Help deciding which summer research opportunity to go for

[nycdreamer]

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1) A doc who's Assistant Chief of a division within the specialty I'm interested in who said he'd do his best to get me published as he has several ongoing projects. He doesn't have too many publications but he'd definitely try to get me publications and a LOR. The place in which he works is very well known.

2) A doc who's a big shot and I'd have networking opportunities that could help me get a residency position but I'm having a difficult time getting a hold of him.

3) A doc who's Director of a division within this specialty who has hundreds of publications and I would definitely be able to publish with him. This doc told me to reach out to him in about a month.

Problem is that doc 1 wants an answer soon and I don't want to string him along/seem unprofessional, especially because he was extremely honest and kind. He seemed to understand that medical students need publications and was telling me about his projects that could lead to publications. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Save a life]

I would just go with doc 1. The second one sounds like a no go and number 3 is only a maybe. Go for what is for sure and in your specialty and maybe down the road doc number 2 and 3 will work out.

 

[NuttyEngDude]

Forget #2, if it's this hard now, it will probably be the same while you're working there. Regarding #1 vs #3, if it comes down to publishing vs not publishing always go for publishing. Published in which journal? Or does it not matter? Personally a great letter + publishing is 2 in the hand, so to speak. But it can be trumped by a better tier of journal. Networking is a wash and hard to judge until you're there. I wouldn't base a decision on it.

 

[nycdreamer]

Thank you! I guess I'll wait till the end of the week to hear back from #3 and if I don't hear back, I'll go with #1. I definitely agree that publishing is a major deciding factor and I'm sure I can get a LOR either way.