Is research necessary for medical school?

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I have a friend who did no research but ended up getting accepted at Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Northwestern, Columbia, Cornell medical schools. He did have a 3.95 gpa from Harvard, top cellist in the orchestra, founded a community service organization, delivered babies in Central America, etc.
For most people, I think research is heavily factored in at all of the "top" medical schools because these schools are research based. I think state schools care less about research.
 
I don't think it's necessary, as long as you have all your other stuff in order (grades, MCAT, ECs, Clinical experience).
 
jaylicious said:
Is research necessary to get into medical school? Does anyone have any thoughts? I hate pipetting....
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No. There are many current medical students with zero research experience. I am one of them.
 
Basically do what you ENJOY. If you hate research, avoid it. Get different experiences with volunteering, clinical experience, etc. If I was required to do research to get into med school I probably would have vomited.
 
Absolutely not. You gotta distinguish yourself somehow and research is a way, but it's not the only way. Do whatever's consistent with your future plans in medicine--what kind of Dr do you want to be? That'll be much more powerful than mumbling something about the research you didn't care about and hated. Of course, if you want to have a research career, then you obviously should do research and hopefully start building your CV up for med school and beyond. (I'm realizing that I'd love to have some papers on there as well as learning how to get stuff published now.)
 
Research is not mandatory for getting into med school. However, you should find something to invest your time in, and clinical experience is definitely necessary. Also, research is not just about pipetting 🙂.
 
Short answer is No....however, having research can help your app, especially if its in a clinical environment and you are in direct interaction with healthcare workers (as opposed to just stuck in a lab the whole time)

Don't need to have it to get in, but having it helps.
 
no, it's not necessary to get into med school. btw, pipetting is more fun if you do it by mouth, like the old days 🙂. and this is true in general... research can be really fun for anyone if you do dangerous stuff. the guy who figured out the charge of an electron nearly electrocuted himself bc of his make-shift electrical setup in the lab... on his way to the hospital he was begging his parterns not to tell his wife. now doesn't that sound fun?! 😀
 
It definitely helps.

Seriously, research helps. If nothing else, it gives you something to talk about during interviews. Do it, if you have the opportunity. (All the cool kids are doing it. )
 
Agent Splat said:
Basically do what you ENJOY. If you hate research, avoid it. Get different experiences with volunteering, clinical experience, etc. If I was required to do research to get into med school I probably would have vomited.
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i agree with this person completely! do what you're most passionate in. if you're more geared for researching rather than clinical, go for it. personally, i have absolutely 0 interest in researching; i spend 99.9% of my time shadowing, in surgery, etc.
 
While conducting basic science research is not required to get into medical school, it is nonetheless very important to experience first hand. Not only does it encourage you to be more meticulous, calculating, and precise in both decision-making and actions, but by doing PCRs, DNA extractions, animal procedures, or any other basic science method, you become more critical and analytical of basic science papers. At minimum we will all be reading a whole lot basic science papers in our careers, and having done what the authors did to generate their results gives us more confidence and credibility when it comes to analyzing their results and deciding whether the conclusions they reached are legitimate or applicable. In addition, medical therapies are becoming increasingly "basic sciency", and the concept of bench to bedside is more relevent now than ever.
 
maxflash04 said:
i agree with this person completely! do what you're most passionate in. if you're more geared for researching rather than clinical, go for it. personally, i have absolutely 0 interest in researching; i spend 99.9% of my time shadowing, in surgery, etc.
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I too agree. I haven't done any research, and I'm a-ok.
 
No, but it doesn't hurt!

Medical schools/hospitals have to keep a certain amount of cheap labor around during the summertime so that they can keep accredidation so right about Feb of 1st year hospitals will literally begin recruiting you to come do research w/ them. The more experience you have the better.
 
you learn 1000x's more doing actual physical research than you ever will in a classroom. when you actually do work in a lab, a lot of times the theory you learn in class goes right out the window. you can spend an entire semster and get 0 results, but you learn so much more through failure than sitting down reading a textbook learning theory that is "supposed" to work.
 
From what I have learned so far, If I were advising someone who planned on applying to med school, I would say that research experience is essential - unless you are a non-trad applicant. It pains me to say it, but it is. Not just for the top tier schools either.
 
etf said:
From what I have learned so far, If I were advising someone who planned on applying to med school, I would say that research experience is essential - unless you are a non-trad applicant. It pains me to say it, but it is. Not just for the top tier schools either.
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Unless your definition of "essential" is different from mine, what you've learned so far must not include reading the rest of this thread. There are many successful applicants on SDN who have done no research. So while you may still consider it very helpful to do, it's certainly not vital.
 
It is NOT essential if you look at where you apply. It is essential for pretty much every school at the top. Many state and even some private schools pay no mind to research.
 
Again, not. Plenty of my classmates (top ten) didn't do any research at all. Maybe they're a minority, but a significant one. You absolutely do need to distinguish yourself, but research is not the only way.
 
I've done above average amount of research (3+ years) with a publication and a thesis.

While interviewers asked me about my research, I don't think it played a HUGE role in my application. Looking back, I wish I would've done more ECs instead of putting so much time into research. Work on improving your ECs to distinguish yourself. I don't see how you can distinguish yourself w/ research unless you win some kinda prominent national award/grant/scholarship.
 
I also have done a fair amount of research (master's in virology + several pubs), but I found that interviewers were more interested in my clinical experience than my research. However, I have heard that pubs can set you apart more while you are applying to residencies.

But, I agree, just pursue what you are interested in. Is it worth it to spend your free time in a lab (or other research setting) so that you might look more impressive to a research-oriented school, when you never wanted to do research in the first place? IMO, if you spend your time doing what you care about, you'll end up at a school that is strong in those areas and ultimately that would be a better fit in the long run.
 
star22 said:
But, I agree, just pursue what you are interested in. Is it worth it to spend your free time in a lab (or other research setting) so that you might look more impressive to a research-oriented school, when you never wanted to do research in the first place? IMO, if you spend your time doing what you care about, you'll end up at a school that is strong in those areas and ultimately that would be a better fit in the long run.
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That's a really great perspective. I hadn't thought of it that way before. Personally I don't plan on doing any research (maybe a bit in a genetics lab because I find it interesting but not really for a med school app). But when I'm done with med school I really just want to practice in an underserved setting, so maybe it's okay that I haven't done research. The school that are interested in people like me (and will prepare me most for what I want to do) aren't really interested in research anyway.
 
my old and first research lab, which has quite a... um.... low standard of safety (i didn't know this until 2 years later when i went to a different job!)
anyway, the senior researcher in the lab mouth pipeted everything. it creeped me out. she was so smart and nice, but.... just... didn't see a problem with it.
 
Anastasis,

I personally did not do any research, (except work at a genetics lab), and I got into medical school. But I did a lot of EC's that I loved such as volunteering with a group home and children's clinic in mexico for 4 yrs...
Definitely do what you love, it will show in your interview, and that will make you different =).
 
jaylicious said:
Is research necessary to get into medical school? Does anyone have any thoughts? I hate pipetting....
Click to expand...

If it's just the pipetting and other related activities that bother you, you might give some thought to Clinical Research. These projects are harder to get because you actually have to form a relationship with a doctor, but its an awesome thing to have done because 1: its different and 2:its a much more meaningful clinical experience than "I shadowed Dr X for two weeks and saw cool things." It forces you to think about medical decisions and their impact on patients. It can be intimidating so its not for everyone but I highly recomend it.
 
jaylicious said:
Is research necessary to get into medical school? Does anyone have any thoughts? I hate pipetting....
Click to expand...

If its just the tedium of bench research that you dislike, you might try to find a Clinical Research project. It's a bit harder to get because you have to build a relationship with a doctor, but it can make for both a great research experience (you have to learn all the background on your topic) and an awesome clinical experience (Much more meanigful than "I shadowed Dr X for a week") I highly recomend it.
 
maybe what i said earlier was a little extreme, but the bottom line is if i could go back and do it again, i would have wanted to have some research experience. obviously people get into great places without it, but i kinda feel like it's become some sort of unstated requirement. then again, what do i know?
 
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