Summer research placements

Deciding how to spend your summer holiday is a difficult business. It would be great to go travelling, spend time with friends, and eat and drink well. This, unfortunately, means strengthening the deep and meaningful relationship with an already substantial student debt. The alternative is to get a job; this may be well paid, but is all too often mindnumbingly boring. A summer research placement could be a third option, which not only combines elements of travel and paid work but will almost certainly improve your future career prospects.

In the United States, students need to complete an undergraduate degree before going on to medical school. During the summer holidays of their first degree, most students try to enter one of the many summer undergraduate research programmes that are on offer. These allow a student to spend two or three months of their summer holiday with a research group at some of America“s top universities and medical schools, providing an insight into the cutting edge of medical research. These programmes, which usually provide a financial stipend, serve as useful CV enhancers for when students are filling in those all important …