Summer research only?

[AznDoc]

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Hey guys,
I will be entering my freshmen year of college in the fall but I have been fortunate enough to obtain a position as a research intern for the summer at Pfizer Inc. My current project is to "characterize the calcium current in a cell line derived from rat ventricular myocytes." At the end of the summer I get to present my work at a poster session.

So...if I do this every summer will that be enough of a research background to be a competitive applicant for an MSTP? I am going to be majoring in psychology but will get all of the pre-med pre-reqs done with by the end of my 2nd year. My plan is to use the semesters for EC's as opposed to doing research with a prof. (which I hear is the same thing as free labor). Let me know what you think, I am open to suggestions and advice. Thanks.

 

[Gfunk6]

Congrats on the position at Pfizer! They are quite hard to come by, especially during freshmen year. I think your plan is fine. If you do research three summers and they culminate in something like a poster presentation, abstract, or paper then no one will question your devotion to research.

The only caveat is if your GPA/MCAT scores are not up to speed. In this case, it may be necessary to spen an extra year to do research while you either pad your GPA with an MS or re-take yoru MCAT.

 

[AznDoc]

Thanks for the advice Gfunk6. I am well aware that I am going to have to hit my books running come fall, but this is all a part of the process. Is shadowing a practicing clinical doctor equally important when going through the application process, or does working with MD/PhDs suffice?

 

[Gfunk6]

For MD/PhD applicants research experience > clinical experience, but it is still important to have nominal expereince in the latter. Shadowing a physician is somewhat useful for you, but it would probably be best if you could volunteer in a hospital, nursing home, AIDS clinic, rape crisis center or such.

 

[tedrik]

My plan is to use the semesters for EC's as opposed to doing research with a prof. (which I hear is the same thing as free labor).

I would suggest doing summer programs just like you are (congrats on Pfizer), but summer research doesn't give you the full experience that working in a lab for a couple years can. One option may be to try and do the same lab each summer. The other thing is that pubs are much harder to come by when you're only working over the few months of summer.