Importance of research experience to get internship/residency

[mawgs]

hello,

I’m a currently a third year and at the moment I am very interested in pursuing a rotating internship and then a residency (internal medicine and cardiology are my biggest interests at the moment). I have zero research experience, will this be detrimental to a future residency applications? I am in the process of picking my fourth year electives, one of my options is a 3 week parasitology research rotation. I am interested in this, but don’t know if I want to use up one of my elective rotations on it. Would a short 3 week research experience even count for anything in the future?

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[thatsallfolks97]

Residencies practically require published research nowadays. You can still get a residency without any published research, but the odds will be stacked against you. You definitely don't have to have anything published now. Most internships encourage their interns to at least publish a case study during their internship year. If your goal is to get a rotating internship at an academic institution, then I would encourage to you go for that 3 week research experience. Academia likes to see research on their candidate's CVs. But if you want to go with a private practice rotating internship, research is not as heavily sought after. You could still match to a place with no previous research experience.

 

[VetMedSurvivalGuide]

You can definitely get an internship in academia without having anything published. I disagree that the 3-week rotation is going to be a defining factor in gettting an internship. Are you likely to end up with a research project from it?

The single, most important factor for getting an internship/residency is your recommendation letters. If you have stellar letters, you will be ranked higher than someone with "lesser letters" and research experience/published papers. Residencies are way more competitive and as mentioned above, you should try to get involved with a research project as it will improve your chances.

While I don't know the details of your parasitology elective, you should consider if there are other options that could help you in obtaining a better letter of recommendation. You should definitely talk to your mentors and ask their opinion - they'll likely know what the parasitology elective entails and offer advice as to if they think it is helpful.

 

[cheathac]

You can definitely get an internship in academia without having anything published. I disagree that the 3-week rotation is going to be a defining factor in gettting an internship. Are you likely to end up with a research project from it?

The single, most important factor for getting an internship/residency is your recommendation letters. If you have stellar letters, you will be ranked higher than someone with "lesser letters" and research experience/published papers. Residencies are way more competitive and as mentioned above, you should try to get involved with a research project as it will improve your chances.

While I don't know the details of your parasitology elective, you should consider if there are other options that could help you in obtaining a better letter of recommendation. You should definitely talk to your mentors and ask their opinion - they'll likely know what the parasitology elective entails and offer advice as to if they think it is helpful.

Is it important to get published? I participated in the Boehringer Ingelheim Research Scholars program this summer. I'm hoping to also present at ACVP this fall and the AALAS conference next year. However, I don't think that I will get publication from this project. We got some interesting data and the PI is wanting to further the project with more animals for more data. Looking at my vet school schedule I don't think I will have the time to be able to work on the project more. I am interested in laboratory animal medicine. Thanks!

 

[VetMedSurvivalGuide]

Is it important to get published? I participated in the Boehringer Ingelheim Research Scholars program this summer. I'm hoping to also present at ACVP this fall and the AALAS conference next year. However, I don't think that I will get publication from this project. We got some interesting data and the PI is wanting to further the project with more animals for more data. Looking at my vet school schedule I don't think I will have the time to be able to work on the project more. I am interested in laboratory animal medicine. Thanks!

Getting a paper published or being part of a research project (even if still underway) is definitely a plus. As is presenting at a conference. Despite having those, if the letters of recommendation are sub-par, one might end up not matching. First priority is stellar letters, then anything else is a nice plus

 

[variegata]

I think research is definitely helpful, but if you don't have experience yet, it's not a total deal breaker. I did scramble for both my internship and residency, but I got both without having research experience from undergrad or vet school. When I was doing my resident research project, I wished I'd had it because it would have been easier knowing what I was doing, but it didn't stop me from getting a residency.

 

[Dra. Cula]

If I am interested in pursuing a residency in Zoo animals, does it matter if my research is not related to this?

 

[Cephal0pod]

If I am interested in pursuing a residency in Zoo animals, does it matter if my research is not related to this?

While a history of research with other species is certainly helpful to some extent, I would definitely try to get some research experience involving zoo/wildlife/exotics.

There are a few summer externship programs for vet students at zoos that have opportunities to get involved with research. Reaching out to any zoo-inclined faculty members at your school would be a good step, too.