Please show me here where someone said research didn’t matter at all. I’ve read that research is not high on the list of considered items for medical school…but I don’t recall reading anywhere that it didn’t matter at all.
Some medical schools give preference to either regional applicants…or in the case you mentioned, students from a particular undergrad. But that doesn’t mean that a Yale undergrad degree will Trump a degree from a state university if all other factors are equal, and the student interviews well. There are factors that get you to the interview, but the student really needs to take it from there.
What I see most here is that one can take the requisite courses to get into medical school at any undergraduate college. The student needs to make sure that the requisite courses are offered…and I’d suggest seeing what advising is available to medical school wannabees.
My kid did undergrad research as an engineering major…not lab research. She was an honors recipient for her research. It was on her medical school applications. No one mentioned it…at all at her interview. But she had plenty of questions on her two year Peace Corps assignment. Oddly, 8 years later in her residency interviews, she was surprised to again be asked about the Peace Corps. No one even mentioned her undergrad school…never mind her research.
I’m not saying that research isn’t a factor. I have never said that. But it’s not a high factor. Is middle to lower in terms of what medical schools say they are looking for in applicants.