research vs shadowing

[Cleavername]

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so for the next semester i can choose to either shadow physicians or do some research at my schools biochem department. here is the deal, i have done non of either. i don't plan on applying to any super compeptive schools, just the mid - low compeptive levels MD schools. what should i do?

 

[BBender716]

If you are not going super competitive and have no shadowing, you should definitely get some shadowing in. That stuff is essential. 👍

 

[Disinence2]

100% shadowing. Clinical experience is a must, research is not an absolute requirement.

 

[Cleavername]

ah, i been cranking out 20 hour a week clinical volunteering per week for the past 3 weeks, ima keep doing this til i stack to up to 200 - 300 hours in total. shadowing is gonna be a pain tho since i dont know any one really. i am a NY state resident, i look up my state schools in that book thing, MSAR? usually more than 60% of their accepted applicants seem to have some amounts of research.

should i be worried about this? why do i have a feeling i wont make it into medschool on the next cycle lol.

 

[Barcu]

so for the next semester i can choose to either shadow physicians or do some research at my schools biochem department. here is the deal, i have done non of either. i don't plan on applying to any super compeptive schools, just the mid - low compeptive levels MD schools. what should i do?

I will go the other way and say research.

Shadowing is important, but I have even heard some of the adcoms on here say that you do not need a ton of it. Clinical volunteering is good clinical experience, so you have that already. Some baseline shadowing is essential, but you don't need hundreds of hours. It can be picked up later.

Research, on the other hand, is quickly becoming a quasi-requirement for medical school. Certainly, people can get into schools without research, but you even said yourself that the majority of people applying to schools you are considering do research. Critically thinking in a research lab is much different than thinking in a class. That is why so many competitive candidates have it. It is very useful and something adcoms like.

 

[KTownGT]

Research this semester, and shadow a few hours a week next semester or during the Summer.

Duh!

EDIT: I knocked 120 hours done without much trouble pretty quickly this Summer.

 

[familyaerospace]

The research is probably better for your application. The shadowing less so, but it's easier to squeeze in before the application.

 

[QuizzicalApe]

Research is nice to have, clinical experience is absolutely mandatory. If you want to do the research now and can crank out some clinical experience another time, fine, but shadowing/clinical volunteering is something you need to have if you want your application process to be anything other than a frenzied crapshoot tilted toward failure.