Which of two research groups should I work in?

[a532]

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First my goals: I'm looking towards a PhD/MD or just an MD program.

My dilemma is between a choice of two research groups at my school:

With one, the PI's (chemistry department) research focuses on organic synthesis of drugs (I enjoy synthesis); however, I feel my work would be somewhat unrelated to my future goals as a medical scientist/physician. Moreover, there is a bit of an unstated assumption that undergrads in the department are all going to PhD programs. While many go for MDs, I feel that they are generally somewhat frowned upon (especially in this group I am considering).

On the other hand, I could work with a PI from the medical school; his biomedical research is pertinent to my future plans, though I find the research done in the former group to be more interesting.

Any advice as to which group I should go with?

Thank you very much!

 

[aggie08]

Pick the one you think is more interesting.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

go with interest imo.

working in a lab where you don't care about the stuff is truly terrible.

 

[physicsnerd42]

There's a piece of advice I give to all the new MD/PhD students at Dartmouth: Pick the advisor and not the project (within reason). If both are at least somewhat interesting to you, which person would be better to work for? Who would be the better mentor. In which lab would you get actual lab experience (and maybe a paper) instead of just scut work?

It doesn't really matter what research you do (again, within reason). I was a physics major who did several research projects and the one that was the most closely related to medicine was a physical chemistry research project that studied the photoisomerization of diphenylbutadiene. 😀 Obviously that didn't stop me from getting in.