Research Experience Help

[merrybo]

Hello, I am in my third year of undergrad (bachelor of science) and I am planning to apply this summer for med school. However, I only recently started hearing more about research and how important it is. I obviously heard about research before but I didn't think it was that important until recently. But I am worried it is too late now to try to do research for this upcoming cycle of applications. and that's my question. Is it too late? I know people usually do them over the summer but I am doing the MCAT this summer, going on a trip for a week (it is a medical volunteer trip), writing the applications ofc and also will be gone for the month of August to go visit home. So I don't know what to do tbh. What would you guys recommend? Is it doable to do it this summer? Would that even be enough? Would really appreciate the advice!

[ExercMed]

I recommend taking a deep breath and chilling. Research is far from necessary to get into med. A lot of people just view it as a box that needs to be checked and in my opinion if you have the choice between counting cells for a summer or doing something more meaningful, do the latter. That being said, it's never too late to get involved in research. I didn't start until my 4th year of undergrad and I ended up tacking on an extra year to my undergrad just so I could do an honours because I enjoyed the work. Don't sacrifice doing well on the MCAT just to cram in some half assed research over the summer.