🚨❓Ask Us Anything with Maria Lofftus, Admissions Consultant: Clinical vs Research Experience

mlofftus

Hi, my name is Maria Lofftus and I am a Kaplan Medical School Admissions Consultant.

I am often asked by applicants which is more important to a medical school admissions committee, research, or clinical experience. They also want to know what makes a good clinical experience.  

Of all the components of your medical school application, your activities give an admissions committee the clearest picture of who you are and what you value. That’s because outside going to class and work, where you choose to spend your time, passions, knowledge, etc., reflects you. While medical school admissions committees want your activities to demonstrate that you are a whole person who is fulfilled by broadly contributing to making your community and the world a better place, they also want your activities to demonstrate that you have some understanding of what it means to be a physician and that your interpersonal and intrinsic qualities, make you well suited to the profession.

Most medical school admissions committees want a future physician to have research and clinical experiences. While why they want an applicant to have clinical experience may seem obvious (caring for patients is fundamentally part of the training and, for most physicians, part of their job description), why they want research may not be so clear. Physicians need to be curious, curious about what they don’t understand about their patient’s health and curious about the applicability of the latest research, technique, or innovation to their patient’s care. Applicants who participate in research with a goal of understanding the unknown demonstrate a different level of intellectual curiosity than those who don’t.

While there are other ways an applicant can effectively demonstrate intellectual curiosity besides participating in research, it is significantly more challenging to demonstrate an understanding of patient care without formal or informal clinical experience. While some admissions committees require an applicant to shadow a physician, most will accept a wide array of healthcare experiences. While some experiences require formal training and certification (such as a CNA or EMT), others, such as volunteering in the children’s ward of your local hospital, visiting hospice patients, volunteering in the medical respite center of your local shelter, or participating in medical service trips require your time and a willingness to complete in-house training. Regardless of what type of clinical experience you participate in, seek out activities you find interesting and meaningful. Then, spend the time needed for you to know (and be able to articulate to an admissions committee) that you are a good fit for the profession.

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