Research and no results--What do I write?

[wxl31]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So I was in a pretty bad research lab for two years. We were getting no results and morale was totally down. Our lab theme song was 'I will survive.' Of course, our PI didn't know any of this, until 4 people quit in a matter of 2 days. I stayed behind (and left a month later) and 2 other ppl stayed as well.

Now in those two years, I got shuffled around and worked with 4 ppl! I can't say that I got any results. It's a particularly time-consuming area of science that requires lots of patience.

What do I write about for those research essays? Case Western's prompts wants to know about any results that I may have gotten. Won't it seem weird that after two years, nothing came out of it? I'm not sure how to spin this.

Was also in a 10 wk summer research program. Same area of research and same problem although overall the experience was much more positive. will it seem weird to talk about something that lasted 10 wks vs. 2 yrs?

Sorry this is so long....

 

[velo]

You're an undergrad doing research....no one blames the undergrad for lack of results. If it looks bad for anyone, its the PI. There not going to say "oh this person worked in that lab for two years and didn't get any results, they must suck" They'll think "oh this person worked for two years and didn't get any results, THAT sucks."

Furthermore, anyone who's ever done research will be able to understand "lots of work, no results." Explain what your research was about, what complications you encountered, and (most importantly) what you feel you've taken away from the experience.

 

[agp4]

Research is as much about luck as it is science. Results are nice, but no reasonable school would expect you to produce results, because it's not unusual for experiments to fail. I think as long as you can intelligently explain what you were doing, what your goal\hypothesis was, and what you think was going wrong you'll be fine. Don't be ashamed of your research - it happens to all of us. 🙂

 

[medstylee]

talk about the more meaningful one in the case/cleveland clinic essay. i was in the same situation last year. i had worked in a lab for 7 months with minimal results and a crummy experience overall. at the time i wrote my essay i had been in another lab for only a few months, but i wrote about that because i was already having a better experience and i was working on designing my own project. i had a lot more to talk about and my interviewers at cclcm both focused a lot on that particular experience.

 

[Wiggy73]

I spent two semesters purifying a DNA sample, and when I finally ran tests on it, it turned out that the original stuff our lab was sent was so contaminated (maybe not even the sequence it was supposed to be) that it was useless. I still learned a lot just by going through the process, so I always focus on that fact in essays rather than dwell on the project's failure. It's definitely more the exception than the rule to have a project really work well, so don't worry! 🙂 What you learned is more important. If you feel you learned more in the ten week project, write your essay about that.

 

[ColoMD]

Undergrad research is all about the process not the results. It allows med schools to assess what your analytical abilities are like, your insight, your ability to devise a plan, your capabilities in following protocol, etc.

I spent three years working on a research project and even did all of the data generation for an honors thesis. I ended up opting not to do the thesis and passed the project off to someone else. In all of my medical school interviews, they just wanted to know what I did, what I learned, but seldom did anyone actually care if I actually got data in the end.

 

[principessa]

This sounds so familiar. But congratulations, now you really know what research is like! There had to be some result, no matter how insignificant it seems to you. If there is absolutely nothing, you can explain this and discuss the other research. Most of the time interviewers are more interested in your understanding of the question than the answer.

 

[dfleis]

.

 

[SwineLake98]

I just did a presentation on my summer research for which I had no data. It just left me with a lot to elaborate on as far as future work went: why things didn't go as expected, what options exist, etc. A lot of it had to do with the nature of the project; a lot of time was spent doing analytical separations (had lots discuss as far as background and methods/materials went). Adding to the frustration is the fact that I'm going into my third year in this lab, and I've only heard the first mention of publishing. Grrr...anyway, I think all schools care about is that you have research experience, can explain the project, and understand how/why you are doing things. Good luck!

 

[agp4]

SwineLake, you're absolutely right. Don't sweat over publications - I think the population of applicants at SDN who publish is overrepresented. Its better to really know your research and have no publications than have a pity publication with no understanding of what happened. Good luck guys!