I am of the opinion that research isn't always a must do activity for the first summer, unless your passionate about it. I think there are literally hundreds of things you can do (ie travel, work abroad, make some money, etc.) that might arguably benefit you more as a person and doctor than research. Anybody have any good ideas for first summer in place of the oft dreary research route? Or disagree with me about my no-research-first-summer theory?

I didn't do research after 1st year. I have nothing against research but at the end of first year I hadn't heard of any projects that particularly caught my attention, and to be quite honest, I was a little burned out. First year was rough for me, rough in many aspects besides the demands of school. So I was happy to do a couple week paid externship to earn a little money and get a perspective of practicing medicine outside Loma Linda, do some traveling and spend some time with family. I don't have any regrets about my decision. I also wasn't sure what I wanted to go into (still am not sure) and would like the research that I do to be as applicable as possible. Maybe if someone already had in mind a certain competitive field, the consideration for research while you have "time" may be stronger.