How useful are lab/research skills in medical school?

[bensherman]

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I have the opportunity to do a 2 year MS in biology before applying to med school. It requires a laboratory based research thesis. I'm doing this mostly out of interest, but I was wondering if the laboratory/research skills will give me any advantage in medical school?

 

[UFCOM2016]

This might be a better question for the medical school forum, having not started MS1 yet, I am not qualified to answer this question, nor are the pre-meds. I think you can get some useful input from some of the medical students on the other board that have already been through 3-4 years of medical school.

 

[Tapepsi]

I second what UFCOM2016 said we're not in med school yet so we don't know. Although experience in research is always a plus and schools want you to have done some research.

 

[just one]

If you do research during medical school it would be a plus. But if you are talking about the coursework of the first two years and the clinical setting of the last two years, then none unless you choose a research heavy school.

 

[Astarael]

This might be a better question for the medical school forum, having not started MS1 yet, I am not qualified to answer this question, nor are the pre-meds. I think you can get some useful input from some of the medical students on the other board that have already been through 3-4 years of medical school.

This would be a good idea if it weren't for the fact that threads started by pre-meds in the medical student forums invariably get punted back here regardless of their topic. The OP is just going to have to wait for some of the medical students that look through pre-allo to weigh in.

I have the opportunity to do a 2 year MS in biology before applying to med school. It requires a laboratory based research thesis. I'm doing this mostly out of interest, but I was wondering if the laboratory/research skills will give me any advantage in medical school?

Laboratory and research skills could be useful in a number of ways. Having a good research background can help with admissions, especially if you're applying to a research heavy institution. It can be helpful to know how to find your own information, especially if you go to a school that teaches heavily through PBL (although you should already be somewhat proficient at this from undergraduate study). You may have an easier time with research in medical school if you have done research before.

Now, are any of these benefits enough to put off applying until you can get an MS, if that's the only reason you're doing it? Probably not. However, if you were planning to get the MS for other reasons before you apply, it will be beneficial. The only real question is how much.