Clinical experience or bench research?

[whyrishiwhynot]

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Hi all,

I am a non-trad finishing up my informal postbacc. my stats are:

3.63 uGPA/3.60BCPM/aiming for a 33Q; 120+ hours of volunteer experience in an OR, 50 hours of shadowing, some non-medical community service, applying to be a big brother once my MCAT is done.

I'm applying in May of this year and I just had a question about two job opportunities I have received:

My ochem professor has asked me to do some bench research for him over the summer. I'm not sure what it's focused on (he's going to get back to me in April), but I believe it's focused on amine chemistry. It's full time research for 10 weeks over the summer.

My other opportunity is as a medical assistant at a dermatologist's office. I would take patient history, write notes on procedures, set up surgeries, etc. This is a full time position that will go through my gap year until next fall.

My quandary stems from the fact that I have no research experience except for some data mining for an accounting professor I had in undergrad. Should I take the research so that I can have something to talk about in that section or should I take the opportunity with direct patient interaction? I have no real interest in the research I would be doing and do not plan on pursuing research in the medical field.

Any help you can provide would be great. Thanks

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

Take the job as a med assistant. No brainer.

As far as the value of research, here's my very rough ranking of the value of different research fields for getting into medical school:

1. Clinical medical
2. Bench science biomedical (tie)
2. Psychology or social science related to medicine (tie)
3. Basic science biology (non biomedical)
4. Chemistry/physics with clear implications for medicine
5. Basic science psychology, anything social-worky (but related to people)
6. Chemistry/physics with no clear application for medicine

Sounds like this amine research bladdy-blah is #6 on my list.

But with experience as an MA working in a derm office, you'll get patient interaction. Admissions people eat that up with a spoon. The more hours you have the better. This will give you lots of stories to tell, plus some practical skills with vitals.

Sounds like a better job too, since you'll be employed until med school.

Honestly, anyone who can crank out a 27 on the MCAT will probably do fine in medical school. If you get a 9 in the biology section you should be able to pass Step 1. (I have read that this is highly predictive of passing the USMLE Step 1). Of course medical schools are going to take the highest MCAT scores they can find--all else being equal--but if you have all 9's they shouldn't fundamentally question your ability to succeed academically.

So what do they care about once you've proved that you can do okay on standardized tests? One of the biggest questions medical schools have about an applicant is "does this person know what s/he's getting into?" If you've worked for a dermatologist day-in-day-out for even a month, then you know what a doctor's life is like. At least one doctor's life, anyway. If you can show them that your understanding of medicine is based on more than re-runs of "Greys' Anatomy" then they will be satisfied.

What's this amine research going to prove? Specifically, what's it going to prove that your ochem teacher can't say in a letter of recommendation anyway? Lots of physicians see organic chemistry as merely a litmus test for your intelligence, but they don't necessarily think that conducting research in organic chem will make you a better doctor. (Regardless of how much they actually liked ochem... many loved it!)

Imagine this: Imagine if you could persuade your ochem prof to put in your LOR: "This is a truly wonderful applicant to your medical school. I cannot give a higher recommendation. In fact, I asked this applicant to assist me with my research over the summer, but I understand s/he had an opportunity to work with a dermatologist, which is clearly more applicable to his/her future as a physician. This was my loss, but I think it shows how dedicated s/he is to his/her calling in medicine." Now try imagining what the derm might write in a letter: "S/he turned me down to work in an ochem lab. Clearly, s/he cares more for research than for helping patients."

You probably won't convince your ochem teacher to write what I put there up above, and you're obviously not going to have the derm write the other bit, but I hope the comparison proves my point.

Good luck!

 

[EdLongshanks]

Hi all,

I am a non-trad finishing up my informal postbacc. my stats are:

3.63 uGPA/3.60BCPM/aiming for a 33Q; 120+ hours of volunteer experience in an OR, 50 hours of shadowing, some non-medical community service, applying to be a big brother once my MCAT is done.

I'm applying in May of this year and I just had a question about two job opportunities I have received:

My ochem professor has asked me to do some bench research for him over the summer. I'm not sure what it's focused on (he's going to get back to me in April), but I believe it's focused on amine chemistry. It's full time research for 10 weeks over the summer.

My other opportunity is as a medical assistant at a dermatologist's office. I would take patient history, write notes on procedures, set up surgeries, etc. This is a full time position that will go through my gap year until next fall.

My quandary stems from the fact that I have no research experience except for some data mining for an accounting professor I had in undergrad. Should I take the research so that I can have something to talk about in that section or should I take the opportunity with direct patient interaction? I have no real interest in the research I would be doing and do not plan on pursuing research in the medical field.

Any help you can provide would be great. Thanks

My stats and hours were almost exactly the same as yours. In feedback from the schools, I was weak in clinical hours. No one mentioned research.

 

[whyrishiwhynot]

Yeah, I was thinking I'm a bit short on the clinical side. I know the MA job is a better decision I just needed to hear it from someone else first haha. Thanks a lot.