I worked in a cancer research lab for about nine months but all I did was run experiments like western blotting, make gels, basic lab stuff, observe the researchers, etc. Does this count as solid research experience? Or should I try to take on a project of my own? That's just going to be hard considering how much time it takes to run basic experiments. I can't imagine how long it would take to learn techniques for a project on top of school, volunteering, ECs, etc. Help?
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How much research is necessary?
Started by lemonade123
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kpcrew
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Right, but I'm wondering if this is okay for med schools, considering that I would want to go to a primary care oriented institution rather than research-based. Or should I really try to find a lab that will allow me to do a project?
I recently interviewed at VCU which is not very research based. My entire application talked about how I wanted to be a primary care physician in disadvantaged communities. Matter of fact most of my interview was about my military career and my 2 years of extensive clinical experience in primary care clinics and walk in clinics. However, the interviewer still asked me if I had any research experience. I was a little shocked and I told him that sorry I don't have any research experience because I'm more focused on community service and less on research/academic portion of medicine. He didn't make a big fuss about it but who knows what was going through his mind? I just think it's really weird when schools ask about research when they know you're focused on primary care.
I think med schools just want premeds to be exposed to the research environment and know what it entails. But on that note, that will probably be the end of working in the lab for me because I absolutely dreaded it! 😳
Now to focus on clinical ECs....
Now to focus on clinical ECs....
Only, ONLY, do research if you are REALLY interested in it.
Unless you plan on also being a lab scientist, lab research is going to be pretty useless as a physician. Only do lab research if you also plan to get a PhD.
I pretty much abhor the fact that lab research has become some sort of de facto pre-requisite for medical school. Research that a physician is most likely to participate in is clinical research - enrolling subjects, initiating the experimental treatment, working with IRBs, etc. The typical physician doing research will not play with mice or monkeys or run PCRs. If you want to impress an ad-com, get involved with research by helping enroll research subjects, or, even better, learning the ins and outs of informed consent. Killing rodents and all that other crap is dime-a-dozen. Research involving actual humans seems to be far too uncommon among applicants.
I didn't do any research and I'm glad I saved my time. Most of my classmates that did research could care less about it. Sad.
It's mind-numbing how disingenuous one has to be to get in to medical school.
Unless you plan on also being a lab scientist, lab research is going to be pretty useless as a physician. Only do lab research if you also plan to get a PhD.
I pretty much abhor the fact that lab research has become some sort of de facto pre-requisite for medical school. Research that a physician is most likely to participate in is clinical research - enrolling subjects, initiating the experimental treatment, working with IRBs, etc. The typical physician doing research will not play with mice or monkeys or run PCRs. If you want to impress an ad-com, get involved with research by helping enroll research subjects, or, even better, learning the ins and outs of informed consent. Killing rodents and all that other crap is dime-a-dozen. Research involving actual humans seems to be far too uncommon among applicants.
I didn't do any research and I'm glad I saved my time. Most of my classmates that did research could care less about it. Sad.
It's mind-numbing how disingenuous one has to be to get in to medical school.
While I don't agree about the part about doing research on humans being better than mice etc, I completely agree with the first statement of this post. DONT treat research as another thing you have to check off on your application. Do it if you like it.
