Research subject for pre-MSTP student

[Bend]

Hello all. I'm a premed sophomore (Nutrition Science major) planning on applying to some MSTP programs. I'm hoping to do a Ph.D. in Epidemiology (one of my big interests). I'm taking the basic epi classes my school offers and hope to get some research experience in that field soon.

In the meantime, I've been doing research at my school's Water Research Lab for a year now. Without getting too boring or specific...our research is basically the application of computer science to hydrology, and developing software and data systems for processing hydrologic data. My mentor has a Ph.D. in civil engineering. It's interesting but not related to medicine or basic science by any means. I'm planning on staying here until I graduate which will make 3 years, I have a lot of independence and make major contributions to our research and development, and have a few projects nearing completion with the potential to get published - possibly even a first author.

My question - is my research experience going to be enough to be considered for MSTP programs, or are they going to want to see more medically related and/or laboratory oriented research?

Thanks for your input!

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[bd4727]

Hello all. I'm a premed sophomore (Nutrition Science major) planning on applying to some MSTP programs. I'm hoping to do a Ph.D. in Epidemiology (one of my big interests). I'm taking the basic epi classes my school offers and hope to get some research experience in that field soon.

In the meantime, I've been doing research at my school's Water Research Lab for a year now. Without getting too boring or specific...our research is basically the application of computer science to hydrology, and developing software and data systems for processing hydrologic data. My mentor has a Ph.D. in civil engineering. It's interesting but not related to medicine or basic science by any means. I'm planning on staying here until I graduate which will make 3 years, I have a lot of independence and make major contributions to our research and development, and have a few projects nearing completion with the potential to get published - possibly even a first author.

My question - is my research experience going to be enough to be considered for MSTP programs, or are they going to want to see more medically related and/or laboratory oriented research?

Thanks for your input!

There are very few MSTPs that will take students interested in the PhD type of work you describe. Just a heads up.

 

[Freak]

I agree ... MD/PhD's are more basic science as opposed to translational ... we could probably start another thread/forum on the pros/cons of the current structure. You might be able to get into a GWAS group ... and then take the PhD into a more epi direction.

In terms of your current research, I would personally find it fascinating and translationally applicable to epi sorts of research (ie. applying GIS tech to understading disease flow patterns), but I am not sure that any MD/PhD program would feel the same way. I am not sure if the NIH program might be more flexible though (might be worth checking into).

 

[bd4727]

I agree ... MD/PhD's are more basic science as opposed to translational ... we could probably start another thread/forum on the pros/cons of the current structure. You might be able to get into a GWAS group ... and then take the PhD into a more epi direction.

In terms of your current research, I would personally find it fascinating and translationally applicable to epi sorts of research (ie. applying GIS tech to understading disease flow patterns), but I am not sure that any MD/PhD program would feel the same way. I am not sure if the NIH program might be more flexible though (might be worth checking into).

The NIH intramural labs have even less of the non-traditional areas of biomedical research than do medical schools.

 

[Bend]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'm aware that good MSTP epi programs are somewhat uncommon and so I'll be applying specifically to those schools that seem to favor them more.

To add to my question a little, I heard from my school's pre-med adviser that, basically, medical schools don't care about the subject matter of your research, as long as you've shown you can develop and test a hypothesis. Is this true, and does it also apply to MD/PhD, or are they expecting you to have research experiences that match up more with your specific interest?

From the feedback I've gathered, I'm going to look for chances to do an independent project in more health or public health related informatics to try and tie my research to my interests.

 

[waddle]

(moved)

 

[z31]

In terms of your major research experience, being able to work independently and getting a strong rec should take precedence over the research topic. This is what my interviewers seemed to care about most -- what is your potential to be an independent investigator?

Assuming that you are interested in a future career in something medically related, I think you only need enough research (1 or 2 summers) to say in an informed way that you've given it a try and you liked it enough to make the MD/PhD training and phys-sci career path a very serious interest.

All that said, at the very top schools you'll be competing with students who have both strong research exp and strong cohesion to their app....