Documenting past research experience

[AspiringDoc422]

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How would one go about documenting research experiences from 2 different labs that took place around 2 years ago at a reputable med school, I plan on applying in 2022 and am curious to know how to properly document this research for the eventual application, especially in terms of hours, lab personnel contact info, etc. Overall research hours from these two labs would total ~450. I won’t have any publications from this research but I may ask for a letter of recommendation from one of the PIs next year. Would it be a problem to ask for a LOR from a PI that you weren’t able to see for some years? I mostly worked with a grad student but the PI personally recruited me for his lab and we parted ways on friendly terms. Also how much details am I expected to remember about the research that I assisted in? And how do med schools verify the research experiences that one participated in? Thanks

 

[AspiringDoc422]

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[JimKimSlim]

Research experience without publication doesn’t matter much, unless you‘re doing MD/PhD. Usually, a publication would solve all those problems you mentioned but looks like your project didn’t get there. A short abstract of what you did should be sufficient in your case. For LoR, make sure you and your PI are on the same page with the description of your project/responsibilities.

 

[Moko]

How would one go about documenting research experiences from 2 different labs that took place around 2 years ago at a reputable med school, I plan on applying in 2022 and am curious to know how to properly document this research for the eventual application, especially in terms of hours, lab personnel contact info, etc. Overall research hours from these two labs would total ~450. I won’t have any publications from this research but I may ask for a letter of recommendation from one of the PIs next year. Would it be a problem to ask for a LOR from a PI that you weren’t able to see for some years? I mostly worked with a grad student but the PI personally recruited me for his lab and we parted ways on friendly terms. Also how much details am I expected to remember about the research that I assisted in? And how do med schools verify the research experiences that one participated in? Thanks

To answer your questions: for each experience, you will need to provide i) the total hours spent on this activity, ii) a start and end date, iii) the city in which this experience took place, iv) a contact for verification purposes (name, title, email, and/or phone number), and v) a blurb describing what you did and what you learned. For research experiences, the contact will typically be the PI. As for details, anything you put on your application is fair game to ask during the interview, including the research hypothesis you were testing years ago and its results.

The bigger question though is whether you should get a letter from them at all. When it comes to letters, quality >> quantity. Halfhearted and unenthusiastic letters hurt applications.. And I think that there is a limit as to how good a research letter from them can be, when you've only spent a couple (maybe a few?) hundred hours in their lab, and have since fallen off their radar for the past couple years. Of course, if you feel that they will write you a strong letter, go for it, but do not get one just for the sake of having one.* Just my thoughts.

* The one notable exception to this is Harvard, which does request letters from all prior PIs.