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- Jul 31, 2000
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Hello, I will be a second year medical student next year and I am in a summer research training program this summer. My problem is that I have not actually done any research related to my project this summer. I had my own project but my boss has been away for much of the summer and been busy with his own work so I have not gotten any data for my research project (the patients for this research project are his patients and he has to get them started on different medications in order to start my project). He is away for a vacation next week but when he comes back he wants to talk to me about a plan of action to get started (I have been working with him since late May). The project takes 3 months to complete, patients have to come in once per months for three months and I have to analyze their blood. Because we are starting so late, the entire project would have to be done during my school year. On the one hand, I'm not very comfortable with that because I am worried about the project interfering with my studying because I would have to be available whenever these patients were to come in to analyze their blood and I would have to get my blood drawn for controls too and I don't like to have my blood drawn, particularly during the school year, I bruise pretty easily. On the other hand, I am worried about what I will say to residency programs when they ask what I did this summer or what happened with my research (the project will probably never be done unless a med student picks it up next summer but even then I will have no credit). I was supposed to have my own project for this training program but if I say that I can't do this project over the school year I will not have anything to show for this summer. I have been working on clinical trials for new drugs by meeting patients and practicing drawing blood from them but I am not even technically supposed to be doing that because I am not really part of his clinical research staff (drug company sponsored research is pretty strict in saying who can do what) so I don't think I can say that I did that all summer. How do you think it looks to residency programs to say that you have research experience but never got started on your project for reasons beyond your control? If I don't work on it during the school year, I can't even say that I started on my project. I imagine that most programs will ask what you focused on over the summertime but I am worried about having to say that my "research" experience had no focus. Or do you think that it is worthwhile and pursue this research project during the school year so I can put it on my resume? I had free time during first year but next year I want to do more extracurriculars and I am worried about having more studying to do. Thanks.
