Undergrad Reseach Decision

[futurehealervet]

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I am trying to decide on a research mentor but I'm not sure who to choose. Does it look

best if the research you are doing directly involves animals? I know it counts as veterinary

experience if it is research under a PhD but what if it is research about say cell signalling

or embryogenesis? Do certain types of research look better than others?

 

[bunnity]

I am trying to decide on a research mentor but I'm not sure who to choose. Does it look

best if the research you are doing directly involves animals? I know it counts as veterinary

experience if it is research under a PhD but what if it is research about say cell signalling

or embryogenesis? Do certain types of research look better than others?

Just do something that interests you. It will "look better" if you are genuine and passionate about what you do. 😛

 

[Foxhunter]

I am trying to decide on a research mentor but I'm not sure who to choose. Does it look

best if the research you are doing directly involves animals? I know it counts as veterinary

experience if it is research under a PhD but what if it is research about say cell signalling

or embryogenesis? Do certain types of research look better than others?

Just do something that interests you. It will "look better" if you are genuine and passionate about what you do. 😛

This! 👍

All my undergraduate research was in Biophysics and looked at human cells. In my opinion, find something that interests you and/or someone who is highly regarded in their field. Also, see how many undergrads they've had in the past and if they'll let undergrads get on papers. I know I benefited greatly by having a PI who put undergrads on papers if they'd done sufficient work. Also- see if you can get paid and/or class credit (I got both- he wasn't supposed to do it that way, but he brought in so much money to the school no one told him no).

 

[Emiloo4]

So I did research on canine epilepsy in undergrad and it was the worst experience of my life. My PI was such a pain in the arse that all of the geneticists working with us pulled out of the project bc they refused to work with her. I wasn't able to use her as an eLOR (couldn't trust for three seconds what she would have written 🙄 ), and I gained absolutely no research experience in the year I was there. Did I put it on my application? Yes. When I was asked about it in my KState interview I had nothing to say about my research (bc we did none) and I was truly embarrassed. I personally believe this was the main reason I didn't get in there. It was a huge hole in my interview and made it look like I was lying on my app or something.
My point, do something you are interested in. I did something that had to do with animals and it got me nowhere. I'm not saying to NOT do it, just that it doesn't always get you ahead Adcoms know there aren't enough "animal related" research options available for everyone. I truly don't think they care about the subject of your research.

 

[vickers]

Do whatever research you want. My undergrad research had nothing to do with the veterinary field directly, unless it's possible to try to forge some distant connection with them (I studied the effects of photoperiod on reproduction rates in fruit flies). At the symposium where we had to present our research, there were about 5 or 6 vet school hopefuls that all did projects dealing with the veterinary field, and IMO if you're going to talk about it with people who all did veterinary-related research, you're probably going to stand out more for thinking outside the box.

 

[EngrSC]

I spent a summer doing research in a physics lab. I worked with a physic PhD student doing research on neutron and quark stars and writing a program that predicts age, red shift, etc. based on the size of the star. It was incredibly boring.

Not sure if I'll put it on vet school apps or not ...

 

[Trematode]

My undergrad research experience:

1. Lab assistant on a project that looked at genetic connectivity of whelk. I did DNA extraction and PCR. Paid.

2. Thesis on determining the diversity of parasites in a local lake using morphological and molecular tools. Volunteered in summer. Got credit and earned a BSc Honours degree (must have a minimum of a 75 average over 4 years and complete and defend a thesis)

3. Student researcher. I got paid to continue research on my honours topic.

4. Apple and grape geneticist. I did DNA extractions and phenotyping on apple and grape cultivars. Paid.

My advice: find a topic that interests you and make sure you feel comfortable with your supervisor. I completed my thesis 1.5 years ago and my supervisor is still supportive of me. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have landed my last 2 jobs. He's been an excellent reference and I always go to him for advice.

I would have loved to get involved with research related to vet med but my small undergrad university had only two professors who did research on vertebrates. Now that I am out of undergrad and looking for work, I realize that I don't have the skills that researchers are looking for to be a lab tech for research on vertebrates. I did however discover that parasites are awesome. I want to do a masters in parasitology since I don't have the grades to be granted an interview to vet school.

 

[485501]

I would say that the people you'd be working with in a lab are as important as how interested you are in the project. My undergrad research was mostly about crayfish/invasion biology. I was only kinda interested at the start of the project, but I really liked the PI. It turned out to be one of the highlights of my college experience, academic and non-academic experiences included.

I would say that it's way more important to work with good people on something you're at least somewhat interested in than to work on something that's directly related to vet med.

 

[Leanne]

I would say that the people you'd be working with in a lab are as important as how interested you are in the project. My undergrad research was mostly about crayfish/invasion biology. I was only kinda interested at the start of the project, but I really liked the PI. It turned out to be one of the highlights of my college experience, academic and non-academic experiences included.

I would say that it's way more important to work with good people on something you're at least somewhat interested in than to work on something that's directly related to vet med.

THIS 👍

I don't see my PI a lot (although I still am super impressed by him and am really glad I work for him), but I'm doing my honors thesis project in conjunction with a PhD student and he has been awesome to work with over the past year. He is incredibly smart and I've learned a ton from him, but we also joke around constantly and it makes things fun.

Definitely pick something you're interested in - it's way more important than getting involved in something just because it's animal related. I'm doing work with rumen protozoa (so technically animal-related, but I don't actually touch cows very often and my PI is not a vet) and I think they're so cool. And I'm getting a LOR out of the experience, which is a nice bonus.

 

[Trematode]

Never mind. Here is a smiley:
🙂

 

[Dsmoody23]

I just moved in with my boyfriend. He finally gets to see what cranky Trema is like. I feel bad. I just want to withdraw for a little while. But he's starting to feel bad because I don't want to interact with people when I am upset. And I feel bad for making him feel bad.

Pssst. Wrong thread.

 

[Trematode]

Hahaha. I hate the phone app!

 

[PetPony]

Hahaha. I hate the phone app!

I like the edited post haha

 

[futurehealervet]

Thanks for the advice everyone!