Where academic/research achievements are valued more?

[Dr.Mash]

Hi, dear pre-med experts!

What's your take on which schools value academic and/or research achievements higher than extracurricular activities (by this I understand something not directly related to medicine), or in other words, which school applies more objective, vs subjective, metrics in their admission decisions? Thanks.

[peachy]

I don't agree that research achievements are more "objective" than extracurricular achievements. I also think that most schools look for students that have diverse backgrounds and are more interested in excellence in any area than in valuing one area more than the others.

[Dr.Mash]

Then how a med applicant having 900 hrs volunteering at a local community center under his/her belt, but a 24M MCAT 3.3 GPA, is better prepared than a 36P 4 GPA and 2 yrs research with the same professor? I don't believe that the volunteering alone would allow one to deal better with, say, a suicide attempt at an ER.

[Blake]

Shherbrooke medical school does. 75% of the ''admission score'' is based on academic performances.

[peachy]

Then how a med applicant having 900 hrs volunteering at a local community center under his/her belt, but a 24M MCAT 3.3 GPA, is better prepared than a 36P 4 GPA and 2 yrs research with the same professor? I don't believe that the volunteering alone would allow one to deal better with, say, a suicide attempt at an ER.

That's a false dichotomy. The first person isn't going to get into medical school no matter what. I would generally be more impressed with the 36P 4.0 with 900 hours volunteering than the 36P 4.0 with 2 years of research.

[BrendanJ]

everyone is so stats minded. Even volunteer work is assigned a number in your example, but the value in volunteer work is to provide a substantiated example of times when you've demonstrated personal characteristics of an individual compatible and ready for medicine. In other words: 900 hours at any random volunteer post with minimal explanation is peanuts compared to 100 hours of volunteer work shown to be developmentally valuable with regard to the adcom's standards for personal qualities.

 

Yes, minimum academic standards are important, and a minimum level should be met, but I think anyone who has a family doc or ever needed medical care would agree that the difference between an outstanding physician and a terrible one is not accounted for by a 4 point difference in MCAT or a .3 difference in GPA.

[BrendanJ]

oh and yes, I agree that your first individual with the 24 and 3.3 would not be admitted anyway.

[Madz25]

oh and yes, I agree that your first individual with the 24 and 3.3 would not be admitted anyway.

 

they would at dal...thats the IP minimum requirement and each year they admit at least 1 student with a 24...not sure about admissions of applicants with 3.3

[Thejuice]

I really disagree that research studies are given any kind of preference at all. I spent two years doing research and have publications, but that still didn't really add to my application at all. Actually for some reason, this year I didn't get any interviews at all, as opposed to the year before.

 

You should do what you love doing, if you love research, then do so but don't do it just because you think it would look good on your academic resume.