Conducting research in a field other than medicine

[designed]

So I've been talking to a few of my fellow premed peers, and it seems like a lot of them have clinical research under their belt, or biochemistry-related research where they're involved in drug design or understanding a particular pathway. However, the research that I'm doing is MUCH more different and not related to medicine at all. It's in the field of anthropology. I was just wondering if I have to justify why my research is related to medicine at all during the UofT app, my ABS, or the interview. Can anyone shed light on this? Thanks.

[Lactic Folly]

Don't feel that you need to justify - instead, talk about what your unique background will bring to the class and how this experience will help you as a physician. I think you can sell this quite well, perhaps even better than the biochemists. Plus, people study anthropology of medicine too.

[markov79]

and you can check out bosses like paul farmer

[Intrepid86]

You just have to sell it. Anthropology isn't directly related to Medicine, but your focus should be on the process of your research instead, the types of skills involved and how they might be transferable.

 

The problem lots of "pre-meds" have is thinking too linearly. When approaching an issue there's almost always multiple angles that can be used. Things that are bad can be spun to look good, and vice versa.

[rmorelan]

I did research in primarily artificial intelligence and they seemed to respond to that. A lot of people are going to have biology/biochem etc research because a lot of people applying to medicine come from those fields. Doesn't mean there aren't other areas though

[NutritionRunner]

All of my research experiences were in two different fields: food science and dietetics/nutrition. While I haven't been accepted to medical school yet, I did get four interviews and I'm currently on two waiting lists.

[designed]

Thanks for all the replies! To those who also have research research experience in a field other than medicine, how did you phrase your research experience or talk about it in a way that was in positive light in the eyes of the interviewer?

[dazzle]

I come from a philosophy background and mentioned my research on punishment in the interviews. It was relevant insofar as I investigated justifying punishment as a function of the nature of the cause of the criminal act. And considering that many criminals just come from poor backgrounds and upbringings, this can be a fact that interests physicians.

 

There is probably a link between anthropology (the study of the human) and medicine. If the schools are too daft to see it, try harder or go with a back-up plan. But do mention it as I am sure you can turn it into something good. Medicine is an art and a science. There should not at all be a monopoly on pre-med research being scientific.

[Lactic Folly]

Thanks for all the replies! To those who also have research research experience in a field other than medicine, how did you phrase your research experience or talk about it in a way that was in positive light in the eyes of the interviewer?

 

Like Linus said, just describe your research in a relatable manner, and talk about the skills and insights that you gained from it. There is really no way that your research experience would NOT be a positive thing (unless in the remote instance that it was a very controversial subject), so this is not something that needs to be 'spun' in a positive light.

 

Be proud of your work and don't let yourself fall prey to the attitude that your research is somehow inferior to that of others. Unless someone is involved in basic research as part of their career, you'd be surprised how little that benchwork comes into clinical practice. Most people would welcome the opportunity to learn about something new, different from the clinical research they're normally exposed to... this may give you an advantage

[Orcamute]

All of my research experiences were in two different fields: food science and dietetics/nutrition. While I haven't been accepted to medical school yet, I did get four interviews and I'm currently on two waiting lists.

 

How in the..

 

You have all this ec experience, high GPA on both your degrees and you were waitlisted?

[NutritionRunner]

How in the..

 

You have all this ec experience, high GPA on both your degrees and you were waitlisted?

 

Obviously my interview performance was lacking. This was my first application cycle, and I went with the "less is more" philosophy for interview prepping. I guess I just didn't interview well, although I tried to be honest and natural with my answers.

 

Also, although I graduated at the top of my class for my engineering degree, two years of my GPA were pretty low and most of my years were part time (thanks to the health issues that sparked my interest in medicine in the first place). As I posted before:

 

Engineering:

Y1 (full course load): 3.94

Half Year (only did half a year of 4 courses, ended up in the hospital): 3.95

Y2 (9 courses): 3.96

Y3 (health issues, 8 courses): 3.62

Y4 (major health issues, had surgery, two "withdraw no penalty" courses, and 5 courses over two semesters): 3.64

Y5 (half year to finish up degree, full course load of 5 courses): 3.92

 

For my second degree, my course levels have been all over the place, due to the fact that I've had to take the required courses for my program, so UofT may not have liked the fact when evaluating my transcript. *shrug* But I do think my major issue was the interview.

[MarshMellow]

Thanks for all the replies! To those who also have research research experience in a field other than medicine, how did you phrase your research experience or talk about it in a way that was in positive light in the eyes of the interviewer?

 

As a physician and in general, any professional, it is important to respect and value other fields of science. And by dipping your feet into these other fields of science prior to entering medicine where you'll be constantly surrounded by med related things only (or most of the time), it helps you acknowledge all other other amazing work being done in physics, social sciences, psychology, politics, economics, etc.

 

And in the future...who knows? Perhaps your quirky background can merge different fields together to pursue something new and awesome.

 

For example, people w/ biomed engineering degrees that later get an MD have a pretty sweet background...they can potentially help make devices like this!!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSwMauCno6o

 

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/scanadu-scout-the-first-medical-tricorder

 

The world is full of awesome and amazing things. Many of which have absolutely nothing to do with medicine. I'd even argue that doing research in areas such as environment and/or animal conservation for the good of all man kind and for Earth's sake is just as important if not more important than running PCR's and gels on a random protein that may or may not have a future application.

[Chamilt]

Research experience is all about transferable skills to medicine. Critical thinking, data analysis, lit reviews, knowing where to find reputable information etc....

 

All of these will make you a better physician in the long run. Plus, a lot of docs end up doing research at some point and if you don't have to learn these research skills later in your education or career, you will just be that much farther ahead.

 

I have an MSc in kin which I feel has given me a solid research foundation that I know I would be able to run independant projects and manage research techs/assistants/grad students etc...

 

I was lucky to have an amazing supervisor, plus it took me three years so I had that much more "learning" time.

[cdnmaple]

Thanks for all the replies! To those who also have research research experience in a field other than medicine, how did you phrase your research experience or talk about it in a way that was in positive light in the eyes of the interviewer?

 

My premed research was in molecular plant science and protein targeting, which was vaguely relevant to medicine only in the sense that it also had to do with DNA... but unfortunately, the specific parts of DNA that make proteins target to cell walls, which humans don't have. I can't remember how I "spun" it or if it even came up at all, other than being a ticky in the tickybox on the application -- it's been more than ten years since my premed interviews.

 

Though if I were on the interviewer side of the proverbial desk, I'd want to hear an applicant tell me about the research process, ethics, collaboration, teamwork, interest in contributions to knowledge, maybe how much they love protein folding puzzles, and less so about how they can relate their research itself to research in medicine.

 

Anthropology though? Unlike crop genetics, that's got medicine written all over it. http://www.journals.elsevier.com/social-science-and-medicine/

[ploughboy]

However, the research that I'm doing is MUCH more different and not related to medicine at all. It's in the field of anthropology. I was just wondering if I have to justify why my research is related to medicine at all during the UofT app, my ABS, or the interview. Can anyone shed light on this?

 

My research came up during my med school interview. I spent a bunch of years doing high-vacuum epitaxy in the III/V material system, published some papers and made my corporate overlords a bunch of money in the process. I'm the Charlie Daniels of the torque wrench.

 

Although that has nothing to do with undergraduate medical education (though oddly enough it may have something to do with my post-residency life) the topic did come up during my interview at UWO. I honestly forget exactly what I said, but it likely was a bit of "I learned meta blah blah blah from my research". Like cdnmaple said, it was way more about process of getting to where I got rather than the specifics of my arsine overpressure.