'Why X Med School' essay...

[zizou232]

Do you guys think its a good idea to mention a specific faculty researcher and my interest in his/her project in my essay? I've spent a good amount of time working in a med school lab as an undergrad and because of that I'm interested in research in that field... but is it a good idea to mention a specific researcher in these essays? I only became interested in the person's research after I decided to apply to the school but this little tid bit could add more substance to my essay.

I'm just worried that I could get grilled about it at an interview...

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[jvesco22]

Logical prospective: Mention it briefly if anything. If you go too far in-depth, they'd simply think he/she is your only motivation.

Interviewer ~ "Did you know Dr. X just recently got fired. Do you still want to com here?"

You ~ "Uh, let me get back to you on that one, next question please!"

 

[Zoom-Zoom]

...you could frame it so that it sounds like you're more interested in the funding/resources and ability to do a certain type of research rather than a specific PI..."I've always wanted to do behavioral research on monkeys and your school is the only one currently working with the curious-george species, which I'm convinced serves more closely as a human analog than any other species"...see how you don't mention the man in the yellow hat?

either way I'd find a few more reasons why you like the school, but it never hurts to be original.

 

[zizou232]

Logical prospective: Mention it briefly if anything. If you go too far in-depth, they'd simply think he/she is your only motivation.

Yea thats what I'm planning on doing. I'm just going to mention the person's research in maybe 2-3 sentences. But basically I wanted to know if: 1. Others do this too 2. If interviewers would grill me because I mentioned someone's work specifically and they could ask very pointed questions about the research project

 

[zizou232]

...you could frame it so that it sounds like you're more interested in the funding/resources and ability to do a certain type of research rather than a specific PI..."I've always wanted to do behavioral research on monkeys and your school is the only one currently working with the curious-george species, which I'm convinced serves more closely as a human analog than any other species"...see how you don't mention the man in the yellow hat?

Yea I agree thats good advice -- there are definitely ways of rephrasing things to avoid committing myself to one P.I.