The Last Summer of Your Life [Perspectives on Graduate Life]

The first year of medical school ended in early June, officially beginning what is always referred to as the last summer of your life. Following the end of the second year of school, all medical students will start clinical rotations in the hospital, so there is no longer an extended summer vacation. Once starting this type of clinical work in the hospital, time off essentially becomes like any other job. Even so, our summer following the end of our first year lasted for only nine weeks, which allowed the students to have one week of vacation time and then eight weeks to pursue a project or job that interested them (e.g., research and internships).