Senior Honors Thesis- Worth it?

[TexasSurgeon]

Hey guys,

Could you all maybe offer your input as to whether you think a Senior Honors Thesis will be helpful in terms of getting noticed by top medical schools? I don't know whether to do it or not and it seems like it would be very rewarding, but the amount of work needed to produce one is insane and I really don't want to have to. The only reason I would be inclined to do so would be if it helps me for those top schools. I'm already involved in an independent study course with my PI which will probably result in a publication (1st author hopefully!) in about 6-8 months.

If I don't do a thesis, I would be able to focus on the other things like an organization I'll be running next year + getting back into volunteering, etc. and still doing research, just not as intense as a thesis.

Current cumulative GPA: 3.75
MCAT: Later this year (3 semesters left before application)

PS- I'm not trolling, if anyone thinks haha.

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[gumdrops]

I think you should do a thesis not to be "noticed" by medical schools but because it's an accomplishment you'll be proud of even years later and it will certainly help your case for getting into medical school. You'll not regret doing it.

 

[Pacna]

^ What? Nobody regrets not doing a senior thesis. And nobody cares if you did one or not. I did a senior honor's thesis and it came up 0 times on the interview trail, which I think is exactly how often it should have come up.

 

[deleted547339]

I did one. Didn't get anything for it. In retrospect, probably a lot more work than it was worth. If you were going to go on and get a masters or phd where you'd have to do a thesis, it might be good experience. If you're going to get an MD, probably extra work without benefit.

 

[A7X]

It might be worth it if you could get it published, but otherwise probably not.

 

[gumdrops]

^ What? Nobody regrets not doing a senior thesis. And nobody cares if you did one or not. I did a senior honor's thesis and it came up 0 times on the interview trail, which I think is exactly how often it should have come up.

I thought it was a pretty valuable experience for starting a big, intimidating project and carrying it through. It also felt like a nice way to tie together several things I learned in my major. I'm glad I had something tangible to show for those lessons.

Yeah, it's probably not going to make a difference in your application but *gasp* not everything has to for it to be a valuable experience. Of course if you're only doing it to get into medical school and for no other scholastic or academic motivations, you may as well skip it. That makes me sad but eh, you're all likely more practical than I am.

 

[Ace-Co-A]

I wish I had done one. 🙁

 

[Boolean]

I wish I had done one. 🙁

Why?

 

[Ace-Co-A]

Why?

My undergraduate experience felt really anti-climactic. This spring semester (senior year) has just been a bunch of work and no substantive, long-term project (except a bunch of random papers). I think undergraduate study (particularly in the sciences) should be building towards something. I think an thesis is the perfect way to do this.

 

[Boolean]

My undergraduate experience felt really anti-climactic. This spring semester (senior year) has just been a bunch of work and no substantive, long-term project (except a bunch of random papers). I think undergraduate study (particularly in the sciences) should be building towards something. I think an thesis is the perfect way to do this.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing your perspective! I've considered one, but it would take a sizable amount of funding (carbon nanotubes…. long story behind that one…)

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I think you should do a thesis not to be "noticed" by medical schools but because it's an accomplishment you'll be proud of even years later and it will certainly help your case for getting into medical school. You'll not regret doing it.

^ What? Nobody regrets not doing a senior thesis. And nobody cares if you did one or not. I did a senior honor's thesis and it came up 0 times on the interview trail, which I think is exactly how often it should have come up.

I did one. Didn't get anything for it. In retrospect, probably a lot more work than it was worth. If you were going to go on and get a masters or phd where you'd have to do a thesis, it might be good experience. If you're going to get an MD, probably extra work without benefit.

It might be worth it if you could get it published, but otherwise probably not.

I thought it was a pretty valuable experience for starting a big, intimidating project and carrying it through. It also felt like a nice way to tie together several things I learned in my major. I'm glad I had something tangible to show for those lessons.

Yeah, it's probably not going to make a difference in your application but *gasp* not everything has to for it to be a valuable experience. Of course if you're only doing it to get into medical school and for no other scholastic or academic motivations, you may as well skip it. That makes me sad but eh, you're all likely more practical than I am.

I want to, but it's just so much time. Our lab takes a really long time to collect data due to the nature of our experiments. Would possibly publishing 1st author instead of a thesis work or be more impressive? I'm sitting at two options: do the thesis and also publish it (most likely) so it would be 1st author + thesis. Or no thesis and go at a slower pace and possibly also publish as well (1st author most likely). I just don't know if I'm up to the amount of time and work it would take to produce a thesis where I could instead be spending volunteering or etc. I've already got a significant amount of research experience so the thesis will really be just a formal process of doing it. And the research I'm doing has never been under the supervision of a grad student or something. It's always been an independent project.

 

[deleted547339]

I want to, but it's just so much time. Our lab takes a really long time to collect data due to the nature of our experiments. Would possibly publishing 1st author instead of a thesis work or be more impressive? I'm sitting at two options: do the thesis and also publish it (most likely) so it would be 1st author + thesis. Or no thesis and go at a slower pace and possibly also publish as well (1st author most likely). I just don't know if I'm up to the amount of time and work it would take to produce a thesis where I could instead be spending volunteering or etc. I've already got a significant amount of research experience so the thesis will really be just a formal process of doing it. And the research I'm doing has never been under the supervision of a grad student or something. It's always been an independent project.

Yes. This is what I wish I had done.

 

[Keladry]

My school requires a thesis, although I chose to do a literature-based one rather than a laboratory-based one due to extremely limited resources (my school is tiny. Like unimaginably tiny. And poor.). I've gotten to talk about it a few times at interviews, actually - it's listed on my AMCAS, so one interviewer asked about it, and I brought it up when another asked if there was anything I wanted to talk about. He seemed really interested, and we had a lot to talk about, which was nice. I've really enjoyed the experience overall (but then again, I didn't have a choice). Just figured I'd provide another perspective.

 

[WhippleWhileWeWork]

I think undergraduate study (particularly in the sciences) should be building towards something. I think an thesis is the perfect way to do this.

It is. A degree.

A thesis is so that Masters Degrees feel meaningful, don't take that away from them OP.

 

[hmockingbird]

I was an English major and we were required to write a thesis. I actually had a lot of fun with mine, because I got to geek out about books I was really interested in. LOL I did it in the spring of my senior year though so I didn't put it on my app (I didn't even have a topic for it yet when I applied).

Ours counted as a class so that did help with the time issue a bit.

I think a science thesis would probably take more time though, and if you have other things you need/want to do more, I think a first-author publication would be more than adequate!

 

[ponyo]

I think a thesis is only worth doing if you put your heart in it and get something out of it. For one of my theses I had signed up for it in the heat of overachiever passion but really didn't have time for it at all, and it ended up morphing into a dreaded demonic time-suck that consistently encroached on my 2nd-semester-senior experience, not even because I spent time on it but just because I was so anxious about it and didn't actually care about it at all. Don't let that happen!

But if you spend time on a project where you think you'll learn a lot, I think that can be a great experience as long as you've thought about what other things you might have to give up to make time for it.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Yes. This is what I wish I had done.

Okay, then I may just stick with no thesis but aim for pub.

It is. A degree.

A thesis is so that Masters Degrees feel meaningful, don't take that away from them OP.

Hahaha point noted!

I was an English major and we were required to write a thesis. I actually had a lot of fun with mine, because I got to geek out about books I was really interested in. LOL I did it in the spring of my senior year though so I didn't put it on my app (I didn't even have a topic for it yet when I applied).

Ours counted as a class so that did help with the time issue a bit.

I think a science thesis would probably take more time though, and if you have other things you need/want to do more, I think a first-author publication would be more than adequate!

I honestly think writing a literature thesis would be more interesting, but yeah a sciences based thesis is way more dependent on external factors like results, etc.

I think a thesis is only worth doing if you put your heart in it and get something out of it. For one of my theses I had signed up for it in the heat of overachiever passion but really didn't have time for it at all, and it ended up morphing into a dreaded demonic time-suck that consistently encroached on my 2nd-semester-senior experience, not even because I spent time on it but just because I was so anxious about it and didn't actually care about it at all. Don't let that happen!

But if you spend time on a project where you think you'll learn a lot, I think that can be a great experience as long as you've thought about what other things you might have to give up to make time for it.

This is my worry. I don't want it to turn into a dreadful senioritis story.

 

[lalalaaaaaa]

I wrote two. One in biochem one in english. They were really interesting and valuable to me as an individual and I learned a lot about research methods and formal writing, but they haven't come up in any interviews. Your current research can probably just be submitted as a thesis though, right? I think it's a useful exercise, but if you already have a bunch of great activities don't worry about it.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I wrote two. One in biochem one in english. They were really interesting and valuable to me as an individual and I learned a lot about research methods and formal writing, but they haven't come up in any interviews. Your current research can probably just be submitted as a thesis though, right? I think it's a useful exercise, but if you already have a bunch of great activities don't worry about it.

Wow thats awesome! Yeah my current research can be submitted as a thesis, but to actually start that process, I would need to enroll into the thesis courses, which turns it into a formal time consuming endeavor which I'll have to defend in a committee meeting at some point.

 

[tonymarc]

I was really interested in this and bottom line is if you have good research experience (you seem to) than forget about it unless you're trying to get into graduate school where it may actually help.

Tony

 

[iniquus]

It's stupid to not do a senior thesis and aim for a publication. If you have enough data to be a primary author on a publication, you should have more than enough to meet the requirements for a senior thesis.

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

I really enjoyed working on the honors thesis and got great letters from my advisor, who I worked with closely for 2 semesters. I did it in the humanities though.

You sound like you have a lot going on though, so only if you're really excited about the topic.

 

[Great White Buffalo]

I did a year long senior project, but a lot of programs had senior thesis, and if you do a really good one, it can get nominated for an academic prize. Doesn't need to be "published", but there are recognition opportunities (and dollars attached to that in some cases). I rec'd an engineering prize of $1,500 (was a finalist for a $7,500 award, but missed out on that one). Look around at your institution, and see what's out there. Maybe other benefits to a project/thesis.

 

[dcc23]

My thesis was the most rewarding aspect of my undergraduate education. Actually discussed it in probably every interview I had. It was a lot of work, but I highly recommend it if you have the time.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I wanted to update you guys on what I've been confused on

Because of issues with the MCAT, I will be studying for it again and taking it this summer. Now, I have two options:

1. Don't do a thesis and essentially graduate this December and apply May '16
2. Do a thesis and graduate in May '16 and apply in May '16.

Either option would leave me with a gap year, the only difference being that I would graduate a semester early. This would allow me to still be in the lab, but I would also potentially have more flexibility. I could also enjoy a semester off and figure out what to do with myself during my actual gap year when I apply to med school.

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

What is the difference between a senior thesis and just doing a research project?