Questions about Research!

[meddesire]

How important is research experience to the app? Does it affect the schools that you're going to pick? (not talking about top 20 but 30, 40, 50 maybe included)
What do most people usually do/gain in the lab? And is it necessary to publish at least a paper before graduation? (for MD, not MD/PhD). What if you've never done anything related to any papers like analyzing, graphing, collecting data but just some general experiments?
Is the research grant counted as awards/honors or just a part of research experience?

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[cactusman]

How important is research experience to the app? Does it affect the schools that you're going to pick? (not talking about top 20 but 30, 40, 50 maybe included)

Some schools have research in their mission, the most commonly-used US News ranking is primarily based on research activity. Schools with a research focus prefer research experience but people have gotten into them without it.

And is it necessary to publish at least a paper before graduation? (for MD, not MD/PhD).

No, it's not necessary for most MD/PhD programs either.

What if you've never done anything related to any papers like analyzing, graphing, collecting data but just some general experiments?

What exactly do you mean? I'm assuming anyone who's taken Gen Chem has had to analyze, graph, and collect data. What "general experiments" would you do that don't involve those things?

Is the research grant counted as awards/honors or just a part of research experience?

Also depends on what you mean by grant. If you mean the grant received by the PI you work for, it's just a part of research experience. If you get a Goldwater scholarship, for example, count that as an award/honor.