Research & Scholarship

Students often hear that is important to "do research" while on the journey to medical school. It is more accurate to say that engaging in scholarly inquiry is key to a successful application to medical, veterinary, dental, or other health professions school.

What does It mean to engage in Scholarly Inquiry?

Many candidates for medical school and other graduate programs will satisfy this requirement by working in a lab, but in truth, there are many ways to get there. Exposure to a science-based project is appealing to many students, and at Dartmouth, many opportunities are abound. Medical schools highly value a student's exposure to science in action. Therefore, having experience in a biology lab, an engineering lab, a clinical medicine project, or public health project can be very beneficial.

Some students explore scholarship in non-science settings, including within their chosen major. Some might explore other areas such as anthropology research, or even an art project. There are several legitimate ways of demonstrating in-depth engagement with scholarship. The common factor is that you are learning to develop and explore a hypothesis, with a level of autonomy and depth that would be unusual in course work. The ability to do independent scholarly work is an especially valued attribute.

Why does this have value for a career in Medicine?

Medicine is a constantly evolving field. Knowledge and information are being developed all the time—ever more rapidly in fact. Whether you are a medical practitioner, future scientist, professor of medicine, a social justice activist, or involved in any other facet of medicine, you will be actively involved in interpreting, synthesizing, and using this knowledge. Perhaps you will even be one of those who are creating it!

How to Find Research and Funding

There are many resources and opportunities available for research and other scholarly pursuits at Dartmouth. In many cases, you can reach out to a potential Primary Investigator (PI) and ask is they need a research assistant. If you'd like advise on how to contact a PI, you can talk to an HPP advisor or Peer Mentor.

HPP Opportunity Directory

Dartmouth Programs & Opportunities

Undergraduate Advising and Research (UGAR)

The UGAR website has a wealth of information about finding Dartmouth research opportunities (as well as off-campus research), many of them with funding available. UGAR has a research directory you can access with your login info.

Funding: If you are looking for research funding at Dartmouth while you are "ON," UGAR oversees scholarship and fellowship funding to work with a Dartmouth faculty member.

If you are "OFF," but want to continue working with a Dartmouth faculty member or lab (aka "Hanover FSP"), there are leave terms grants for full-time research assistant positions. You can receive up to $5,600 for the OFF term.

Additional funding sources may come from other programs and centers that provide funding for undergraduate research on and off-campus.

For NON-Dartmouth research or internships, you may be eligible for external scholarship programs and grants.

The Center for Professional Development (CPD)

Department Faculty

Each member of Dartmouth College's faculty, and affiliated institutions like the Geisel School of Medicine, has a website that mentions their area of interest and research. You can reach out directly to inquire if they need a research assistant. In some cases, it may be a professor you already know. In other cases, it may mean you are sending inquiries out by email to people you have yet to meet. Students often take these same skills and reach out to PI's at their local universities as well.

Geisel School of Medicine and DHMC

Sometimes you can learn about clinical trials happening at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center by viewing their clinical trials website. Geisel professors, many of them physicians at DHMC, may also have positions for undergraduate students in their research labs. It is important to engage in a clinical trial or medical school research lab that you are genuinely interested in and not doing one to "check off" a research opportunity. Students often reach out to PI's at their local hospitals as well.

Dartmouth LinkedIn

Health Professions Program

Research & Scholarship

What does It mean to engage in Scholarly Inquiry?

Why does this have value for a career in Medicine?

How to Find Research and Funding

Resources