How hard is it to get into research in med school? I mean assuming you have absolutely no research experience at all, is med school a place where you can learn, or is it too late at that point?
I guess it depends on your medical school. At my school if you want to do research you will get to do research, so not very difficult. Especially if you are interested in basic science/bench research. Schools (at least mine) also awards research scholarships to interested students. Now if you are set on studying a specific receptor that was just recently discovered in a rare genetic disease, then you are SOL.
There are also outside (extramural) opportunities for summer research fellowships, specifically for medical students. Usually one applies to these programs during their first year. However, they are somewhat competitive but if you are a decent applicant and apply to a few, you should get at least one of them. So, I would classify these as somewhat competitive. Obviously these are more focused projects with broader subjects.
Medical school is absolutely the place to learn about research and I highly encourage folks with even minimal interest in research to participate in projects during medical school. Part of being a physician is to contribute to the "collective knowledge" which can be accomplished through research.
And is it the research that residencies look for, or is it specific research? Let's say someone wanted to do one of the residencies that really like research like neurosurgery, originally intended on doing dermatology so they have a bunch of dermatology related research and absolutely no neurosurgery research. Wouldn't it be better to not take that chance and do generic research?
If you can get a project in your desired specialty that is obviously to your advantage. However, your research doesn't necessarily have to be related to your desired specialty.
Residency programs are looking for individuals who have shown a desire to do research and are going to contribute to their program. They are not necessarily looking for people who have done extensive research in their filed (although it would certainly help).
As I mentioned in my previous post, the key to the research project is your level of involvement in the project. Residency programs can care less if you were involved in research if your level of involvement included data entry or getting consent from patients (that doesn't mean anything as I can get a high school student to do that). However, if you were involved in the design, analysis, publication etc. then it actually counts as something.
Also as a side note, it is not just competitive specialties that look for research. Even if you want to go to an academic IM program, they also look for research. You can also go to any specialty without any research at all. The only difference is how far down the academic food chain you have to go in different specialties to be able to match without research.
pigeonhole yourself into a specific specialty that you may not be competitive for and spend your time studying?
Medical school is not all about grades and residency which is a message that is lost on SDN. You are getting a doctoral degree in a scientific field. You have to allow yourself to grow professionally and academically as much as possible.
Having said that, you have to make decent grades and that should be your priority. So you have to study as much as you need to accomplish that. But if you are asking that should one dedicate more time to be in top 20% vs top 30% of the class as opposed to spend that time doing research or academic activities, I would argue at the end of the day you are better off being in the top 30% with a major research project than top 20% with nothing else. On the other hand if you are in the bottom 10% of your class, unless you personally won the Nobel prize for your project you are better off studying more.
Lastly, I heard there's like no time during first 2 years besides the summer after first to do research, which is why I want to fully take advantage of my time now until August. I have a part-time tutoring job but if I get the "research project" out of the way now/do something useful now, I can do a medical mission next summer, which is what I'm interested in and my school offers too fortunately.
Also, if you have an attitude like the OP, you are better off not doing any research and just sticking to what you are passionate about! (IMO)
