I am a MS1 interested in doing research after the winter break. Problem is, I am undecided as to what specialty I want to do, which is making it hard for me to figure out what kind of research to pursue. I feel as if my choices are so open-ended. How do you guys pick? One thing I do know is that I would prefer clinical over basic.
how to pick an area of research to do
- Thread starter Misopogon
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What if you decide to do another specialty besides that competitive one? Say, you do derm-related research but end up going for optho, how will that be looked upon by optho programs?
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While it would be better if the research were in ophtho, it's not going to hurt you. People change their minds all the time; these things happen.
Make a list of what youre interested in, start emailing faculty members in that field, and see if you can shadow them for a a few hours in January. The sooner you start exploring specialties, the sooner you'll get a sense of what you do and don't like
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It will still be looked upon favorably, though not as good as optho research and you'll have to bust your butt to get some optho pubs.
also, i might be stressing out too much on this thing, but when do i really need to do research and how much of it? it feels like i am not doing enough sometimes because i am not doing any ECs (dont want to, really), and only some volunteering to this point. i am mostly just studying (and doing well) but that's it. i know it is pubs that count but how much of it do you need for a good program in a competitive specialty?
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I think you already know the answer to your question. More is better. Can you match with 0 research? Sure. Maybe your dad is chair at MGH. Maybe you're charming as hell. Otherwise, the more you do the better your odds, the less you do the worse your odds.
If you do EM, though, you literally don't have to do any research, from the PDs I talked to when I was interested.
If you want an ultra competitive - ENT, plastics, derm, rad onc, optho - you need pubs. Unless you know someone.
If you do EM, though, you literally don't have to do any research, from the PDs I talked to when I was interested.
If you want an ultra competitive - ENT, plastics, derm, rad onc, optho - you need pubs. Unless you know someone.
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One of the most important choices you can make is whether you want to do medicine or surgery. Really, any inquiry-driven peer-reviewed research is good for residency. But if you know you want to specialize in a surgical specialty, you could at least start doing research in surgery, i.e. tissue regeneration, wound healing etc.
I would say go for a nice supervisor, especially one that can help you figure out short and long term goals (if you want to continue), you shouldn't be at a research lab for years before getting a publication. Don't stress out if you haven't found out what field you want to end up in. Research is always good, and the methods used are applicable in a lot of "fields". If you are doing electrophysiological studies in intestinal cells, there would be easy for you to continue doing studies on myocytes for example, or apply it in wound healing research for that matter.
Research is about critically analyzing and handling data. No matter if the enzyme is in the intestine or brain really - you will become educated in research not really become world-leading expert on an enzyme/gene/whatever whilst in medical school.
Research is about critically analyzing and handling data. No matter if the enzyme is in the intestine or brain really - you will become educated in research not really become world-leading expert on an enzyme/gene/whatever whilst in medical school.
