examples on things to get involved with over the summer.
Hospital/Retirement Home Volunteering
If getting into the healthcare field is something of interest to you, it should not be a surprise that gaining relevant experience is often looked highly upon by graduate schools and it provides you with an opportunity to confirm your interest in pursuing a career with such demanding hours and a high level of commitment. Volunteering in either a hospital or a retirement home showcases you, as an applicant, is someone who is willing to sacrifice your time to help others and improve the quality of care they receive.
Not only are you able to get a sense of what the environment is like working in a hospital, but you also learn how to think on your feet, handle conflicts on the spot, communicate with patients in a soft and calm tone, reassure patients when in a state of distress, and learn the value of teamwork especially in the healthcare field where a patient’s care involves many parts of a team!
Both working in a retirement home and hospital setting also allows you to gain exposure to different groups of people; when working in a retirement home you are more likely to work and interact with seniors; however, working in a hospital you can truly interact with all ages, as young as 1 day-old (if you work in the NICU, like I did last summer)! It is truly a rewarding experience to volunteer in one or both of these settings and it is often that such places have summer student programs that begin as early as May and June so if this is something you are interested in, you should start submitting your resumes!
Shadowing Career Specialties
Ever wondered what it is like behind those double doors that say “Staff Only Beyond This Point”? Well, I have some good news for you because there are many ways for you to get VIP access behind those doors…all it takes is an email asking to shadow a staff member. The opportunity to shadow a career specialty is a privilege and, unfortunately, many careers limit this ability for students, especially in healthcare.
However, it is certainly not impossible; it may just be a matter of which hospital has programs allowing for “observers” or “shadowers”…that is the name they like to give us students. Careers including dentistry, medicine, orthodontics, research and more, are among the most common that students desire to shadow since the work-life balance and behind the scenes day-in-a-life components of these jobs are often blurred and these are important things to be sure of before dedicating your time and energy into pursuing these career paths.
You may be wondering: how do I shadow someone? Well, there are many ways to go about it including asking someone who you may know personally, asking your own family doctor/dentist etc., reaching out to people whose careers you are interested in by cold-emailing them and asking about whether they allow shadowing, or finally, doing some research regarding hospitals in your local community to see if any of them have shadowing programs for students.
It can be an extremely rewarding experience to learn about professions in a hands-on in-person experience since it often provides insight that online blogs and day-in-a-life YouTube vlogs may not provide, although those may work if it is your goal to get to know the simple day-to-day operations of the career. It is also a great way to learn about different professions if your heart has not settled on one specific area as it is okay not to know and it is all about putting yourself out there to learn!
Taking Summer Courses
Getting a volunteer spot at a hospital or getting a student research position can be pretty difficult. Or, it might just not be what you’re interested in doing this summer and you’d rather learn more about what the scientific world has to offer! If any of these circumstances are true, you should consider taking summer courses! Many universities, colleges and even high schools offer some pretty incredible, free summer courses available to all students. Research and volunteering are not the only things that can make your grad/professional school applications stand out — new and unique skills can too! Maybe you can try classes that teach you how to code in R or write in the sciences. These are definitely skills that are both transferable and will help your application stand out.
One of the best educational institutions in the world, Harvard, has a huge selection of free, online courses that you anyone can choose from, including CS50: Introduction to Computer Science, Human Anatomy: Musculoskeletal Cases, Clinical Care for Autistic Adults, Calculus Applied!, Cities X: The Past, Present, and Future , and SO MUCH MORE! You can also take a look on Courseera and edX to browse through some other courses that are offered at other schools like Yale, University of Alberta, The Museum of Modern Art, etc.
Best part about these courses? Some have a time frame ranging anywhere from 1–10 weeks long, and others are completely self-paced like the Calculus Applied course. As seen below, the time commitment can be as little as 3 hours per week, with an option of adding a verified certificate for $209. I don’t know about you but for a Harvard class, with materials shared/taught by ACTUAL Harvard professors, that’s a pretty good price. However, the certificate is totally not necessary!
Coffee Chats!
It may not seem like a very traditional way to spend your summers as as a STEM (or aspiring to be) student, but it’s totally what you make of it. While to the naked eye spending your time talking with people you met over LinkedIn, at conferences, or even in the lecture hall may seem underproductive — trust me — it’s definitely not!
If you so happened to meet someone from an event who’d doing something your interested in, curious about, or want to join — reach out to them! Of course, before they leave, ask if you could connect on LinkedIn. And if they don’t have LinkedIn, possibly an email or phone number can work as well! It’s best that you reach out this person within 24 hours, just so they don’t forget about you. However, if you’re maybe interested in shooting a message to someone you met a few weeks or even months ago — give it a shot! You never how well a face can be remembered.
When sending them a message, be sure to personalize it. Mention who you are (both as a student and person), what your interests are as a STEM student, and why you want to meet with them. If possible, be specific! What is it about their work that interests you? Once they’ve agreed to meet/chat with you, it’s time to prepare some questions. Remember that this is a personal conversation as much as a professional one, so be personal (but respectful, of course). Ask them about their own academic journey, research past, their reasoning for doing what they’re doing, their passions — maybe you can relate!
Don’t have much experience to speak on or to share with them? No worries! The majority of students, including myself, don’t really have much experience/skills to share… but that’s why you’re here chatting with them! Many employers, professors, researchers etc. believe that skills can be learned while passion cannot. So, show how passionate you are about the work/topic by mentioning specific details/ideas from their lab/company’s website, papers to show that you’ve really done your research and that you’re not just here for a spot — you’re here to learn in that spot.
Remember that school, research, volunteering, work etc. is all a journey. Everyone is going at their own pace and on completely different paths! That’s what makes STEM so incredibly unique, fun, interesting, and an amazing field of both study and work. Don’t let what others are doing effect how you want to go about your academic/professional journey — do what is best for YOU, not what everyone else THINKS is best. Overall, even if you don’t end up doing any of the above mentioned activities this summer, that’s totally okay too. Being a STEM student is not easy — chemistry can be taxing, biology is a lot of information, and integrals are pretty confusing. It’s called Summer Break for a reason, so if necessary, take that break and spend it with yourself, family, and friends. You deserve it.
About the Authors
Wynter Sutchy is a third-year undergraduate student at McMaster University studying Biology (Physiology) and is from King City, ON. She is very passionate about the healthcare field and enjoys sharing her volunteering experiences through writing. She plans to pursue a career in medicine in the future and plans to explore the field of healthcare through research and volunteering throughout her undergraduate career. In her free time, you can expect her to be watching her favourite show, Greys Anatomy, teaching children how to swim, or baking some delicious desserts!
Jenny Pham is a second-year McMaster Life Sci student. She is currently working as a tutor and an amateur writer looking to combine her passions for medicine and creative writing. Like others around her, she’s a first-generation student working towards a career in medicine and education, looking to continue advocating for underprivileged communities as a physician, through research, and education. You can connect with her on LinkedIn!
