Should I do senior thesis if I can't get a publication in time?

[ditritium monoxide]

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I'm on a nearly independent project in my research lab. It has started pretty recently, and while I'll be working on it this summer onward. I'm not sure that it will get finished in time for the paper to be written and accepted by the time I'm ready to apply (next June). I could possibly submit data for the project to a conference before the entire paper is ready to be written, but I'm not sure how high of a chance there is that that will work out. If, for some reason, I'm unable to demonstrate research productivity, would a senior thesis help in this regard?

 

[P0ke]

I'm on a nearly independent project in my research lab. It has started pretty recently, and while I'll be working on it this summer onward. I'm not sure that it will get finished in time for the paper to be written and accepted by the time I'm ready to apply (next June). I could possibly submit data for the project to a conference before the entire paper is ready to be written, but I'm not sure how high of a chance there is that that will work out. If, for some reason, I'm unable to demonstrate research productivity, would a senior thesis help in this regard?

I believe research in regards to med school applications refers to stuff that has potential to lead to poster presentations and publications. I don't think a senior thesis would make your application much stronger. At most it would be add a few words to your discussion of your research during interviews. "I did my senior thesis based on my research, which is on ..." As opposed to "I did research on..." I could be wrong, but that's how I see it.

 

[ditritium monoxide]

I believe research in regards to med school applications refers to stuff that has potential to lead to poster presentations and publications. I don't think a senior thesis would make your application much stronger. At most it would be add a few words to your discussion of your research during interviews. "I did my senior thesis based on my research, which is on ..." As opposed to "I did research on..." I could be wrong, but that's how I see it.

The research I'm doing would eventually be in a paper, but the paper may need to be written after my cycle has set in. Do you think a better approach would be to just get as much data as I can and submit an abstract to a conference or two when possible?

 

[aldol16]

Do it because you enjoy it or want to explore research. Don't do it just for med school. You'll be miserable for the next one and a half years if you're doing it just to get a paper because you'll be broken down at each failure and won't have the motivation to circumvent the roadblocks. That's just research.

 

[ready2go2]

I'm on a nearly independent project in my research lab. It has started pretty recently, and while I'll be working on it this summer onward. I'm not sure that it will get finished in time for the paper to be written and accepted by the time I'm ready to apply (next June). I could possibly submit data for the project to a conference before the entire paper is ready to be written, but I'm not sure how high of a chance there is that that will work out. If, for some reason, I'm unable to demonstrate research productivity, would a senior thesis help in this regard?

Not everything you do needs to be used to get into med school. Think more long term (how might a pub contribute to your career in general). Also do it because you enjoy the research.

Also a poster can showcase productivity, which is easier to do than thesis or pub.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I did a senior thesis that didn't lead to a publication until a few days before I started medical school, but I talked about what I was exploring with it on interviews and it seemed to be received favorably. I would only do a senior thesis if your primary motivation is to do the senior thesis or something else intrinsic - doing it for the sake of medical school will likely make you miserable. Will it help you get in? It'll probably help somewhat, but whatever benefits it gives (on average) probably aren't worth it if it's not something your heart isn't in.

 

[WedgeDawg]

You also don't have to be able to demonstrate productivity for research to be well received by adcoms...

 

[ZedsDed]

You also don't have to be able to demonstrate productivity for research to be well received by adcoms...

Curious what you mean by this

 

[WedgeDawg]

Curious what you mean by this

Even if you don't have a poster or a presentation or something, you can still get valuable experience from doing research and have that be viewed favorably in an application setting. This is most common if this is your first or only time doing research and you're not quite sure what to do. It's likely that by the end of your research experience (assuming it's a summer or a semester or something), you're coming out with a much better idea of what research entails and how to approach solving a scientific question, even if you have nothing "productive" to show for it. Sometimes research just doesn't work out in terms of results. But that doesn't mean you didn't gain anything.

 

[aldol16]

Curious what you mean by this

Even if you don't have a poster or a presentation or something, you can still get valuable experience from doing research and have that be viewed favorably in an application setting. This is most common if this is your first or only time doing research and you're not quite sure what to do. It's likely that by the end of your research experience (assuming it's a summer or a semester or something), you're coming out with a much better idea of what research entails and how to approach solving a scientific question, even if you have nothing "productive" to show for it. Sometimes research just doesn't work out in terms of results. But that doesn't mean you didn't gain anything.

I think a lot of pre-meds have the misconception that getting research in a poster/abstract/paper is a thing you can spend x number of hours on and get it. Realistically, that's not going to happen. Ask a graduate student. We spend our entire years (on top of teaching but that's only second/third years) doing research and we get published maybe after the end of 2 years if we're lucky and have a good PI? It's hard! And a lot of that is luck. So the only sure fire thing you'll get out of a research experience is just that - research experience.

 

[ditritium monoxide]

I think a lot of pre-meds have the misconception that getting research in a poster/abstract/paper is a thing you can spend x number of hours on and get it.

The project I'm on has made me realize this. It just sucks to see other students able to be published on projects they came at the end for and to continue to show so muchmore productivity.

 

[baratheonfire]

Do it because you enjoy it or want to explore research. Don't do it just for med school. You'll be miserable for the next one and a half years if you're doing it just to get a paper because you'll be broken down at each failure and won't have the motivation to circumvent the roadblocks. That's just research.

So if you don't enjoy research you shouldn't be interested in medicine? I take issue with that

 

[aldol16]

So if you don't enjoy research you shouldn't be interested in medicine? I take issue with that

Then you're taking issue with a straw man. These two things are not mutually exclusive and I never said they weren't, implicitly or explicitly.