How important is research?

[phcareerswitch]

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I'm 6 years out of undergrad and work in public health full time. I did a little bit of research in undergrad (ecology, mostly just analyzing data). Otherwise I've never really done research. If it's really important I may be able to try to get involved in some at my job but it would be a stretch so would need to make sure it's worth it. At my previous job I did a little bit of "research" - mostly surveys to community members and tallying up data but it really was nothing like academic research and no papers or anything resulted. I want to double check how important it is for non-traditional students to try to get it, or if our work/life experiences/time out of school will make it ok to not have it.

 

[petomed]

Do you want to do research in medical school? It's just about a pre-req to match into competitive specialties.

If the answer is yes then it might be a good idea to be able to talk in great detail about the research experiences you've had to date. If you can't do that then it certainly won't hurt you to start chasing research opportunities now.

If the answer is no then I personally wouldn't pursue research right now, as it isn't a passion of yours. My experience throughout the interview process leads me to believe that medical schools realize we're not all cookie-cutters. You mentioned you're six years out of undergrad, so you're a bonafied nontrad.

If I were you, I would decide on yes or no as mentioned above and then clearly define your relationship with research. You've already done it in the past, so I would absolutely highlight your lessons learned from those experiences as a bare minimum. Wanting to do research as a medical student won't hurt you at all in the eyes of admissions committees. Just don't fake it. They've seen it all before.

 

[Bonne Nuit]

I'm 6 years out of undergrad and work in public health full time. I did a little bit of research in undergrad (ecology, mostly just analyzing data). Otherwise I've never really done research. If it's really important I may be able to try to get involved in some at my job but it would be a stretch so would need to make sure it's worth it. At my previous job I did a little bit of "research" - mostly surveys to community members and tallying up data but it really was nothing like academic research and no papers or anything resulted. I want to double check how important it is for non-traditional students to try to get it, or if our work/life experiences/time out of school will make it ok to not have it.

I think people really overstate the importance of research for a medical school application and undervalue elements like work experience, diverse life experiences, leadership roles, and interesting ECs. Research is of course nice to have but zero research is not an application killer unless you're gunning for a research powerhouse medical school or you're applying MD/PhD.

You'll see stats on the MSAR like "95% of matriculants to this school have research/lab experience" but if I recall correctly, this can also include projects applicants did in lab as part of their organic chemistry/biochemistry prerequisite or whatever, or capstone/thesis projects they complete before graduation. It would be unusual for someone to make it into medical school having zero exposure to research/lab work for that reason.