Should I shadow or do research?

[Adbrin]

My university offers two programs for our senior year, URE and CURE. URE allows us to do lab-based research alongside our professors to help with their personnel research. CURE is similar, but more like a standard class and therefore less time consuming. My advisory says both are okay for medical school. What should I do? Do a research lab with a professor on a topic that might not be medical, or do the courses to give myself time for shadowing and volunteering.

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[jtd2081]

I worked in a research lab and scribed (basically shadowing). If I were in your position I would do research and shadow on the side (weekends perhaps). Gives you the best bang for your buck and will provide you with good experiences. Will also allow you to speak to different things in secondaries and whatnot. Just my two cents.

 

[Kpw101]

From my experience it's much harder to find research positions than volunteering/shadowing positions. Take the research position, find clinical volunteering opportunities in your area.

EDIT: I misunderstood your question, sorry. If you don't have time for both clinical volunteering and research: go with volunteering. Plenty of people get into a medical school with no research. You're shooting yourself in the foot with a bigger gun with no clinical experience/shadowing.