Too specific in essays?

[PhysicianScientist]

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How specific should one generally be in the "why MD/PhD" essay regarding the type of research they wish to do? For example, If I want to do research on applications of nanomaterials in creating treatments, would it be okay to say I am interested in nanomedicine, or is that too specific?

 

[Nanorust]

The majority of MD/PhD programs will ask for your intended area of research in their secondaries, so don't think that you have to use the little space we have there to talk about your intended field. That said, nanomedicine (also a research interest of mine) is a huge field including toxicology, biophysics, synthetic chemistry, etc. If nanomedicine is a driving force for you wanting to do MD/PhD, I don't think it would be too specific at all.

 

[Neuronix]

I'm not sure what nanomedicine even means, which means a lot of reviewers won't know what it means either. Keep it relatively broad--you're interested in pharmacology, biochemistry, biological applications of materials, etc. A big red flag for an applicant is not being able to identify specific labs that match their specific interests. But the reality is that your interests are not yet set in stone and there may be labs you'd be interested in if you only knew about them.

 

[PhysicianScientist]

The majority of MD/PhD programs will ask for your intended area of research in their secondaries, so don't think that you have to use the little space we have there to talk about your intended field. That said, nanomedicine (also a research interest of mine) is a huge field including toxicology, biophysics, synthetic chemistry, etc. If nanomedicine is a driving force for you wanting to do MD/PhD, I don't think it would be too specific at all.

Thanks for the advice, and nice username! Maybe I could mention how many labs in biophysics, synthetic chemistry, toxicology, etc do nanomedicine research.

 

[PhysicianScientist]

I'm not sure what nanomedicine even means, which means a lot of reviewers won't know what it means either. Keep it relatively broad--you're interested in pharmacology, biochemistry, biological applications of materials, etc. A big red flag for an applicant is not being able to identify specific labs that match their specific interests. But the reality is that your interests are not yet set in stone and there may be labs you'd be interested in if you only knew about them.

Oh no 🙁! Do you think it would be better if I said I am interested in the medical applications of nanomaterials? I don't want to alienate anyone who views my application.

 

[Neuronix]

Maybe I'm an old fart, but I think nanomedicine is a vague buzzword and I wouldn't use it. I already explained why. You will need to identify labs, and nanomedicine has the capability of being a very limited scope topic. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe I'm insulting researchers in the area of nanomedicine, but that's just my 2 cents as someone who doesn't do that type of research (like most of the people who will review your applications).

I mean really, just looking at using things on a certain scale of size? Ok, great. But that's all encompassed within the much broader established fields. This is my problem with the term nanomedicine in general. What if something you want to use in medicine is on a micro or pico scale? Nope! It's nanomedicine not picomedicine. Huh? Don't pigeonhole yourself at this point in your career. Nanomedicine is one interest of yours within the broader areas of biophysics, pharmacology, or materials science.

 

[Nanorust]

What if something you want to use in medicine is on a micro or pico scale? Nope! It's nanomedicine not picomedicine. Huh?

Picomedicine sounds cool. Don't you want to know how to treat people using individual atoms*?
*Period 1-3 nonmetals only

Seriously though, I agree with Neuronix. I don't want to risk limiting my scope too early, so I am avoiding references to my intended fields until I am specifically asked.