<p>I've been reading thread after thread on this forum and I'm seeing research being brought up everywhere. </p>
<p>Could someone please explain research to me? Anything you can offer would be great, because I'm at a loss.</p>
<p>Explain research? The idea behind research is that you're participating (with faculty guidance) in a project that's meant to discover new knowledge. Standard premeds do this in basic science (i.e. chemistry, biology, biochemistry) or clinical research (i.e. statistics for patients on various medications), but other types of research probably work pretty well too.</p>
<p>Some medical schools don't care very much about research. Some care quite a bit. A scattered few actually don't like it, but these are really very rare and may just be urban legends.</p>
<p>To expand on BDM's definition of clinical research:</p>
<p>clinical research can involve both observational studies (ex: compiling information from charts, patient interviews, etc.) or experimental studies where you institute some intervention and follow the results. Either of these can be performed to evaluate risk factors, a clinical intervention, a medication, some social practice etc etc.</p>
<p>How do you get involved in research? Honestly, this is a foreign idea to me, so I apologize if this seems amateur!</p>
<p>If one is majoring in lets say economics, would one be at a disadvantage since the research one does would have nothing to do with physical sciences? This is for top med schools btw.</p>
<p>if you are an econ major for instance and have an interest in med school you would clearly do research in either the pure sciences or clinical research... it would probably not be a good idea to be doing say economic policy research which doesn't show an interest in medicine nor does it further your scientific knowledge. </p>
<p>The best way to get involved in pure science research (lab research) is to approach a professor whose work you are interested in and ask them if they have room for you to participate in their research. Definitely don't expect to get paid for this. Clinical research is a bit trickier but one way you can go about it is to look for any programs that your school or its med school have with area hospitals or more likely the university's teaching hospital.</p>
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How do you get involved in research? Honestly, this is a foreign idea to me, so I apologize if this seems amateur!
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Ask a prof if you can volunteer in his/her lab, take a research course, or do a structured summer research program.</p>
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if you are an econ major for instance and have an interest in med school you would clearly do research in either the pure sciences or clinical research... it would probably not be a good idea to be doing say economic policy research which doesn't show an interest in medicine nor does it further your scientific knowledge.
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<p>I disagree. </p>
<p>While it seems intuitive that doing bench research or clinical research would be best, we don't know that this absolutely true. There probably are schools where research is highly valued that find projects outside these two areas unacceptable. However, there are probably a much greater number of schools that simply desire their students to have research experiences to enrich their intellectual curiosity and show commitment to academic endeavors. Plus, there are plenty of schools that don't make having research experiences a priority when they select their incoming class and you can certainly get in to some schools without having done any at all. </p>
<p>Further, I believe that the subjective view of research (ie in the interview) will be greatly enhanced if your research is in a topic that holds true interest for you, as the excitement you have for the project will clearly be evident. In such a situation, the usefulness of the experience becomes clear, and the student will be able to easily explain how this project will make them a better physician. So if you're an econ major and there is a non-medically related topic you want to know more about and can pursue, that's better than doing some sort of bench research over cytokine signaling that bores you and makes you dread the experience. </p>
<p>With the exception of clinical experience/shadowing there isn't anything you should do simply because you feel that you have to as a pre-med student. You should be looking for things you want to do.</p>
<p>BRM is right on the money: it feels true that medical/basic science research is better, but we don't really know. In fact, one admissions director has explicitly said that that's not true at her school.</p>
<p>I will take slight exception here -- I think his argument is too mild! Here:
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With the exception of clinical experience/shadowing there isn't anything you should do simply because you feel that you have to as a pre-med student. You should be looking for things you want to do.
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I would not grant that exception. If you don't want to do clinical experience or shadowing, don't force yourself. Just drop premed.</p>
<p>So if I don't want to do research, I shouldn't? But it can play such a huge part in your acceptance to a medical school, I thought. Even if you don't want to do it, you probably should try, seems like the right thing to do....or well at least the right thing to do if you want a greater chance of being accepted to medical school. If this isn't true, then please correct me.</p>
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Some medical schools don't care very much about research. Some care quite a bit. A scattered few actually don't like it, but these are really very rare and may just be urban legends.
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</p>
<p>Some medical schools care a lot. Some don't care very much at all. If you don't like research, you should not want to go to the kind that cares.</p>
<p>If you really don't like research, like you just can't stand it...then don't do it. You can dedicate your time in so many other things that can look just as good.</p>
<p>As I've learned with my 2 yrs of research, it's so frustrating lol. Maybe I just suck at it haha, but results a lot of the times just don't come out how you expect. You gotta think about how to approach your project and think of new ways to do a certain procedure if the usual one doesn't work. It can get a bit annoying at times. </p>
<p>However for some reason at the end of the day I still like it. I like how I can come in whenever I want to do some lab work. And I've made some good friends in the process including the professor who is my advisor, as well as other grad students (hint hint good connections) lol</p>
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You can dedicate your time in so many other things that can look just as good.
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<p>This is a half-truth. Some schools need you to do research -- 90%+ of their incoming students did research as undergrads. It is just not replaceable by anything short of starting a hospital in Africa.</p>
<p>However, it is true at many medical schools, which don't particularly care about research. In those cases, there are many things which probably look even better. So it's a half-correct statement: it's true at some schools but not others.</p>
<p>if im not mistaken, i remember seeing a list by AMCAS showing what most of medical school's primary focus is - like research, clinical, both. majority of them are research,so...</p>
<p>lol.what kind cares?</p>
<p>I wouldn't trust any such list from AMCAS. Just go buy an MSAR and see what percentage of their undergrads did research as undergrads.</p>
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what kind cares?
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The kind that USN tends to put on their "Research" list.</p>
<p>V_v 10</p>
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The kind that USN tends to put on their "Research" list.
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yup that just sums it up</p>