Non med oriented work

[citra]

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Okay so my question has to do with work experience. undergrad should be a time to gain more research/clinical work experience because this is what we'll be doing in med school. What I've found though, is that when you're in school and working a "research" job you just turn into more of a tech. I feel like solid research work needs a minimum of 20+ hours to really understand what you're doing and learn and do the research. So I'm in a rut. Do i take a well paid 9 hr a week job that has NOTHING to do with my major or science- still interesting but nothing really special. oR do I try to find something related to science? Does it really matter? Does experience working a tech position help with anything, esp if you're already doing solid research during summers?

 

[coldweatherblue]

I worked 25 hrs a week waiting tables throughout undergrad.

I asked my pre-med advisor if I should consider getting a CNA job or something medical/clinical, and he said that as long as I had good shadowing or at least SOME form of clinical experience, it wasn't necessary.

I think that if you are going for a "top" ranked med-school, research becomes more important. However for my situation I was able to work at the job I wanted and still apply successfully. Good luck..

 

[Maxprime]

Being a tech doesn't impress anyone. Med schools notoriously underweight EMT experience - another rant for another day. Just do something that you'll enjoy - the only thing worse than working a crappy job in college is working a crappy job in college that you can't stand.

 

[Concordia]

If you need money then take the well-paying non-science job. I paid for my undergrad by working part-time in retail (full time in the summers). It really sucked but it paid the bills. I talked about this experience in PS, secondaries, and the interviews.
As far as research goes, it's not clear whether you just started in your position or have you been working in this lab for a while? B/c if you are new and have very little lab experience, you would be doing tech stuff. If that's not the case, you should talk to your PI to see how you can set up your project so you are doing more "research".
However (again b/c it's unclear from your post), if you don't have a lot of time to devote to research during the school year, you will end up doing a lot of tech stuff b/c sometimes PIs can't work with your hours if they need results ASAP.
I always felt that my tech experience has really helped me. Most lab work I am encountering involves a lot of tech back-up work and troubleshooting. Understanding the research project takes a while and technical strengths can really help you.

 

[paranoid_eyes]

Med schools notoriously underweight EMT experience - another rant for another day

are you serious? please elaborate, because i am considering getting an EMT license (and using it of course). my question is, how the hell do they expect us to get patient exposure in any other way??????

 

[citra]

This summer I did research as a volunteer. So now I want to make some money. The job I found is something i can commit to at 9 hrs a wk and make 9-10$ and hr which I think is pretty good. However, I'm worried that I should be doing something more science related to give me more experience and figure out what I might want to do. I guess because of this I'm not sure if I should just increase my debt even more or start making money again at the cost of less stress or a more med/science oriented job

 

[Bacchus]

9-10 bucks an hour is amazing! But, that's coming from a Hickville native where most jobs are $7-8 an hour.

If you feel you aren't able to advance in the research position, you might want to take the cash. Monetary reasons for ending the research position seem legitimate to me.

 

[citra]

Like i said in my original post, I don't see how I could do research. I feel like it takes at least 20+ hours a wk to understand what you're doing and make progress.

 

[futuredrcrawfor]

I nanny around 15 hours a week but last semester I was sick (chronic crap) so I only did 10 hrs a week. I got lucky and nanny for an amazing family with the dad being a surgeon so my pay is REALLY nice!

 

[Concordia]

It sounds like you already have made up your mind. You need money--take the non-science related job. The pay sounds great, and 9 hrs/wk is not such a huge commitment that you have to give up on doing anything research/science related.
Can I ask how you determined the amount of time you feel is needed to understand your research (20+)? I currently work with 3 undergrads who are doing their research in our lab for 9-12 hrs/wk. I have done the same for about 3 semesters as well and I didn't feel that my research suffered.