Research Perception

Pre-Med & Medical School Pre-Med Topics
1

<p>If an applicant likes to do bench research and has pubs, do adcoms care or take this into consideration? Or do they only care about your clinical activities. I say this b/c I use research as a mode of enhancing my knowledge about the clinical perspective of the medical field. I feel that it does its job of showing me the underlying issues that need to be addressed in order to enhance the quality of patient care. I previously wanted to do MD/PhD, until I discovered that it was more bench than clinical oriented and it would be nearly impossible to do surgery with this career path. </p>

<p>Besides research, I should also focus on ECs like shadowing and community service. Do clubs play a big role or only if you possess a leadership position and/or are the founder? Should one instead better spend his/her time TAing or do as much as possible of everything to show well-roundedness?</p>

2

<p>Research-heavy medical schools care about research. It's not as useful as you might think in clinical science. Yes, you need breadth in your EC's. Clubs probably matter some regardless and a lot more with leadership. TAing is an excellent choice. Well-roundedness is also important.</p>

3

<p>there are definitely PLETNY of MD/PhDs that do surgery; two actually work in the same lab as me. However, I think in general those that do surgery do not adhere to the 80/20 research/clinic that most MD/PhDs do and are more likely to be affiliated with a lab than have their own. Somehow, I think only doing one day a week in clinic might make you a pretty poor surgeon.</p>