Research experience

[j0306]

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Hello everyone,

I couldn't find a thread in the vet forum concerning this topic but..

would research experience be looked at as a very favorable addition to vet school apps? I know med school and grad school love it, but do vet schools feel the same way? Or would they probably just overlook it?

I have a considerably weak GPA with well above average GREs and a high Biology GRE score, but I'm a recent graduate and am currently working full time (45+ hrs/wk) in a research lab while taking 20 units a quarter (4.0). However, I also have 2 publications out (not primary author, though) and 1 acknowledgement on another paper, and will probably be second or third author on 2 more coming out by the time I apply. Would this help to boost my app or probably just be ignored?

Also, I work with lab mice and am IACUC/AALAS trained and certified and do mouse surgeries (with some/most being terminal ). Would this count as vet experience? There is no vet directly supervising me, but IACUC is the research institution's in-house team of vets and techs. I had to take animal courses supervised by the vets in order to do all the mouse work... so would it be vet experience or animal experience?

Thanks for any help! I'm so behind on the vet stuff 😕😕😕

 

[breenie]

Research is considered vet experience. There are like ten thousand other threads on this topic. Try using the search feature. Also, don't know if you're applying this year or not, but VMCAS clearly explains that research under a health profession (DVM, MD, or PhD) is considered veterinary experience.

Though I personally recommend getting some clinical experience...

 

[StartingoverVet]

Hello everyone,

I couldn't find a thread in the vet forum concerning this topic but..

So i typed in the word "research" on the search tool and almost every thread that came up deals with parts of your question.

Read those, and then ask a more specific question.

On second thought, if you can't research the word "research" maybe you don't deserve to list any research as any type of experience.

That's right, I am channelling pre-allo.

 

[breenie]

On second thought, if you can't research the word "research" maybe you don't deserve to list any research as any type of experience.

I wish I would have just waited for you to reply so I didn't have to put forth the effort of typing my post and get a giggle out of your burn all at the same time.

 

[nyanko]

Maybe the OP searched at ISI or Pubmed by accident instead of here. I could see that...force of habit you know.

 

[j0306]

Sorry! I'm aware that the question about hours has been asked many times before, but when I addressed the topic of research experience, I was mainly concerned with publications. When I searched for "pre-vet research publications" the main results came from pre-allopathic forums...

I have hours at a zoo vet clinic, wildlife rehab center and local shelter and am going to start shadowing at an equine clinic. The main reason I was asking about the importance of publications is because I can either stay longer at my current position to work on putting out more papers (possibly a first-author), or I can go dedicate more time on getting clinic hours.

Does anyone know if some schools favor PUBLICATIONS, from personal experience? As in, did any schools address publications or similar things on apps during the interviews? Would the PBL schools favor it possibly? Thanks.

 

[breenie]

Sorry! I'm aware that the question about hours has been asked many times before, but when I addressed the topic of research experience, I was mainly concerned with publications. When I searched for "pre-vet research publications" the main results came from pre-allopathic forums...

I have hours at a zoo vet clinic, wildlife rehab center and local shelter and am going to start shadowing at an equine clinic. The main reason I was asking about the importance of publications is because I can either stay longer at my current position to work on putting out more papers (possibly a first-author), or I can go dedicate more time on getting clinic hours.

Does anyone know if some schools favor PUBLICATIONS, from personal experience? As in, did any schools address publications or similar things on apps during the interviews? Would the PBL schools favor it possibly? Thanks.

Unless you were first author, I'd put the effort into something else. Do you want to go into research as a vet? If so, stay. If you're just trying to use your research to get in so you can do SA practice, go do something else.

 

[nyanko]

Unless you were first author, I'd put the effort into something else. Do you want to go into research as a vet? If so, stay. If you're just trying to use your research to get in so you can do SA practice, go do something else.

👍

I remember discussing a question about publications like, a month ago, honestly.

OP You do realize that you can search a specific forum on the advanced search page right? Just select that one under the big list...

 

[Minnerbelle]

How long have you worked at this lab? And how involved are you in these projects? For vet school, I think what you got out of the experience and what you can say about it is a lot more important than the number of publications you've had. If you're not interested in doing research in the future, and you've gotten to that point in your research career where there isn't too much more you can do/expand without a higher degree, I'd say you're much better off doing something else. If there's a huge potential for growth in terms of what you can do in the lab, then it might be worth it to stay.

You need to have a good answer to the question "why a DVM and not a PhD?" and that gets harder and harder to answer with conviction the longer you work in research (esp if that is a majority of your experience... and double esp if you plan on being a clinician!).

 

[BlacKAT33]

i put my mice and IACUC experience under vet experience because i was doing it under the lab vet there.
How are you doing mice surgeries without a supervisor? If the work is under a PhD that counts as vet experience. Vet experience doesn't mean they literally have to be next to you holding your hand while you do stuff. If you do the surgeries in a PIs lab or even in the animal wing, and the overall procedure or top dog for this is a PhD or vet then it is vet experience. I find it hard to believe you can do mouse surgeries without either a vet or PhD in charge for the project or study that it is for.