Research

[NateRobinson]

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What is this "research" that people keep putting in their stats as part of extra-curricular activities to help them get into pharmacy school? I really need all the extra activities I can do, from volunteer work to other things, but this "research" intrigues me. How does one go about getting involved in this?

 

[phuang06]

it's called undergraduate research with a faculty member who is doing research at your school. You can also find internships in the area of research and development, but those are very competitive.

 

[avik224]

you've honestly never heard of undergrad research........are you from out of US???

 

[tammiet]

What is this "research" that people keep putting in their stats as part of extra-curricular activities to help them get into pharmacy school? I really need all the extra activities I can do, from volunteer work to other things, but this "research" intrigues me. How does one go about getting involved in this?

Hi NateRobinson,
Depend on the major you are in. Usually if you are biology, microbiology, biochem, chemistry...you can go talk directly with one of the faculties that in charge of any research projects under these different department (only university but not cc). Before you go see them though, go to your school website, read about their researches and find out which project that are most attracted to you. Then go ask them if you can shadow in their lab and tell them that you have read about their work and are interested to learn more about what they are doing. Show some interest and willingness, then they will let you.
I did the same during my undergrad and most of the time the professors are very kind and welcoming. Good luck.

 

[pharmgrl5]

In my school there are two options, the shadowing type research and also actual courses that are research based. I haven't look extensively at it so don't have all the details but they are listed as "classes" but are basically just individual research periods with a professor where there is open lab and only like 3 or 4 students accepted per semester. Hope I'm explaining this correctly. I'd check with your school and the department you'd want to do research with/in and see what they offer.

 

[UES Girl]

What is this "research" that people keep putting in their stats as part of extra-curricular activities to help them get into pharmacy school? I really need all the extra activities I can do, from volunteer work to other things, but this "research" intrigues me. How does one go about getting involved in this?

If I was you - I'd would find out what exactly does research mean in your school. I didn't do my homework well because I was so excited at the idea of doing research and as a result I am in a pretty crappy position right now(won't go in details).

1) Pick the subject of your research based on your interest - do not sign up for biochemical research if you hate biochem for example.

2) Find out how much work it actually takes to do research - in my school it's officially at least 10 hours, but in reality more like 20 or more.🙁 The 10 hours a week that I spend in lab - do not include hours upon hours of data analysis and calculations that no one seems to count. So make sure you are prepared to put all the time you need into the research even if that might mean sacrificing your personal/work time or not taking classes you wanted.

3) Set the goal for yourself and see what is your purpose of doing research - at the time I signed up I had no idea I wanted to go into pharamcy. So I wanted to do it because I took a biochemistry lab class and was completely enchanted by all the stuff I learned. At the end I am completely disappointed, because the topic that I picked did not satisfy my goal - I have very very little of actual wet lab work experience ( which is what I wanted!!! ) - I only learned how to do qPCR and run agarose gels but hours upon hours of data analysis and calculations. My research experience pretty much turned into me being a lab rat for my prof collecting data for the paper she's about to publish instead of the learning experience.🙁🙁🙁

4) Pick your research prof carefully - I picked mine because she was only one of the 4 biochem profs in the department accepting students into her lab - now several months later I am far from happy with her.
Her complete carelessness almost cost me my graduation too.

5) Make sure you get credits for your work - in the beginining of me signing up I was told I am going to get 3 credits for my work. After working full time hours for 3 months, I found out I would only get 3 credits after 8 months of working. So it took 3 semesters of work to get just ! 3 credits plus on top of the lab work I had to take a research "lecture" class.

 

[HoosierPharmD]

From my experience (3 years)

1. like others say, it does take a lot of your time. 20 hours may not sound like a lot, but there are also other commitments like having data in a perfect graph for publication, and often your PI ( principle investigator) will want you to do poster presentations (far from your experience in high school) and contribute to the lab. Plus, you are responsible for knowing what other research is being performed in the area you will be working in. When I started research as a freshman, it took me 4 text books, Google, and about 3 hours to finish one page of a manuscript (published data written at the professional level).

2. There are a lot of benefits though. You learn advanced techniques, learn how to read manuscripts, learn calculations for courses like analytical chem, become more familiar with the expectations of the field. Presenting your research is very time consuming but extremely beneficial. Through my research I traveled about three times a year to present my research. Depending on the level of conference, I did everything from poster presentation to a power point lecture. The best part is that I got to travel for free and speak with other students professors about their research.

3. My school offers either credit hours or payment through the PI's grant money. This is semester based and one semester of 20 hours per week was worth 1 credit hour.

4. As far a being a lab rat to produce one small amount of data for a manuscript for your PI. . . . Yep that is what it is about.

But if you are truly interested, and you produce good work, then you get better assignments. I worked in a lab for about 2 years and transferred schools (married). I quickly researched a lab and the publications from their lab. (more quality publications= better lab). Once I was accepted into a lab, I was given an introductory project that was supposed to take one or two weeks. It took one year and a half because we kept finding information to pursue. I also was primary author on the manuscript😀.

5. Keep in mind, some PharmD. schools love research, some do not.

6. If you are incredibly on top of it, determined, and focused, you can do research and coursework. I did research 20+hrs/week, worked 30 hrs/week, was a Teaching assistant~8hrs/week, had organic chem, calculus, and Physics in the same semester. I DO NOT ADVISE THIS! I got behind in organic and never caught up. Probably could have made it if I wasn't supporting my parents. (dad lost job had to pick up some more hours to help them with their bills)

Sorry for a long reply, if you can afford to not work while in school, go for it. But make sure you are picking a professor that Cares about your success, not just the labs success. You can tell this from other students currently working in a lab. If you want to find them, they will be in their lab, just go to the lab, someone will be there.

 

[cdpiano27]

you can also apply to the summer internship at NIH

www.nih.gov

I went there for statistics; it was great! I would not go anywhere else for a first internship in research.

 

[phuang06]

when you say some PharmD schools love research and some do not, do you know which one VCU falls under? haha

 

[HoosierPharmD]

Sorry, dont know anything about VCU. From the web site it looks research oriented.

A school I applied to last year did not even have any faculty doing research. They told me last year that I was more research focused than pharmacy focused. Which may have been my fault in the interview because I was asked to define a moment of success academically in undergrad of which I was really proud of. I explained how I presented nationally to continue funding through NIH and was primary author on the manuscript of that research. Other than that I did not mention research other than employment history. They even asked me if I wanted to pursue a career in research and I told them I had experienced research and I found the pharmaceutical field, and specifically a career as a pharmacist more enjoyable. Then proceeded to back the answer up.

Maybe it was a mistake to mention anything but pharmacy. I thought my research experience would be impressive, but ultimately they took it as me being more passionate for a career in research than as a pharmacist.

This is all that I meant by "some PharmD schools love research and some do not".

 

[phuang06]

Sorry, dont know anything about VCU. From the web site it looks research oriented.

A school I applied to last year did not even have any faculty doing research. They told me last year that I was more research focused than pharmacy focused. Which may have been my fault in the interview because I was asked to define a moment of success academically in undergrad of which I was really proud of. I explained how I presented nationally to continue funding through NIH and was primary author on the manuscript of that research. Other than that I did not mention research other than employment history. They even asked me if I wanted to pursue a career in research and I told them I had experienced research and I found the pharmaceutical field, and specifically a career as a pharmacist more enjoyable. Then proceeded to back the answer up.

Maybe it was a mistake to mention anything but pharmacy. I thought my research experience would be impressive, but ultimately they took it as me being more passionate for a career in research than as a pharmacist.

This is all that I meant by "some PharmD schools love research and some do not".

i see i see. i also thought that research experience would be impressive, but we shall see when I apply for fall 2009

 

[HoosierPharmD]

If you will be applying next year, you should visit the school if possible. During this time you could ask a member of the adcom if they though it would be beneficial to become involved with research in a specific area.

This would throw a flag immediately, and you would know to not mention research if the member of adcom was not so hot on it.
This way you would know how to better prepare for your interview.

If you cannot make it to a campus visit, then you should contact the adcom by mail or email to receive general answers about their program.

You will gain several things from this.

1. Display interest in their program
2. Become aware of the values of the school
3. Establish an early, and strong relationship with the adcom

Good luck again phuang06