How to tactfully explain why I have no research experiences? If it comes up in my interviews?

[Rooks]

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question answered, thank you! <3

 

[gyngyn]

I'm not @Goro (I'm an entirely different cat), but your explanation sounds fine to me.
No explanation is really necessary in my book.
I wouldn't refer to my state school as "low tier," though.

 

[eigen]

I have plenty of students with no research experience that do fine, and it never gets brought up.

But if it does, I think your explanation is fine. I would also suggest talking about mini-projects you might have had in laboratory classes that have introduced you to the scientific method.

 

[Goro]

I have two interviews coming up at DO schools. I'm worried they will ask why I don't have any research.

My explanation is because I went to community college, and then COVID-19 hit, so it was hard to find any research at my low-tier state school as well, which didn't have much research going on anyways, before covid! I'm a people person and I spent most of my extracurriculars volunteering, teaching, and doing club leadership.

And while I would like to do clinical research as a medical student and I acknowledge the absolute importance of research to advance medicine, my primary goal is to a community based, service-oriented primary care physician who creates treatment plans for patients individually.

Is this response lacking as an explanation? Are osteopathic schools going to grill me on my lack of research?

Thank you. 🙂

@Goro

DO schools (including mine) don't care about whether you have research or not. We're not Stanford, or JHU.

 

[Rooks]

I'm not @Goro (I'm an entirely different cat), but your explanation sounds fine to me.
No explanation is really necessary in my book.
I wouldn't refer to my state school as "low tier," though.

hahahaha I loved my state school! it was a great experience. but yeah, i definitely wont be calling it that! good catch. 🤣

okay thank you for your insight too! im glad to hear your perspective.

 

[Rooks]

I have plenty of students with no research experience that do fine, and it never gets brought up.

But if it does, I think your explanation is fine. I would also suggest talking about mini-projects you might have had in laboratory classes that have introduced you to the scientific method.

ooh okay! i did take epidemiology and health data analysis, in addition to lab classes with mini projects like you're talking about. would this be a good thing to mention as well?

 

[Rooks]

DO schools (including mine) don't care about whether you have research or not. We're not Stanford, or JHU.

haha that's good. im thinking it's more of a stress test question than anything. thanks goro.

 

[eigen]

ooh okay! i did take epidemiology and health data analysis, in addition to lab classes with mini projects like you're talking about. would this be a good thing to mention as well?

I think it can be if it comes up. Something like "I didn't have independent research experience, but I did take classes that gave me a solid grounding in the scientific method and how to work through novel data, for example...." and discuss/describe one of the projects in a lab class or one of your courses.

Could even caveat at the end with "I know it's not the same as a more focused research experience, but it's what was available to me due to...." the factors you mentioned.

 

[Rooks]

I think it can be if it comes up. Something like "I didn't have independent research experience, but I did take classes that gave me a solid grounding in the scientific method and how to work through novel data, for example...." and discuss/describe one of the projects in a lab class or one of your courses.

Could even caveat at the end with "I know it's not the same as a more focused research experience, but it's what was available to me due to...." the factors you mentioned.

this is incredibly helpful, I really appreciate it eigen. ❤️

 

[Robin-jay]

I had a tremendous amount of research done in chemistry before being accepted. Thousands of hours.

In my opinion, research is very important. However, many ADCOMs don't think of it that highly.