anyone can help me out? legit Q, searched, but i already know what both entail. just wondering if anyone has done both and if both were advantageous to job hunts/med apps?
Having done a few years of both, I would say it depends a lot on what type of programs / jobs you're applying to. You mention grad programs, med school and jobs... all have very different considerations towards applicant research I think. Grad programs tend to require / prefer research within their field, while med schools will look favorably on any scientific research. Given that so few pre-meds have extensive research, it will help your application stand out (but will not by itself get you accepted, or make up for serious deficits elsewhere in your app).
I will say that clinical research gave me significant exposure to physicians, nursing staff, IRB and other people / aspects of the medical center that I wouldn't have seen working strictly in the lab. This helped solidify my interest in practicing medicine over getting a PhD, plus it gave me a LOR from a physician I worked with.
Another consideration though is getting a publication out of your research experience, which always takes longer than you'd think. And clinical studies often take even longer (consider that even a small study can stretch on for a year or more, then months of data analysis, manuscript preparation / revision, submission / reviews, further revision and finally acceptance / publication). Sometimes a well-defined bench project can be completed in just a few months and you can get a publication within a year. I've heard that doing chart reviews and retrospective analyses of data sets can expedite the publishing process, but these are likely projects you can't get involved in as a pre-med.
Sorry for the long-winded explanation. This is just my experience, and I recommend reading the excellent FAQs in this section for more info about basic vs. clinical.
