Why IVY

Benefits of research experience

Research experience is not a requirement for admission to medical school, dental school, residency training or applying for positions in the work force. However, proper research experience will most likely enhance your qualifications and put you in an competitive advantage when applying for future school or job positions.

The science you learn in the classroom all comes from research. It comes from scientists who have devoted their time and intelligence to develop different fields by understanding problems, formulating hypothesis, and investigating them. Learning how to conduct research experiences, run clinical trials and understanding how to interpret data can help you develop skills that will be of benefit to you and your future, regardless of which filed you are in.

Experience in scientific research develops your analytic ability, critical thinking, and can improve your interpretation of the information and contribute to better decision-making. It enables you to evaluate the validity of new research studies and be familiar with the process of how guidelines are developed. It allows you to be curious and question things in a proper way.

Research opens new doors of opportunity

Research experience can open new professional opportunities and will likely put you in a competitive advantage when it comes to applications to graduate school or jobs. Nowadays, research experience is highly respected when it comes to applications for medical school, dental school, PhD-programs, master programs, consulting jobs, healthcare related jobs, residency training positions and many more competitive fields.

Students enrolled in our research program

We have a broad range of students applying to our program such as physicians, medical graduates, dental graduate, medical- and dental students, consultants, businessmen, philosophy doctors (PhDs).

Medical/dental- students and graduates

Today, getting residency training in the US is very competitive and this is a trend that is becoming more and more competitive for each year. The competition further increases for international medical graduates (IMG). In 2016, a total of 27,860 first-year positions were offered in the Match. Of the 12,790 IMGs who participated in the 2016 Match, only 6,638 matched, which represents merely 51.9%.

Of the 7,460 IMG participants who were not U.S. citizens, 3,769 (50.5%) obtained first-year positions. Of the 5,323 U.S. citizen IMG participants, 2,869 (53.9%) were matched to first-year positions (data obtained from ECFMG).

The most important factors for the residency application according some scientific resources are the following:

  1. Grades in clerkships
  2. USMLE Scores
  3. Class rank
  4. Medical school reputation
  5. Membership in AOA
  6. Medical school academic awards
  7. Grades in senior elective levels
  8. Letters of recommendations (LOR)
  9. Research

As seen in the list above, many of the most important factors are impossible for a IMG to obtain such as clerkship grades, medical school reputation, membership in AOA etc. Therefore, IMGs need to shine in other areas such as USMLE scores, U.S. clinical rotations, and research. The latter could many times be critical.

Candidates who have research experience and publication do not only show commitment to the medical development but also analytic skills, ambition, productivity, and in some ways intelligence. Research could especially be important when other factors such as USMLE scores have not been satisfactory. Another important factor is LORs, preferably from American doctors and scientists. Program directors will strongly consider the LORs when ranking candidates in the program.

However, research positions in the U.S. and qualitative LORs are not easy to obtain. Many research institutions do not offer research programs. And the ones who do, do not always commit or have time to supervise and give the proper attention to a candidate that is needed. Moreover, getting accepted into an academic research center, getting credentials, and pursing the research activity, have many obstacles and takes time, and time is a factor that the students do not have.

Furthermore, the reputation of the program is also one of the critical factors of being accepted to a training program, and getting a research position at a reputable institution such as an Ivy league school (Harvard, Yale, Brown etc) could be very difficult.

Lastly, a pursuing research activities on site typically requires at least 1-2 months commitment if not more. Since the financial states of a medical student or a graduate is not the best, traveling to the US and paying for accommodation could be very costly.

How IVY Research Link fills the gap

Ivy Research Link solves the above problems by offering the following:

  1. Teaching all candidates about basic science and research by offering online, eLearning educational courses.
  2. The student can pursue the research activity and supervision from his home.
  3. Giving candidates experience with an academic trained, IVY league school supervisor
  4. Providing them with meaningful and qualitative research project.
  5. Having a shared vision to provide project with strong publication potential
  6. Providing qualified students a strong letter of recommendation from an assistant professor at an Ivy league school