For those of you who don’t know me, let me give you a little bit of background to my premedical journey. I am a first-generation college student who entered the University of California, Irvine Undecided/Undeclared. The best way I can explain my time as an undergraduate (and even the better part of my gap years) is figuring things as they came. I’m sure all of you can relate to that feeling to a certain degree. One of my biggest regrets is not finding the proper mentors early on to help guide me on my path. Luckily for me, following my interests and saying yes to a lot of great opportunities have kept me more or less on track.

Upon graduating from university, the professor I did research with as an undergraduate offered me a paid position to continue and finish some of the research projects I had been working on in the lab. I jumped at the opportunity to see some of the projects through as I prepared myself for medical school. Recently, I was asked to be a panelist at an undergraduate symposium discussing the importance of scientific research and offering some strategies for success. Here were the biggest takeaways from our discussion.

The best time to get involved is now

This was the answer to one of the most asked questions. One of the biggest worries most premeds have is how they’ll balance all of their academics, extracurricular activities, and social commitments. It can be daunting to think about all of the activities that we should be involved with. Many admissions committees will tell you that it is vital for aspiring doctors to have exposure to some type of scientific research. Try not to put off getting involved in research until later in your premedical journey. The best time to get involved in research is as soon as you are able to balance it. Even if you can’t devote a ton of hours to research per week, it is far more impressive for someone to follow through on a research project over the span of a few years than cramming it into a few short months. I once had a counselor tell me that one year is the minimum span of time I should spend on an activity, two years is good, and that three years shows even more commitment. Granted, everyone has their own path to medical school. Depending on your personal situation and the resources you have around you, getting involved in research before medical school may not be feasible. However, if you can work research into your schedule, consider getting involved with it for the long haul.

Research will make you a better medical student candidate and a better doctor

Over the past couple of years, I have learned a lot from research: navigating through pubmed, how to design proper controls for a study, and how to run through countless experimental protocols. I’ve learned so much, but the most valuable tool I got from research was learning how to think, not what to think. When you’re working in the cutting edge of research, a lot of what you’re studying is widely unexplored. This leaves you with a huge opportunity to grow, both personally and academically. You’ll be left to make a lot of predictions, figure out a way to find the answers, and analyze your data only to realize that things didn’t necessarily come out exactly as you expected. You learn to pause, reflect, and refine your approach. Even when working on independent projects I’ve learned the importance of collaboration- reaching out to your peers, mentors, or other experts in the field will only help you along in your search. Being active in research evokes a certain level of creativity in problem solving and persistence.

Explore your Interests

One of the biggest misconceptions that most premedical students have about research is that it won’t match their interests. When I used to hear the words research lab I would think of people in lab coats and goggles mixing chemicals and working on cell cultures or mice. That image probably kept me from getting involved in research earlier on- I mean most of us want to go into medicine because we enjoy working with people, right? I had this preconceived idea that medical schools would want me to have experience in clinical research or working as part of a team on a clinical trial. I ended up looking into research labs in the developmental and cellular biology department after really enjoying one of my upper division courses on the topic. I researched each of the groups, their studies, and reached out to the PI of the lab I was interested in. It ended up all working out and I began bench lab research a week or so later. The funny thing is, I ended up as one of those people in lab coats making solutions and working with animals, but instead of mice we use zebrafish as our genetic model. I immersed myself in research and loved it. In truth, not everyone is interested in bench research. But there are so many other options. Don’t be like younger me and think that you have to go into specific research fields if you want to get into medical school. Think about which areas of research would spark your interest. Consider getting involved in clinical research, public health, health policy, psychology, or pharmaceutical research. Still, if none of those attract your attention, think of how you can utilize the scientific method to conduct research in one of your own personal interests.

Are you a premed? Join Diverse Medicine now. It's free!