<p>What type of research is best for pre-med? If I were to do physics research would that look as impressive as maybe bio research? Thanks!</p>
<p>D1 (current MS3) did medium energy particle physics research and even had a publication. Didn’t impress anyone. (In fact, none of her interviewers ever even asked her about her research, probably because none of them understood her research.) But no one held it against her either.</p>
<p>the best kind of research is when you are actively involved in the design, implementation, and analysis of experiments and not simply serving as a set of hands for someone else.</p>
<p>^^Excellent advice!</p>
<p>Spinning off the topic of the thread, I’m currently doing biology (cancer) benchwork research in a lab. I spoke with a med school admissions officer at my school (HYPSM) and she seemed outright against biology research in that it wouldn’t be impressive at all and instead favored clinical research. Does anyone have experience with this?</p>
<p>Oh. Well better go for that MD/PhD then. :/</p>
<p>There is no “best field”
There is what you like and do best</p>
<p>Do med schools prefer pre-med students to do research in fields that relate to medicine or any type of field that intrestes them(including medicine).</p>
<p>Best is the one that you actually can get into. Do you have choices? If so, list the choices of the positions that you have been offerred then we can advise you.</p>
<p>OP–see my reply in post #2.</p>
<p>No, med schools don’t care one way or the other about whether or not your research is medically related.</p>
<p>D1 has classmates who have done research in fields from agriculture to music theory.</p>
<p>can’t base anything off one person. One AdCom at my school tried to keep me out because I did a dual degree (ScB in Bio, AB in Classics) and that showed I wasn’t committed to science. I don’t care what school this person is at - there are always crazies.</p>
<p>Any research is very, very good - and make a point of finding a way to bring it in to the interview discussion. It will demonstrate your committment to intellectual rigor, your curiosity, and your ability to work as a member of a team. Highly suggest getting a letter of rec. from your research mentor. Structured programs like the NIH summer biomedical research internship are VERY VERY VERY GOOD. We read these letters on admissions committees, and residency selection committees.</p>
<p>A research thesis in a non-science field COULD work as well as bench or clinical research if you frame it in the above-mentioned way.</p>
<p>Shadowing clinicians is DIFFERENT from research, and suggest you do clinical shadowing as well as research - they are both imprortant to your application.</p>
<p>Thanks I really appreciate it. I was also wondering, if you get an interview with a med school does that interview take place on campus.</p>
<p>Yes, 99.99% of the time, the interview will be on campus. Which is where you’ll want to the interview to be. You’ll want to get a sense of what the facilities and the student body is like.</p>
<p>From a medical perspective, a distinction is drawn between “clinical” and “basic science” research. Clinical research involves patients, and generally is performed by physicians at academic medical centers.</p>
<p>Basic science research is just what it sounds like, and generally done by actual scientists.</p>
<p>Since many undergraduates attend colleges not affiliated with a medical school, they do basic research with scientists from their institution. Biology, chemistry, physics, whatever. I think doing any kind of basic science research looks good on a med school application. I don’t think that there is an advantage to doing research with a PhD or grad student at a medical school, unless a connection is made with an admissions committee member…</p>
<p>Getting involved in a clinical project as an undergrad is not preferable to basic science research, because there’s no way a college student can ‘own’ the project.</p>