Advice Needed: Non-STEM Research + Finding a PI

[guamious]

Hello SDN,

I am currently a junior in the US interested in pursuing medicine. I'm in a unique position for a few reasons:
1. I decided to pursue medical school "late" into undergrad - too late for me to feasibly complete all medical pre-reqs and all of my major classes/electives without delaying graduation.
2. I have an internship for the coming summer in a competitive role in the corporate world, which I hope to work in after graduation for a few years, for financial reasons
3. For these reasons, as of right now, I'm planning on doing a post-bacc. The plan is: graduate in 2026, 2 years in the corporate world, 1 year post-bacc, and then matriculate to medical school.

Compared to many other non-trads, I have the advantage of knowing that I want to do medicine well in advance. As such, I want to do everything I possibly can to develop a competitive profile. I've heard that research is important for a lot of top schools, and can be generally helpful. I have a few questions about research:

1. Would it be to my detriment to do research in a non-STEM field, like public policy?
2. What should I be looking for in a PI?

As of right now, I'm looking at professors at my university that conduct research in the field that I'll be entering during my internship/after graduating. While the research in this field is very interesting to me, it is pretty far removed from medicine and isn't socially impactful (like studying inequity or something). It also seems like the publication process is really slow, which means I'm unlikely to get a pub before graduation.

So, in short, my questions are: Should I look for opportunities in a STEM/medicine-adjacent lab, and should I be targeting a PI/lab that has a high rate of publication?

Thanks in advance!

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[AJS59]

Hello SDN,

I am currently a junior in the US interested in pursuing medicine. I'm in a unique position for a few reasons:
1. I decided to pursue medical school "late" into undergrad - too late for me to feasibly complete all medical pre-reqs and all of my major classes/electives without delaying graduation.
2. I have an internship for the coming summer in a competitive role in the corporate world, which I hope to work in after graduation for a few years, for financial reasons
3. For these reasons, as of right now, I'm planning on doing a post-bacc. The plan is: graduate in 2026, 2 years in the corporate world, 1 year post-bacc, and then matriculate to medical school.

Compared to many other non-trads, I have the advantage of knowing that I want to do medicine well in advance. As such, I want to do everything I possibly can to develop a competitive profile. I've heard that research is important for a lot of top schools, and can be generally helpful. I have a few questions about research:

1. Would it be to my detriment to do research in a non-STEM field, like public policy?
2. What should I be looking for in a PI?

As of right now, I'm looking at professors at my university that conduct research in the field that I'll be entering during my internship/after graduating. While the research in this field is very interesting to me, it is pretty far removed from medicine and isn't socially impactful (like studying inequity or something). It also seems like the publication process is really slow, which means I'm unlikely to get a pub before graduation.

So, in short, my questions are: Should I look for opportunities in a STEM/medicine-adjacent lab, and should I be targeting a PI/lab that has a high rate of publication?

Thanks in advance!

At this point in the game, research is research is research. It doesn't really matter what type of research; medical schools are not interested in your ability to run a PCR but they're interested in your ability to take ownership of a project, interpret literature and write about the results of your procedure to answer a novel question. So if you want to work with these sorts of profs, go for it.

Additionally, while it's marginally helpful to target a lab with high rate of publication, this isn't like you're going for residency. Join something you like and enjoy first and foremost, and if you get a pub, that's just an extra bonus

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

I want to get a sense of why you "want" to do non-STEM research, or why you feel hard-wired going forward with your internship, then a postbac, etc. Have you done any shadowing or worked in a clinical setting? I want to make sure your cart is not in front of your horse which may barely be out of the stable.

 

[LizzyM]

Research is important to top schools and some will go beyond the idea that research = bench and give credit for non-STEM research particularly if it touches on health/medicine (e.g. health policy, medical ethics, healthcare utilization, etc).

That said, there might be some question about your passion for medicine if you take two years off to make big bucks before going back for a post-bac. You are going to need a solid reason for wanting to go into medicine and "helping people" which is pretty common won't cut it if you were so busy with a 100 hour/week consulting gig that you couldn't help anyone, even 2 hours of week of community service.

Get your adult self to a clinical setting for shadowing and other experience (paid or volunteer). Also consider how you might service those in greatest need in your community and to better get to know people who are much different than yourself and your immediate circle-- someday those folks may be your patients.

 

[guamious]

Welcome to the forums.

I want to get a sense of why you "want" to do non-STEM research, or why you feel hard-wired going forward with your internship, then a postbac, etc. Have you done any shadowing or worked in a clinical setting? I want to make sure your cart is not in front of your horse which may barely be out of the stable.

I appreciate the feedback. I've shadowed a couple physicians in both primary care and surgery, and I have a decent amount (50+) hours of clinical experience (think EMT/MA/scribe).

I'm interested in doing non-STEM research because I find the subject matter genuinely interesting, and I believe I could meaningfully contribute to the final output while also not being entirely bored throughout the process (which I envision being the case with bench research). I also don't see a basic science lab accepting me considering I have 0 background in bio/chem/physics/math.

I'm not hardwired to follow a certain path, but what I've outlined just seems to be the most feasible, considering I'm halfway through undergrad and haven't taken any of the pre-reqs yet. In terms of the internship/post graduation work goals, the field I'm in pays well and my family needs the short-term financial support. Again, I appreciate the feedback!

 

[GoSpursGo]

The plan is: graduate in 2026, 2 years in the corporate world, 1 year post-bacc, and then matriculate to medical school.

I have some general thoughts, however I'm going to highlight that this timeline doesn't work. Schools aren't going to consider your app if you've got a bunch of pre-reqs still pending, and you shouldn't take the MCAT if you are missing multiple pre-reqs anyways. You can probably get away with having 1-2 pre-reqs pending, but not a whole year of post-bacc courses.

What I'm hearing is that you would prefer to do non-STEM research because you perceive that it will be easier for you to get into, but what doesn't make sense to me is why you think that it will convince a school that you'll be a good physician. If you don't want to do bench research, that's fine since it isn't required. And if you want to do non-STEM research because you think you would enjoy it then by all means do so. But don't do it because you think it will enhance your app--you may well be seen as an intriguing applicant given your atypical background, but I don't think that doing this kind of research will specifically be seen in the same light as hypothesis-driven STEM research.