I'm wondering how important is is to have research in order to match at a university path program. I personally have no research experience at all. Can a US-IMG grad with good step1 and step2 scores match at a university program, without any research?
how important is research
- Thread starter macrocyte
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Yes. I didn't do any research and matched my top choice. I don't think many of our new first years did research either. Doing research certainly can't hurt your CV but it's not necessary to match at a university program.
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Yup, no research here either. And the "big name" programs were very receptive to me as a candidate. Research is another way for people to demonstrate an interest in a field or stretch their minds a bit. There are lots of ways to do that.
As I have said before, you never know until you apply!
As I have said before, you never know until you apply!
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b&ierstiefel
From my impressions, research can only help you. Not having done research will not hurt you. Not all pathologists do research.
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AndyMilonakis said:
I should add though, that when you interview at "big name" programs (or, for that matter, are a resident at one!
) research comes up a lot. People are consistently asking about it. Have you done research? If so, what? If not, would you like to? What are you interested in? Research seems to be more important in path than in almost any other field. However, I would qualify that by saying it is not necessarily important for getting a residency spot. Research does seem to get you some more cache with pathologists though. If you are looking for a fellowship position research (of some kind) is a key part of the application process. If you want an academic position after residency, it is certainly important if not vital. Academic institutions like to hire people who bring in grant money.
Thus, as someone with very little research experience so far, it's kind of intimidating because I feel like I don't know where to start in looking to try out research. But the good thing about doing residency at a big name place is that there are always people around willing to help you through it and show you the ropes, pull you in on a project, etc. The thing is I have always been fascinated by research and wish I did more of it, I just always had different priorities up to this point. Residency will likely change this though.
In short though, like I said, don't necessarily worry about it for residency application purposes. Just understand that it will come up during interviews and they probably won't like it much if you say you aren't interested.
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b&ierstiefel
speaking of research, yaah, arul chinnaiyan has an interesting career pathway. he went into pathology not too long ago but he's became a research PI pretty quick. that dude is brilliant!
