How important is research for matching a "good" IM program? Goal is cardiology

[Wahed]

Question:
Is research required to match a "good" IM program? Here I am defining "good" IM program as one that will boost my chances of matching into a cardiology fellowship and not hold me back from it.

Background:
I'm a current M3 (mid-tier US MD school) with almost zero research experience. I did about a year in an environmental science lab in undergrad but thats it (no pubs). I haven't done any research yet in med school because I had a major health scare in the first few months of M1 (after a million tests and MRIs it turned out to be "nothing"), which resulted in major health anxiety/PTSD that ****ed me up majorly for most of M1 and about 2/3rds of M2. I was barely passing exams because studying diseases was so anxiety inducing. Towards the end of M2 I got on an SSRI, discovered meditation, started feeling better, and managed to grind for a decent Step 1 score (230-235 range). Now that I'm finally feeling like my old self again I want to do everything I can to make up for lost time and keep the door open for a possible cardiology fellowship. I think I would be very happy as a hospitalist or even doing ambulatory medicine in a clinic, but I feel a really strong pull towards cardiology and I want to pursue it as best I can.

From what I've gathered, matching cardiology fellowship is much easier if you come from a really solid IM program. Should I scramble to get involved with research during third year? Should I take a research year? Does it matter? Maybe I should put all of my energy into just doing as well as possible on rotations and Step 2?

Also, I recently shadowed some cardiology fellows at my hospital and had an awesome experience. I spent an entire afternoon watching them read echocardiograms and my mind was blown. It was the single coolest medical experience I've had so far. Should I maybe reach out to them and ask if they know of any research opportunities? To be honest I dont really have any idea how people even find research but it seems like my experience with those fellows might be a good foot in the door?

(I do have a **** ton of somewhat impressive extracurriculars from undergrad, and I was president of several student orgs in M2 - but I'm guessing no one gives a **** about any of that)

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[NewYorkDoctors]

Depends what your career goals are

if you want to be a top researcher / academician and be a professor of cardiology one day at a top institution then you bet you need a research pedigree starting in Med school - then leading to a top research IM program .

if you want to be a private practice doctor who takes excellent care of his patients (and make a lot of money while you’re at it ) , then you don’t need any research at all . But no research means no entry to top research oriented fellowships .

however if you have strict geographical limitations for fellowship , then you will maximize your chances by going to a top residency.

This advice holds true for most of the competitive IM subspecialties .

these are rather extreme examples. The best practical advice I can give is go for the best IM program you can get with an in house cards fellowship . Then as an intern get involved with projects . Do everything you can . No one expects an intern to lead multinational RCTs . But if you can get case reports (as a manuscript not just an abstract poster ) and chart review projects published in pubmed (again no one expects JACC or anything ) for the cardiology faculty (because publications are a form of capital for academic physicians ) then you will be way ahead of the game

addendum - yes you should ask the current cards fellows how you can them with the scutwork for their fellowship research projects . They ultimately will need to do the heavy lifting but if you are some middle of the byline author in exchange for scutwork (data entry and literature search ) they will much appreciate it . Free time is a form of capital for fellows .

 

[barcu2010]

Agree with above.

If your goal is just to match to an IM program that will make Cardiology possible, then you should be fine without significant research. Especially coming from a decent MD school with an average step 1 score, you can likely match to a pretty good IM program as long as you do well in your rotations, get good LORs, and get a better and improved step 2 score (take it early so programs can see). Doing those three things will likely be enough to get you into a solid academic IM program where cardiology fellowship would be within reach if you do well as a resident and start engaging with research then.

If your goal is to match into the best IM program possible to match to the best cardiology program possible, then research is likely necessary now.

Research is also a good way to gauge your interest in a field and make connections, which can potential improve your LORs and chance of matching regardless of research productivity. But again, it is a delicate balance to not risk the other, more important parts of your application (board scores, other LORs, clinical grades). I don't think it would hurt to chat with some of the fellows and see what may be available you can assist with, though I do not think heroic measures are needed and you certainly do not need to take a research year.

Research is heavily talked up on SDN and it seems like everyone has a significant amount. However, this is not the norm. While it certainly can help an application, board scores, LORs, clinical grades are still going to be the most important factors, especially for IM.

 

[Wahed]

Depends what your career goals are

if you want to be a top researcher / academician and be a professor of cardiology one day at a top institution then you bet you need a research pedigree starting in Med school - then leading to a top research IM program .

if you want to be a private practice doctor who takes excellent care of his patients (and make a lot of money while you’re at it ) , then you don’t need any research at all . But no research means no entry to top research oriented fellowships .

however if you have strict geographical limitations for fellowship , then you will maximize your chances by going to a top residency.

This advice holds true for most of the competitive IM subspecialties .

these are rather extreme examples. The best practical advice I can give is go for the best IM program you can get with an in house cards fellowship . Then as an intern get involved with projects . Do everything you can . No one expects an intern to lead multinational RCTs . But if you can get case reports (as a manuscript not just an abstract poster ) and chart review projects published in pubmed (again no one expects JACC or anything ) for the cardiology faculty (because publications are a form of capital for academic physicians ) then you will be way ahead of the game

addendum - yes you should ask the current cards fellows how you can them with the scutwork for their fellowship research projects . They ultimately will need to do the heavy lifting but if you are some middle of the byline author in exchange for scutwork (data entry and literature search ) they will much appreciate it . Free time is a form of capital for fellows .

Agree with above.

If your goal is just to match to an IM program that will make Cardiology possible, then you should be fine without significant research. Especially coming from a decent MD school with an average step 1 score, you can likely match to a pretty good IM program as long as you do well in your rotations, get good LORs, and get a better and improved step 2 score (take it early so programs can see). Doing those three things will likely be enough to get you into a solid academic IM program where cardiology fellowship would be within reach if you do well as a resident and start engaging with research then.

If your goal is to match into the best IM program possible to match to the best cardiology program possible, then research is likely necessary now.

Research is also a good way to gauge your interest in a field and make connections, which can potential improve your LORs and chance of matching regardless of research productivity. But again, it is a delicate balance to not risk the other, more important parts of your application (board scores, other LORs, clinical grades). I don't think it would hurt to chat with some of the fellows and see what may be available you can assist with, though I do not think heroic measures are needed and you certainly do not need to take a research year.

Research is heavily talked up on SDN and it seems like everyone has a significant amount. However, this is not the norm. While it certainly can help an application, board scores, LORs, clinical grades are still going to be the most important factors, especially for IM.

Thank you all for this, I really appreciate your responses.

 

[Meerkatology]

do some research (sorry for pun) ahead of time on the programs you apply to. each program has different strength's in terms of matching for subspecialties, just because a program is top tier doesnt necessarily mean it has great match opportunities for the particular subspecialty u want. on the same note, certain middle tier programs may have good match rates for certain specialties becuase they have special connections/resources in that area.

alot of matching into a subspecialty depends on what you do while ur in the program, making connections with attendings in that specialty, maybe getting involved in their research a bit etc.

 

[shouldigomd]

It is not required. I am a carib IMG cards fellow who had zero research from med school and got into a mid tier US academic IM program. Now in a similarly tiered cards university program. That being said just reach out to a cards fellow and get involved. You don't have to publish anything or even finish anything but then you can put it on the resume and it will help you. Research / publications for 95% of people is a game.

 

[Future_HeartMD]

It is not required. I am a carib IMG cards fellow who had zero research from med school and got into a mid tier US academic IM program. Now in a similarly tiered cards university program. That being said just reach out to a cards fellow and get involved. You don't have to publish anything or even finish anything but then you can put it on the resume and it will help you. Research / publications for 95% of people is a game.

Are you recommending reaching out to a cards fellow when in residency or in med school?

 

[shouldigomd]

Are you recommending reaching out to a cards fellow when in residency or in med school?

Yes, very easy to get involved if you just ask.