<p>Hey all,
I’m a freshman at Brown planning on going on to medical school when I graduate, and I want to shoot for some of the top-tier medical schools. However, after working in a lab one summer in high school, I found out that I don’t enjoy doing research. This seems to be problematic, as research seems to be one of the better ways to get into a good medical school.</p>
<p>My question, then, is this: can I still get into a good medical school without doing any research?</p>
<p>My extracurriculars will probably consist of working for Brown EMS as an EMT, working a few shifts at Health Services, shadowing doctors every once and awhile, and working with elementary school students as part of an after-school mentoring program.</p>
<p>At top-tier med schools, most students do research (70%+ and 80% of students at Yale and WashU Med for example do research during medical school). Why would you want to put yourself in that kind of environment if you don’t like research?</p>
<p>1.) You can get into any medical school without research… but it’s pretty hard to get into a top research school – which is what I assume you mean by “top” school – without it. This is appropriate. You’ll be fighting for 6% of Stanford’s spots, or 8% of Hopkins’, or 10% of WUSTL’s. So it’s a tough battle. Brutal, in fact, if you’re not packing some pretty big guns in that application (some of which you would have to have been born with).</p>
<p>2.) Hypothetically, let’s say you really dislike research. More importantly than your difficulty gaining admission, you will not belong at those schools. They talk about research a lot. Most students are expected to do research – and while it’s not required, those who skip do not fit into the campus culture. (In fact, I can’t think of a single one of my classmates who skipped.) At the very least, you are expected to listen to it a lot, think about it a lot, and read about it. A lot. In other words, if you really dislike it that much – you should not want to go to one of these schools. They are the top research schools for a reason.</p>
<p>3.) Many of the “top-tier” residencies – again, using the same definition – actually do require research years, and you will be expected to be writing up case reports for publication and presentation throughout your clinical years as well. </p>
<p>One thing that I’m having trouble finding out on my own is the differences between medical schools. I know there are some that are generally thought of as top-tier, and some that are considered lower on the spectrum. Beyond that, though, I haven’t yet found information on each medical schools’ focus.</p>
<p>I’m more interested in the health system as a whole, and doing aid work in other countries when I grow up, so I guess my focus would be more primary care. Any thoughts on what medical schools make that their focus?</p>
<p>It depends on exactly what you mean. The “health system as a whole” implies policy work, and you’ll want to be in an academic setting – a research-based setting – for that. Actually performing clinical service in another country, on the other hand, should be pretty accessible no matter where you go.</p>
<p>Bear in mind that not all research has to be at a science bench. You will still run into the aforementioned problems in campus culture, and you might in admissions, too (we don’t know), but clinical or social science research is research, too.</p>
<p>George Washington University sounds like a good school for you. Its location in DC makes it easy to do health policy stuff (I tuned out when they were going over the topic since I’m not that interested in health policy). They are not very research focused at all and have a strong clinical emphasis. In addition, their international medicine program is very very strong. They have a large number of established connections with foreign hospitals so that you can do a rotation or two abroad and a huge percentage of their students go abroad at some point in their med school careers. This is the school’s biggest selling point.</p>
<p>Obviously, it’s only one school but something to think about.</p>
<p>thanks so much norcalguy, I’ll keep that in mind. And if anyone else knows of medical schools with programs similar to GWU, I’d love to hear from y’all.</p>
<p>weill cornell sends many of its med students abroad. They do a lot of research there, however, and you may need to have done research to have a shot at the school.</p>