How much research is enough?

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ponybreeder4

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I personally despise research, but luckily i have already done a year on one research project and a semester on another one. And i have a publication out of this. Should i continue with research? Or is a year enough? I would much rather focus on doing more clinical projects even though i already have nearly 7 years of clinical volunteering..but this is what i truly enjoy. What do you guys think? I am solely applying MD not MD/PhD
 
Do wherever your interest lies.
Personally, I'd prefer research over anything. All though there is no "set number of hours" of research that you must do in order to be in good standing, I'd say that if you have at least 1 paper published, then you should be good. If you can get another paper published in your other project, then you should be golden.
 
I personally despise research, but luckily i have already done a year on one research project and a semester on another one. And i have a publication out of this. Should i continue with research? Or is a year enough? I would much rather focus on doing more clinical projects even though i already have nearly 7 years of clinical volunteering..but this is what i truly enjoy. What do you guys think? I am solely applying MD not MD/PhD

When you say 'published', do you actually mean in a peer-reviewed journal?
.. just curious.
 
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When you say 'published', do you actually mean in a peer-reviewed journal?
.. just curious.
by published i mean the Journal of Urology
so its pretty legit- not some undergrad run journal
 
Do whatever you like.
If you despise research, don't do it if you feel like you aren't getting anything out of it.
Good job on the pub though.
 
by published i mean the Journal of Urology
so its pretty legit- not some undergrad run journal

Thanks for the clarification. I just found it surprising that someone who got a publication hated researching 🙂 But congrats.👍
 
Wowee, a pub and you hate research? I think you're good.
 
Yeah, I think research is lame, too. Seems to me that a year is plenty, especially when you throw in a publication.
 
If you don't like it, move on. You obviously aren't going to consider research universities right?
 
You obviously aren't going to consider research universities right?

uhh that would be kind of doubtful since the research universities are the ones everyone wants to go to. but the pub should be good enough already.
 
A year and two summers of research + a planned honors thesis is what I'll have by the time of application. The graduate student I'm working with is close to a publication as well as graduation in December, so I may be working hard to help him re-run assays, blots, interpret data, etc and maybe get a good authorship (definitely not first). I'm hoping that's enough. 🙂

On another note, have most of your advisers in the lab itself been pretty nice? It seems like I've gotten lucky with two really nice people in the two labs I have worked in and was just wondering what everyone else thought of their advisers.
 
uhh that would be kind of doubtful since the research universities are the ones everyone wants to go to. but the pub should be good enough already.

Some people like the big name schools but not the research. You're right, it is illogical, but definitely not a rare occurrence. Great schools are great schools.
 
do med schools really care that much if your publication is in an undergrad journal? at my school, it's quite competitive. i'm currently writing one now to be submitted.
 
They probably will not care if you "publish" in an undergrad "journal." OP, you have a pub, you hate research, you got what you came for. Unless you like the torture of doing something you hate, you need no more of this suffering. Go high on a mountain, and yell at the top of your lungs "LET MY PEOPLE GO," be at peace, and go home a new man, enlightened and free of the burden that once was research.
 
They probably will not care if you "publish" in an undergrad "journal." OP, you have a pub, you hate research, you got what you came for. Unless you like the torture of doing something you hate, you need no more of this suffering. Go high on a mountain, and yell at the top of your lungs "LET MY PEOPLE GO," be at peace, and go home a new man, enlightened and free of the burden that once was research.

LOL, indeed. That's the attitude. If you hate research, and got your pub...you can get out and spend your time on something meaningful. ;D . Unless you want to come out as a real research beast, the benefit of anything after the first publication is small.

Funny though, how people are cool with bashing research, but when it comes to "enough volunteering" you get whipped for "doing it for the wrong reason." I did a lot of research, and I did it because I enjoyed it. And the pubs came. And I chased the pubs.

OP, as you mentioned, you are more suited for volunteering. Pursue your calling.



...OK, that was a little sarcastic. Go back to clinical studies/observation, and if you want, make notes, observations, analysis, etc. whatever. Maybe you can make something out of it and publish it in a real journal. If not, publish it in your undergrad journal....keep a flow going. Start your own blog in the school paper, whatever. You'll be able to talk about it much better than a pub you stumbled through and can hardly feign interest it, and you'll show dedication to the "down to earth stuff," which is what some schools look for anyway.
It will be low yield for you past this point to force yourself to do research.

To conclude, you have done "enough." A pub is already more than most undergrads.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5FYZwL3SVY[/YOUTUBE]
 
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Funny though, how people are cool with bashing research, but when it comes to "enough volunteering" you get whipped for "doing it for the wrong reason."

Yeah man I agree. People don't bash volunteering because it's easy, requires zero skill and everybody does it. Since everybody does it, nobody wants to bash it. Oh wait did I just...

FLAME ON!
 
OP- I think you have plenty of research unless you want Hopkins or something like that. I am a MSI and I did my research in history since that is what I was interested. It is all about pursuing your interest. Mine was working with kids so I volunteered over 500 hours in hospitals, special needs camps, etc. I also held a job all the way through undergrad (well since I was 15 technically).

Even a lot of residency programs don't expect research but it isn't a bad thing to have- I will be doing some lab work this summer between MSI and MSII to see if it is something I could do long term.
 
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