How important is research?

[roseglass6370]

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I just finished my first quarter as a sophomore and thus far have no research experience. My question in a nutshell is: when should I get involved with research and do I really even need it?

I'm not looking to pursue an MD/PhD and while I think research might be fun eventually, I'm in no hurry to hop on the bandwagon right away. I'm also leaning towards doing research in a non-hardcore science subject like psychology or sociology since both of those fields interest me a great deal.

(P.S. It's looking like my undergrad is going to take 5yrs so I probably won't be applying to med school for another 3-ish years.)

Thanks!

 

[Alwaysbehopeful]

It really depends on what school you are going to apply for. If it's a research heavy school like Johns Hopkins or Stanford then definitely you'll need a lot of good research experiences. However, generally most people have some research when they apply.

I don't think when you do it OR how long you do it matters as much as the quality!! So do something you love to do. If you are into social science research then go for it! You have to be passionate about what you are researching.

I never had time to do research during UG and all the ones one campus are volunteer and you are basically doing b$%&* work. So after I graduated I did a solid year of research paid at the USDA.

Don't worry it's still early! You can also spend a summer or two doing it if you don't have time during the quarters!

 

[roseglass6370]

Thanks so much! I think I might just try doing some summer research. 🙂

 

[Alwaysbehopeful]

Oh and a good way to spin research and leadership into one is start your OWN research project.

My friend is working in this clinic right now doing research and the Doctor he works with agreed to let him conduct a small study all by himself!!!!

There are MANY options.

My other friend was concerned with the statistics that 80% of Asians are not Hep B vaccinated in his area. So he wrote a grant and was given 10,000 to provide free vaccinations to Asians! On top of that, he is doing surveys for everyone that is coming to get vaccinated to compile some data. So spinning research in to it as well. He isn't even like some super research genius or anything but I'm sure his data will help to see some trends in his area.

Anyways my point is there are lots options, be creative, take initiative, network and ask around.

 

[Gogogirl]

If you are looking to get into one of the top research medical schools...yes, research is weighted heavily...If you are looking to get into primary care concentrated medical schools..research is a plus but not that important...So..either way, research is a plus but should be decided based on your personal interest.
I would start with your department professors who are conducting research. All it takes is an email...that's how I got my position. Good luck!!!

 

[JJMrK]

IMO, research is important and becoming more important. Many (most?) applicants these days have some form, and if you actually do something productive (poster/talk/pub), it looks very good. Also, if you can talk passionately and intelligently about your research I think it can be pretty impressive in an interview.

It really depends on what school you are going to apply for. If it's a research heavy school like Johns Hopkins or Stanford then definitely you'll need a lot of good research experiences. However, generally most people have some research when they apply.

I don't think when you do it OR how long you do it matters as much as the quality!! So do something you love to do. If you are into social science research then go for it! You have to be passionate about what you are researching.

I never had time to do research during UG and all the ones one campus are volunteer and you are basically doing b$%&* work. So after I graduated I did a solid year of research paid at the USDA.

Don't worry it's still early! You can also spend a summer or two doing it if you don't have time during the quarters!

That's not the case here, at least.. There are quite a few paid positions and if you find the right PI, it's pretty easy to give presentations/talks.

 

[JediZero]

The admissions director at my Georgetown interview described a lack of research as a 'gaping hole' in anyone's application. Given my own lack of research, I was not surprised to be rejected.

If I were to do anything differently in undergrad, I would have at least tried to do some form of summer research. I am not in the least bit interested in doing any form of research in my medical career, but it seems to be something that schools have agreed that students should be familiar with.

It does depend on the school, however. I'll point out that Osteopathy on the whole doesn't seem to care as much, so you'll be fine in DO schools if you don't do research.

 

[twopiradian]

If you don't have any research, AMCAS won't even let you submit your primary!🙂




Research can definitely give you an edge, but it's not essential for admission. I believe that long term involvement in ECs that you are really passionate about says more than just having research experience.

 

[GH253]

How does someone at a small liberal arts college do research?

 

[sleepy425]

I think it's also important that the research you do should fit into your application. Here's what I mean:

I'm reading an application and it looks like this applicant has a strong interest in public health. Every single thing they've done is consistent with this interest except for the fact that they spent a summer doing research on Wnt signaling. They didn't do any public health research. When I read an application like this, I'm thinking, oh, it's nice, they've done some basic science research. But I'm also thinking, this isn't consistent with their interest in public health, as I would have expected them to do some public health research.

So there are two possibilities: either they were interested in basic science research, so they tried it out (which is awesome and perfectly cool), or they were just going through the motions because they thought they needed basic science research to get into med school. In cases like this, I ask the applicant about their research during the interview, and I try to see why they did it. If I get the feeling that they did it out of interest, I make a note of it in their evaluation (which is a good thing). If I get the feeling that they just did it to get into med school, then I make a note of that in their evaluation (which is not such a good thing, since it basically means that I think it's meaningless).

Then there might be an applicant who is super interested in science, and everything in their application is consistent with this interest. And they've been doing basic science research for the last 3 years. For applicants like that, I don't really probe for the motivation, since the application speaks for itself. In those cases, it reflects positively on the applicant.

So, to summarize, research is something that is definitely looked for, especially at research-intensive schools. But I don't think it's simply the presence of research that is important. It's the presence of research that is either consistent with your application, or clearly motivated by interest rather than an attempt to get research on your application. So if you're interested in basic science research, do basic science research. If you're interested in epi, do epi. If you like math, do math research. If you like public health, do public health research.

Just think about it, most of the people who read your applications are not going to be snooty people who are looking for all of your faults. They're just looking for consistency, because it's remarkably easy to get a feel for a person (and the quality of their work) if their application is consistent.

 

[vcfor3]

I think research helps a lot, but really depends on the school you apply to as well. I never really showed interest in research, so I spent my time doing clinical stuff. This was OK according to the admissions director. I don't know that having research experience is going to make one a super duper doctor vs one that didn't. Just curious though, why is there such heavy emphasis on research that so many people do it for applying to med schools?

 

[oaklandguy]

I wish it wasn't as important, but it seems as though all the "upper-tier" schools have a 90%+ matriculated students self-reporting research. So apparently it holds some importance. The "middle-tier" schools have like an 80%+ students self-reporting research and the lower tier is like 70%+ with some schools having pretty low numbers, but those are exceptions. All these stats are courtesy of the MSAR and my own opinion of the tiers of schools.

Even schools like Morehouse and Southern Illinois which may not be the most well known schools have 75%+ students having self-reported research. This shows me that "most" students are participating in research. These statistics have to mean something; I'll leave the interpretation of these statistics to you.

 

[sleepy425]

I think research helps a lot, but really depends on the school you apply to as well. I never really showed interest in research, so I spent my time doing clinical stuff. This was OK according to the admissions director. I don't know that having research experience is going to make one a super duper doctor vs one that didn't. Just curious though, why is there such heavy emphasis on research that so many people do it for applying to med schools?

Many of the heavily research-oriented schools are interested in training more than just good clinicians. Clinicians are great, and super super super important, and we need them, but we also need people who are going to do the other things we need in medicine: basic science research, clinical and translational research, public policy advocacy and research, public health work, health care management, etc. In this country, the research-heavy schools tend to emphasize training physicians to fill these roles. That's not to say that other schools don't do this too, but it is clearly more emphasized at the more research-oriented schools.

You'll find that these schools tend to be private schools (although not always, there are definitely a ton of exceptions). In many states, public schools are established to train the state's clinicians, which is an important job.

So when med schools are looking for people to train, they try to find people who seem to share the same goals as the institution. At my school, we put very heavy emphasis on basic and translational research, as well as public health and health care management. So when we look at applicants, we want to find people who are very likely to pursue a career in one of these areas. My state schools, on the other hand, train very very good clinicians. They have relatively low emphasis on basic science research, but high emphasis on rural medicine. So when they look at applicants, they don't really place too much emphasis on research. They obviously see it as a positive aspect, but they are more interested in whether or not the applicant has an interest in clinical medicine.

 

[roseglass6370]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone! =)

 

[Abby_Normal]

How does someone at a small liberal arts college do research?

Talk to your professors. I go to a small LAC and there are generally several research opportunities over the summer (which hasn't helped me much, becuase I'm a double major and have to take classes over the summer...). Also, I'd imagine that, as a LAC student, you'll be expected to do a thesis and, if you're a science major, you should be able to do research as part of that.

 

[JJMrK]

How does someone at a small liberal arts college do research?

I'd imagine that would/could be tough. Your best bet might be to see if you can help with some clinical research going on at a local academic hospital. If you can find a basic science position at your undergrad that's great, but they are most likely few and far between.