What to do for the summer?

[smartreader]

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So the year is almost comming to a close. In about five weeks, my first year of med school will be over! In that light, I am faced with two choices: "To do research, or NOT to do research.... that is the question"

I landed a 3000$ dollar research bursary for this summer, but I am seriously thinking about forfeiting it. The alternative is staying at home, sleeping in late, going to the gym, and watching TV.

I can definitely use the money, since I am planning on doing an international elective in my third year (which requires $$). But I have realized money isn't everything. On the other hand, I can use the mention of having done research in my dean's letter for residency, though I am unsure how much that will help me in the long run.....

I really have no clue what I should do: (1) Stay at home and enjoy the sun or (2) work my ass off and score money and something to write on my CV.

Your suggestions?

 

[dragonmate]

So the year is almost comming to a close. In about five weeks, my first year of med school will be over! In that light, I am faced with two choices: "To do research, or NOT to do research.... that is the question"

I landed a 3000$ dollar research bursary for this summer, but I am seriously thinking about forfeiting it. The alternative is staying at home, sleeping in late, going to the gym, and watching TV.

I can definitely use the money, since I am planning on doing an international elective in my third year (which requires $$). But I have realized money isn't everything. On the other hand, I can use the mention of having done research in my dean's letter for residency, though I am unsure how much that will help me in the long run.....

I really have no clue what I should do: (1) Stay at home and enjoy the sun or (2) work my ass off and score money and something to write on my CV.

Your suggestions?

I may be speaking from inexperience since I'll only be starting this fall, but as you said, the research might not help you all that much in the long run unless you're aiming for a very competitive residency program (though it never hurts). If you're not interested in doing research, then you probably shouldn't spend your precious summer off doing something just to beef up your CV. By the same token, however, I would not spend the summer watching TV. You must find some sort of a balance between working your ass off and sitting around on it. good luck with your decision.

 

[Cinnameg]

I may be speaking from inexperience since I'll only be starting this fall, but as you said, the research might not help you all that much in the long run unless you're aiming for a very competitive residency program (though it never hurts). If you're not interested in doing research, then you probably shouldn't spend your precious summer off doing something just to beef up your CV. By the same token, however, I would not spend the summer watching TV. You must find some sort of a balance between working your ass off and sitting around on it. good luck with your decision.

Have you considered splitting your time between watching tv/movies one month and doing some kind of overseas clinical rotation the other month, like with Child Family Health International? That way you get your travel, your CV boost, and your lazy time.

 

[Wee Free Woman]

Research can be worthwhile if you're doing more than you would in an undergrad research project and if the subject is of interest to you. Otherwise, its a real waste of time.

Is the research clinical or basic or in-between?

 

[smartreader]

The summer project is really quite interesting. I am essentialy conducting a lesion study. The aim is to establish a link between specific cortical lesions and behavioural changes. There is no clinical work, persay, since I won't be working with patients. The job will mostly consist of looking at fMRIs and analyzing data from behavioural assessment tests.

I should add that regardless of my participation in the upcomming summer project, I will be working on wrapping up the data analysis and finalizing a paper (for publication) on a project i worked on last summer. So my summer won't entirely consist of watching TV. However, I won't get paid 🙁 And although I don't need money, It's always nice to have extra funds for future plans (i.e. moving out of my parents home in august, planning an international rotation)....

Still trying to figure out what to do....