volunteer vs. more research

[Cognition]

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Hi all,

I know one of the most important things for potential MD/PhD's is research experience, BUT... what if the area you are volunteering in is closely related to an area of science that you want to study?

For example, I currently work in an electrophysiology and brain imaging lab and have been doing so for over 2 years. However, now I have an opportunity to volunteer with young children with autism and this position would require 10+ hours a week. Either way I will be continuing my research, but if I don't volunteer then that gives me 10 extra hours a week to work on my research and potentially get more papers/posters/etc (as well as more of that precious thing they call "time" which everyone else but us seem to have).

I continually read that volunteer experience is not nearly as important as research (which I agree with), but do I sacrifice this opportunity to work with autism (an area of research I wish to go into) to do a greater amount of research and potentially have more academic achievements?

 

[tofurious]

I continually read that volunteer experience is not nearly as important as research (which I agree with), but do I sacrifice this opportunity to work with autism (an area of research I wish to go into) to do a greater amount of research and potentially have more academic achievements?

I imagine that you're a student at Cal given your location. Look around to see how many people are into research and volunteering at Cal, and you'll know what a difficult question you raised. How much have you accomplished working in the lab? If this research work has resulted in publication/abstract/presentation (ideally first author), then I'd get some volunteering time in because you are applying for both MD and PhD, not just grad school. Have you ever worked in a hospital setting though? I think you need some exposure in that (which Cal lacks), and you may not get enough of it just by working with autistic children in a non-hospital setting.

 

[tedrik]

It sounds like volunteering would be an awesome experience and you do already have a good amount of research under your belt. The problem is that 10 hours per week is kind of a lot to be volunteering. If you could find something that requires less time, then that would be ideal. However, since you are interested in going into autism research then this is the perfect opportunity to get your feet wet.

I agree with tofurious, if you've already gotten some pubs or presentations out of your lab work while not spending much time in a clinical setting, then volunteering is a good way to go.