Research not doing good, not getting data, will I be looked down upon?

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Golden-Future

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I'm currently doing a Master's thesis and the research isn't going too great right now. There has been a lot of troubleshooting that has wasted so much time. Therefore, I will probably have few data in my thesis. Will MD/PhD committees look down on me and not consider me to have good research experience. Its hard because I've been working so hard, but there has been many problems along the way. It does show that I know what a PhD is like, because every PhD student will come across difficulties.

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I'm currently doing a Master's thesis and the research isn't going too great right now. There has been a lot of troubleshooting that has wasted so much time. Therefore, I will probably have few data in my thesis. Will MD/PhD committees look down on me and not consider me to have good research experience. Its hard because I've been working so hard, but there has been many problems along the way. It does show that I know what a PhD is like, because every PhD student will come across difficulties.
Personally, I think it's really important to know the struggle and to understand it's not all p<.05. Maybe you can talk about it in a way that showed what you learned and how you improved. I've experienced similar results, don't worry!
 
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Personally, I think it's really important to know the struggle and to understand it's not all p<.05. Maybe you can talk about it in a way that showed what you learned and how you improved. I've experienced similar results, don't worry!
Thanks for the reply and support!
Did u apply for MD/Phd? Were you able to explain the problems and such?
 
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Thanks for the reply and support!
Did u apply for MD/Phd? Were you able to explain the problems and such?
Yeah I applied dual MD-PhD and explained those problems and what I learned. So much of those challenges pushed me to explore he question differently, which helped me grow.
My PI tells me it's less about p<.05 and more about the process.
 
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No adcom will look down on your application if you haven't produced publishable results, but they will expect you to be able to explain (1) the design of and rationale behind the experiments and (2) the issues faced along the way and what you learned from them. I was directly asked both questions (1) and (2) at nearly every place I interviewed. It's important to remember that the answer to (2) should not be framed as an excuse or apology. I was told by program directors at two institutions that they ask this question to ascertain whether the applicant has had experience with failure in a research setting, since PhD thesis work (and research in general) is often fraught with failure - i.e. students who didn't have a relevant anecdote to share were likely at a disadvantage. So, take a deep breath and relax...
 
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On the contrary, if you play your cards right this can make you stand out.

First off, dont mention your troubles as failures. As others mentioned this is something that every grad student goes through and is part of the learning process.

Instead, use it as an opportunity to demonstrate your ability as a problem solver. So your experiment didn't work. What do you think the problem was and why? How did you overcome the problem? What new problem came up and how did you fix that? What alternative approaches did you attempt? By answering these questions you have the opportunity to demonstrate 1) your ability to identify and solve problems 2) your repertoire of different lab techniques 3) your resilience 4) other stuff valuable in as a scientist

TLDR: DO NOT paint yourself as a failure. Instead paint yourself as a grizzled veteran who knows what he/she is getting into.

From personal experience, I've encountered someone with a similar experience (interviewing applicants during lunch/dinner). And I was very impressed by how every time I was about to recommend a different approach, this person seemed to know exactly what I was about to recommend and could explain why it still didn't work and what they did next. Needless to say I left a good word about the applicant when they asked...
 
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