Hi, I just registered. Have one question about Research.

[Guest spaceboy1]

Hi,

 

I have been reading this forum for about an hour and I am very impress! There is so much useful and fun things here about medicine (etc.) So I decided to registered!

 

Anyway, I thought I would just say "hi". And I have one question about Research Experience. Does it play a major factor into getting into Med School?

 

The reason I ask is because I have NO research experience! Most med school application (I think) ex. OMSAS, ask for research experience. So does it look bad if you have no research experience? Thanks for your answers in advance.

 

Peace.

[Guest Tanya24]

Hello spaceboy,

There is no one major factor in having a good application! While it certainly may be to your advantage to have research experience, it is definitely not necessary. You may want to check out the websites of the Ontario schools. Western, for example, does not know anything about your personal life until you enter the interview! I know plenty of applicants with years of research who did not even get interviews in Ontario schools. On the other hand, many of my classmates at Ottawa have little to no research experience (myself included!) and we were accepted.

 

Think of it this way: there is nothing you can do at this point regarding research (the OMSAS deadline is a month away!!). So just focus on the rest of your application. It does not look "bad" that research is missing. If you have some well-rounded, quality experiences for the other categories, then you probably have the fixings for a good application. Can't hurt.

 

By the way, if you completed an undergraduate thesis, this DOES count under the research category! Good luck.

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

Research is a thing that, although not necessarily required for a medical school application, it cannot hurt. This may be especially true for schools where research is an integral part of their medical school values.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest peachy]

I doubt that there's any one thing that every single student in my class has done, whether it's research, volunteering in a hospital, or any other standard premed extracurricular. Why should you waste time doing research if you have no interest in it?

 

In any case, in my opinion, it's a bad idea to approach it as a "missing" piece to your application. Just know and be able to explain the (no doubt excellent ) reasons why you chose not to do it.

[Guest spaceboy1]

Thanks for the response Tayna24, Kristeen, and Peachy. It made me feel a little better because a lot of people I know were saying that Medical School “likes” students who have research experience. They said that your chance of getting in is better if you have some research. I thought this was true. Or is it?

 

Tayna24, thanks for the reminder about the OMSAS deadline. I’m actually not applying this year (for entering class of 2004). I am thinking of applying for the entering class of 2005. I was just looking at the OMSAS application to see what to expect. I still have like one more year to improve myself. Do you guys think I should go and try to get some research experience? Or is there some other things to do that are more important?

 

Again, thanks for your response. Sorry for the delay I have been so busy working on my work term report, I just got finished!:rollin

 

Peace

[Guest Tanya24]

Hi spaceboy,

After my degrees, I took a year off of school before applying to Ottawa. I worked, studied for the MCAT, and generally fretted about my application 24-7. I ALSO decided to volunteer for a research project at my home university. There were 2 reasons why. Firstly, I had sincere interest in the field (diabetes) and a desire to do some career exploration. Secondly..... I must be honest... I DID think it would help my meds application. I would by lying to myself if I denied this.

 

If you are satisfied with the other areas of your application (volunteering, hobbies) and have an honest interest in learning more about the research field, then I think it is a good idea to get involved for a year. There is no shame in that. After all, don't many of us volunteer in hospitals partially because we want to get into medicine??

 

HOWEVER, make it clear to your superiors that you are only interesting in committing for a finite period of time because you are considering going back to school. That way you are not letting anyone down or letting the project become too dependent on you.

 

In summary, don't do research for the sole reason of slapping it on your OMSAS application. Med schools will see RIGHT through this. Do it only if you feel you would enjoy, contribute, and learn from it at the same time. If not, then just focus on other meaningful areas of your extracurricular life. Remember the old premed cliche: quality, not quantity.

 

That's my 2 cents! Good luck. T.