How many of you have little to no research?

[Bruin4Life]

I'm just curious if anyone else has little to no research experience and how you've fared in the process thus far.

It almost seemed to me that research was a requirement since every premed I knew or heard about had research experience. Personally I knew early on that I wanted to be a full-time clinician and though doing research as an undergrad might have proved a learning an experience I decided to dedicate the freed-up time volunteering in hospitals and working. For this reason I applied mostly to clinically-oriented schools and thus far have three interviews. I applied to a few research-oriented insititutions just for the hell of it and I'll soon find out what they think about my minimal research experience.

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[Jessica]

Hey Bruin4life - I also find greater enjoyment and fulfillment in the clinical arena. I only have a tiny amt. of research experience, but I have a wealth of clinical experience. I have only interviewed at UCSF so far.... still waiting to hear from everyone else. I applied at mostly clinically-focused schools, but also to some schools that are known for research (just to see what would happen)

 

[Coalboy]

No research, but a fair amount of clinical experience. Time will tell, I suppose.

 

[AceUF78]

Not a single hour of research, but tons of volunteer work at the hospital !! I guess I must've done something right.

 

[Logan]

No research, a little clinical stuff, but recently began, however, I was a division 1 athelete

 

[lady in red]

one summer and now, 3 months full-time work, not much. slowly becoming anti-social and withdrawn...clinical stuff rocks!! (b/c there are people there, not test tubes)

 

[Sonya]

hmmm.... what about clinical research? drug studies, etc?

I have signif research experience, and some clinical stuff to. I did a couple of times work for a clinical research study... interviewing psych patients... but i quit due to lack of time and the fact that I had quite a bit of other clinical experience.

I think it's good what you did... try out research... so at least you know you're making the right descision by saying you're not interested. but, if research isn't your thing, no need for you to do a lot of it.

 

[lady in red]

sonya
drug studies are cool so is clinical research, but then, for an undergrad (especially where i am now)--it is DAMN HARD to get into it; you usually need to be some kind of a medical assistant or have blood-drawing or specimen collection experience. also, there are many more basic research opportunities than clinical research that is available to undergrads (i think). i am sort of 'tolerating' basic research, it is not my thing, but the only job i could get with my degree that pays well. this research is making me depressed--you are on your own the whole time; so when you are done at 7 pm and go out onto the street, you feel like isolated from the whole world. just you and your experiments...depresses the hell out of me.

 

[intoxicatedtiger]

I have absolutely no research experience. I quit my lab job three days after I started it. I immediately knew that I hated research (no offense to anyone, just not for me). So far, I have 8 interviews (2 top 20 schools), 2 waitlists, 1 acceptance, and waiting to go to or to hear from the rest. I too focused on gaining clinical experiences, in which I found great interest. I am so glad that I didn't do research in college. It gave me time to study, to do activities, to make money, and I still was able to sleep nine hours a day and do fun stuff with my friends frequently. Research is definitely not a requirement if you're not aiming for the top top schools.

 

[deleted7807]

no research here. not even work in a hospital. been accepted though

 

[kutastha]

Originally posted by lady in red:
•clinical stuff rocks!! (b/c there are people there, not test tubes) •••

But don't forget, test tubes cure illnesses too.

Andrew

 

[Yogi Bear]

For those who VOLUNTEER,

how many hours have u put in before u applied to med school? I find that getting time to volunteering is extremely difficult, esp. when I have to work and stuff.

 

[IlliniEMT1]

Yup, zero research time here...i just never had time because i was doing volunteer stuff-

meddude, I averaged about 8hrs/week for my first 2 years, but more than than double that in the last 2 beacuse I took a new position which was pretty demanding.
however this caused me to go from being active in 3 orgs, to just the one i do now, and ive been hoping that wont look too bad.

I only volunteered one summer tho and just took classes the other 2.

i dunno how that compares to others, but its been tough for me- especially during MCAT time this past april.
i just started working this sem., but for as few as 3 hrs/week, more if i have time.

last interview I went to, they said they liked my volunteer background, so it seems to be enough.

 

[altaskier]

Hey I got lots of clinical too. I just think that I had more valuable experiences in my clinical experiences. The way I figure it is that we are gonna be clinicans in the future. I think research would be great for someone who is gonna be MD/PhD and a researcher at an academic institution. The research I did was published so I did get lucky. So maybe that'll make up for the limited amount compared to others (Although I did do 2 years). To put your mind at rest, no school I've interviewed at has yet to ask me about research, even Einstein which is a big research school.

 

[amonkeybutt]

i have a little of both, but still don't really know how that has worked for me in the app process . but one of my friends applied to mostly clinical schools and was accepted to Oregon Health & Science U. with no research whatsoever (in a previous year of course). so i guess we'll see

 

[praying4MD]

I have tons of clinical experience, in practically every arena you can imagine, and no real research experience. I was also worried about this so I'm glad you brought it up. I thought this would be my handicap as well, but the fact that my clinical & life experience has been both extensive and unique has actually helped me, at least I think so, especially since I have zero interest in research!

Does anyone have any idea how much of a hindrance lack of reseach experience can be, either now, or when applying for residencies?

 

[mpp]

I have some research both in academia and in industry although none of it is related to medicine...all of it is in high-atmosphere physics. I have never been published in a journal but I have presented posters at conferences.

I have little clnical work. I completed EMT certification this past May and worked for three months as an EMT (as well as other duties) on a preliminary engineering field team for a proposed natural gas pipeline. Fortunatley for the team there were injuries or medical emergencies and so I never used many of the skills I learned in EMT school. I did learn that when you hike around, 12 hours a day, for 41 days in a row, you get really tired.

I have a lot of volunteer work incuding 2+ years as a Peace Corps volunteer, 2 years as an ESL tutor, and a short-time at a hospital.

Even though my GPA and MCAT are above average I haven't fared so well in the medical school application process thus far. I have received no interviews (no rejections either) with 10 secondaries in. I submitted the first secondary way back in August and have sat with an empty mailbox for the last 18 weeks. Maybe I should try opening the mailbox...

 

[SMW]

No research experience at all. Applied to 22 schools. Have 5 interviews, 1 phone interview and 1 rejection thus far. August MCATer.

 

[Weeble]

Me neither.
From what I understand, research is considered a plus at many schools, but is in no way necessary. Whereas if you apply with zero clinical experience, adcoms tend to wonder if you really know what you are getting into, and why you haven't checked out what clinical medicine is like for yourself.

 

[Coalboy]

how many hours have u put in before u applied to med school? I find that getting time to volunteering is extremely difficult, esp. when I have to work and stuff.••

I'd say I have anyhere from 600-800 hours volunteering with the fire deparment. This is by far my biggest volunteer comittement. Plus I work full time and go to school.

You can sleep when you're dead.

 

[Bruin4Life]

That's interesting. There are quite a few people with zero to very little research yet successful applications. By the way two years of research wouldn't qualify for litte or minimal research. By little I would refer to a semester or quarter of research or even less.

 

[ccryder]

I have absolutely no research experience but do have tons of clinical volunteer experience (400+ hours). So far, the application process has gone pretty well with two acceptances under my belt. I also applied to some more research oriented schools and am not sure how I will fare in their eyes.

 

[jdub]

i don't have any real research experience either. i was in a lab as an assistant for a couple quarters, i just got to help handle rats, although i did get to put in a few sutures. i had to help put them down and then extract their brains too, which wasn't much to my liking.

i have about 400+ hours of volunteering in an e.r. in seattle (4 hours/week for 1.5 years) and a palliative care center in quito, ecuador (30 hours a week for three months). which really hasn't been brought up much in the interviews that i have gotten. this is my second year applying, so obviously my application isn't screaming out at adcoms "accept him, accept him!", but thus far i have gotten three interviews this year, which is one better than last year, so i feel that i have a chance.

to be quite honest i just get so baffled as to where i stand, and as to where anybody else stands for that matter, in the whole process, at one point or another i have convinced myself that i didn't have enough research, or that my mcat wasn't good enough, or that my gpa is to low, or that i am just a total dork.

anyhow, enough with my rant, i think research can help quite a bit sometimes, and other times it isn't that important . . .

 

[Tweetie_bird]

Quick logistic question for y'all. What do you qualify as "clinical experience??" I have worked with two patient populations so far-(1.) in an OB/Gyn clinic, did drug studies on women for 2 years. helped with pap smears, physicals etc.
and (2.) currently work/research on patients with Alzheimer's disease.

What do those qualify as? I always thought they were clincal, but it seems as though only ER/volunteer experience counts as clinical. Am I missing something here? What should I note that as when I apply? Thanks in advance.

Tweets

 

[Chunk-ee]

No research- nor any desire to

accepted so far at:

Case Western
Jefferson Medical College
University of MD
Eastern Virginia MS

 

[Slingblade the Surgeon]

0 research
0 desire to do research
4 acceptances anyway

 

[lady in red]

Wow, this is inspiring! I am quitting my job tomorrow!!!!!!!

 

[Sir William Osler]

i second what everyone else is saying. Research is definitely not a requirement for acceptance. But, i know that many schools, especially the really big research powerhouses do like to see some sort of research. the reason is because those schools desire to train academic physicians. I know at Stanford that they really want people who have done significant research and who desire to go into academics. I know this for a fact. I was even told that if you wrote in your personal statement that you wanted to do primary care and serve your community, you would not be receiving a secondary or interview from stanford. But, of course there probably are a few exceptions. It makes sense though if you think about it. If you want to go into primary care in your home state ,why would you even apply to the top programs? You could save money and get the same education for your desires at state u.

for me, i really enjoy research so i've done about 3.5 years of it. it comes up at all of my interviews and i've been accepted to some research-heavy schools.

My opinion is that if you dont plan to do research in the future and you know that you dont enjoy it, then dont punish yourself through the experience. Odds are you dont want to go into academics and therefore dont care about going to any of the top schools. but, if you haven't done it and you think you may like it, then you SHOULD do it.

just my humble 2 cents.