Taking a year off during med school: MPH or research year?

[Perpetually]

Hi everyone,

After searching the forums, I could not find any recent threads addressing my specific question.

I am interested in radiology and also working in academics/ research in my career. If I take a year off between MS3 and 4, what do you all think will be more beneficial to help reach these career goals?

-Spend a year of doing research. Trying, hopefully, for publications and spending time in the radiology department. Hopefully I can get funding and not be in additional debt for this year.

-Spend a year getting an MPH (focus on quantitative methods/ biostats) at a top 5 MPH program. This will cost like 70k with living expenses ect.

Thanks and please let me know about your personal experiences if you pursued either of the above options yourself.

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[Smokemont]

Is this a serious question? Without a doubt research...

 

[maxxor]

You should ask on the Radiology forums...

There's a lot of "it depends" going on in here. We'd need to know what med school you're at, what MPH, and what kind of research you'd have access to.

The only MPH program I'd recommend for someone going into Radiology would be the one with a focus on Informatics at Harvard School of Public Health run by Ramin Khorasani, as that gives you huge connections to the radiology informatics infrastructure at BWH.

Otherwise, research is probably better endeavor. Radiology is one of the fields where if you have good stats / grades / recs, research isn't as required. It's a plus and can take you from a Great Applicant to an Excellent Applicant, but it's by no means required.

 

[dyspareunia]

Hi everyone,

After searching the forums, I could not find any recent threads addressing my specific question.

I am interested in radiology and also working in academics/ research in my career. If I take a year off between MS3 and 4, what do you all think will be more beneficial to help reach these career goals?

-Spend a year of doing research. Trying, hopefully, for publications and spending time in the radiology department. Hopefully I can get funding and not be in additional debt for this year.

-Spend a year getting an MPH (focus on quantitative methods/ biostats) at a top 5 MPH program. This will cost like 70k with living expenses ect.

Thanks and please let me know about your personal experiences if you pursued either of the above options yourself.

Sounds like a pre-med question...

Edit: Oh

Status:
Pre-Medical

 

[maxxor]

Profile search reveals it's an MS1 going to NYMC.

 

[Psai]

lol mph. it won't be worth the paper your diploma is printed on

 

[Perpetually]

Maxxor, I appreciate the info.

 

[JoshSt]

Hi everyone,

After searching the forums, I could not find any recent threads addressing my specific question.

I am interested in radiology and also working in academics/ research in my career. If I take a year off between MS3 and 4, what do you all think will be more beneficial to help reach these career goals?

-Spend a year of doing research. Trying, hopefully, for publications and spending time in the radiology department. Hopefully I can get funding and not be in additional debt for this year.

-Spend a year getting an MPH (focus on quantitative methods/ biostats) at a top 5 MPH program. This will cost like 70k with living expenses ect.

Thanks and please let me know about your personal experiences if you pursued either of the above options yourself.

OP,

Don't take a year off. A good research project can be started and published granted you start doing one before or at the very beginning of MS3. Start becoming familiar with your rad department and express your interest in projects. Unless already associated with a lab, don't do basic science research. Clinical projects are typically easier and a good way to get a LoR from an MD.

Unless you have ties with a very prominent researcher and plan on getting a first author pub in NEJM or Nature during a potential research year, there's not a point in delaying your residency start date. Getting an MPH has no significance at your level, it would not help your residency application. MD candidates and MDs usually pursue an MPH to either 1) get into med school as a premed or 2) advance in the academic world as an attending (taking online classes and/or night classes).

As other posters mentioned, research isn't absolutely required for rads. It helps and may be more or less required to have a shot at matching at the very top, top 3 to 5 programs but focus primarily on your grades and Step 1. That being said, it does sound like research interests you. I do encourage you to pursue it, but during your MS2 and MS3 years, not in a year off. Believe me, it can be done and done well with high quality publications. You need to be assertive in introducing yourself now to the rads department -- get a sense of who is ambitious to serve as a research mentor for you and let you do a first-author project.

 

[evilbooyaa]

If you're going into radiology, the only thing that will help your residency application in a meaningful manner will be research. That being said, research really is NOT necessary for most prospective radiology residents. As others have stated, it can push you from a good applicant to an outstanding applicant (if you're interested in top of the line radiology programs).

 

[bluefalcon32]

Do research pubs before med school count/can they count in one's ERAS application to show a longstanding research contribution/interest to a field?

 

[BurghStudent]

Do research pubs before med school count/can they count in one's ERAS application to show a longstanding research contribution/interest to a field?

Yep. Although PDs put a greater emphasis on your most recent work.

 

[bluefalcon32]

It seems that Research >> Volunteering > other clubs/ECs in terms of making one a competitive applicant for top programs correct?

 

[sinombre]

It seems that Research >> Volunteering > other clubs/ECs in terms of making one a competitive applicant for top programs correct?

Correct. A word of caution: be careful about diving headfirst into a research project as soon as you start. Med school is an entirely different beast than undergrad, and you want to make sure you understand how much time it takes to succeed academically before you start looking for ways to make yourself "competitive." Once you feel confident that you know how much time you have to dedicate to studying, then start looking for research opportunities. You don't want to bite off more than you can chew, and not doing research for the first ~6 months of med school will not close any doors. Failing a class might though.

 

[evilbooyaa]

Do research pubs before med school count/can they count in one's ERAS application to show a longstanding research contribution/interest to a field?

Yes

It seems that Research >> Volunteering > other clubs/ECs in terms of making one a competitive applicant for top programs correct?

Yes, unless your volunteering/EC is something super special and super rare. 9/10 times, research will trump everything else.

That being said, sinombre's post is spot on. especially this line:

"You don't want to bite off more than you can chew, and not doing research for the first ~6 months of med school will not close any doors. Failing a class might though."

 

[bluefalcon32]

@evilbooyaa and @sinombre, thank you for your wisdom and clarifications. I will heed your advice but my school is P/F the first 2 yrs and so it may be a tad easier to engage in research. Nonetheless, I hope to begin little by little and talk with my PI and see how responsive he/she is. Devoting 3-5 hrs a wk at the start doesn't seem like too much. However, things may change but I will not sacrifice school work for research. That I promise.