Undergrad Research

[bc3699]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hey guy, I was wondering, what exactly is research experience? I'm in hs and really want to be a doctor. Does being an emt count as clinical exposure? Also, does shadowing a doctor count? If so, can I do both and get more exposure? Finally, what are the specialties: ex. Surgery, EM,Radiology. (I only know a few). Is surgery really really cometetive to get a residency in? And what about EM? Thank you!

 

[spiffysteve]

I will answer questions in order.

1. Research experience is working in a lab that conducts research in any academic/medical field. A lot of people work in a professor's research lab during college or in a local hospital performing clinical research.
2. In the words of the almost irritatingly knowledgeable LizzyM, if you're close enough to smell patients, it counts as clinical exposure. So yes, they count.
2b. Yes, you can and should do multiple things.
3. There are many many specialties. Here is a handy-dandy 23 page summary of many of them. http://www.abmsdirectory.com/pdf/Resources_guide_physicians.pdf
4. Surgical specialties tend to be relatively competitive. EM has gotten more competitive recently. You can explore around SDN and the other internets to get a feel of which specialties are more or less competitive.

Let me know if I can attempt to answer anything else!