Full-Time & Co-Author or Part-Time & Volunteer?

[HCHopeful]

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I did research through an internship at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center last summer and was invited back by my supervisor again this year under different circumstances. He gave me two options. The first being that I could work part-time and be basically doing enough research to fulfill my senior seminar class. The second is working full-time as a co-lead on a project in genomics which would lead to a co-authorship. As this is applied research through the USDA, the publication of the paper is not a sure thing, but it would be likely.

Obviously the pros to the full-time would be having a co-authorship on a paper. Although it is not directly related to medicine, it does involve bacteria found in UTI's. Food-borne urinary tract infections are actually the reason for the study, so I supposed it's more related than I give it credit. The paper most likely wouldn't be published until the summer of 2016, so it wouldn't affect this upcoming cycle.

HOWEVER. A huge pro to working part-time would be that I would be able to get clinical volunteering experience throughout the summer. This seems to be lacking on my application at the moment simply because I go to a small college in a small town where clinical volunteering just isn't "a thing." I have contacted the hospital and two nursing homes and received no's. However, I recently contacted the Family Planning center and was told I could do some clinical volunteering there!

Which would seem to be more beneficial? I do enjoy both. I am a sexual health peer educator on my campus, so Family Planning isn't something coming out of left field.

Just trying to make myself as competitive as I possibly can before June comes. Thanks in advance!

 

[Holmwood]

I did research through an internship at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center last summer and was invited back by my supervisor again this year under different circumstances. He gave me two options. The first being that I could work part-time and be basically doing enough research to fulfill my senior seminar class. The second is working full-time as a co-lead on a project in genomics which would lead to a co-authorship. As this is applied research through the USDA, the publication of the paper is not a sure thing, but it would be likely.

Obviously the pros to the full-time would be having a co-authorship on a paper. Although it is not directly related to medicine, it does involve bacteria found in UTI's. Food-borne urinary tract infections are actually the reason for the study, so I supposed it's more related than I give it credit. The paper most likely wouldn't be published until the summer of 2016, so it wouldn't affect this upcoming cycle.

HOWEVER. A huge pro to working part-time would be that I would be able to get clinical volunteering experience throughout the summer. This seems to be lacking on my application at the moment simply because I go to a small college in a small town where clinical volunteering just isn't "a thing." I have contacted the hospital and two nursing homes and received no's. However, I recently contacted the Family Planning center and was told I could do some clinical volunteering there!

Which would seem to be more beneficial? I do enjoy both. I am a sexual health peer educator on my campus, so Family Planning isn't something coming out of left field.

Just trying to make myself as competitive as I possibly can before June comes. Thanks in advance!

I think doing the full time research and a clinical volunteer over the weekend would be ideal. Cold-calling hospitals isn't the easiest way to find volunteering opportunities. Try volunteer search websites : / Family planning is great, but does it work around your research schedule?

How dearly do you need cash ?

 

[HCHopeful]

I think doing the full time research and a clinical volunteer over the weekend would be ideal. Cold-calling hospitals isn't the easiest way to find volunteering opportunities. Try volunteer search websites : / Family planning is great, but does it work around your research schedule?

How dearly do you need cash ?

Unfortunately the Family Planning center is only open during the week. And I didn't cold call! I did a shadowing internship through the education department, so I contacted the coordinator. She politely informed me that insurance simply won't allow patient contact :/

As far as cash goes, I need to make at least a bit of money during the summer.

 

[Holmwood]

Unfortunately the Family Planning center is only open during the week. And I didn't cold call! I did a shadowing internship through the education department, so I contacted the coordinator. She politely informed me that insurance simply won't allow patient contact :/

As far as cash goes, I need to make at least a bit of money during the summer. I live at home, so rent isn't a necessity, but everything else I am responsible for.

Tutoring is both flexible and offers better pay/hr than most other jobs I've seen. You can even do online tutoring, though you'd have to start soon to build up enough credentials for consistent work. Baby sitting is also flexible... and participating in clinical trials. Or dog walking. : P

I used this website to find clinical volunteering opportunities. http://www.volunteermatch.org/
You just type in "medical" or "hospital" or "health" and your zip code, and it'll direct you to anything around the area.

The US meat animal research center is just really cool, and it'd be a shame if you just let it go because of some scheduling issues.

 

[HCHopeful]

Tutoring is both flexible and offers better pay/hr than most other jobs I've seen. You can even do online tutoring, though you'd have to start soon to build up enough credentials for consistent work. Baby sitting is also flexible... and participating in clinical trials. Or dog walking. : P

I used this website to find clinical volunteering opportunities. http://www.volunteermatch.org/
You just type in "medical" or "hospital" or "health" and your zip code, and it'll direct you to anything around the area.

The US meat animal research center is just really cool, and it'd be a shame if you just let it go because of some scheduling issues.

I agree. I would like to work full-time out there if at all possible, but I know not having clinical volunteering would be an application killer :/

Thanks for the link!

 

[HCHopeful]

Tutoring is both flexible and offers better pay/hr than most other jobs I've seen. You can even do online tutoring, though you'd have to start soon to build up enough credentials for consistent work. Baby sitting is also flexible... and participating in clinical trials. Or dog walking. : P

I used this website to find clinical volunteering opportunities. http://www.volunteermatch.org/
You just type in "medical" or "hospital" or "health" and your zip code, and it'll direct you to anything around the area.

The US meat animal research center is just really cool, and it'd be a shame if you just let it go because of some scheduling issues.

As a "lawlz" moment, I just typed in "medical" with my zip code and received ONE result. It was an opportunity to host a foreign exchange student. Talk about small town problems...

 

[HCHopeful]

Does anyone else have any input on this? Pretty lost as to what to do at the moment.

 

[SpartanWolverine]

I assume the internship is paid? I think that full-time experience is a great idea -- take full advantage of the opportunity you have! I'm sure you can find some time to squeeze in a few hours of volunteering here and there.

 

[frodo25]

If you absolutely have no experience dealing with patients, you for sure need to prioritize that before you apply. The full time job seems like a cool experience, but if you have no clinical exposure, it won't really help much.

 

[HCHopeful]

I assume the internship is paid? I think that full-time experience is a great idea -- take full advantage of the opportunity you have! I'm sure you can find some time to squeeze in a few hours of volunteering here and there.

The internship last summer was paid. This isn't that internship anymore, but yes I would be paid

If you absolutely have no experience dealing with patients, you for sure need to prioritize that before you apply. The full time job seems like a cool experience, but if you have no clinical exposure, it won't really help much.

As far as clinical exposure, I have 140 hours of shadowing. I also did SMDEP two summers ago. So, I'm not completely bald in that department. Clinical volunteering, though, I have very little of. 30 hours with Red Cross is all.