Fitting in ortho research while medical student

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Sthpawslugger

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I will matriculate Fall 2017 and have come to realize from looking at the schedule that there is little time to do any meaningful research in years 1 and 2. Exceptions are 1 week breaks mid-term, 2 weeks off during Christmas and 4 weeks off between summer 1 and 2. Would I be able to do any meaningful research during those breaks? Should I schedule an elective research away rotation (my school isn't an academic center)?

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It's busy, but you can make it work. I'd try to get settled in and make sure you're doing well in classes before you dedicate extra time to research. You can get started the summer between 1st and 2nd year, then continue working on that project or others following that.
 
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Th
It's busy, but you can make it work. I'd try to get settled in and make sure you're doing well in classes before you dedicate extra time to research. You can get started the summer between 1st and 2nd year, then continue working on that project or others following that.
Thank you for the response. I want to be competitive in every way possible, but I don't want to go overkill and burn out by filling every available opportunity with school-related activities. I'll take your advice on waiting till after yr 1. I'll certainly take advantage of the breaks in yr 1 to make them just that...breaks. travel with the s/o, visit family, and most importantly, reclaim my sanity even if briefly. Lol
 
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Focus on step I, don't be dumb like I was. Hopefully you are a good test taker unlike me.
 
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I will matriculate Fall 2017 and have come to realize from looking at the schedule that there is little time to do any meaningful research in years 1 and 2. Exceptions are 1 week breaks mid-term, 2 weeks off during Christmas and 4 weeks off between summer 1 and 2. Would I be able to do any meaningful research during those breaks? Should I schedule an elective research away rotation (my school isn't an academic center)?

I agree with MassMocha. While this advice may be dated, I took advantage of the time between MS1 and MS2 to do research for a few months. That led to several abstracts and papers. The nice thing about this period of time is simple: getting research into print takes time! Even if you are efficient, the publishing process is not. If you are clearly interested in orthopaedics it makes sense to build some orthopaedic mentors during MS1, do research either locally or elsewhere during the summer, and then build on that quickly before your focus shifts to dominating the Step 1 examination. Strange as it may seem, MS1 is your least busy time until the final 4-6 month of MS4 - take advantage!
 
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