08/16/2022
Hello guys, a quick insight on research and publications. Keep in mind any activity that is CLINICAL or MEDICINE related will be viewed more favorable than a generic, undergrad Biology research. There are a few ways to obtain great research that I will go over with you and few things you can do:
1) Most simple experience: poster presentation, preferably oral presentation. This can be be a simple presentation of an ongoing research, or rare disease, at the hospital or research project that you are working on. If you are participating in a research project that may take years for publishing, ask the people in charge if you can write it into a poster for presentation.
2) Clinical case studies, procedure, rare diseases: If your networking skills are great, you can get in touch with current medical students, residents, or doctors and find out if you can write up any of the above mentioned reports for poster presentation or publication. These are much quicker turnaround. The only requirement is that you must be an excellent writer and know how to write a research paper.
3) Meta-analysis studies: this is the highest level a research experience can get. This type usually take years of conducting, data analysis, approval request, funding, and write-up. Even though this is viewed very favorable, it is usually not realistic for students to obtain a publication from in a timely manner. If you are involved in this type of study, ask your PI for permission to write a poster and present, or.......
4) At the research project that you participate in, always try to get a leadership position. Roles such as research coordinator or trainer would look great on your CV and can also help you fulfill the leadership requirement.
As you can see, there are many ways to obtain outstanding research experience. However, nothing jump a good MCAT score (and connection) when it comes to applying to medschool. MCAT should be your priority and you should prioritize it over other things. Good luck