Does where you do research matter?

[Edict]

Does where you do research (meaning the organization and location) have any difference on the perceived value of the work when applying for residency/med school?

 

For example: Letting all else be equal, would doing research at a prestigious facility like Harvard, NIH, JHU or the Roslin Institute (only thing i could think of, its standing if for a place that in the past discovered something big, for Roslin its Dolly the Sheep) vs a less prestigious institution lets just say Acadia University ( not to throw it under the bus or anything) make any difference at all?

[A-Stark]

Well Acadia doesn't have a medical school and only limited graduate enrolment, so a comparison to Williams or similar US "liberal arts" colleges would make more sense.

 

Having said that, publications and experience are what matter, not where you work. The exception might be for certain programs like UofT IM where having a publication in Nature or Science anecdotally helps an application. (At least for a non-Toronto applicant; there's nothing that special about UofT IM residents otherwise.)

 

Research is well down the list in importance in CaRMS. I'm sure it's variably important in the US.

[thehumanmacbook]

Well Acadia doesn't have a medical school and only limited graduate enrolment, so a comparison to Williams or similar US "liberal arts" colleges would make more sense.

 

Having said that, publications and experience are what matter, not where you work. The exception might be for certain programs like UofT IM where having a publication in Nature or Science anecdotally helps an application. (At least for a non-Toronto applicant; there's nothing that special about UofT IM residents otherwise.)

 

Research is well down the list in importance in CaRMS. I'm sure it's variably important in the US.

 

Can I ask why research isn't as valued in CaRMS? I thought for specialities like ROAD it's very very important to have pubs and such...

 

Thanks

[Edict]

A follow up question for me is: Is most of the research that PIs do just repeating, retesting or making minor changes to a hypothesis that has already been done before? Or is it more often ground breaking research?

 

My reason for asking is that: There seems to be a ton of research going around all over the world, thousands of PIs, thousands of students, fellows etc. How much of that research is truly "ground breaking"? True breakthroughs (stuff that can make headlines) happen not too often maybe once every few years, but publications come at really lightning rates, there are so many publications written up in one year. They can't all be new stuff can they?

[Lactic Folly]

Can I ask why research isn't as valued in CaRMS? I thought for specialities like ROAD it's very very important to have pubs and such...

 

Thanks

 

You just need some way of distinguishing yourself from the other medical students who all entered with great marks and ECs. For most people in my field, it seems to be a lot of research in one's area of interest during medical school. Everyone joins clubs and such, but it's less common to see people starting community / charitable initiatives during medical school - doesn't mean that such accomplishments are less valued than research.

[thehumanmacbook]

You just need some way of distinguishing yourself from the other medical students who all entered with great marks and ECs. For most people in my field, it seems to be a lot of research in one's area of interest during medical school. Everyone joins clubs and such, but it's less common to see people starting community / charitable initiatives during medical school - doesn't mean that such accomplishments are less valued than research.

 

Oh I see well everyone has the same marks right, P = MD...so I guess there needs to be other distinguishing factors!

[Satsuma]

Does where you do research (meaning the organization and location) have any difference on the perceived value of the work when applying for residency/med school?

 

For example: Letting all else be equal, would doing research at a prestigious facility like Harvard, NIH, JHU or the Roslin Institute (only thing i could think of, its standing if for a place that in the past discovered something big, for Roslin its Dolly the Sheep) vs a less prestigious institution lets just say Acadia University ( not to throw it under the bus or anything) make any difference at all?

 

No. Not of med school or residency applications.

 

If you want to continue in academia then, yes. But even then, it is more "who" your supervisor was then where you did the work.

[preppy038]

i think what's more impt is whether you publish or not

[McGillLabRat]

Really?

 

I would think that an internship at Harvard or MIT would standout in comparison to doing research at UBC, UofT, McGill, etc. Those internships btw are almost impossible to get.