First year summer indecision

[dwarfplanet]

I'm a first year having trouble deciding what to do during the summer. My choices are between research, a medical missions trip, or becoming an anatomy TA. My first choice would be the missions trip since that appeals most to my personal interests. Second choice is becoming an anatomy TA -- I would be getting to know some of my classmates and anatomy department faculty (which could help with future letters of rec) and I haven't been able to do much of either thanks to COVID. It's also paid, which would be a huge help, and I'd get to improve/keep up my anatomy knowledge in the meantime.

I really don't enjoy research but I understand it's valued (slightly? a lot? can't really get a good handle on how much) more than other extracurriculars. My question is, should I just bite the bullet and do some research, or does it not matter very much which EC I choose in the end? Even though I don't like it much, I'm willing to do some research if its value far outweighs that of the others options given their benefits.

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[Dr. Death]

Research > Anatomy TA >>>>>>> Mission trip.
Being on the resident side of ERAS, I can tell you that medical tourism is not well-regarded.
Letters of rec from anatomy department faculty won't help your ERAS at all either. If you like anatomy and want to get paid, then do that. If you think you might want to do something competitive that might look favorably on research do that. If you think you can do both, do both

 

[dwarfplanet]

Research > Anatomy TA >>>>>>> Mission trip.
Being on the resident side of ERAS, I can tell you that medical tourism is not well-regarded.
Letters of rec from anatomy department faculty won't help your ERAS at all either. If you like anatomy and want to get paid, then do that. If you think you might want to do something competitive that might look favorably on research do that. If you think you can do both, do both

Thank you, very helpful response! Had no idea about the medical missions or LOR thing.

 

[PapaGuava]

If you are able to get research under your belt then I'd say go for it my friend.