Doing psychology (as opposed to psychiatry) research as a medical student

[jordan222]

Hi all,

I am a medical student highly interested in psychiatry and my goal for the summer is to do medical research which 1) helps me to appreciate whether I enjoy psychiatry research and 2) helps me to work towards a psych publication which will help me when I apply for residency. I was connected with a neuropsychologist who runs a lab which does clinical concussion research, and it looks like I might be able to join his lab for the summer. In terms of my own intellectual curiosity, the opportunity sounds interesting and I'm sure I would learn a great deal about concussions, which is cool enough. I am unsure though how working with a neuropsychologist and their grad students would look on my future psychiatry residency application and am looking for advice. The (non-psychiatry) doctors I work most closely with tell me that this research fits closely enough with psychiatry and so it would check the proverbial box when residencies are looking at my application in terms of my psychiatry research experience and showing my long term interest in psychiatry. Would you agree?

In terms of box-checking, would this be as good as pure psychiatry research, almost as good, or decidedly less good (which might mean I should pursue other research opportunities instead)?

Thanks in advance for the advice.

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[OldPsychDoc]

It checks the box.

We deal with a ton of behavioral issues 2nd to TBI, so it's more than peripherally relevant.