What value does industry research have?

[Nontradlooking4advice]

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Hello, I have about 5 years of industry research in both clinical diagnostic work and immunotherapy. However, only about one semesters worth of academic research with a poster an an abstract. No publications, but have contributed to a few IND's that I am pretty proud of. Do MD schools value industry research much? If so, to what extent would this add to my application? My GPA may limit me to DO schools at the moment, but I hear MD schools are more interested in research experience than DO schools. So does industry research make me competitive? Or are they more interested in academic research.

 

[LizzyM]

Having completed Investigational New Drug (IND) applications is a feather in your cap but not very relevant to your qualifications to be a clinician, which is the typical path for a DO student. If you were applying for a MD/PhD program, it would be more meaningful to the adcom but if that isn't in the cards in terms of metrics, and you aren't a candidate for a top research school that is looking to train future clinician-scientists (even without a PhD) then the research, while it should go on your application, is not likely to get you in the door.

 

[Nontradlooking4advice]

Having completed Investigational New Drug (IND) applications is a feather in your cap but not very relevant to your qualifications to be a clinician, which is the typical path for a DO student. If you were applying for a MD/PhD program, it would be more meaningful to the adcom but if that isn't in the cards in terms of metrics, and you aren't a candidate for a top research school that is looking to train future clinician-scientists (even without a PhD) then the research, while it should go on your application, is not likely to get you in the door.

To be fair I feel that's the same case for academic research as well, no? Given your rationale, you could do an insane amount of high quality academic wetlab research, but that doesn't speak much to the type of clinician you will be. So why is industry favored so much less?