By Mia Alshami
You did it! You are about to finish your first year of college! Now what? What do you do with these few months of free time after you have just finished adjusting to your new life in Fayetteville? These questions can seem daunting because you feel like you need to do something that is going to stand out on your resume, but you are also kind of worn out after finishing your first year of college. Don’t worry! I’ve been there, and here is what I did.
As a premed student, I always feel like I am in constant competition with other premed students. Who has the most volunteer hours, who has the highest GPA, who has the most research experience, and so on and so forth. Constantly comparing myself to others made me feel like I needed to do a lot the summer after my freshman year. I needed to get the most volunteer and shadowing hours out of anyone! I needed to do some awesome research! However, that’s not exactly how it turned out for me.
My first week of being back home, I shadowed my dad at work, since he is a cardiologist. I had fun and I enjoyed spending time with him after being away for so long. After that, I set up some consistent volunteering at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock (which is where I am from). I volunteered 3 times a week in 3-hour shifts in the gift shop. It was fun to have some social interaction, but it also was not super stressful. In the middle of the summer, I went on a family vacation to Norway, which was extremely fun and relaxing. I also studied abroad during the August Intersession through the Trekking Australia program with the University of Arkansas, learning about marine biology, animal science, and environmental science.
To some, the things that I did last summer may seem super scattered and not centrally focused on a specific interest. However, I enjoyed that. I enjoyed just relaxing at home and spending time with my family and also learning about something I thought was super interesting.
Last summer, I had friends who studied abroad in India, who conducted research at Yale, and who worked as servers in their hometown diner. There are so many different things one can do the summer after their freshman year, but the point is to not stress yourself out over it. I found the most fulfillment in enjoying my accomplishments over the past year and staying home. Other people don’t necessarily like doing that, and that’s ok. Do whatever you feel most comfortable with and try not to compare your summer to anyone else’s. Everyone is on their own pace in college, and that is perfectly fine. Give yourself some credit for finishing your first year of college, and use this time to relax and do what you love.
