I just had a couple of questions regarding my extracurricular activities, and I was just wondering if I was on the right track.
As a disclaimer, I anticipate someone will mention that I shouldn’t do ECs just for medical school. However, getting into a good medical school is important to me, and given the wide variety of ECs, I’m sure I can find something I enjoy and that will help me get into medical school.
(tl/dr at the end; might be excessive in detail, so sorry in advance if it is)
My first one involves an interesting predicament. In this past spring semester (I will be a sophomore so it is not too late for me to find a new lab), I got an email from my biology professor (sent to the entire class) regarding an opportunity in a lab. As someone who wanted to get involved in research (both for the experience and for an EC for med school, a two-fold purpose), I decided to look at this opportunity as I had both a lack of research experience and because I didn’t get into other labs I applied to. Anyway, I got a little busy so I replied about a month after receiving the email and surprisingly during the interview I found out only one other person had gone in for an interview (and one person happened to apply right after me). Given many pre-meds find research important, I’m concerned as to why there was so little demand for this position given the overall high demand for research spots. The job advertisement stated that I would be doing a lot of basic lab work (making plates/buffers, DNA preps and purification, etc.) but also I could apparently take on a research project alongside my basic duties. I would also have to work a bit in the summer and ~8-12 hours during the school year. I do get paid and it is a hard science lab that is medically related, but not exactly medical (bio chem).
Another possible point of concern: I also talked with the undergrads in the lab and all of them said they wanted to go into research and grad schools, and that not one was looking to go to med school/was pre-med.
Did I choose a good lab suitable for me/am I doing the right “research”? Should I be concerned that I will have to be doing a lot of grunt work?
tl/dr: I got a research job with relatively little competition, which I find surprising. When someone says medical schools look for research, what should the research involve? Where can I find medical related research and what does that involve (apparently undergrads rarely do clinical trials and such)?
I also wanted to get some clinical experience, and I was wondering what was the best way to do this. I know clinical research, involving clinical trials, is rare for undergrads (too much paperwork/liability I heard). Is shadowing good? Volunteering? Am I unaware of other opportunities?
You’ll know if the lab is a “good” one only after you’ve been there for a while. Just because there was little competition for the position does not necessarily mean the lab is “bad” or has a toxic environment. It just may mean the position wasn’t “sexy” or in a field of interest for those who were seeking a research position at the time. The fact that you’re being paid is a big plus. That fact that the PI is open to you running your own side project is also a very positive sign.
D2 started in her research lab when her PI was a brand new faculty member. She was one of the PI’s first students and quickly gained a position of responsibility. In fact, by the time she was a senior she was training/supervising the grad students.
There is no such thing as the “right” research for med school admission. Any research is “right” if it’s bio-medically related. (And sometimes, even if it’s not….D1 did medium energy particle physics as her undergrad research. Didn’t seem to prevent her from getting into med school….) The purpose of doing research is to understand on an intimate basis how the research process works. (Lots of work, usually tedious and repetitive, often without positive results. Lots of dead ends and blind leads. Research isn’t straight-forward or easy.)
No. Most of research is grunt work–and by your own admission you have zero of the requisite lab skills for this research position. Consider the grunt work as your payment to the PI and senior lab staff for teaching you those skills.
Shadowing is very weak clinical experience, and in fact AMCAS categorizes shadowing separately from other clinical experience. You need shadowing, but you should have other clinical experiences as well.
Volunteering is what you need to do gain clinical exposure. Hospitals are an obvious choice, but also consider nursing homes, group homes for the physically and mentally disabled, stand alone clinics (Planned Parenthood, Healthcare for the Homeless, public health clinics for low income patients) , therapeutic camps for handicapped children, hospices, cancer treatment centers, rehabilitation hospitals/centers. Even the local blood donation center.
If you want to earn $$ while gaining clinical experience, become a EMT, CNA or phlebotomist.
Would this be a typical pathway most undergrads take?:
Start out doing the grunt work for the lab (ie making people buffers, plates, etc.) if they don’t have previous experience, shadow/work with a postdoc or graduate student on their project, and possibly run their own project if they want?
Grunt work/lab lackey --> assist in a project --> develop your own project
That’s the usual path. But you’ll never really get away from doing grunt work. In the lab everybody does grunt work. (Well, except maybe for the PI who’s in his/her office writing grant proposals–which is really just another kind of grunt work. )
Looking at this particular job/research opportunity from a different angle: a lot of med schools require 3 LORs (eg, often two being from science profs, one non science prof). This opportunity could allow you to lock up a very strong LOR from bio prof who knows you well and which hopefully could emphasize characteristics/traits/experiences that med schools like to see (eg, hardworking, ability to manage time, working as part of a team, being able to interact/communicate with others, research, etc). Certainly there are countless other experiences/opportunities that can do this as well, but this actually sounds like a good opportunity. S actually took a similar pathway and ended up strong LOR.
@WayOutWestMom I was talking with someone and this came up. Is it typical to be doing everyone’s grunt work (just about) through out your 3-4 yrs at a lab or is that just because I’m getting paid, and that most undergrads generally do research for free?
Depends on what exactly you mean by grunt work and how proficient you become at doing other things in the lab. I would say typically no, you don’t just do grunt work for 3-4 years, but if you the job description of the position you are being paid for includes doing grunt work then yeah - you’re going to be expected to do it the entire time you’re being paid as that’s what you were hired for and anything else is a bonus.
