Research?

[crazycooljoel]

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I did a search and didn't see this, if anyone has a link please share it.

I am a complete nontrad and have never been in a traditional status being active duty but I see a lot of posts about research but no information on what type of research. So here are a few questions

Does it have to be science based research?

Do research papers count or is it designated research projects by professors?

If my school is not local how can I do research? I mean, I don't think it can be done over distance learning can it?

Don't bash me, everyone has to get this figured out sometime, guess I'm pretty late on this one. My BA will be done in about 6 months but I'm doing a post-Bacc for the premed classes after I get out. (active duty folks typically can't attend full science classes with labs if not offered at night in the area)

Anyway, I want to do some research cause it sounds interesting (yea, I'm wona those nerds).

 

[whouse]

I did a search and didn't see this, if anyone has a link please share it.

I am a complete nontrad and have never been in a traditional status being active duty but I see a lot of posts about research but no information on what type of research. So here are a few questions

Does it have to be science based research?

Do research papers count or is it designated research projects by professors?

If my school is not local how can I do research? I mean, I don't think it can be done over distance learning can it?

Don't bash me, everyone has to get this figured out sometime, guess I'm pretty late on this one. My BA will be done in about 6 months but I'm doing a post-Bacc for the premed classes after I get out. (active duty folks typically can't attend full science classes with labs if not offered at night in the area)

Anyway, I want to do some research cause it sounds interesting (yea, I'm wona those nerds).

I got in with basically no research. I'd been trained in a neuro lab on how to do rat surgery (craniotomies), but because of my schedule I was only able to stay with the lab for a few months. I've been exposed to a lot of research, but just haven't worked in any labs very much.

Find an area you like and approach the lab to ask about what opportunities they have. At the very least being exposed to research is important so you understand the paradigm and learn some of the language. If you become a physician it will be helpful to better understand all those journal articles you'll read (just like how taking statistics helps in that area as well).

 

[EdLongshanks]

I did a search and didn't see this, if anyone has a link please share it.

I am a complete nontrad and have never been in a traditional status being active duty but I see a lot of posts about research but no information on what type of research. So here are a few questions

Does it have to be science based research?

Do research papers count or is it designated research projects by professors?

If my school is not local how can I do research? I mean, I don't think it can be done over distance learning can it?

Don't bash me, everyone has to get this figured out sometime, guess I'm pretty late on this one. My BA will be done in about 6 months but I'm doing a post-Bacc for the premed classes after I get out. (active duty folks typically can't attend full science classes with labs if not offered at night in the area)

Anyway, I want to do some research cause it sounds interesting (yea, I'm wona those nerds).

I, also, had no research, but I wasn't really interested in the "research" schools, like Duke and Vanderbilt. For schools like that it is crucial. However, my university is always sending out emails about research opportunities. Have you tried talking to the pre-med advisor at your university? He or she might actually know more than we would.

 

[crazycooljoel]

Find an area you like and approach the lab to ask about what opportunities they have. At the very least being exposed to research is important so you understand the paradigm and learn some of the language. If you become a physician it will be helpful to better understand all those journal articles you'll read (just like how taking statistics helps in that area as well).

I use the school's online database for my research papers. I am majoring in health care so I have to do two research papers in each classes, one of which is the final. One class was specifically for psychosocial implications of medical issues, learning about all sorts of medical issues for each region of the body. However, most my classes at the upper level have been distance learning but very writing intensive and online class discussions. Given my work schedule, thats the best I can do until I get out.

Anyway, is that the right type of research or do I need to get a hold of a professor as you mentioned and ask for a specific research topic?

 

[hopefuldoc97239]

Writing a "research paper" is fine for a class at school. This kind of research where you do research on other people's research is considered secondary research. It's probably not worth mentioning term papers that you wrote for a class unless you later submitted them for publication and got them accepted in a journal, or if you did something else really significant with them. Just researching and writing the paper is not worth mentioning in your application.

When you're applying to medical school, the only "research" that usually matters is primary research: research where you are collecting and analyzing new data that's never been collected before.

Primary research can be on any sort of topic: psychology, economics, political science, anthropology, etc. The research that's most applicable to medical school is biomedical research. After biomedical research, other biology (non-medical) and psychology probably comes next in terms of desirability.

Not everyone who goes to medical school has research among their extra curriculars, but if you want to improve your application you should get some "real" research experience by working with a professor in their research laboratory.

 

[crazycooljoel]

Not everyone who goes to medical school has research among their extra curriculars, but if you want to improve your application you should get some "real" research experience by working with a professor in their research laboratory.

Does one have to attend the school the professor works at to do research with/for him or her? I don't attend a school that is local.

 

[medicsb]

Only do research if it truly is something you want to do. Most people find it interesting, but most don't *really* want to do it. Applicants with research experience are dime-a-dozen and it's pretty well known that most people only do it because it is believed to be something that will give them "a boost" in the application process. Plenty of people get into medical school without research experience. Leadership experience and some sort of meaningful commitment to anything other than school would probably go alot further and probably be more a kin to being an actual doctor than messing around with rodents in some lab, which is more a kin to being a lab scientist.

Just my (useless?) opinion.

 

[whouse]

Does one have to attend the school the professor works at to do research with/for him or her? I don't attend a school that is local.

As was already mentioned there's a big difference between doing a research paper for a class or something and doing "research" in a lab. I wouldn't think you'd need to attend a school to do work for a professor (it helps though). I would go to whatever school is local and see about taking a class that interests you and the correlated lab. I'm assuming you've had labs for classes before, yes? That's a good place to learn some elementary research/lab skills. Couple that with a good stats class and you'll get some fundamentals for research. Being on campus while taking some classes (even auditing) would give you ample opportunity to meet some faculty and find research work. I did the limited amount of my research training and work by simply going up to my neuro professor and expressing an interest. He had me training in rat surgery the following morning.

 

[Law2Doc]

As was already mentioned there's a big difference between doing a research paper for a class or something and doing "research" in a lab....

Agreed. When you hear research, we are talking about some form of scientific research which generates data to prove or disprove a hypothesis, not a term paper. Research is not a prerequisite for med school. However as med schools get progressively more competitive each year, more and more folks do research as a way to distinguish themselves, to the point where a good chunk of applicants have some research experience and maybe a published paper. Which means you are less competitive for not having these. Whether you need research to "keep up with the Joneses" depends a lot on what else you have going on on your application. Research doesn't have to be done in a lab. It can be done in a clinical hospital setting, in the form of chart review. It can be a meta-analysis which combines research data from studies a lot of other people have published, often to answer a slightly different question. Survey data can sometimes lead to an interesting research project. But no, I'm afraid a term paper on some health studies topic won't count. If you get it published someplace reputable in the profession, then maybe I'd give it more weight. But if it's really just for a class, it's not going to enhance your application one iota.