Does this count as research?

[blackmi4]

Hello everyone.

Can I count any of the following as research?

1: My biology lab professor let me take equipment home to test a luminol reaction.
2: My microbiology lab professor let me collect my own soil samples to grow microbes over a few weeks. This wasn't part of the class -- I wanted to do it. I isolated a pretty cool bioluminescent strain and took a picture of it.
3:My microbiology class lab had us do a bunch of tests on various strains. We did 16srRNA sequencing of a strain we isolated and identified it in the end.
4: My microbiology class lab professor invited me to come in the lab anytime to use his microscopes. I came a couple extra times after the class ended. I even got a microscope for myself.

Why do I ask?

I so, so wanted to do research while I was taking my science prereqs. I sent out so many emails. I sent out emails a year later to the same people to see if their lab had open spots. It boiled down to lack of funding/lack of credentials on my part.

All I got was a 1 day volunteer opportunity to do research with someone. We weighed mice, collected urine. It was great to have an experience, but it was a one-time thing.

So I am wondering if I can count any of those things I mentioned above. I tried so, so hard to get research experience but it just didn't pan out for me.

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[EngineerPreMD]

Well, it doesn't sound like a traditional research experience. Typically research would be sustained for at least a semester, and ideally more than a year. Not to say the things you did were not interesting, but I doubt adcoms would consider that "research" if it wasn't intended for publishing in scientific journals.

It would help to know what stage you're in your undergraduate career. A good way to get involved in research is to try to get involved in a project over a summer. There are programs available for this if you're an underclassman (REU, SURF), or you can start with just volunteering and not getting paid for a summer (I was able to do this after my freshman year by living at home and commuting to a university in the city near me). If you're older, I wouldn't worry about it too much. You can apply for research positions for a gap year as well. There are plenty of labs out there looking for cheap labor.

 

[BlueCircle]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news.....

Real research involves following a project while it grows/develops for some time. Thus by that definition, your one day volunteering in a lab is just volunteering in a lab, not research on your part.

Moreso, the other small projects you mentioned sound more like homework assignments than anything (think "practise research"), even if they wernt assigned. In my bio lab we collected bacteria from the soil and I would not second guess myself about listing that as research.

Have patience, young grasshopper. In time you will have many legit research opportunities.

 

[blackmi4]

Thank you for the replies.

Unfortunately, I finished my undergraduate career last spring. I stopped when I ran out of money to borrow.

I could try (but would probably fail) in getting research experience at my alma mater since I am no longer attending.

On the off chance that I did, would it look bad to even do it when I plan on applying this cycle?

Any other advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks again!

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Please don't add this to your application. For those of us that have done research, it's almost offensive that you try to pass this off as research. An applicant with that as "research" will seem desperate.

 

[blackmi4]

Good point AlbinoHawk. Now that you say it, I definitely see how it could border on offensive. I won't include it.

I am better off for not including it, but I wish there was something more I could do than simply not offend my reader.

 

[Keladry]

Honestly, I think you can include it. Explain what it is, why you didn't have the ability/opportunity to do traditional "research," and include something that shows that you understand what typical research is/how to develop a hypothesis, test it out, etc.

I volunteered in a lab for just a day last year, since it was the only opportunity I had (my home university is teensy tiny; I was studying abroad, but between classes, working 20+ hours a week, and other ECs, I only had the chance to go to the lab one day near the end of the year). However, I was able to articulate the goal of the research, the findings, etc., and while it certainly isn't the strongest part of my application, interviewers did acknowledge it and understand my circumstances.

Basically, yes, "real" research would be nice for you and me both, but it's not always possible. Do what you can, explain yourself honestly, and hope for the best.

 

[blackmi4]

Thank you Keladry. I am relieved to hear that someone has had the same experience as me.

 

[EngineerPreMD]

Please don't add this to your application. For those of us that have done research, it's almost offensive that you try to pass this off as research. An applicant with that as "research" will seem desperate.

AlbinoHawk, I know a lot of graduate students and post docs who would find it offensive that you pass off your research as legitimate. Unless you've been doing 60+ hours/week at the bench for several years, try to be a little less "offensive."

Blackmi4, that's not really what people mean by "research experience" when applying to medical school. For instance, I've done 3 years of research (in 3 labs, which is not recommended) for 15-20 hrs/week as well as two summers full time and paid with a conference poster and an abstract, and I would consider that a considerable amount of time, but without a journal publication I still don't consider it a strong research demonstration.

Since you don't really have research, you might basically pale in comparison to those who do if you try to pull this off as research to catch up. Instead, focus on the areas of your application that are strong, maybe volunteering, leadership, or clinical experience. Research isn't everything, in fact for MD or DO programs (and not MD/PhD), research is only a small portion of what they look at.

 

[wiloghby]

By research, I'm pretty sure AdComs are looking for hypothesis-based research:

Did you:
1) propose a hypothesis/question to investigate?
2) come up with a procedure to test that hypothesis leaving the least room for error or misleading result?
3) perform the procedure and analyze the results?
4) come to a conclusion?

if so, you did research at a pretty fundamental level -- congratulations! More likely, you may only get to participate by working underneath someone who themselves thought of those 4 things (grad student or professor), but then you also participated research and have a taste for what it's about. (and honestly the latter case is really the only possibility for many undergrads).

if you borrowed lab equipment and took it home once or twice and took pictures of stuff you found, that's really more curiosity than research. That doesn't mean it isn't cool... I really like that you are passionate enough about your courses to want to go that far with them. But it's not hypothesis-driven research.

By putting it on your application, you may come off as naive to what the aim of research actually is. In that case, it may work against you compared to someone with the same experience who understood it wasn't an appropriate thing to put on an application under research.

On the other hand, it might resurface as a sentence or two in your personal statement that shows how you are passionate about learning and not just getting good grades...or that you have the lifelong curiosity to know more that will make you a great doctor. Or something.

 

[LizzyM]

There are plenty of applicants who never get to the hypothesis testing phase; they work as techs doing the repetitive tasks required in a lab without contributing intellectually to the "science". That's all that is expected of an undergrad who has a 3-4 month experience. That's adequate for many schools.

What schools are interested in are students who are curious, who have been bitten by the research bug and who just might want to continue with research in med school. I think that OP could list what he's done as "research" and make clear that it is not a traditional path which didn't pan out for him but that he is hungry to do have an opportunity to continue his journey of scientific discovery in med school. It is much different than a situation where someone has not done research & who has no interest in doing it.

 

[blackmi4]

Thank you again for all the replies. If I do include it I will make it clear that the traditional path didn't pan out for me. If I include it I will make it clear that I know it wasn't real research, that it was simply all I could do.

EngineerPreMD: you have great research experience. I am envious of you!

 

[EngineerPreMD]

EngineerPreMD: you have great research experience. I am envious of you!

I'm envious of people who managed to get lucky and do research during the summers only and still pulled a publication or two out of it because of good timing or a generous PI. Trust me, putting in 15-20 hrs/week on top of classes/volunteering/work/life is exhausting. Not so much because of the time, but because research is one of those things you can never do enough of. I feel constantly guilty for not being in the lab to do "one more experiment before the end of the week." Not to mention the time you have to spend reading journal articles to come up with new experiments. If you can get into medical school without having done research, I am envious of you.

 

[JJMrK]

Doing research means you are involved in the process of answering a question using the scientific method, with the goal of contributing new knowledge to the literature. The things you've mentioned seem like coursework, IMO.

Personally, I always ask interviewing applicants to describe any research listed on their app in detail. If you list any of these things, be prepared to talk about them extensively.

 

[mehc012]

There are plenty of applicants who never get to the hypothesis testing phase; they work as techs doing the repetitive tasks required in a lab without contributing intellectually to the "science". That's all that is expected of an undergrad who has a 3-4 month experience. That's adequate for many schools.

What schools are interested in are students who are curious, who have been bitten by the research bug and who just might want to continue with research in med school. I think that OP could list what he's done as "research" and make clear that it is not a traditional path which didn't pan out for him but that he is hungry to do have an opportunity to continue his journey of scientific discovery in med school. It is much different than a situation where someone has not done research & who has no interest in doing it.

Then everyone who has taken lab courses can list research experience. OP has pretty much just listed 2 semesters of Bio lab and called it research.
I love that they've been bitten by the bug, but that should motivate them to find a way to actually do research.