Stop Clinical Exp, Etc, Focus on Research?

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AllDay24

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Hey everyone,

So I'm doing a research project this summer and I've really discovered how cool research (especially clinical research, for me) can be. I'm going to be a junior this year, and I feel bad for joining the research game too late (although I did do 5 months of lab slavery last year).

The thing is, I've got the clinical experience (5 years of hospital volunteering, 2 years of EMT), service (founded service club, free clinic), shadowing (100 hours), tutoring, leadership (pre-med club board, president of service club that I founded), and cool activity (online sportswriter).

So...my question is:

Does anything other than research really matter for me right now? Would it be okay if I quit almost all of my non-research related commitments? I found a PI and research I really like and the fact that it improves my application is sick.

Thanks for your help in advance.
 
Hey everyone,

So I'm doing a research project this summer and I've really discovered how cool research (especially clinical research, for me) can be. I'm going to be a junior this year, and I feel bad for joining the research game too late (although I did do 5 months of lab slavery last year).

The thing is, I've got the clinical experience (5 years of hospital volunteering, 2 years of EMT), service (founded service club, free clinic), shadowing (100 hours), tutoring, leadership (pre-med club board, president of service club that I founded), and cool activity (online sportswriter).

So...my question is:

Does anything other than research really matter for me right now? Would it be okay if I quit almost all of my non-research related commitments? I found a PI and research I really like and the fact that it improves my application is sick.

Thanks for your help in advance.

I think you're good on the volunteer, leadership and clinical experience part. So yes, if I was you I would probably just focus on research. I assumed these other experiences were recent though, right? As long as this stuff wasn't more than 3 years ago, I think you're good.
 
Yep, all very recent. Thanks for the advice!
 
I think you can cut down and focus on research. However I would be wary to cut out all other activities completely. I would focus on research but still volunteer for a few hours a week.
 
I agree. If you really care about people who need help, you will find a way to help for 2-3 hrs wk or for an entire day once a month (avg 2 hrs wk but in a block of 8 hours/monthly).

Yay! I was hoping for a LizzyM response. Yeah, I definitely won't just do research by itself, but I'll definitely cut down (I've been doing like 5-6 activities in previous years, but now probably just 2-3).
 
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