research or clinical experience?

[kvh78]

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do the program directors prefer applicants with experience in academic research or people with clinical experience
quite honestly i got opportunity for both, to work with a general surgeon in office for pre/op post/op screening of patients or work in a research depart of a university affliated hospital

what do you think 🙂

 

[ArrogantSurgeon]

Research is only looked favorably upon if you fully understand it and preferably by getting published or at least presenting your research at a major conference or two. It will do you no good to just to be "part of a lab" for a few weeks/months and basically have a hand in running a project you don't understand for the PI. From my experience thus far, virtually all med students out there have enough clinical experience by the 4th year to get a few good letters of rec, however not as many have one or more publications *related to surgery* by their 4th year...and this is something that PDs will notice and will set you apart from the masses that have done token rotations to get noticed and letters of rec. Also note that some programs favor research more than others. You can get away with doing absolutely no research for most community programs, but research is more favorably looked upon by academic programs for obvious reasons. Your best bet would be to decide what type of surgeon you want to be (e.g. academic vs community) and tailor your clinical vs. research experience accordingly.

 

[maxheadroom]

Research, while nice, is probably only necessary for the top 10-15, super big name, types of programs. If you have a strong application with just a summer research program, you'll still be in contention for some of the strongest programs. Don't listen to AS too much. He hasn't interviewed anywhere yet. I had some interesting research that didn't get published because of a lack of power, but many big name surgery programs still interviewed me and a couple expressed interest after the interviews were over. It's more important to have great grades and raving letters.

 

[UI2003]

Originally posted by maxheadroom
Research, while nice, is probably only necessary for the top 10-15, super big name, types of programs. If you have a strong application with just a summer research program, you'll still be in contention for some of the strongest programs. Don't listen to AS too much. He hasn't interviewed anywhere yet. I had some interesting research that didn't get published because of a lack of power, but many big name surgery programs still interviewed me and a couple expressed interest after the interviews were over. It's more important to have great grades and raving letters.

I second that notion - I had one published study from summer research (after M1 year) as well as a literature review I did as a fourth year. One was surgery-related and the other was not. However, during interviews, programs repeatedly made mention of the fact that they were pleased to see *any* research experience at all since it denotes a degree of tenaciousness on the part of the student. My advice would be to pick a research project that interests *you* even if you aren't sure what specialty you want to do for life. PD's will ask you questions just to make sure you weren't a paper-pusher.

As far as your specific question: Do whichever one you think you'll enjoy the most. If you want to jump in and get your feet wet by working one-on-one with a surgeon then great. I'm almost certain that sort of experience will produce an excellent LoR. On the other hand, having research on your CV will always stand out. If you know you want to apply at most the top programs, go for the reseach. Otherwise, do the clinic work. Either way will be viewed positively. Enthusiasm goes a long way in the interview process - good luck!