General Surgery and research

[A-poor-student]

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Currently an MS2 with interest in applying to either Gen Surg or IM/GI. I am a US MD student in a low-tier med school. Currently ranked in the Top 25% of my class but not high enough to get AOA. I have a couple of research experiences during medical school, a Summer project, and a project during MS1 both got me presentations at a conference but neither got published.

I am gonna be honest, research is not my thing. I want to focus more on grades, steps, and life in general. Do I need to publish to get in a decent Gen Surg program? I don't want a fellowship like Peds, or Surg Onc. But I want to keep my doors open for Bariatrics, Colorectal or MIS

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Just have something research wise and you will be ok if your grades/scores/LORs are good. There are a lot of quality surgery programs out there that might not have the flashiest name, but the training is good and good fellowship opportunities available.

 

[Darrow O'Lykos]

Just have something research wise and you will be ok if your grades/scores/LORs are good. There are a lot of quality surgery programs out there that might not have the flashiest name, but the training is good and good fellowship opportunities available.

How important do you think it is for someone interested in a surgical subspecialty to match into a GS surgical residency program with a fellowship in that field?

 

[DOVinciRobot]

How important do you think it is for someone interested in a surgical subspecialty to match into a GS surgical residency program with a fellowship in that field?

Depends on the field. Peds, Onc, or plastics? Very important. CRS/MIS/Trauma/Vascular? Not so much.

 

[Banco]

Do some to get some experience but you don't need to go crazy if you don't want. Some programs are highly competitive and value research, some don't - just have it for your CV and make sure you do well on step/clerkships/LORs. What you have so far is fine; getting a pub would be a cherry on top.

Regarding your fellowship choice, for the vast majority of people it's the research you do during residency that will set you up for that. Some require a lot (like oncology), while most don't have that emphasis.

 

[Browns99]

Do some to get some experience but you don't need to go crazy if you don't want. Some programs are highly competitive and value research, some don't - just have it for your CV and make sure you do well on step/clerkships/LORs. What you have so far is fine; getting a pub would be a cherry on top.

Regarding your fellowship choice, for the vast majority of people it's the research you do during residency that will set you up for that. Some require a lot (like oncology), while most don't have that emphasis.

Not sure I agree with your post. In the highly competitive specialities like DOvinci said, you absolutely may need research to be competitive. I know you mentioned that, but "just have it for your CV" and "getting a pub would be a cherry on top", is hardly sound advice, since competitive applicants have quite a few pubs.

To the OP, check the Residency Match Data and look at stats in regards to research and matched applicants and go from there.

 

[little_giant]

Did you find it doable to do general surgery research during 3rd year rotations and get pubs out of them?

 

[Doctor-S]

Currently an MS2 with interest in applying to either Gen Surg or IM/GI. I am a US MD student in a low-tier med school. Currently ranked in the Top 25% of my class but not high enough to get AOA. I have a couple of research experiences during medical school, a Summer project, and a project during MS1 both got me presentations at a conference but neither got published.

I am gonna be honest, research is not my thing. I want to focus more on grades, steps, and life in general. Do I need to publish to get in a decent Gen Surg program? I don't want a fellowship like Peds, or Surg Onc. But I want to keep my doors open for Bariatrics, Colorectal or MIS

To get a general idea, you can look at the "Mean Number of Abstracts, Presentations, and Publications of U.S. MD Seniors by Preferred Specialty and Match Status" provided by NRMP. Not surprisingly, the more competitive Gen Surg programs will often expect applicants to have more research experience/publications, and lots of applicants will be competing for the same slots, depending on the specialty. A competitive applicant should also have excellent recommendation letters, solid scores and solid grades, as mentioned by other posters.

 

[A-poor-student]

thanks to everyone for their answer.

To answer a couple of questions, I don't think I can get a pub in the third year, a presentation maybe but my school research PI's are not very active in publishing.

 

[Banco]

Not sure I agree with your post. In the highly competitive specialities like DOvinci said, you absolutely may need research to be competitive. I know you mentioned that, but "just have it for your CV" and "getting a pub would be a cherry on top", is hardly sound advice, since competitive applicants have quite a few pubs.

To the OP, check the Residency Match Data and look at stats in regards to research and matched applicants and go from there.

I'm speaking of general surgery residency. You're right that the more of anything the better, but OP is someone who isn't really into research. If you've gotten your feet wet and have some skills/productivity to show for it (like OP's presentations), that can suffice as long as the rest of the application is solid. No need to waste your time on something you dislike after a certain point.

Fellowship is a different matter, and for that research during residency is more important.