Specific question regarding name dropping professors in secondary essay

[BabySnoopy]

Hi everyone,
I am working on a secondary essay and am talking about my research interests and am planning to mention a professor or two by name because their work is exactly what I am interested in doing. I have found a few threads that have helped me realize it is okay to do this, but what i am wondering about is whether it is okay to use just their last name (Dr. ___) or if that is too casual and I should say Dr. Firstname Lastname
(sorry if this is a bit neurotic lol)
i am trying to conserve characters
thank you

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[Mr.Smile12]

Hi everyone,
I am working on a secondary essay and am talking about my research interests and am planning to mention a professor or two by name because their work is exactly what I am interested in doing. I have found a few threads that have helped me realize it is okay to do this, but what i am wondering about is whether it is okay to use just their last name (Dr. ___) or if that is too casual and I should say Dr. Firstname Lastname
(sorry if this is a bit neurotic lol)
i am trying to conserve characters
thank you

Hopefully, Professor So-and-so didn't take a sabbatical or wind up moving to a different institution by the time you start school.

There aren't set rules about it so you can drop the name if you want, but you never know what individual investigators are doing or how jealous other faculty are of Professor So-and-So. The PI also may not have any funding to take on additional students (which is a problem if you are name-dropping for a Ph.D.-only application). I tend to discourage it, but I acknowledge no universal rule exists about this.

 

[BabySnoopy]

Thank you!
It is for a MD-only app, and the professor i was going to mention is leading a new clinical trial that aligns exactly with the interests i talked about on my PS. It is something very unique and there are only a few schools doing research like it. I almost feel like if i didn't mention it, it would be obvious that i didn't look into the school... would it be better if i just mentioned the initiative itself without dropping the name? Or maybe I could keep it even more vague than that?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Thank you!
It is for a MD-only app, and the professor i was going to mention is leading a new clinical trial that aligns exactly with the interests i talked about on my PS. It is something very unique and there are only a few schools doing research like it. I almost feel like if i didn't mention it, it would be obvious that i didn't look into the school... would it be better if i just mentioned the initiative itself without dropping the name? Or maybe I could keep it even more vague than that?

Because a medical school is so big, many faculty members, including many who likely serve on the adcom, won't be familiar with this clinical trial. As we keep things hypothetical (so as not to doxx you), consider how that clinical trial is relevant to your medical school training (i.e., curriculum). How can you make this about your medical school experience as opposed to your excitement to be "hired" to do the clinical trial? If you are really excited about the project, why not apply to work in the clinical trial as a coordinator instead of going to medical school?

 

[BabySnoopy]

Ok that is a great point, thank you!

 

[purpledoc1]

Thank you!
It is for a MD-only app, and the professor i was going to mention is leading a new clinical trial that aligns exactly with the interests i talked about on my PS. It is something very unique and there are only a few schools doing research like it. I almost feel like if i didn't mention it, it would be obvious that i didn't look into the school... would it be better if i just mentioned the initiative itself without dropping the name? Or maybe I could keep it even more vague than that?

Something to keep in mind is that it is a very small world in medicine, and you don't want to step on anyone's toes while you are applying. It's a great thing that your research interests align, but you don't want to sound like somebody who is only interested in prestige. Medical school adcoms watch out for this kind of thing, and it's frowned upon. Additionally, Mr. Smile12 above makes some great points. Talk about what specifically you're interested in, and how that ties into what you want to do in medical school and afterwards. Good luck!