<p>If I aspire to go to a top med school (columbia penn hopkins harvard etc), just how mcuh research do we need? being an MD/Phd really interests me, but I know it requires research experience to gain admission. however, I'm not exactly sure how much resaerch, and to what extent we should have to be a very competitive applicant. does anyone know?</p>
<p>If you're looking for an MD/PhD, the answer is: a lot. Independent studies, several lab jobs at a time, probably 20 hours a week for three years for one of my friends was not considered enough for the kind of programs he wanted, and so he was advised to take a year off to do more work.</p>
<p>Now, granted, there's a lot of reasons why he needed more than usual (worked at multiple labs, not just one; research ran into some roadblocks, etc.), but there's a reason most MSTP kids aren't coming in straight out of college.</p>
<p>oic. i've seen several thigns like summer internships at the national institute of health and stuff liek that. are those good too, or do they want consistency over a period of time?</p>
<p>Obviously, you'll need to do full-time research over the summers, but that's not going to be enough, no.</p>
<p>What level of research/internship experience are med schools looking for? I'm afraid that in the first few years I'm just going to get jobs in research labs doing stuff like mixing test tubes, cleaning up, etc. Are med schools looking more for positions that--if the project goes successfully--your name would be on the publication? And during which year do students typically get these kinds of positions?</p>
<p>Also, I've read about NSF REU's. Are those good pre-med summer opportunities?</p>
<p>You want to find the most project-related position you can, but the reality is that your first year, you have to start somewhere.</p>
<p>Yes, eventually they are looking for kids who will have project-type jobs, and yes, these can lead to publications which are great (but neither mandatory nor a guarantee).</p>
<p>And REU's tend to be very good, yes.</p>
<p>BDM, </p>
<p>If I only have a full year and change doing research (40 hours in the summer, 10~20 hours during the school year) plus worked at a job (I'm an Electrical Engineer) for 3 years plus had an internship for 2 years (electrical engineer) and have 2 MSEs (1 in BME, 1 in Elec Eng), would this compensate for the lack of research I have had? Would I be a competetive candidate for a MD/PHD?</p>
<p>Just trying to gauge if I should take an extra year just for research or not as I would like to focus on BioMEMS (combining my EE background with medicine).</p>
<p>I'm afraid your situation - the work experience - is so specialized that I'm not really familiar. I can tell you that your true "research" experience would not be enough, in and of itself, to put you over the top, but I'm not sure how they'd few the work years.</p>