<p>I understand that research is a big boost to your medical school application, so am I screwed if I don't do any research? If there was something that I wanted to research I would have no problem doing it, I just don't have anything begging me to research it. Should I just pick something and do it anyway? It just seems like all the time and work for research could be better used for my volunteer work, which I legitimately love, and care about deeply. Just something I was wondering... Thanks.</p>
<p>Depends on what kind of medical schools you’re applying to. A rare few dislike research. Most think it’s pretty good, but don’t especially care. And then several, especially the most selective ones, basically mandate it.</p>
<p>Hmm… thanks for the information. I guess the best course of action would be for me to research individual medical schools.</p>
<p>The most selective ones “basically mandate it” because they are research-heavy institutions themselves. The medical school without a prominent research environment as one of its components is going to care less about student research on applications.</p>
<p>[Amazon.com:</a> Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) 2010-2011: The Most Authoritative Guide to U.S. and Canadian Medical Schools (Medical School Admission Requirements, United States and Canada) (9781577540779): Association of American Medical C](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Medical-School-Admission-Requirements-2010-2011/dp/1577540778]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Medical-School-Admission-Requirements-2010-2011/dp/1577540778)</p>
<p>This book contains the percentages of each medical school’s student body that did research as undergraduates.</p>
<p>I have another question; Would social science research be a good idea? Or do the admission committees only care about bio/ chem research?</p>
<p>any research is fine</p>
<p>I don’t know about #7. I know that some schools (Chicago) claim that any research is fine. I’m skeptical, however, that this is universally true. It just seems very counterintuitive.</p>
<p>^^ what kind of research do you think they prefer? Do they want to see research only in a science related field? </p>
<p>For example, is an economics major doing research in economics considered bad?</p>
<p>I mean, they’d LOVE it. But in my theory, it wouldn’t replace biomedical research.</p>
<p>I’m just speculating, though.</p>
<p>^^ Hopefully I am able to do research in both areas. 1 semester in Economics and 1.5 years in a biology lab. </p>
<p>What about research without any publications? Is research with publications MUCH better than research without publications. Does it make a big difference? I think I might be able to get my econ research published, because my adviser set it up so that I am the sole researcher, but I don’t know about the bio lab, because there are 5 grad students + 1 P.I. + 12 undergrads currently working in the lab (makes it hard for me to get my name on the publications/papers).</p>
<p>It’s a big deal, but it’s neither common enough to be mandatory nor rare enough to be a guarantee (although it’s close to the latter).</p>
<p>I just found out about this humongous pre-med club at my school, there’s hundreds of members in it. Do you guys think it’s worth joining pre-med clubs like AMSA and stuff?</p>
<p>No .</p>
<p>Absolutely not. That’s as useful as volunteering at a hospital: EVERYBODY does it.</p>
<p>… except that volunteering at a hospital counts as clinical experience, if you play it right, while just joining a club counts for very little, come admissions time.</p>
<p>No matter what you do, you have to be able to speak coherently about it to make it relevant, but experiences in a clinical setting are still different than experiences in a non-clinical setting.</p>
<p>I purposefully didn’t join the pre-med club here at school. It was massive and just a resume filler, so I said screw it.</p>
<p>But research, I’m heavily involved in that. One, it’s how I get my paycheck, and two, it’s great whether I go to medical or graduate school. It is also way more worthwhile than serving food in the cafeteria or changing bed linens at a hospital.</p>
<p>How about using it not to put on your app but to gain opportunities that would be purposely exploited to the organization due to its health concentration, such as this one program I found out through my pre-med club where you go to 3rd world countries and are taught how to and are given the responsibility to: perform general physical exams & vital signs, discuss diagnoses & how it was arrived/developed, (depending on students’ level) give diagnoses to be verified by Doc, and perform simple sutures – all of these are at a level of responsibility that you would be glorified & completely blessed to take on as an undergraduate student. </p>
<p>Or discounts on MCAT prep, exclusive subscriptions (I got a free Atlas of Human Anatomy text, ~$65), etc.</p>
<p>Yes or no?</p>
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<p>I would be careful with participating in programs like this. You may be questioned on the ethics of doing things like this, and you need to have a very good answer ready.</p>
<p>I would not let in any student who does not know his limitations. That is dangerous. Telling an admissions member you closed someone up or made diagnosis is not going to impress them.</p>