Resources for Students

Getting Into a Lab

As a neuroscience major, especially if you are on the research track, getting research experience is obviously very important. Yet it can be daunting trying to figure out how to get yourself into a lab. The following Google slide presentation goes in depth about what you need to consider before joining a lab, how to go about reaching out, and other strategies. There are also two email templates!

I'm in a Lab, how do I get published?

Congratulations!

Realize that it takes at least a month to two months simply to get you trained, let alone contributing to the lab and making progress towards ongoing research projects. (Basically, don't expect to get published immediately, although it can happen if you're lucky/join a project at the right time).

Each lab has a different culture. Some labs are very forthcoming about including undergraduates on their research papers to acknowledge your efforts, while others require undergrads to contribute something more meaningful before being put on a paper. That means somehow doing the data analysis portion or helping with the literature search.

You may or may not have your name listed on the author list of a research paper by being the 'grunt' that carries out/conducts the experiment. Your best bet to get published is to try to help with the data analysis portion.

It's very unlikely you'll actually get to write the paper itself (that's up to the graduate students), but you may read the rough draft and help find typos and other errors. Even then, this may not constitute enough to have your name be listed as one of the published authors.

If you are awesome enough/have more experience/skills in the lab, you may get to do your own project (which would be a sub-portion of an existing project). That can get you a first-author publication (which implies that the quality of your work is at the same level as a graduate student's).

Alternatively, and what is more easy, you can ask to do a poster project. Often, for a poster project, you take data from an existing/ongoing project and analyze it for some other outcome that is tangential to the current project. Then, you make a 4 foot by 3 foot scientific poster. You can present your poster at a poster competition. Often ti

If you are research track, you should definitely aim to get a poster printed and presented and see if you can present your poster at a conference. (There are undergraduate level scientific conferences).

How do I get clinical hours?

First things first, you may need certifications. There are some positions that don't need certifications, like scribing (since they train you), but if you'd like to do other positions, you may need your CPR certification, nurse practitioner certification, etc.

Often times you can just Google search 'how do I get XXXXX license/certification?' and local programs, tests/exams will pop up.

Usually, you need to take a course and pass an exam to get your certification. Courses are offered by community colleges, online courses, or by various Associations and Organizations who oversee the certification process themselves.

Then, it's a matter of going on Google maps and typing 'hosptial' or 'clinic' and finding a place that's close that you can work or volunteer at, provided you're able to get in.

What counts as clinical hours?

You need some interaction with the patient in a hands-on way, or some position that will allow you to be in "the room where it happens" (to quote Alexander Hamilton the musical). Just administrative tasks or front desk/clerk tasks don't count. Pharmacist's assistant also doesn't really count, but it can still be a valuable experience for you if that's something you want to do.

Here is a list of places that other NSA members have volunteered/worked at to get clinical hours:

How many hours do I need?

It depends, although more is generally better. One thing to keep in mind is consistency. If you can commit 6 hours a week to a hospital/clinic even during school, that's better than doing nothing during the school year and then leaving all of your summers to get clinical hours. So it's better not to have a break in terms of getting clinical hours. If you do the math and commit 6 to 9 hours a week every week for an entire year (52 weeks), that already is 312 - 468 hours in a year. If you do that for two years, you can easily reach 600 to 1000 hours even if you don't spend too much time on clinical hour experiences. Honestly, you probably don't need 1000 clinical hours. Medical school applications are graded from tier levels (like if you did nothing that's 0 points, a few hours (a range) you get 1 point, average number of hours is 2 points, and a lot of hours is 3 points. But it's scale that has a limit, so if you earn 1000 hours, you'd probably get 3 points just the same as someone who has 800 hours, that's a 200 hour difference but the same number of points.

Should I take a gap year to get more clinical hours?

That depends on your class schedule. If your class schedule is too packed or a lot for you to handle such that you can't commit that many hours to clinical experience each week, then yes you can take a gap year.

Some students take gap years to get a job or a license as a physician assistant to get some money and experience (and connections for rec letters) before applying to med school. Some students go straight to med school.

You should definitely meet with the Health Professions Advising Center to help decide if you should take a gap year based on what your priorities are.

How do I get a shadowing opportunity?

Find a physician at a hospital or clinic who you'd like to shadow. Then call or email them and ask. You may want to prepare what selling points (about yourself) you want to get across beforehand before you actually call.

If they say no, you can ask if they know any physicians who have allowed undergrads to shadow them before.

Don't take it personally, in all likelihood, they say no because they don't know you (you're a stranger in their eyes), so just find another one and call.

Does it count as clinical hours?

Some medical schools may combine clincial and shadowing hours into one category while others count shadowing and clinical hours as different.

On the safer side, it's better to consider them as different. So shadowing does not count as clinical hours.

How many hours do I need?

There's no specific number, but you don't need a lot (i.e. you don't need 100 hours).

The point of shadowing a physician is to see if you can imagine yourself in the position of the physician and if that's something you'd like to do in your future. So it's better to shadow different specializations rather than shadowing the same doctor for a lot of hours.

You just need to shadow enough to feel like you understand what their daily life and tasks and work is like.

There's also no official way to report shadowing hours, you just list it on your resume. So you could list a large number of shadowing hours and no one would know, but the numbers aren't the most valuable thing about shadowing.

How to get the most out of shadowing

It's more about the quality of your shadowing experience than the quantity. Sure you can have a lot of shadowing hours, but the actual benefit that translates into is if you can include your shadowing experiences as part of your med school applications or interviews. You can cite them as motivations for wanting to be a physician (of course be specific. Don't say something like shadowing was cool and it only added to my motivation to become a doctor. What specifically did you like? What didn't you like? What did you learn? specifics like that.)

How many volunteer hours do I need?

Honestly, there is not really a set number of hours you need to fulfill. Unlike JSOM majors who need 100 hours community service as part of their undergraduate degree (so they need to do volunteer work to graduate), STEM majors do not have a specific number.

Okay, so should I volunteer?

Yes, you should, just for the sake of being a decent person.

Jokes aside, if you are on the pre-medical track, you can do volunteer experiences that are also clinical experiences. There are some also really cool volunteer experiences and clubs on campus like consulting local business and small business in Dallas (I forgot the name of the club though, but they do cool work), tutoring K-12 kids, or volunteering at the animal shelter or blood drive, helping the homeless, etc.

Does it look better if I volunteer at different places or help just one cause?

Since medical school applications don't heavily weigh number of volunteer hours, the value of volunteering really comes down to how it affects you and your life. Did a specific experience or event help you be more patient or understanding/open your eyes to a new perspective? Did you have to learn a new skill like having to explain medical terms in an easy to understand way?

Diverse volunteer experiences or sticking with one cause both can give you a meaningful experience, but really evaluate the quality of your volunteer efforts and if you're making an impact or not.

Where do I find volunteer experiences?

You can volunteer with us! NSA hosts volunteer activities on the weekends like helping at the Alzheimer's Walk event in November, and volunteering for Children's Health, Dallas's local children's hospital. We mainly go on weekends, though, so keep that in mind for your schedule.

There are also many organizations on campus that are focused on volunteering. One big one is Key Club/Circle K. You can find the list of all student organizations at UTD on the Student Organization Center website (search student org center utd on Google). You can go look at the list and search for the key word 'volunteer'

When should I take the MCAT?

That depends on when you plan to apply to med school. Your MCAT score is valid for two years (sometimes three years, depending on the school).

Most students will prepare for the MCAT the summer between their junior and senior year and take it sometime during Fall or Spring.

Generally, it's best to take the MCAT after you've taken all the classes whose material would be covered on the MCAT (i.e. Gen Physics I & II, Gen Chem I & II, Ochem I & II, Biochem I, Human Anatomy & Physiology I & II, Psychology, Sociology).

If you are good at self-studying, you could probably avoid taking psychology or sociology as a class and learn it from a prep book.

What should I do to prepare for the MCAT?

Use prep books, programs, and practice tests.

Tutoring is the most expensive option (about $1000 to $2000), but if you need the consistency and extra boost of discipline from having a tutor help craft a study schedule for you, then that can be helpful.

If you're good at self studying, there are self-study programs that are usually online format with lots of practice questions that mimic the MCAT style questions.

You can Google search 'MCAT prep study program' to find a program that you like best.

Note that some companies are better at mimicking the MCAT-style questions depending on the category (i.e. Gen chem questions look similar to MCAT's but Ochem questions are consistently harder/easier/simply different).

For paper studying (or PDFs), if that's your style, here is what NSA recommends:

Kaplan 7 Subject Review books

Princeton MCAT Workout - this book is just a compilation of practice tests

NextStep MCAT Verbal Practice - great for CARS section

UTD also has a class to help students on the Critical Analysis and Reasoning section. It's called Verbal Reasoning and Writing for Pre-Health.

How far in advance should I prep?

If you've taken all the classes covered on the MCAT, then 2 or 3 months in advance of the day you plan to take the MCAT to review everything is average.

If you plan to take the MCAT when you haven't taken one of the classes it tests, you may want to add additional time to account for learning the new material as well as reviewing what you know.

Health Professions Advising Center

The most useful service provided by HPAC is their cohort system for students applying to medical school. Their cohorts receive mock interviews, draft and edit applications, and help you write your resume to highlight your best self. Their cohorts have limited seats though, so make sure to keep an eye on when their cohorts open up.

You can go to HPAC advisors if you have questions about how to structure your schedule and classes to take everything you need to fulfill the pre-med requirements and also any internships, clinical experience, and other experiences you need and how to fit it all in by the time you go to apply for med school.

Some HPAC advisors (I have heard) may try to offer alternative pathways aside from med school like nurse practitioner or physicians assistant and they have info on that if you aren't dead set on med school. Some students find this annoying because they are set on medical school while for other students who are looking for alternatives, these advisors can tell you more.

BBS Honors Program

The BBS Honors Program is more research-focused (i.e. it's most valuable to research-track students). When you are a junior/have the same number of credit hours as a junior, you will receive an email invitation during Fall semester to sign up for their Honors Seminar course in Spring. This course teaches students how to write papers, identify a senior project mentor and research lab they'd like to join, and basically help you plan out a research proposal for your senior thesis.

You actually carry out the research for your senior thesis project during your senior year. You take the Honors Seminar course Spring semester for your Junior year to prepare for it.

Maximizing Access to Research Centers (MARC)

This is a program specifically for freshman students or transfer students who have at least 3 more years at UTD. This is geared for those on the research track who intend to get a PhD or MD/PhD (so people aiming just to get an MD are not the intended applicants).

It's a program that paves the research path for you, helping you get into a research lab, attend research seminars and talks, professional development workshops about how to get into graduate school, poster presentations, attend a scientific conference, the whole package.

One thing is that you basically commit to doing research at UTD every single semester and all through the summer, every summer until you graduate. If you had other plans for summer like study abroad or internships, you will have to wait to do those until after you graduate.

You can learn more about the program here: Home - MARC | The University of Texas at Dallas