Kashish,

Well, research electives and clinical electives are both equally important and I feel that you need both on your CV/resume in order to be a competitive applicant for a residency position in the US.

As I understand it, usually people do research electives if they are in 4th year or below of med school and do clinical electives in their final year of med school.

I would personally recommend a research elective at JHU if you have the opportunity to do it---a good LOR (letter of recommendation) from a doctor at Johns Hopkins can open the door for other research or clinical electives later on.

Is the mediocre university you refer to in the United States or is it in India?