Hi! I am a current applicant this cycle with no interviews (still haven't heard from ~20 schools but my hopes are low at this point) and am trying to plan my life for the next year and a half with the expectation of not getting in this cycle. I currently work at a family medicine office and have accumulated ~1,200 hours, in addition to the 250 hours of clinical volunteering I already had. I am getting really bored of the job- it's a really small practice, so the MA's have both back and front office responsibilities, so a huge chunk of my job right now is answering phones which honestly sucks. The doctor is great, my coworkers are not my favorite people in the world, but it's fine.
Anyway, I've been looking at other jobs because I wanted to switch things up for gap year #2, and recently interviewed for a research position in a lab associated with a medical school in my city. It's in infectious diseases, but it's a wetlab position. The PI seemed great and said she provides a lot of opportunities for mentorship and career guidance which I think I could use as someone who is about to have 2 failed cycles (WL at 2 schools last year).
My only concern is: would it look bad if I quit a clinical job for a research job? I already have 1000 hours of research and a pub from undergrad, so it's not really something I'm lacking. If I were to accept this position, I would try to add some more clinical volunteering, maybe at a hospice or at the med school's hospital, but would it just be best to find a different paid clinical position? I don't want it to cause confusion for why I'm not going the PhD or MD/PhD route, if that makes sense.
Anyway, I've been looking at other jobs because I wanted to switch things up for gap year #2, and recently interviewed for a research position in a lab associated with a medical school in my city. It's in infectious diseases, but it's a wetlab position. The PI seemed great and said she provides a lot of opportunities for mentorship and career guidance which I think I could use as someone who is about to have 2 failed cycles (WL at 2 schools last year).
My only concern is: would it look bad if I quit a clinical job for a research job? I already have 1000 hours of research and a pub from undergrad, so it's not really something I'm lacking. If I were to accept this position, I would try to add some more clinical volunteering, maybe at a hospice or at the med school's hospital, but would it just be best to find a different paid clinical position? I don't want it to cause confusion for why I'm not going the PhD or MD/PhD route, if that makes sense.
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