What kind of "research" is helpful?

[StanMarsh1978]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hello everyone--

I was following the "Stanford" thread in "What are my chances" and noted the emphasis from many advisors on doing "research" in order to maximize one's appeal to that particular school. I have a few quick follow-up questions on what constitutes useful "research". If anyone has insight on the following, I'd be grateful:

1) I'm an attorney, and I'm working now on some journal articles on legal topics that are not related to health care or medicine. Will the research and writing that goes into getting such articles published be of interest to admissions committees at all?

2) Alternatively, would legal journal articles on health related topics (health care policy, health care law, health care legislation, health care litigation, international aid, environmental law, etc.) be of interest to admissions committees at all?

3) Outside of law and my current knowledge, what is the effective path to establishing some research credentials? What is the range of topics in which reputable medical journals might show interest? Are we talking necessarily about Masters or PhD level research in biochemistry or physics, or is there a wider world in which to wander?

4) Which are the best websites or other avenues through which to review some sample research? This will give me a better sense of what we're dealing with here.

5) Also, with regards to Stanford, in following up this thread I noted that the school itself indicates a strong preference for speakers of foreign languages. Does that really mean, then, that foreign languges are not really a "plus" but rather a "sine qua non"? Just curious.

Thanks again, everyone.

 

[Mobius1985]

1) "Research" for the purposes of a med school application refers to a scholarly endeavor to add to human knowledge. It does not refer to a reiteration of previously known facts.

2) The AMCAS application has an area called "Publications" where you can list anything you've written and gotten published, whether poetry, bench research, or a legal article. Anything health related probably gets more interest.

3) Research need not be in the area of science. If done, it need not be published, though you get more "points" for doing so. Only 60% of applicants list a research experience. It is not required, but is desirable. The highest-selectivity, research-intense institutions tend to be more inclined to consider an application if it is present. Most of the research done by med school applicants is done at the undergraduate level. It's my personal bias that bench or clinical research is best, but realistically, that's probably not true.

4) You can go to the website of your university and probably find abstracts of research published by its professors somewhere. If you find topics that appeal to you, those are the professors to approach for a possible spot in their lab or on their project. You can do research as a volunteer or for classroom credit. Some are lucky enough to get paid to do it.

5) I can't help you with this one.


One of SDN's adcomm members,LizzyM, provided us with this ranking of how adcomms value various activities among research experiences:

I'd rank research experience in this way:


11. Housekeeping and supply ordering.

10. Helping others with projects, serving as a research assistant or technician.

9. Animal surgery.

8. Pilot work prior to writing a proposal for a testable hypothesis.

7. Responsibility for testing a hypothesis.

6. Funding of your project (not your PI's funding)

5. Poster presentation at a student event

4. Podium presentation at a student event

3. Poster presentation at a regional or national meeting in your specialty (published abstract)

2. Podium presentation at a regional or national meeting in your specialty (published abstract)

1. Authorship in a peer reviewed, national publication.

 

[StanMarsh1978]

1) "Research" for the purposes of a med school application refers to a scholarly endeavor to add to human knowledge. It does not refer to a reiteration of previously known facts.

Ha! I know a lot of law professors who would take a lot of offense at that. I'm not one of them though.

 

[SiR99]

After talking to many MD's and Phd's associated with medical schools it seems like most of them are interested in what kind of scientific research you have done nobody is really interested in other types of research.

I always felt like medical schools like seeing students do research because these same students can then do Medical research in their field and further add to medicine.

I'm not sure where you live, but you should just contact a Phd working at a nearby university and just try to get a research position working with them.

 

[TexasPhysician]

After talking to many MD's and Phd's associated with medical schools it seems like most of them are interested in what kind of scientific research you have done nobody is really interested in other types of research.

I always felt like medical schools like seeing students do research because these same students can then do Medical research in their field and further add to medicine.

I'm not sure where you live, but you should just contact a Phd working at a nearby university and just try to get a research position working with them.

I agree that you should do something medical if you have a chance. Your publications in law will be a plus, but it may leave some PhD/MD profs wondering how well you can translate this to good medical research.

Academic medicine seems to really love their own and those that are attempting to follow the academic path......

 

[Evergrey]

I've heard that, for those applying for research-oriented medical schools, any kind of research is important to demonstrate the intellectual curiosity of the applicant, but the exact nature of the research is less relevant. Can't recall where I read this, but basically one of the top 10 schools was talking about how having participated in a research project was important, but that it didn't have to be medical-y or even sciencey research.

 

[DrJosephKim]

Try to pursue an opportunity where you'll have the chance to get something published.

 

[cuKIMber]

I am going to Africa this summer to do field research on the Cheetah there...

does this also count as research? Or just volunteering?

 

[Catalystik]

I am going to Africa this summer to do field research on the Cheetah there...

does this also count as research? Or just volunteering?

Yes, this is a research activity. It is not community service, even if you volunteer to do it and don't get pay or class credit for participating.

 

[flip26]

I've heard that, for those applying for research-oriented medical schools, any kind of research is important to demonstrate the intellectual curiosity of the applicant, but the exact nature of the research is less relevant. Can't recall where I read this, but basically one of the top 10 schools was talking about how having participated in a research project was important, but that it didn't have to be medical-y or even sciencey research.

I agree with this.

 

[LateBl00meR]

1) "Research" for the purposes of a med school application refers to a scholarly endeavor to add to human knowledge. It does not refer to a reiteration of previously known facts.

2) The AMCAS application has an area called "Publications" where you can list anything you've written and gotten published, whether poetry, bench research, or a legal article. Anything health related probably gets more interest.

3) Research need not be in the area of science. If done, it need not be published, though you get more "points" for doing so. Only 60% of applicants list a research experience. It is not required, but is desirable. The highest-selectivity, research-intense institutions tend to be more inclined to consider an application if it is present. Most of the research done by med school applicants is done at the undergraduate level. It's my personal bias that bench or clinical research is best, but realistically, that's probably not true.

4) You can go to the website of your university and probably find abstracts of research published by its professors somewhere. If you find topics that appeal to you, those are the professors to approach for a possible spot in their lab or on their project. You can do research as a volunteer or for classroom credit. Some are lucky enough to get paid to do it.

5) I can't help you with this one.


One of SDN's adcomm members,LizzyM, provided us with this ranking of how adcomms value various activities among research experiences:

I had no idea a position as a research intern or assistant was so far down on the list. For anyone out there that has been published, how did you even begin scientifically researching a topic unless you were in a class specifically designed for it?

 

[CielloStelatto]

Try to do summer research with a PI who you fairly frequency publishes in their field. Alternatively, try to do a research thesis at your school (though in some cases this might be structured as a specific course).

 

[LSU Gladiator]

Someone told me that they got into Johns Hopkins and they only did some sort of bug behavior research as an undergrad. Apparently medically relevant research isn't absolutely necessary, though it might be the gold standard.

 

[Ponger]

Try to do summer research with a PI who you fairly frequency publishes in their field. Alternatively, try to do a research thesis at your school (though in some cases this might be structured as a specific course).

Publishing is all well and good but pre-med's that abuse authorship by trying to get their named tacked on to a paper they didn't significantly contribute to really cheapens it. One doesn't actually deserve authorship unless he contributes significantly to the design, execution or interpretation of an experiment. In addition, in any of those cases one should have a very good, if not expert level knowledge of the experiment and current research in the field.

Its just not that likely that authorship on a paper comes out of a single summer of research, even if the PI publishes frequently. I have a friend in his 4th year of his PhD in ecology and has never published; I personally am 2 weeks from my masters thesis defense that I've worked on for two years and my work won't be published any time soon. Heck, even if/when it is published it'll be maybe one or two figures on a very comprehensive paper from my lab; giving me 3rd authorship or lower.

My point is that medical schools like research because it shows that a student has engaged in scholarly, hypothesis-driven work that shows both intellectual curiosity and thought as well as a perseverance to see a project through from start to finish. Publications are just gravy. Its way more important to show you engaged with what you were doing than to simply have your name on a few sheets of paper. Better than finding a PI that publishes often, you should find a PI that will let you be highly involved in a project from the start.

 

[CielloStelatto]

I definitely agree that you would want to find a lab where you could be deeply involved in the research. This might be doing additional research on a project that has already started, or they may have some ideas and be willing to give you a project to work on. I have been involved in both sorts of situations.

To Ponger, I wouldn't consider a publication worth the same as putting your name on a few sheets of paper. Usually, the publication is just an easy indication that you have spent a lot of time and effort in a research area, and that you excelled in producing nice, clean data. I worked my butt off all year for my thesis, and we're writing up two potential articles now.

As for publications, I wasn't indicating that you should try to find a PI and try to tack your name onto a pub. I'm just trying to point out that, in reality, some research is faster or slower than others. Truthfully, some researchers are just better and putting out tons of research, going at it from the right direction, and getting results. As an aside, I know of also some PI's who publish less frequently, and as a result their PhD candidate students have to stick around for 6-7 years to finish. Ok, so that was mostly an aside. I apologize. My brain may not be screwed on tightly enough today.