How much time do you have to research in medical school?

[millepora]

I got into a medical school that has a lot of required rotations in my fourth year, so I am afraid that will really cut into the research time I have.

I have started to research competitive residencies, and it looks like a lot of the applicants have 3+ research experiences.

I figure I will have some time in my first summer, but otherwise, is there really any other other time during the first three years?

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[Catalystik]

It isn't impossible to continue with a research project during the MS2 year, if you're with a flexible lab. Some take off a year between the second and third year. Some have a bit of elective time in year 3, or get in a couple of elective months of research at the beginning of fourth year before they submit residency applications.

 

[thRob]

As a second year, I spend ~8 hours per week doing research. You shouldn't have a problem finding time to get something meaningful done during 1st+2nd year.

My advice? Just ask researchers at your university if they have any research problems that they want to look into but currently lack the man-power to investigate.

 

[URHere]

I agree that you can do research during your MS2 year, but most students don't. I spend about 20-25 hours/week in lab, but I don't know anyone else in my year who spends more than 5ish hours/week there...and I can count those people on one hand.

If you are worried about the number of experiences, why not take on two smaller projects during your MS1/MS2 year (probably easiest with clinical research) and then continue on with a lit review project during MS2/3/4? You could even do some follow up work for your original projects later on.

 

[umean2tellme]

I am starting some clinical research and plan to go in once or twice a week. It's surgical so most of what i'm doing is assessing patients with teh doc, scrubbing in on his cases, and recording data. Lab research would probably be really hard to do during school.

 

[Ativanigans]

For my research project I did all the data gathering in the summer between ms1 and ms2 and have been working on everything else ever since. Did a poster/abstract during the first half of ms2 and have been working on the manuscript for publication since then. It's a long, tedious process

 

[RxnMan]

Please do a search, as this question has been answered extensively. You will likely not have time to do work like a grad student, but there are longitudinal research tracks in most med schools. There are many opportunities outside of med school, and at every stage of MD-training, to get research experience. Check my research FAQ (link in my sig) for some of these opportunities.