Medical Should I take research jobs or more volunteering during gap year?

[Goro]

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Hello,

I have been fortunate to have offers for two part-time research positions, one at a unique biotech start-up and another at a clinical research group. I'm torn between the two and have been considering taking both because their schedules work out perfectly.

My dilemma, however, is that if I were to take both I'd have to forgo my volunteering commitments. Although I think I have a decent amount of hours (310 clinical, 300 nonclinical) and enough experiences to talk about, I am worried that stopping my volunteering activities will appear as a lack of consistency or continued interest in serving others.

I would greatly appreciate any insight.

You'll be OK with stopping the volunteering; you' e not expected to do it for 4+ consecutive years.

But I do question that you won't have any time for volunteering!

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

I lean more towards NOT doing both research jobs. Although research is good, you don't need a bazillion hours. Personally, I think it would be better to do one of the research jobs and then continue a clinical volunteering gig.

 

[AlteredScale]

Agree with above. You have a good amount of volunteering hours. You just need to make sight of it and have a good way of showing how those volunteering experiences developed you.

I would just pick one or there other. I always say that with biotech, you will need to follow stringent rules. But the same goes with clinical research group. So just pick the one that sounds more interesting to you.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

Thank you for your guys' replies.

I actually ended up taking both; the clinical research position is heavily patient-interaction oriented, which I thought would be a better alternative to my current clinical volunteering which consists only of COVID-19 symptoms screening.

I also rescheduled by nonclinical volunteering where I can still dedicate 1-2 hours a week.

Again, thank you for the insightful replies.

Sounds good. Keep in mind that clinical research won't count towards clinical volunteer or clinical hours.

 

[TheBoneDoctah]

That's new to me. Would it still not count towards clinical experience if I am interviewing patients, taking vital signs, conducting EKGs, and drawing blood?

Interviewing patients about what? For your research?