How to apply for research in the US

Mohamed Soliman -  How to apply for research positions in the US






Sites with Postdoc and Other research positions:

postdocresearch.blogspot.com/?m=1





Simple non-detailed steps:

- Hover over the University you' re interested in site.

- Search for the department of the specialty you're interested in.

- often each department has a description about their educational activities (Electives, residency...etc) search and go to "Research".

- Usually you will find the research(s) they are doing -Now-; you may find an archive for previous research topics and here you can check if they have publications. (if they hold an archive section they will point out where it was published).

- Check if they offer a position as a research assistant or not. If yes , go and check the criteria. If no, and you are still interested , the doctors contact information are often there ; Contact them!

- If all what you find is their adress, or their office address-phone number in the university but no email, save their names and you can search for it on a professional online network such LinkedIn(TM) or other medical professional network.

- Contact them and discuss the possibility of enrolling in their project.

- some sites can offer an online application form.


More Details:

Unlike Residencies and some fellowships in the US applying for Research does not have a straight forward way of application like the "Match", and so applying for Research is always confusing to many applicants. Many ways have been proposed for applying to research and none of them is the "Right" or "Wrong" way, they're all just different ways. The reason that would make you use one way rather than the other is your personal situation.

First method:

The way used by many candidates (which is low yielding yet easy and applicable to everyone) is to log on to University websites in the US of the specialty you are interested in and through the faculty listings (different in location from one website to the other) get the emails of different faculty (specially those working in your field of interest ) . Choose Professors ,Assistant professors , Attendings, and anyone on the faculty listing , not just the program director or old professors . Send them an email saying the following in whatever format you choose

Dr. Smith (his/her last name)

I am a medical graduate from Cairo University , Egypt (change accordingly) and was interested in being part of your ongoing Research in Stem cell transplantation (or whatever branch that professor is working in and interests you)

I can provide my own funding if no funding opportunities are currently available for this position. (as many people don't answer back just because they have no funding ).

I can forward you my complete CV upon request.

Thank you for your time

Then mention any real Research project you worked in (if related to this kind of Research you are applying for), if you don't have any then don't mention anything. Some people add a brief about their CV within this letter and mention their USMLE scores. Don't attach your CV to the email as some university emails might consider an email with an attachment like that as junk mail.

Try to make your email short and to the point as they get hundreds of these emails every month. Then put all this in one paragraph and send it to each professor separately with his/her last name, and Research branch changed accordingly. Do not send mass emails with the same information, cause individualizing these emails will make them feel you sat down and took your time to write this email and look at that professors CV and work (so please do and take the time). Before you send that email make sure someone that knows how to speak English WELL took a look at that email and told you it's ok. You have to send at least 500 emails like this and wait a few weeks before you say that this way isn't working for you and that you tried. If you do get a reply then answer immediately and preferable contact us if you have a doubt what you should do next.

Second method:

If you have any contacts in in your home country or in the US that know someone doing research then they can help you out in making your application go through more effectively, and very rarely they can actually get you a Research position. So use any contact that knows you well to help you in applying, but don't send to people that hardly know you telling them " Can you help me in getting Research " cause they probably won't. Use this method very carefully as not everyone in the US can help you get a research position.

Third method:

Sometimes applying for an observership can be a first step in getting a Research position. Getting to know the faculty staff in a program allows you to find small Research projects that might be applicable to you.

Fourth method:

Some Universities and organization have a certain application for Research which you usually find out from people doing Research there, and sometimes from their websites.So you have to devote sometime on the university's website reading how to apply for Research there.

More methods:

There are many more methods like going in a US university or institute and directly speaking to Faculty there about the availability of such positions. Also you can log on the websites of Research association (like ARVO in Ophthalmology ) and look for posted positions or post your CV there so that they contact you when they have available positions. Another way is to ask your close friends that are currently in Research positions if they know any professors looking for Research fellows , but again they have to know you well to recommend you. There are still many other ways and feel free to send us a successful method if you or your friends tried it to post here for everyone's benefit.

Some Universities have a special research program for IMGs ; please note they can have special requirements for this , here below an example:


George Washington University , School of medicine (DC) have a special research program for International medical graduates : smhs.gwu.edu/imp/medical-programs/international-scholars/graduate/medical-research-fellowship

all information on application are on the site : smhs.gwu.edu/imp/medical-programs/international-scholars/graduate/medical-research-fellowship/admissions