Do I have research experience?

[bottledchalk]

Hello all,

I am a non-traditional studying for the MCAT and prepping to apply to med school, but I am unsure if I have research experience. I currently work as an electrical engineer (what my BS is in) on a research and development team at at a government research facility. Everything we do is classified as research, but the caveat is that nothing is published or accessible to anyone outside our organization. The research is also in a field that is not a topic that is really tackled in academia (almost all universities prohibit research into the area indirectly by requiring that all research undertaken at their university be free and open.) I will not be able to describe or discuss it with any interviewers except in very vague detail. Will this count as research experience or will schools want to see something else?

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[Bonne Nuit]

Hello all,

I am a non-traditional studying for the MCAT and prepping to apply to med school, but I am unsure if I have research experience. I currently work as an electrical engineer (what my BS is in) on a research and development team at at a government research facility. Everything we do is classified as research, but the caveat is that nothing is published or accessible to anyone outside our organization. The research is also in a field that is not a topic that is really tackled in academia (almost all universities prohibit research into the area indirectly by requiring that all research undertaken at their university be free and open.) I will not be able to describe or discuss it with any interviewers except in very vague detail. Will this count as research experience or will schools want to see something else?

It might not be very useful for your application, simply because you can't discuss what you did in any detail. But it is research experience if you followed the scientific method and learned basic research design, analysis, and methodology. What you're describing should tick that box, even if the specifics are classified.

Just be prepared to demonstrate that you understand the research process in your interviews. You may not be able to go into detail, but you still should be able to sound like you know what you're talking about when asked to discuss your research in broad strokes.

In any case, research isn't strictly necessary for nontrads, and I happen to think its importance for traditional premeds is usually overstated as well. There are other elements of your application that I think will be more interesting (your BSEE is a neat hook, for example). I think you'll be fine.