Gap Year Job Doubts

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[alm414]

How many clinical hours do you already have? If you already have 1500+ research hours, and plenty of clinical hours, you can spend your gap year doing whatever you want. Work in a position because you want to (and/or because it pays well), not because it will check some arbitrary box on an application when you already have enough hours to prove you know what it's like to conduct research/work with patients.

 

[candbgirl]

How many clinical hours do you already have? If you already have 1500+ research hours, and plenty of clinical hours, you can spend your gap year doing whatever you want. Work in a position because you want to (and/or because it pays well), not because it will check some arbitrary box on an application when you already have enough hours to prove you know what it's like to conduct research/work with patients.

These hours probably wouldn’t be considered clinical experience anyway. Usually the people involved are subjects and not patients. But even so, don’t let one negative person change your mind. Rethink why you decided to do this particular job . What are your other options at this point? Do you have anything lined up? Remember, it’s only for a year, it’s a different experience than you’ve had, you are interested in the subject and you’ll be interviewing so you’ll need the freedom to do that too. If you really can’t see yourself sticking it out, give your two weeks and tell negative Nellie she’s the reason you are leaving.

 

[zigzag153]

How many clinical hours do you already have? If you already have 1500+ research hours, and plenty of clinical hours, you can spend your gap year doing whatever you want. Work in a position because you want to (and/or because it pays well), not because it will check some arbitrary box on an application when you already have enough hours to prove you know what it's like to conduct research/work with patients.

I have over 300 paid clinical hours as a medical assistant and close to 200 clinical working as a volunteer in a hospital with elderly patients at risk for dementia. I wanted to try out clinical research because I still liked the idea of conducting research but wanted to work with people instead of at a bench all day. Thank you for your input!

 

[zigzag153]

These hours probably wouldn’t be considered clinical experience anyway. Usually the people involved are subjects and not patients. But even so, don’t let one negative person change your mind. Rethink why you decided to do this particular job . What are your other options at this point? Do you have anything lined up? Remember, it’s only for a year, it’s a different experience than you’ve had, you are interested in the subject and you’ll be interviewing so you’ll need the freedom to do that too. If you really can’t see yourself sticking it out, give your two weeks and tell negative Nellie she’s the reason you are leaving.

I don’t have anything lined up, although I have a good relationship with my old PI, so there’s a chance that if I asked her if I could come back to the lab, she’d say yes. I definitely think I can stick it out, I really enjoy working with patients / subjects. And my current PI is aware of my medical school plans and is very accommodating. I think I’m just going through a bit of post-graduation doubt at the moment and wanted to make sure that I didn’t choose a path that will detract from my chances of getting into med school. Thank you for your response!

 

[LizzyM]

This is exactly why I warn people away from clinical research as pre-meds. It is neither clinical nor research. That said, it is not a bad job if you like "paperwork" and the pay and location are okay.

 

[zigzag153]

This is exactly why I warn people away from clinical research as pre-meds. It is neither clinical nor research. That said, it is not a bad job if you like "paperwork" and the pay and location are okay.

Ah, I didn't realize that it was a job that pre-meds were advised against. Will this be looked upon unfavorably by adcoms?

 

[LizzyM]

It will not be looked on negatively but it is not research as in hypothesis testing or even hypothesis generating on the part of the pre-Med and it is not clinical as in “clinical care of patients” but it is working with research participants.

 

[zigzag153]

It will not be looked on negatively but it is not research as in hypothesis testing or even hypothesis generating on the part of the pre-Med and it is not clinical as in “clinical care of patients” but it is working with research participants.

Okay thank you very much for your response. I’ve only been at the job for a week, would it be worth it to include on my list of activities? I plan to apply at the end of this week. And if it is, would it be appropriate to list it under research since my job title is research specialist?

 

[LizzyM]

Okay thank you very much for your response. I’ve only been at the job for a week, would it be worth it to include on my list of activities? I plan to apply at the end of this week. And if it is, would it be appropriate to list it under research since my job title is research specialist?

You should list it as it answers the question"what is the applicant doing this year?" If I were you, I'd tag it employment and I'd go with Employment non-clinical if you are asked to classify it further. You can list the job title as "research specialist" without classifying the activitiy as "research".

 

[jcohenco15]

Here's a nice article that might be relevant to students planning to work in a lab before starting medical school.

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