<p>I am currently a pre-med sophomore at Duke. Does anyone have any suggestions whether it would be more helpful (for med school applications) to do Duke Engage over the summer or to have a paid research internship?</p>
<p>depends on what you want to do, are you looking to focus on research later on in med school? If so, take the research internship (This is especially true if you are thinking MD/PhD). If not, then it shouldn’t make much of a difference and you should pick whichever is more interesting to you.</p>
<p>I want to go into practice after medical school, maybe with some research. But do you think that either choice would give more advantage when actually applying to med school?</p>
<p>The research inter could be better. Also, you need to have a higher MCAT score which need to put your effort on it.</p>
<p>If you don’t have a strong desire to do research, then taken the DukeEngage thing. Many medical schools emphasize community service and service to others, especially for those who want to go into practice later on. As for MCAT…I have no idea how that relates to anything you do over the summer unless your plans are to take a class or self study on the side.</p>
<p>^^disagree. Yeah, med schools love community service, but they love scientific research more.</p>
<p>Not exactly, research is important, but so is community service. In fact, I’d venture to say (based on the types of AMCAS essays that many adcoms suggest) that an applicant who does not demonstrate a desire for community service is at a significant disadvantage compared to applicants who have little research experience.</p>
<p>PS: also, according to my advisor, med schools are primarily in the business of educating future doctors. If they want to churn out research, they’d be a graduate school.</p>
<p>well… would this sound better: I stay around home during the summer, but do a summer research internship. At the same time, I want to also try to start a community-service project; or if that doesn’t succeed, volunteer at Georgetown University hospital (I’m from the DC area). So basically, doing both research and community work.</p>