Undergrad Research Count for Residency?

[AMedStud]

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Can biomedical research from undergrad or the summer before medical school be included in a residency application? If so, how heavily is it weighed compared to research conducted while in medical school?

Also, how important is it to conduct research in the specialty one is interested in for residency?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Kiara08]

Can biomedical research from undergrad or the summer before medical school be included in a residency application? If so, how heavily is it weighed compared to research conducted while in medical school?

Also, how important is it to conduct research in the specialty one is interested in for residency?

Thanks for your help.

i'm also wondering this. if i publish after i graduate about my undergrad research, does this count for residencies? also, if i do research the summer going into medical school with my same PI from undergrad at my undergrad institution then will that count for residency?

thanks for the help!

 

[etf]

i'm sure it should make some difference if you're first author, and continue the research throughout med school.

 

[klooless]

i'm sure it should make some difference if you're first author, and continue the research throughout med school.

It does NOT matter what author you are, or whether you continue the same line of research in medical school. If your undergrad work in published, both the activity (research) and the publication (abstract, poster, manuscript) will be part of your residency application.

The importance of research varies depending upon what specialty one pursues...

 

[Pinkertinkle]

It does NOT matter what author you are, or whether you continue the same line of research in medical school. If your undergrad work in published, both the activity (research) and the publication (abstract, poster, manuscript) will be part of your residency application.

The importance of research varies depending upon what specialty one pursues...

Of course it matters what author you are, the first authorship will count for a lot more than a 4th author AKA "I cleaned the glassware and my PI is nice." Of course any authorship is better than nothing.

I would say if its published it'll count for something, but if not it'll be rather worthless.

 

[Dienekes]

Of course it matters what author you are, the first authorship will count for a lot more than a 4th author AKA "I cleaned the glassware and my PI is nice."

I burst my friend's bubble today. He had achieved a publication and we were talking about it over beers. Apparently, he was 13th author on a paper in an obscure biochemistry journal. It's better than nothing, but he was not happy when another of our friends chimed in with "____________, didn't you have two first author papers come out this month?"

Yeah, author position matters, the journal it is published in ("If you're going to publish in a non-peer reviewed journal, it might as well be 'published' on your mother's fridge" to quote one of my research associates 😉 ) and so does the journal's impact factor. But as was said before, a little bit of something is better than nada when it comes to academic publications.

 

[klooless]

I would say if its published it'll count for something, but if not it'll be rather worthless.

On ERAS (the central application system for regular match specialties) you will be asked to describe all research (basic, clinical, bioethics, etc.) in which you've participated. That you have experiences to add to the research section is not insignificant...nor is it universal. Additionally, considering that much basic science research is tedious and time consuming, it is not necessarily the expectation that all basic science research will amount in publication within any reasonable period of time. That one spent 2 years at a bench enhancing one's understanding of research and level of comfort with its applications is significant, regardless of whether a publication (4th-authored or otherwise) is attached.

Additionally, my first post may have been misinterpreted. Feel free to ask me for clarification personally if you are in fact truly interested in such.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

On ERAS (the central application system for regular match specialties) you will be asked to describe all research (basic, clinical, bioethics, etc.) in which you've participated. That you have experiences to add to the research section is not insignificant...nor is it universal. Additionally, considering that much basic science research is tedious and time consuming, it is not necessarily the expectation that all basic science research will amount in publication within any reasonable period of time. That one spent 2 years at a bench enhancing one's understanding of research and level of comfort with its applications is significant, regardless of whether a publication (4th-authored or otherwise) is attached.

Additionally, my first post may have been misinterpreted. Feel free to ask me for clarification personally if you are in fact truly interested in such.

Whether you can put it on your ap or not is not at debate here because you clearly can. I reaffirm my opinion however, that having research experience as an undergraduate by itself is does not give significant advantage come the match.

 

[Cuteasaurus]

Yes, research gets put on ERAS. But, research can also come up in your 1) Dean's Letter 2) LORs (when they include info from your CV) and 3) +/- Personal Statement. So, the amount it matters probably depends a lot on how involved you actually were in the research (which may or may not be related to publishing). For example, if you spent significant time researching and wrote an undergraduate thesis based on it, then that'll come up in other places. If you were minimally involved and 27th author on a paper, then it'll be a line on ERAS and probably nothing more.

I agree that research as an undergraduate is likely not a huge factor come the match (at least that's my understanding in Int Medicine). But, if you did a lot as an undergrad and did less in medical school, then it helps contribute to an overall picture.

As far as the importance of doing research in your chosen speciality. As an undergrad, you probably don't know what you're going into and I'd recommend finding a good lab that will let you do a lot as more important than the actual topic. As a medical student, whether what you do research in matters more for some specialities than others. Optho cares. Int Medicine, less so.

 

[paranoid_eyes]

Can biomedical research from undergrad or the summer before medical school be included in a residency application? If so, how heavily is it weighed compared to research conducted while in medical school?

if you are already sure about your specialty 🙂confused🙂 then i guess if you get published in that specific field it would make a difference

 

[ryandote]

.

 

[Law2Doc]

I reaffirm my opinion however, that having research experience as an undergraduate by itself is does not give significant advantage come the match.

I would tend to agree with this. Although publications are good to have and things that should always be listed, residency is going to focus most strongly on what you have done since the start of med school. Recent is always stronger than remote. Any publication in med school is going to be far more valuable than several in undergrad. For this reason, lots of med students will try to do some research during med school, and a few who are shooting for ultra competitive routes may even take off a year between second and third year to do more significant targetted research.

 

[DocCallaway]

What if you conducted a couple years of research as a undergrad only to get it published while in med school? Would second author be ok. What about into a journal like Pain or Journal of Pain. Obviously this is my situaiton.

 

[Pinkertinkle]

What if you conducted a couple years of research as a undergrad only to get it published while in med school? Would second author be ok. What about into a journal like Pain or Journal of Pain. Obviously this is my situaiton.

That should work out well. Even if the research wasn't done in medical school a lot of people are just going to see the publication date and assume that you did do some work during med school. Anyhow a second author in Pain or Clin J of Pain will definitely be nice to have, many times more so if you are interested in anesthesiology. Both are top journals in the field (#1 and #3)

 

[exoslimjim]

considering that many nobel prizes were published in articles, I would think that it is foolish to put a time constraint to research achievements (time of publication).

And yes, everyone knows authorship counts, but 13th is better than none. Though i believe that 1st author is weighed significantly to guage graduate apps and faculty tracks.

Pain, and j c pain are mid-low tier journals for clinical journals based on IF though they may be the best in their subject which goes to show that IF is an objective indicator that has been used very subjectively very often. Again, neuroscience and medicine are incredibly high impact, but that doesn't mean only neuroscience and clinical work are the most significant or contribute the most. This also goes to say that many clinical papers are often much higher impact than basic sciences but this inequality doesn't equate to quality of the work. I believe that biochem or jbc have low IFs compared to your average clinical article, but those are considered very solid mid tiered journals.

 

[Confection]

Here is a funny anecdote:

My medical school has the requisite "Radiology Interest Group" and I went to this year's inaugural meeting (hey, who says no to free pizza?). When the local match director was giving her schpiel, somebody asked whether undergrad publications counted toward the "2 publication average" for rads matchers. She actually laughed out loud and basically told him how dumb of a question it was because it didn't count, of course.

Wow good to know

Although if research was continued in the same field as the one done in undergrad, that might be an entirely different matter 🙄