research less important for DO schools?

[romanjetfighter]

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for my gap year applying to research 1 year program at a hospital or scribing. still unsure whether i can get into MD or DO since i am borderline but i was wondering since DO schools generally do less research, do they value research less? i hear some students at PCOM are doing more research.

p.s. in search function DO gets confused with the word do, so the results aren't as relevant to me. thanks

 

[sylvanthus]

I think it is safe to say that research in undergrad matters a lot less to DO schools than MD.

 

[Iliketoytles]

Yeah many DO schools aren't focused on research, so having it on your application is more of a "cherry on top" than a necessity.

You should do the scribe thing... it'll be great clinical experience and a unique opportunity.

 

[romanjetfighter]

ahh... i was hoping since DO schools were less research heavy (except UMDNJ n TCOM it seems) their applicants would be less researchy as well and having research would make me stand out a bit more!!

btw, the entering GPA of DO schools rising so much scares the crap out of me. 😀

 

[sylvanthus]

Id say scribe would prob help out more.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

I vote for scribe as well. Just do research if you're genuinely interested in the topic you're studying.

 

[slammer922]

This is actually an interesting question because a lot of tcom students have either some type of health background (emt,pharm, or scribe) or research background. So even tho it def not necessary it seems that tcom likes these ECs. I'd advice going with what you are lacking. I had hundreds of clinical hours already so I went the research route. Just got word of some papers going to press which will help down the line for residency. Good luck

 

[Postal]

I think its safe to say that DO schools don't care that much about research. At my school though, there are a lot of research opportunities. A lot of my classmates have research or some type of clinical experience/ other random health background. If you don't like research (i seriously dislike research), do something clinical.

 

[Dr.Ray]

for my gap year applying to research 1 year program at a hospital or scribing. still unsure whether i can get into MD or DO since i am borderline but i was wondering since DO schools generally do less research, do they value research less? i hear some students at PCOM are doing more research.

p.s. in search function DO gets confused with the word do, so the results aren't as relevant to me. thanks

1. do what you like
2. in an off chance you equally like research and scribing, i would say tie goes to research. Research will not only help you with your MD applications but also with residency match.

 

[poopyhead]

ahh... I was hoping since do schools were less research heavy (except umdnj n tcom it seems) their applicants would be less researchy as well and having research would make me stand out a bit more!!

Btw, the entering gpa of do schools rising so much scares the crap out of me.

http://www.jaoa.org/content/107/11/469/T6.expansion.html

Looking here, it's not just those two schools doing research.

OU-COM, MSU-COM, and CCOM have 11.5 M, 8.9 M, and 4.1 M, respectively.

What's surprising is UNECOM has 7.9 M, while two of the most established DO schools, PCOM and DMU-COM, only have 1.9 M and 0.7 M, respectively.

What's sad is WVSOM and PCSOM have 0, while a bunch don't even break 1 M. Hopefully, these numbers improved since 2004.

 

[Goro]

Concur here. We've never, ever rejected someone because they didn't do research.

I think it is safe to say that research in undergrad matters a lot less to DO schools than MD.

 

[whatbout2morrow]

for my gap year applying to research 1 year program at a hospital or scribing. still unsure whether i can get into MD or DO since i am borderline but i was wondering since DO schools generally do less research, do they value research less? i hear some students at PCOM are doing more research.

p.s. in search function DO gets confused with the word do, so the results aren't as relevant to me. thanks

Keeping 'borderline' in mind, a lack of clinical experience would hurt you more than lack of research experience.

However, if you already have other substantial clinical experiences to mention on your application, you probably would benefit more from the research experience.

 

[Quester]

Just a quickie here...does senior undergrad thesis count as 'research'?

 

[zoomzoom123]

I think if you did bench work for your senior thesis (pcr, gels, blots, etc) than you can count it as research.