Does clinical research count as research for when applying to MD/PhD?

[redraincoat13]

My longest research project was a clinical research project with a neurosurgeon analyzing clinical data: meeting with patients before/after surgery, getting them to fill out forms and asking them questions, quantifying that data, and then analyzing it for trends. That obviously is not the experimentally based research I hope to do as an MD/PhD.

One of the main reasons I'm apply to MD/PhD and not MD only is that there were so many things I did not like about clinical research - how patients are super bad subjects and how findings were basically just due to statistical differences. Hopefully not all clinical research was like the project I worked on, but it felt more like a desk job more than anything. I much more enjoyed my two summers and semester of basic science research working with stem cells and mice, where we got to control each variable we were testing.

That said, this clinical project is my most substantial and longest research project I've worked on, but does it even count as the type of research MD/PhD committees want to see? Should this not be a focus in my research experiences essay? Or should I talk about how I didn't like clinical research which is making me want to get the PhD as well? Or should I just talk about it like any of my other research projects if committees normally consider clinical research experiences just as valuable as research in the lab.

Just wanted to hear some thoughts on this because up until now I thought I had ~2 years of research. But if clinical research doesn't count, I guess I'm back to 1 year. Thanks everyone!

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[Neuronix]

Or should I talk about how I didn't like clinical research which is making me want to get the PhD as well?

That is the approach I would take. Don't write negative things about it of course -- just that it wasn't for you and you want to be at the bench or some such.

But if clinical research doesn't count, I guess I'm back to 1 year.

That is how I would view your research experience for admissions purposes.

 

[redraincoat13]

That is the approach I would take. Don't write negative things about it of course -- just that it wasn't for you and you want to be at the bench or some such.

Thank you! Would you suggest I write about this in my research experiences essays (since there's 10,000 char anyways)? Couldn't fit much into the 700 char work/activities.
Or is the research experience essay meant to be technical descriptions of bench research (hypothesis, question tested, results, contributions)?

 

[Neuronix]

Thank you! Would you suggest I write about this in my research experiences essays (since there's 10,000 char anyways)?

Sure. You could probably write a paragraph or two about it.

 

[jesie]

I think it could actually be a fairly strong argument for wanting both clinical work and research. Talk about how you enjoyed patients and something about how it taught you the proximity of research and medicine then go more into how it got even better when you got the lab side of things?

Disclaimer: I'm also a rising senior in college so this is advice off the top of my head, not from years of wisdom and experience




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