Getting Ahead of Myself: Some Questions

[DOitforDerm]

Hello,

I'm someone who will be matriculating to a DO school with multiple campuses (with me most likely at the non-original campus) starting in 2018 and have an interest in dermatology. I'm aware with the residency merger that it will likely become even more difficult to match, so I'd like to get some confusions I have resolved so that I can maximize my chance of success from day one. I've read through the DermMatch guide (thank you @DermMatch!!) and here are the questions I've run into:

1) Due to poor grades in undergrad, I was never able to do any research and have no experience in it. I will be doing a graduate-level lecture-based research methods course between now and starting medical school that in the description of the course says "will lead to the development of a poster presentation". Beyond this and despite my interest, my experience is next to none. Will someone accept me to help with their research if I haven't done anything of the sort in undergrad?

2) It noted that it seems to be most effective to do research with your home dermatology department. However, I don't exactly know if my school even has one? I know that you can do rotations in derm, but how do you go about if finding this exists if it's not glaringly apparent on their website?

3) I looked at some of the AOA Derm residencies that are associated with my school, and I found a student from the campus I will likely be at. Would it be weird to contact them once I've actually started med school to ask for advice on what they did it to be successful? Or is that just creepy?

I'm hoping that these questions aren't too naive, but I want to start as early as possible to avoid any sort of last-minute scrambling. Thank you for your time and I appreciate your assistance!

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[asmallchild]

Hello,

I'm someone who will be matriculating to a DO school with multiple campuses (with me most likely at the non-original campus) starting in 2018 and have an interest in dermatology. I'm aware with the residency merger that it will likely become even more difficult to match, so I'd like to get some confusions I have resolved so that I can maximize my chance of success from day one. I've read through the DermMatch guide (thank you @DermMatch!!) and here are the questions I've run into:

1) Due to poor grades in undergrad, I was never able to do any research and have no experience in it. I will be doing a graduate-level lecture-based research methods course between now and starting medical school that in the description of the course says "will lead to the development of a poster presentation". Beyond this and despite my interest, my experience is next to none. Will someone accept me to help with their research if I haven't done anything of the sort in undergrad?

2) It noted that it seems to be most effective to do research with your home dermatology department. However, I don't exactly know if my school even has one? I know that you can do rotations in derm, but how do you go about if finding this exists if it's not glaringly apparent on their website?

3) I looked at some of the AOA Derm residencies that are associated with my school, and I found a student from the campus I will likely be at. Would it be weird to contact them once I've actually started med school to ask for advice on what they did it to be successful? Or is that just creepy?

I'm hoping that these questions aren't too naive, but I want to start as early as possible to avoid any sort of last-minute scrambling. Thank you for your time and I appreciate your assistance!

1) That is fine. The key is to find a good research mentor who can bring you along (and of course, to be available and hardworking when called upon)

2) You aren't sure if your school has a home derm department? If they have residents then yes, that's considered a department.

3) I think this depends on student to student. I've done this before and the response has run the gamut from being ignored to getting very helpful responses. Only one way to find out. Good luck!

 

[DOitforDerm]

1) That is fine. The key is to find a good research mentor who can bring you along (and of course, to be available and hardworking when called upon)

2) You aren't sure if your school has a home derm department? If they have residents then yes, that's considered a department.

3) I think this depends on student to student. I've done this before and the response has run the gamut from being ignored to getting very helpful responses. Only one way to find out. Good luck!

That's great to hear. I was worried I'd be laughed out the door if I hadn't done any previous research.

Regarding the derm department, it's kind of confusing. The school is part of this network that appears to have derm residencies in different states rather than having the residency strictly affiliated with the school if I understand it properly (OMNEE). Looking through the researchers at my school which I did find a list for, none of them appear to be dermatologists and maybe one PhD is doing derm-related research. Does that help answer the question? I'm sorry if I'm making it more confusing than it really is.

I think I'll give this person a shot once I'm actually admitted. I don't want to jump the gun and look weird and at worst they could just ignore me.

Thanks again for the help!