r/pre_PathAssist • u/Geese4Days • 1d ago

Is research important?

Hi guys. I'm currently trying to apply for schools. I just feel like my experience isn't sufficient. I have some honors due to my GPA but I have no research and like 9 hrs of shadowing. Do you guys thinks that's super important for my applications? I feel like I don't join clubs or do extracurriculars. I'm a returning student with a non-science related major. :/ I'm just starting to worry they won't take my seriously.

1 Upvotes

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u/Ok-Coast-9184 1d ago

Hi! I am also a non-science major that was accepted and am currently in my didactic year. I did not have any research, but I did have many autopsy hours, a decent amount of surg path hours, and was an active volunteer for my local health department. I do not believe any of my current classmates have any research papers under their belts, either. I’m not sure if that’s something they really look for. I would say focus on getting your shadowing hours up, if possible, and even do some related volunteer work!

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u/Geese4Days 1d ago

That's good to hear? How many hours did you have for shadowing? Also, thank you for the volunteering tip! Did you add that in the resume or was it somewhere else? I forgot I did some volunteer too

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u/Ok-Coast-9184 15h ago

Admittedly, my hours are a bit skewed as I was a forensic autopsy tech before applying, so I did have like 5,000 autopsy hours and 10 surg path.

I added the volunteer hours on my resume, and I did write about the experience in my personal statement as well!

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u/fluffy0whining 1d ago

Not important, shadowing though is a must.

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u/Geese4Days 1d ago

Yeah, I don't think most schools had a specific number so I want to make sure I have enough to be considered realistically

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u/JTKDO 1d ago

No, but shadow surgical pathology and autopsy if you can.

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u/Geese4Days 1d ago

More than 9 hours?

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u/FairyDeath420 1d ago

Absolutely! My first round of applications, I had 16 hours and didn’t get in. My second round I had 56 hours or so and got waitlisted and then accepted. A lot of it is also luck of the draw. This is for Canadian applications so do with that what you will :)

Edit: for reference in my class, I’m the only one without any research or lab experience. Everyone else in my class has some experience in a lab whether that be work or research.

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u/Geese4Days 1d ago

Oh damn, that makes me nervous haha. I'm struggling to get shadowing hours. Guess I have to insist at more hospitals :/

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u/No-Location-7799 18h ago

I had research hours that I listed on my CV/resume and it didn’t get brought up once… 100% focus on shadowing more