You have plenty of choices and flexibility at a school with so many contacts and resources. I didn’t have much research experience before I started medical school and this is a strong research school. I spent part of the summer between my first and second year at “research camp” on an island off the coast of Maine—the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory. I got a great introduction to research methods. A group of about 25 of us from Pitt worked alongside a group of students from Yale. It was a great experience. I came back and started doing research in an immunology lab/clinic working with the disease Lupus. My job involved getting patient samples so I would rotate between the lab and the clinic. Seeing actual patients helped me keep a perspective on the work going on in the lab.
One of my friends from medical school took that first summer off and went sailing. Another friend went to Ecuador to work in health clinics. People do a variety things outside the classroom both during the school year and during breaks. There’s a real spirit of service among my fellow students. It’s really amazing given the demands on everyone’s time...
