Research vs. community service

[Cranius]

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My first post 😉

Well here's the thing, I really don't have a passion for research. Now I could always work on a project anyway, but I think my lack of true interest in growing bacterial cultures and doing statistical analyses would show.

However, I do have volunteer experience in other things. Specifically as a crisis-intervention listener on a distress line and at the student distress centre at my school (U of Alberta). I'm also looking at community first-aid work (st. johns ambulance) and I've worked as a housekeeper in a large hospital for a few years.

I also wouldn't mind doing research in fields such as psychology (my major), seeing as it's much more interesting to me

So the question I pose to the good people here is whether hard-science research is neccesary or highly valued in comparison to all of this. Thanks for any insight you can provide me 🙂

 

[Gleevec]

Keep volunteering, and try out research for a semester or summer. If ya dont like it, stick with the volunteering.

 

[gimmedog]

Not required at all. Don't do it if you're not interested. Keep up your volunteering or do alternative types of research. Public helath, psychology, etc. As an undergrad, I was also a crisis counselor and never did anything at a lab. I did research in social epidemiology --risks for homelessness basically. Find something that truly interests you or the lit review alone will kill you.

The value of research for those not research bound is that ideally it helps you understand research--critical as a doctor since you use evidence to make clinical decisions.

I should add that I'm in med school now--and plenty of people never set foot in a lab either.

 

[jlee9531]

i second glee and gimmee.........just in case you wanted some more support on this topic.

i have not done any research and focused all my efforts on volunteering. however when i do attend med school i would like to test out some research and see what it is like.

 

[Heal&Teach]

I'm not big into bench research, so I did it for three months through a summer program. Once I figured out what the hell was going on, I actually started to enjoy and took some investment in the research. So don't totally count it out until you've tried it (as Gleevec said). Also, I did public health research as a part of my sociology internship requirement, and although I love public health, lit searches are a bitch.

If you don't have a summer to take up some research, consider doing an independent study in a life science or social science.
And depending on what you want to go in to, that volunteer experience is golden. So don't sweat it if you really don't want to do research.

Best of luck to you. 🙂

 

[KarateGirl]

What about the opposite problem? I'm a post-bacc, and I spent several years working in clinical research after graduation. I haven't had time to do any volunteer work until this year. I worked on my local ambulance corps over the summer, but my mother was diagnosed with cancer in August, and I stopped to help take care of her. I'm looking into getting back into it or something else in the near future.

One of my secondaries (I can't remember which) is asking for a list of volunteer experiences, and I just don't have much. It makes me feel like my application is lacking. Is it?