Does R&D industry experience count as research?

[curiouschemist]

Hi all, I worked as an R&D scientist (bioanalytical chemistry) in industry for 5 years after undergrad. I know this counts as work experience in AMCAS, but am less clear about whether it counts as research experience. Not sure whether research means solely academic research (posters, publications, etc.), or industry research experience (presentations, reports, etc.) as well. Any feedback or insight would be much appreciated! Thank you!

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[deleted1091712]

def research

 

[curiouschemist]

Its research

Thanks so much for your response! For activities like this that may fit into more than category, how should one choose to assign the appropriate/best category in AMCAS? I have previous research experience from undergrad (w/ thesis) as well as other paid employment experiences, so am not lacking in either category. Is it just personal preference, or is there merit to listing as one vs other? Or is it irrelevant?

 

[curiouschemist]

I would put it as research and clearly note early in description it was a job

Will do. Thanks so much for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it.

 

[deleted555445]

Hi all, I worked as an R&D scientist (bioanalytical chemistry) in industry for 5 years after undergrad. I know this counts as work experience in AMCAS, but am less clear about whether it counts as research experience. Not sure whether research means solely academic research (posters, publications, etc.), or industry research experience (presentations, reports, etc.) as well. Any feedback or insight would be much appreciated! Thank you!

i'm planning on listing my industry research experience as research. i think if you list it as a work experience it may get misconstrued as being more on the business side of the house. we're working on publishing now, but we haven't done as much as i would like due to trade secrets, so i'm also going to describe the FDA filings, clinical protocols, animal study protocols, internal reports, grant applications, etc that i worked on as well.

 

[nicesecrets]

I was asking a similar question in the work and activities thread and I think another good piece of advice is to possibly list research at work as a separate activity from research performed in undergraduate (or in my case, graduate school). Not a bad problem to have two research tabs, right?

@Screamapillar , if you describe the industry experience as it is, I do not think it will get construed as the business side of things. For eg, if you say you are a clinical scientist who has worked on developing new protocols for three years, presented data to cross-functional teams and managed an intern, couldn't you use the one industry experience (non-clinical employment) to showcase work, research and leadership in one slot?

 

[deleted555445]

I was asking a similar question in the work and activities thread and I think another good piece of advice is to possibly list research at work as a separate activity from research performed in undergraduate (or in my case, graduate school). Not a bad problem to have two research tabs, right?

@Screamapillar , if you describe the industry experience as it is, I do not think it will get construed as the business side of things. For eg, if you say you are a clinical scientist who has worked on developing new protocols for three years, presented data to cross-functional teams and managed an intern, couldn't you use the one industry experience (non-clinical employment) to showcase work, research and leadership in one slot?

yes you definitely could, i was just saying for categorization purposes i would put in in the "research" category rather than the "work experience" category, as i would be worried a quick scan of my app would tell someone i haven't done research since college. but yes when you describe your job i think it would definitely hit on multiple key competencies.

to your first point, i agree that an industry research job should be listed separately from previous academic research. i think most experiences should be listed separately even if they are in the same category, otherwise the description becomes long and the hours become complicated.