I am thinking of taking a year off, ideally though a program like HHMI-Cloisters. I don't have a lot of research experience. Worked on a few small projects as an undergrad but nothing was ever published. I was wondering if it would be worth it to use some of my elective time to ideally get to know good contact who could support my application.
Research during elective time.
- Thread starter jejun
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I'm not sure if it would be worth it to use up your elective time just to make research connections. If you have a free afternoon or something, can you just email some researchers or attendings and see if they have any research going on? If their project sounds interesting, you can ask to shadow or see their lab to see how their lab works. Then once you develop a relationship, ask them for their support in applying. I don't know what HHMI-Cloisters requires from you as far as the application, so you may also want to look into those criteria as well. From what I can tell, a couple of my classmates applied to HHMI and they didn't get accepted, so it may be more competitive than I thought it would be. So, it might be a good idea to have a backup plan for taking a year off if HHMI doesn't go through.
