Seeking research experience - which kind to choose?

[LilBowWow]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Not another "research experience" thread! 🙂

I envy those of you for whom the dilemma is where to list your research experience. My dilemma is I have none in the first place! This is somewhat problematic given that I want to balance clinical practice with research, most likely in an academic setting. Not very credible if you don't have any research experience, at least of the animal variety.

Would any research experience with animals make me look a little more credible, even if the species I gain experience with is not the same as the one I eventually want to work with? For example, let's say I have the opportunity to help out with marine mammal research (duties include feeding, husbandry, data entry), but that I eventually want to do glaucoma research by studying glaucomas in dogs and cats. Not exactly the same thing, but I'm going on the assumption that most research involving animals has at least a few common denominators.

Am I completely out of my mind?

 

[Boxsterluv]

Remember that the majority of the time, what one wants to do when he/she is admitted to vet school changes by the time he/she gets out.. The point is to get into vet school in the first place!! IMO, if you get the opportunity to do research with sea mammals, go for it! This will look great on your app, possibly get you in, then later, when you have free range of what to research, go for the glaucoma.. The research experience may help even though it isn't exactly the subject you're interested in, because you'll learn HOW to do research.. how to ask questions, hypothesize, collect data, analyze data, communicate that data, etc etc etc.. these are things you'll need to know for whatever research you do, regardless of the subject. I say do it for now, if a better opportunity arises, go with that, if not, you'll have learned a lot about research techniques that you can use later on! Good luck!