Guest ssup Posted June 4, 2003 Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 Hey guys, I know how some schools really favour students who have research lab experience in addition to volunteering so I started applying for positions. I have been offered two research positions for the summer and am having a lot of difficulty deciding between the two. I'm wondering if anyone can help me decide between the two...does anyone know what type of experience med schools prefer? are they looking for something specific? HELP!!! Job #1 Working at one of the university laboratories that studies atherosclerosis/cardiac transplant disease etc. Basically my job would be: being trained by one of the graduate students in the lab, and assisting in her research Job#2 Working at the local cancer research centre...they require cells that can be used to calibrate their new equipment so I would be given cow thymus tissue, would extract cells, analyze them for DNA content etc, study them using some electrofluroescence techiniques etc. Both jobs sound equally exciting and interesting. SO I'm wondering if anyone can shed some light on this for me. Also, on the side, everyone is always saying how you should try to get your name on a publication as it helps. If you assist in a laboratory, is your name included on the paper or is it only the name of the actualy investigators? Thanks, Ssup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ssup Posted June 4, 2003 Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 I forgot to add: Job #1 is a paying position Job#2 is a volunteer position BUT the person I'd be working for is an MD/PHD who is a professor of medicine at the university I want to go to. In fact, he's quite well known around here. HELP!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jerika81 Posted June 4, 2003 Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 I think you have the resources to make the decision yourself, it's just a matter of what's more important to you. 1) Do you need the money/ do you want the money? 2) Do you think the professor will be able to/willing to write you a good reference letter if you volunteer for him? 3) What are you more interested in? Cardiology or Cancer 4) Which job do you think will allow you to learn more? Congrats on getting two really interesting offers. Good luck making a decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted June 4, 2003 Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 Good points above. Here's some additional thoughts. 1) Will the MD/PhD prof actually be around, or are you going to be in the lab by yourself, or with grad students, other post-docs, etc? Either way, you want there to be good people beside you so that you can ask for help and teaching, but you also probably want some autonomy once you have developed some skills. Also, all else being equal, the lab that has more money (and it sounds as though the MD/PhD researcher is rather prolific), will have better access to resources. You won't be competing with other people in the same lab for time with the machines, or hopefully having to make up your own supplies from scratch, etc. 2) If you will actually have a chance to work with this professor, then that potentially opens you up to getting to shadow on some clinical work, or at least gain some knowledge on the clinical side of medicine instead of purely bench research. 3) I wouldn't worry as much regarding publications; I think it is a definite minority of undergrads who have published by the time they apply to med school; grad students often have, but that's because they are in grad school! The fact that you were motivated enough to seek research opportunities is a strong factor, as well as the fact that you should be able to get a good letter of reference from this individual (assuming that you do well, and don't set fire to the lab)... 4) Also, don't focus as much on Cardiology vs Oncology; your mind is going to change constantly in med school regardless, so just use this opportunity to learn more than anything. Both are very wide fields and I'm sure that you would/could develop an interest in either depending on who your preceptors happen to be, how interested they are in teaching you, etc. Just based on what you've said thus far, I think the MD/PhD researcher is the way to go. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Lactic Folly Posted June 4, 2003 Report Share Posted June 4, 2003 From the CMAJ: Authorship credit should be based only on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, or acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. Conditions 1, 2, and 3 must all be met. If you are involved in writing up the project, hopefully you can get a publication.. getting a manuscript published can be quite a lengthy process though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Blackbird15 Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 THis is a bit off-topic, but I had to add my two cents... In my experience, whether or not I got co-authorship really depended on how nice and generous my supervisor was (I'm just out of undergrad). I have had instances where I have made a substantial contribution to a research project (i.e. data gathering, analysis and report writing with little or no supervision) but wasn't -or rather will not be- given co-authorship on the article that will be published based on the report, nor will I be given the opportunity to contribute to the article drafting. I feel that I've been cheated out of a co-authorship that I really deserve, but don't really want to make waves about it...sigh... Unfortunately, some professors/researchers may feel that getting the opportunity to work under them may be enough for you and that you haven't paid your dues enough to get co-authorship (if you're still in undergrad). They would rather give co-authorship to those who made only slight contributions to the project, but with whom they need to keep good relations... There's so much politics in research. On the other hand, I've been given co-authorship elsewhere (by another very nice and generous supervisor) where I really didn't feel that I deserved it (though I didn't complain ofcourse!), so you never know... take care, Blackbird Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ssup Posted June 5, 2003 Report Share Posted June 5, 2003 Thank you all for the helpful posts!!! I was leaning towards job #2 (at the cancer research centre) but job #1 was a paid position so I was having trouble deciding. Well, it so happenned that I got a call this morning from the job#2 ppl offering me a paying position there. :smokin So I start next week! Problem Solved! Thanks for your help guys! Ssup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest krnboy Posted June 6, 2003 Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 ssup congrats! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest red Posted June 6, 2003 Report Share Posted June 6, 2003 Hey ssup- I was curious as to how you went about getting these research positions- I seem to be hitting only walls with the places I'm applying to and I'm about to give up. I want the experience for either another possible career (in case medical school doesn't work out) or the obvious- for med school itself... Even volunteering would be awesome. I have a Masters in animal cardiovas. physiology so I'm not completely without knowledge in the area. Any suggestions? Thanks! Red :\ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ssup Posted June 7, 2003 Report Share Posted June 7, 2003 Hey Red, It can definitely be a frustrating process trying to find a research position but I would imagine that with Masters degree, you definitely have the edge over undergrad students like myself. Here's what I was advised: Don't send out mass e-mails to researchers...they don't tend to bother reading them if you don't show a little creativity. I basically researched on the internet to read about some of the different research centres in my city. You can read about what type of projects their senior scientists are involved in and then e-mail the ones that seem interesting to you. I tried to individualize the letters by adding a few lines about the researcher's specific projects. I also attached a copy of my resume to the e-mail. I think I sent about 30+ e-mails, got responses from about 10...I set up interviews with the first 3 I heard from and was offered the above two positions. It turns out that most of these agencies DO NOT allow volunteers because it creates an insurance dilemna for them. So most of the places will offer you a paying position (I was offered about 1200$ a month for full time). Anyhow, what city are you in red? If you're in Vancouver, I could e-mail you the names of a few researchers that expressed interest but who I didn't have time to interview with Let me know, Ssup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest red Posted June 7, 2003 Report Share Posted June 7, 2003 I'm really new on this board and don't know how things really work- how can I give you my email address or email you without me broadcasting stuff to everyone here? Sorry everyone, you know how the internet is and all... I AM in Vancouver and would love the names- you're awesome! Red Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mirrille Posted June 7, 2003 Report Share Posted June 7, 2003 Hey! You are in Vancouver, right? Because if you are, that project that you are talking about sounds eerily like a part of the stuff I was working on 2 years ago at the Cancer Agency. (I was a co-op student) If you can confirm that for me by giving more info or the name of the PI, then I can maybe tell you a little bit more about what that lab is really like. I was in Terry Fox, so if you aren't in Terry Fox, then ignore this message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ssup Posted June 8, 2003 Report Share Posted June 8, 2003 red: e-mail me at jules_9999@hotmail.com, I'll send you the names of a few of the scientists that you stand a good chance with! Good luck! mirrille: YOU"RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!!! :rollin I'm in the Terry Fox Lab as well...tell me more about how your experience was there...who were you working with? what are the ppl like? TELL ME EVERYTHING!!! Ssup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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