Questions on Essays

There does not seem to be a great deal of guidance out there on how to structure the 3 essays (I realize there will be significant overlap). I have found a few good pointers on this forum, but I still have some questions.

Research Essay - I am confused about how much personal detail to put in this essay. I have a draft that mostly reads like a mini-review of all the work I have been involved with, but right now it says, for example, "calcium signaling was investigated using two-photon microscopy" and does not say, for example, " I developed a protocol and used two-photon microscopy to study calcium signaling in Alzheimer's disease". Do I want to make sure to note all of the procedures/analysis that I performed? Do I mention the amount of time spent in the lab (e.g. I worked on this specific project 30hrs/wk for 6 months)?

Personal Statement - I take it that this should focus more on my motivation to practice medicine with a little bit of information on how my research experiences have influenced my decision.

Md/PhD Essay - Should build on personal statement to explain motivation for combined degree. Mentions decent detail on research activities (a few lines each). Should I describe what I want to work on in the future?

Any thoughts or comments? Thanks!

I've heard mixed things abt the personal statement, esp for MD-PhD applicants. although I think its better to focus on medicine (motivation to be a PHYSICIAN), while also mentioning a bit about your interest in research. Then for the MD-PhD essay to really get into detail abt why you want and need both degrees vs. just the MD (e.g. talk about why you like research, what your goals are? i guess?)

Neuro,

You honestly sound like you're on the general right track.

Rather than think about what specific information to include, try to make goals for all of the less explicit qualities you're trying to get across.

For the research essay there is no set formula. However, I can tell you that what you're trying to get across in your research description (other than just the straight facts on what you've done) is your passion for and commitment to research, your ability to take initiative in research, the diversity of your experience, your capability for scientific understanding, etc.. Readers will want to see that you had a solid understanding of a scientific question, an ability to identify a hypothesis, and a well reasoned approach to testing your hypothesis and analyzing the results and drawing conclusions. The scientific process doesn't have to be explicitly written out step by step, but that ability is what many readers will be looking for.

For the PS, you hit most of the important points. I'd boil it down to answering the question "Why medicine?", presenting aspects of yourself that will help readers get to know you as an individual, and present qualities that are important in medicine (e.g. leadership, compassion, teamwork, interest in medicine, etc.). This essay really needs to be tailored towards the MD AdCom rather than more writing on why you want to be a scientist. While it will be a lot to sift through, I'd expect there to be some better, more extensive threads in the pre-allo forum that will have more specific tips/suggestions for the PS. One thing I did that I liked was I spent time working on my PS before looking at any examples. If you spend time looking at professionally written PS's, you may get sidetracked trying to assemble your own statement. Also, see if there are any pre-med advisors to give feedback. Lastly, have anyone who knows you well and who has an opinion you value to proofread and give feedback once you have a solid draft.

For the MD/PhD essay, you've got it right. Again the things like commitment to research and passion for it are good things to try and convey. I think it's very useful to talk about what you might want to do in a future career. I'd warn you, however, not to get too caught up in being super particular (i.e. "I will be this kind of doctor and research this disease") to the point where you sound naive. I think I just said that I knew I wanted to run a lab and wanted to pursue engineering research. But there's flexibility in that last tip, I'm sure there are people who were super specific and they were successful applicants.

To reiterate, make a list of qualities you want to (re)emphasize in each essay and as you write and edit, weigh the content you add against how well they contribute to supporting these qualities.

Keep posting more questions if you have them.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice.

I think that my research essay is still reading more like a review of my work and is not doing enough to convey my passion/insight/skills. Should I explicitly discuss my responsibilities (e.g. training/supervising other students)? Should I talk about time (hrs/week) spent on each project or in the lab?

I find my MD-PhD to be pretty philosophical, I don't know if that is ok. Should I mention that I am interested in neurodegeneration and neuro-oncology, is that too specific, or not specific enough? Would anyone be interested in taking a quick look at it?

neuro500 said:

Thanks for the advice.

I think that my research essay is still reading more like a review of my work and is not doing enough to convey my passion/insight/skills. Should I explicitly discuss my responsibilities (e.g. training/supervising other students)? Should I talk about time (hrs/week) spent on each project or in the lab?

I find my MD-PhD to be pretty philosophical, I don't know if that is ok. Should I mention that I am interested in neurodegeneration and neuro-oncology, is that too specific, or not specific enough? Would anyone be interested in taking a quick look at it?

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Hey there

The advice from Build is right on-- the research essay should get across 1) what was the impetus for the research (why do you care? why does anybody want to study neurodegenerative disease?), 2) what question you were trying to answer, 3) what the hypothesis was (soo important), and then 4) give the main logical thinking behind the techniques used. #1-3 are more important, if you ask me, than #4. When I did admissions this year, it didn't look great if the research essay was very "cook-book-y", with lots of nit-picky details about techniques and little rationale. We want to see that you not only did the tedious work, but clearly understand the motivation, hypothesis, and rationale for using the techniques that you did. Also, be ready to talk about what the next steps would be, and other future directions during your interviews.

It is also appropriate to talk about other aspects of your lab experience that were valuable to you-- for example, if you found that you really enjoyed teaching junior members of the lab, absolutely write about this. That could be a separate paragraph. I would save hours/week, though, for the shorter descriptions of research (in those 15 blocks where you can write about activities, forgot what that's called. You have to put in hours/week there anyways).

The MD/PhD essay didn't exist back in my day (those more philosophical paragraphs were just lumped in with the research essay), but, from all the ones I read, philosophical is just fine. It's totally fine to talk briefly about the journey that has led you to become a physician scientist and include your current interests (i.e. "exploring possibilities for treating neurodegenerative disease through bench research has inspired me to pursue physician scientist training" etc etc).

And, sure, I could look at it. I personally don't remember any MD/PhD essay that was make or break for any applicant, so it's probably not worth hugely stressing over, but yes, feel free to send it to me as a PM.

I worked on several research projects aren't really connected in any logical way.

I'm wondering if I can just put in abstracts on each project. I'm not sure if they want a nice essay with intro and conclusion or just descriptions of the projects you worked on. Does anyone have any advice?

Also, I think I already know the answer to this question, but I thought I'd briefly ask it anyway. To date I've only done research at my undergraduate institution, which I'm kind of worried about because it's kind of limited in scope and also doesn't really underscore my potential as a researcher in the "real world" (because I didn't really have to apply to do it). But I was offered an internship to do research off-campus in the Fall for a semester... would it be inappropriate to mention this as a sentence in my research essay -- kind of like a "hey, ask me about this in the interview" thing? Or is this strictly for research already completed? (Maybe I could mention it in a secondary or something.)

KPCOFGS said:

To date I've only done research at my undergraduate institution, which I'm kind of worried about because it's kind of limited in scope and also doesn't really underscore my potential as a researcher in the "real world" (because I didn't really have to apply to do it).

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Of all the strange pre-med anxieties I've seen over the years, this is a new one for me. This is a NON-ISSUE.

But I was offered an internship to do research off-campus in the Fall for a semester... would it be inappropriate to mention this as a sentence in my research essay -- kind of like a "hey, ask me about this in the interview" thing? Or is this strictly for research already completed? (Maybe I could mention it in a secondary or something.)

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No. Don't mention it at all ever except maybe if somehow someone brought it up an interview (I doubt it). Nobody cares.

Neuronix said:

Of all the strange pre-med anxieties I've seen over the years, this is a new one for me. This is a NON-ISSUE.



No. Don't mention it at all ever except maybe if somehow someone brought it up an interview (I doubt it). Nobody cares.

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Okay, first part, fair point. Second part though--why would a program not be interested at all in a research experience? I'm hoping to at least have it in my back pocket as some more material to talk about in case I run out of things to say... (which knowing me an interviews, could happen 😱)

(Also, sorry I'm trying to commandeer your topic, OP! I promise after this I'm done.)

KPCOFGS said:

Second part though--why would a program not be interested at all in a research experience?

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Oh, I misinterpreted what you were saying. I thought you meant you were offered an off-campus internship and turned it down, but wanted to talk about how you had the opportunity to do research elsewhere.

Yes, it's fine to mention research you plan to do in the near future on your essay.