hopeful4medschool
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- Jan 27, 2024
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As the title implies, I am in a dilemma about what I should be doing. I already got advice that my volunteering hours is weak, so I am working on getting those up. I am also working as a CNA right now (part time) where all of my patients are mostly older people or people above the age of 30. I have always been interested in pediatrics, so I was thinking about transferring to a pediatric unit, so I know how to take care of sick kids and talk to their parents. Pro is that this will be a really good experience for me to work with the patient population I want to work with in the future plus I get paid. The con is that the pediatric unit usually hires full-time staff (3 shifts per week, each lasting 12 hours), so my gap year will get really busy. I do know that there are part-time offering so I am hoping one will open and I can work part-time. Another thing I was looking into is research. I did research in my undergrad, but since I graduated I was not able to do more. I did learn couple different stuff in my lab, but I am not too confident in my research skills. I do want to do research in medical school, so I want to have some kind of strong background before going in. This will also be a good way for me to go out of my comfort zone and get rid my fear of public speaking through poster presentation. I had a chances to do poster presentation in my senior year, but I was so scared of looking like a imposter, I ended up not doing it. Another pro is that my application might look more well-rounded. I already have around 1800 ish hour of CNA experience, but only 400 ish of research. Con is that research assistant jobs are usually unpaid and if I end up doing a paid one, it will be a full-time job. Doing both is not a option right now because I am studying for the MCAT, which I will take in Jan. After that I can maybe handle two of them if I get both of them are part-time.
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