Torn between two totally different EC's. Which will boost my app more?

[MDwadup]

Hey all,

Next spring, I'll have the privilege to participate in one of two (unfortunately, no time for both) EC's.

1) Intern for a US congressman on Capitol Hill: Im a huge political junkie and a poli-sci major. I'll get to do a bunch with health policy which I love. The pro's: this option seems like it would make me stand out more to adcoms.

2) Clinical Data Analysis Neuro Research: I'll get to craft my own neurology research at a very respectable hospital. Possibility of a publication. Though this is not wet lab research, it's, again, clinical data analysis. Nothing too fancy.

To be honest, i'm loving the capitol hill option a ton more, but I dont have any background in research, which I think may hurt my application.

Thoughts?

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[Elevencents]

Pick the one you enjoy more. Easy enough.

 

[Ogmora]

I'd go with #1. If all your other EC's, LoR's, GPA, MCAT are in order, this will be a great addition to your application, especially if you emphasize you were working with health policy.

Research is great, but doing something you enjoy is more important. You'll have plenty of opportunities to do research while you're in medical school, but I highly doubt you will have the time to take a trip to D.C. and experience politics (or the lack there-of on some occasions) first hand.

 

[lysine9740]

Well my answer probably won't be that helpful, but here it is.

The research will look very good to schools, as it has a lot to do with medicine. Especially if you are applying to schools that look heavily at research. The research sounds difficult and interesting, this will look great on your applications and it will cause you to get more interviews, as well as great talking points at interviews. Having a publication is huge accomplishment that will rocket you past a ton of applicants.

Interning with a congressman may not be as relevant to medicine and not very "sciency," but it does show that you have good variety; as most med students have applications heavy with science things and not much else. Interning with a congressmen also shows that you have strong leadership characteristics. Furthermore, from your post it is easy to see that you are very passionate about politics, and it will be very easy for you to talk about this subject at interviews as well as write about in secondary applications.

Although, both have their strengths compared to each other, it will ultimately be up to you which type of strengths you would like to show on your applications. I have a strong science background, and would like nothing more than getting published, so I would do the research, even though I already had research experience. I believe my research experience did help me get accepted to medical school, as I talked significantly about it at interviews and secondary apps. Furthermore, I got a shining letter of recommendation from the professor running my research because he could talk about how well I did on the "science" part, which med schools look at. I'm sure the congressmen could write you a good letter as well, but wouldn't be science specific.

This is all coming from my biased opinion, so I would lean towards the research. But they would both be very helpful.

 

[MDwadup]

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[Neuronix]

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