Internship at Pfizer vs. Independent Research Project

[Chemdude]

Irrespective of the financial benefits, which one is more beneficial from the pre-med perspective?

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[Mattabet]

Both sound like they could be cool. I wouldn't make it a question of better. It probably comes down to what you'd be doing. Is this internship something where you're going to learn new skills and come out with great stories to tell? Is this research going to be fascinating and contribute to your Curriculum Vitae?

I don't think either is better on the face, it comes down to which you can make more of.

 

[majestic red]

I made a similar choice last summer (except the internship was at Abbott, and not Pfizer). I went with the internship, mostly because it was a sweet deal-- free hotel room for the duration of my internship, free breakfast and dinner everyday, and great pay on top of everything else. I think it was a great experience to see how research is done in industry (since I had only ever worked in academic labs before), and I was able to talk about the differences and what I learned from them during my medical school interviews.


I think either one can look great on a medical school application (or, at least, choosing Abbott didn't seem to hurt me). It depends on what you're interested in doing, and I think the pay is important to consider as well. Thanks to working at Abbott last summer, I've managed to save up enough money for med school (it's not much, but it IS ~$10k that I won't need to take out in loans, and every little bit helps).

 

[JokerMD]

if u don't need the money, really consider the independent research project. It also depends on how much lab experience you have. Are you going to have to get good at the experimental techniques that are used in the lab, or do you already have enough experience with them? Do you have a solid background (read lots of primary sources) on the topic studied in the lab? Because if you can get an independent project and get published, it will probably help you more on your app than the internship. However, if you don't have much research experience, mastering all the techniques and really knowing what's going on will likely take more than one year, and by the time you are truly ready to design your own experiments, you'll be ready to start med school.