No Research how bad does it hurt?

[gonakillmcat]

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I had a question about how important research is to schools. I know some like U of C almost require it but i am wondering what other schools like Northwestern and Case Western think about it. I do have over 300 hours of volunteering in the E.R. if that makes up for not....not sure.. just wondering

 

[notJERRYFALWELL]

If you're not applying MD-PhD, you don't need research.

 

[gonakillmcat]

i am only applying to an MD program. THank u

 

[AJM]

It depends on the school. At some schools, it's very important that you either have done research or are interested in doing research in the future. At other schools it's not so important. As a start, you can take a look at the school's websites that you're interested in to see whether they emphasize academic medicine.

 

[notJERRYFALWELL]

Unless you're planning on going into research in the future, there's no point in doing it undergrad as just another bullet in your resume. Your ER volunteering experience is more than enough. No school requires it; adcoms do like it, as long as you're actually getting something out of it, rather than just enhancing your application.

 

[Squat n Squeeze]

To the OP, I strongly suggest that you get some research under your belt. I don't know your other stats, but if you want to be competitive for the top 20 schools, you should do some research.

 

[BerkeleyPremed]

If you plan on pursuing academic medicine in the future, I highly recommend doing research. I'll probably stay at my school an extra year just to do research. However, I doubt that lack of research will really affect your chances of admission at most schools. There are many different way to set yourself apart from the rest of the premeds out there. Did you have any other extra-curricular interests while in undergrad? What else did you do besides volunteering at your local hospital? From my experience, it's usually better to do activities that thousands of other premeds won't have on their application (that's why I'm not volunteering at a local hospital). Also, any leadership positions in activities will also be looked upon favorably.

 

[mikestuy]

having research experience certainly doesnt hurt.

you never know who you will get as an interviewer. some might have a PhD. this happened to me on several occasions. and maybe half concentrated on my research experience and almost nothing else.