Insight for Gap Year Job

[med1262]

Hello!

I'm a graduating senior planning on applying this cycle and have two job offers for my upcoming gap year. One option is to work as a research assistant in my undergraduate school's dermatology department, while the other is a medical assistant position (not certified) at a dermatology office. My ultimate goal is to match into dermatology, so I want to make sure I'm taking the right steps early on to maximize my chances, but also want to know what might look best on med school applications. The pay is more or less the same for both jobs and both would be full-time.

I have about 600 research hours in my lab (orthopedic research) and about 200 hours of clinical volunteering in a hospital. I worked in my school's dermatology department for a year as a lab technician but was not doing research (worked in processing of tissue samples + paraffin sectioning for the department's research projects). I'm not sure how much weight matching may put on gap year activities, but is there a recommended route to go? I prefer to not do research, as I am not the biggest fan of it, but would doing research + getting my name on some dermatology publications during my gap year alleviate some of the pressure to take a research year between M3/M4 or be helpful in the future? Would one of these opportunities reflect better for medical school applications than another?

Any insight would be helpful, thank you!

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[Alejandro]

So research versus medical assistant job?

What you do in your gap year will have zero bearing on if you will match into derm. even if you pub now, they would expect that you pub in med school as well. (unless it was something clearly impactful, such as doing research for the derm PD at hospital X-and even then you'd want to continue research in med school) I won't go into depth about the rigors of matching into derm (I'm going to assume if you're gunning now, you have already done your due diligence with how hard it is to match into it, from a grades/board scores standpoint).

I think both activities are kinda 'meh'. I think both will have the same impact as in it really depends on what your reflection and what you get away from the experience. It is likely to be a reflection of your effort placed in the activity.

I personally think that doing something more left field and involving society at large and the underserved would be more insightful than just going hardcore derm. Youll have plenty of time to dedicate your time in med school to do that.

 

[med1262]

So research versus medical assistant job?

What you do in your gap year will have zero bearing on if you will match into derm. even if you pub now, they would expect that you pub in med school as well. (unless it was something clearly impactful, such as doing research for the derm PD at hospital X-and even then you'd want to continue research in med school) I won't go into depth about the rigors of matching into derm (I'm going to assume if you're gunning now, you have already done your due diligence with how hard it is to match into it, from a grades/board scores standpoint).

I think both activities are kinda 'meh'. I think both will have the same impact as in it really depends on what your reflection and what you get away from the experience. It is likely to be a reflection of your effort placed in the activity.

I personally think that doing something more left field and involving society at large and the underserved would be more insightful than just going hardcore derm. Youll have plenty of time to dedicate your time in med school to do that.

Thank you! I really appreciate the insight and will definitely take that into account.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums!

I agree... research is research, but you are missing the steps to excel in medical school to put yourself in a position to match to dermatology. It might be nice to do it while getting some insights into clinical experience to make sure this is what you want to do... but you need to get your hands (and body) dirty with other experiences.

What you do in your gap year tells me what you really want to do. If you want to be a researcher, go for the research job. If you want to be an MA in dermatology, go for being a PA in dermatology. It will be a shorter path, and you will do what your want to do.

https://www.dermpa.org/page/About_DermPAs

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[AJS59]

Agree with the above suggestions; either is fine and won't tip the scales so focus on which is of more interest to you/pays better/benefits, etc. Instead, I'd focus a lot on building up your commitment to non-clinical volunteering.

 

[Alejandro]

Also, one thing I forgot to mention: get into med school first. then figure out the match later.

 

[jhmmd]

My vote is for clinical so that you have more stuff to write about in your essays. But suit yourself.