Is it feasible to find research opportunities outside of my current university?

This upcoming year will be my last at my current university. I still have not yet began to participate in research to strengthen my med-school app, and this is my last chance.

This upcoming year might have instruction be completely online throughout all three quarters, and I live 100 miles away from campus. I’m not sure if it is financially feasible for me to have to pay rent to live off campus 100 miles away from home just so I can participate in research. Obviously, if this were my only choice, I would; I’m willing to go in debt and sacrifice however many thousands of dollars for rent in this year if it could improve my chances of going into med school and having a better future.

Otherwise, I’m looking into maybe participating in research closer to home from a more prestigious institution. Have any of you heard of pre-med students taking part in research outside of their primary school? I guess a better question is: Does it look better on med school applications if I did research at my primary institution or at a different school, yet one that is more prestigious?

Also, what are my chances of even being accepted into these research programs, whose school I’m not enrolled in?

@imahakr

You can ask, but I don’t think that you’re going find any labs willing to take you. University programs are expected/obligated to accommodate their own students first instead of students who attend another institution. There are liability issues involved with taking an outside student into the lab-- what if you get hurt? Also, you’re an unknown quantity to the university closer to your home so researchers/professors are less likely to take a chance on inviting you into their labs.–epsecially since you apparently lack previous research experience and thus don’t have any useful skills. (After all, who knows, you may be aligned Iwith a competitor or some sort of activist group bent on doing harm to their research projects/labs/program.)

FWIW, lab research is one of the lesser expectations for pre-meds applying to mission-oriented medical schools. Community service with the disadvantaged, clinical experience, physician shadowing and leadership experience are all more highly valued by adcomms during the review process. However, if you’re aiming at research intensive medical schools, then having significant research experience (more than just a semester or two) is very important.

And, a word of advice—never do anything just because you think it will look on a med school application. That’s box checking-- and it makes for a weak application.