Research

[futuremed36]

How important do you guys think research and/or honour's degrees are to Dal Med? Is there anyone here who is applying with no research experience? Is it even worth it?

[kdcc]

I wouldn't say "only apply if you have research experience" - however, I do think that having some research experience is valuable to Dal Med. I was accepted for this fall, and this is a quote from the acceptance letter:

 

"The Class of 2017 will be the first to complete the new Research in Medicine program, a longitudinal curriculum stream that embeds research experience in medical training from day one - and carries it across all four years of the undergraduate program"

 

Based on this new curriculum I would say having research experience is beneficial. If you have a wicked MCAT score and GPA, and a ton of great EC's, but no research - you definitely should still apply. However, if you get the opportunity to do some research along the way, I wouldn't pass it up! On the honours note, I did an honours degree - despite being told not to as a med school hopeful. I was told that it is better to have a high GPA, than to struggle with the course load because of the extra research project you take on with an honours degree. My personal opinion, do the honours degree and find a project that you can get most of your research done the summer before you start 4th year (I know a bunch of students who did this). That way, you get your research experience in without jeopardizing your grades! Maybe even get a publication out of it! Hope this helps!