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[MDeezNutz]

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[MyOdyssey]

I have done research 1/2 semester freshmen year and all of sophomore year with <300 total hours. (Entering junior year) Is this fine? I can say I dipped my toes in the water at least.

The AAMC average is 1251 but is skewed by research heavy applicants with 10,000+ hours/multiple gap years. So I’m going to assume 300 hours is enough experience for the average applicant.

And finally am I still competitive for all schools (even research heavy schools)? My reason for quitting is I don’t find it rewarding and prefer patient interaction instead. Thanks

https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fastly.net/production/media/filer_public/43/1b/431bc986-9e69-424f-8066-5fc95eba4a44/aamc-2018-amcas-medical-school-applications-by-the-numbers-infographic.pdf

It depends on the tier and type of medical school to which you aspire. For the more research heavy ones, 300 research hours is not enough.

It also depends on whether you've done other things that you need to do like clinical and nonclinical volunteering. Speaking of that, AMCAS says the average number of community service hours (for enrollees? It's a little unclear.) is 406 hours.

If 406 hours refers just to nonclinical volunteering hours (chart is unclear as to whether clinical volunteering hours are included), then that's a lot higher than I would have expected. If you don't have that many hours, then that might be a reason to pursue volunteering instead of lab based research. Just keep in mind that Hopkins, Harvard and Stanford probably won't come calling if your research hours are only 300.

Finally, you might consider some other kind of research - nonscience related, or clinical research instead of wet lab - before you give up on research altogether.

 

[Moko]

Having a significant amount of research experience is by no means a necessity for even research-heavy medical schools. However, if your application lacks significant research experience, then your application better excel in other areas to make up for it.

I also agree with @MyOdyssey to try other forms of research. Bench research was the bane of my existence, whereas clinical research is at least more tolerable.

 

[Catalystik]

I have done research 1/2 semester freshmen year and all of sophomore year with <300 total hours. (Entering junior year) Is this fine? I can say I dipped my toes in the water at least.

The AAMC average is 1251 but is skewed by research heavy applicants with 10,000+ hours/multiple gap years. So I’m going to assume 300 hours is enough experience for the average applicant.

And finally am I still competitive for all schools (even research heavy schools)? My reason for quitting is I don’t find it rewarding and prefer patient interaction instead. Thanks

https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fastly.net/production/media/filer_public/43/1b/431bc986-9e69-424f-8066-5fc95eba4a44/aamc-2018-amcas-medical-school-applications-by-the-numbers-infographic.pdf

You have more than a year of research you can list. You'd be fine if you stop now for general application purposes.

To catch the eye of top research-oriented schools, you'd want to have more, but it would need to show a progression of responsibility and creative input into the projects (which makes changing labs problematic, as you'd need to earn PI trust all over again). While trying to get involved in clinical research with actual patients is a fine idea, you are highly unlikely to be the one calling the shots with such projects until you've invested significant additional involvement.