Doing remote research in a med school very far away

[and 99 others]

I'm having trouble finding research in my home institution. I'm wondering if it is commonplace or feasible to contact PIs at other institutions that are several states away who are in a field of interest and ask if they have options for remote work. What are the obstacles/downsides to this? I understand that PIs might prefer to give opportunities to their own students but anything other than that? I'm also wondering how effective this would be as a means to get one's name floating around an institution/program that they otherwise have no connection to but would later be interested in doing away rotations at/go to for residency.

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[collegestud2013]

I'm having trouble finding research in my home institution. I'm wondering if it is commonplace or feasible to contact PIs at other institutions that are several states away who are in a field of interest and ask if they have options for remote work. What are the obstacles/downsides to this? I understand that PIs might prefer to give opportunities to their own students but anything other than that? I'm also wondering how effective this would be as a means to get one's name floating around an institution/program that they otherwise have no connection to but would later be interested in doing away rotations at/go to for residency.

Most PIs will be hesitant for such an arrangement if they've never met you in person at all. Usually this happens when someone starts a project at an away institution (eg during the summer for research) but wants to continue it once they return to their home med school. Also it will be difficult to get credentialed into another institution's systems (eg EMR for chart reviews) on a 100% remote basis.

Also the level of research you're mentioning is usually not required for most residency programs as a USMD unless you're dead set on going for the most competitive specialties like derm, plastic surgery, neurosurgery, or ENT. Probably don't need go through the hassle to get outside research if you want to do specialties like FM, EM, or peds. And even then you need to make sure the rest of your app is competitive; and the more common approach at most med schools is to take a year off for research.

 

[and 99 others]

Most PIs will be hesitant for such an arrangement if they've never met you in person at all. Usually this happens when someone starts a project at an away institution (eg during the summer for research) but wants to continue it once they return to their home med school. Also it will be difficult to get credentialed into another institution's systems (eg EMR for chart reviews) on a 100% remote basis.

Also the level of research you're mentioning is usually not required for most residency programs as a USMD unless you're dead set on going for the most competitive specialties like derm, plastic surgery, neurosurgery, or ENT. Probably don't need go through the hassle to get outside research if you want to do specialties like FM, EM, or peds. And even then you need to make sure the rest of your app is competitive; and the more common approach at most med schools is to take a year off for research.

Unfortunately, I am interested in those more competitive specialties and am trying to prepare for that. Would ideally prefer not to take a research year.

 

[collegestud2013]

Unfortunately, I am interested in those more competitive specialties and am trying to prepare for that. Would ideally prefer not to take a research year.

See what other successful applicants from your school have done. It will be easier if your institution has home residency for the specialty you're interested in. If your school allows enough time off for research in its usual academic schedule, see if there are other bigger research institutions in town or nearby where you can meet PIs to get in on projects (usually will need to meet in person periodically but a lot of data crunching and manuscript writing work can be done remotely). If your school isn't a big research school and doesn't have a home program in your specialty of interest, it's simply going to be much harder and uncertain to match into that competitive specialty without taking time off for research and making connections. Most of the applicants from my school (a "mid-tier" school by USNews research rankings) who successfully matched into the most competitive specialties like derm, ortho, neurosurgery, ophtho, or ENT took at least a research year (some were MD/PhD candidates), and that was in addition to already having strong Step 1 scores and higher class rankings. The ones that didn't take a year off usually either had connections (eg a parent was already a physician in same specialty as the student and knew program directors) or did a lot of research before med school (eg one had a PhD before starting med school).

It will now also be harder to gauge one's competitiveness for a specialty earlier on (especially the competitive ones with historically high Step scores) since Step 1 is pass/fall (usually in the past a unusually low Step 1 score was a way for med students to self-select out of a competitive specialty before they dedicated more effort for pursing a specialty they have a low chance of matching). Now you'll need to wait until Step 2 scores come back to gauge competitiveness, though by that point you have already dedicated much more effort into building an app and doing tons of research for it. Research years are most commonly done between the M3 and M4 years so people have a good idea of how competitive the rest of their app stands before dedicating a whole year towards something they have a low chance of getting.

 

[guytakingboards]

I'm having trouble finding research in my home institution. I'm wondering if it is commonplace or feasible to contact PIs at other institutions that are several states away who are in a field of interest and ask if they have options for remote work. What are the obstacles/downsides to this? I understand that PIs might prefer to give opportunities to their own students but anything other than that? I'm also wondering how effective this would be as a means to get one's name floating around an institution/program that they otherwise have no connection to but would later be interested in doing away rotations at/go to for residency.

Research at a local institution can be difficult enough as-is communication wise. Successfully executing a research project without any in-person communication seems like a long-shot at best.

 

[Niwrad]

Definitely reach out though if you really want it. While remote work is usually uncommon, there are definitely PIs looking for assistance and if you can relocate for an extended duration, ideally 9-12 months then you'll almost be assured connections to a residency program.

However it'll be in that state, obviously.

Louisiana may be one place to start.

 

[and 99 others]

It seems like the deck is stacked against finding a good opportunity but I guess there's no harm in trying. Does anyone have advice on how I could approach the topic with a PI? Just telling them straight up that I can't find any research at my home institution and that I am interested in their field or keep it short and sweet that I just want to get involved in some research with them?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You can modify the template in the article:

Finding Undergraduate Research - SDN

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