I don’t want to do research after coming from a successful research past. Would it look terrible for residencies?

[Latteandaprayer]

I’m an M1. Summer break is 6 weeks long, then we start on the wards. I really won’t have much time for research until M3 year. I am an MSTP (soon-to-be) dropout after realizing the PhD isn’t what I want anymore.

I have two first author publications from undergrad in a respectable journal. I know the process of research and publishing, I clearly loved it enough to try and make a career out of it. After some reflection and therapy, I’ve realized the career I want is in primary care, seeing patients as close to an 8-5 schedule as possible, and then leaving until Monday. I wouldn’t mind doing some research here and there, but I don’t want the high level of research a PhD would allow me to do.

Anyway, I’m thinking of IM-PC or FM, and would like to be in an urban/suburban area for residency and my career. Will not having medical school research significantly inhibit me? I know I can include pre-med school research, but the absence of med school research (+dropping the MSTP) might be bad. I don’t know for sure though, hence why I’m here…

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[Hzreio]

No lol people match FM regularly with 0 research.

 

[LunaOri]

Not at all! If you want to sign on to a small clinical research project in your 3rd year, it would be good, but it is not at all necessary. Primary care programs will appreciate that you have changed your focus.

 

[Latteandaprayer]

Not at all! If you want to sign on to a small clinical research project in your 3rd year, it would be good, but it is not at all necessary. Primary care programs will appreciate that you have changed your focus.

Even IM in more urban areas? I don’t need to be in Manhattan, but I don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere

I’m going to absolutely try and get research, but in the event that I can’t swing it, I was worried I’d be hamstrung

 

[ciestar]

No lol people match FM regularly with 0 research.

I got 32 FM interviews with zero research. Def not needed

 

[Dr G Oogle]

You’ll be fine

 

[LunaOri]

Even IM in more urban areas? I don’t need to be in Manhattan, but I don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere

I’m going to absolutely try and get research, but in the event that I can’t swing it, I was worried I’d be hamstrung

There are plenty of programs in urban areas that are not top-level academic powerhouses. You will be fine.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Agree this is not an issue. You will likely write about why you switched from a research career to primary care in your personal statement. Primary care programs will see this as a big plus -- another student saved from a life of research!

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

sorry, is this a sh*tpost? OP goes to a t20 and wonders whether they can match into a IM-PC or FM with only two first-authorship papers..... lmfao..

 

[mvenus929]

It may actually look better if you spent your time doing some sort of community outreach or advocacy activities. I got into a peds residency (now 8 years ago...) with 0 research but had a lot of community service activities that I did. I did have one case report that I discussed during interviews, but it never got published cause the attending I was working with basically never responded to emails and never helped guide me as to how to revise or where to submit, etc.

 

[Latteandaprayer]

sorry, is this a sh*tpost? OP goes to a t20 and wonders whether they can match into a IM-PC or FM with only two first-authorship papers..... lmfao..

So I understand why this sounds crazy, but I was reading other threads and many said stopping research in med school is a bad sign for top IM programs, and I got really nervous about where I could match that’s highly ranked and in a desirable location. I understand I might not match at a research powerhouse, but I don’t want to end up in a very lowly ranked program or in the middle of nowhere over this.

 

[FlowRate]

top IM programs

Why do you need to go to a top IM program? That's the sort of place most geared toward creating future sub-specialists and grinding you through lots of wards rotations. The only reason IMO you'd want to do IM with goal of future primary care would be if you want to do academic primary care in the Northeast. Otherwise a good FM program will better prepare you for full spectrum primary care practice.

 

[Latteandaprayer]

Why do you need to go to a top IM program? That's the sort of place most geared toward creating future sub-specialists and grinding you through lots of wards rotations. The only reason IMO you'd want to do IM with goal of future primary care would be if you want to do academic primary care in the Northeast. Otherwise a good FM program will better prepare you for full spectrum primary care practice.

Honestly it’s lingering neuroticism and a feeling that “I should be driven to be the best,” which is the mentality that carried me to medical school. Time to shed it I guess.

 

[FlowRate]

Honestly it’s lingering neuroticism and a feeling that “I should be driven to be the best,” which is the mentality that carried me to medical school. Time to shed it I guess.

I will say that I slightly overstate my case in that, having trained in the NE, I am still biased toward having an IM PC as my PCP... Just wanted to emphasize that it's probably not necessary to have "top IM" as a focus and that really sets you up for a more difficult road (e.g. needing to continue doing research, really high step scores, etc.)

 

[cj_cregg]

Honestly it’s lingering neuroticism and a feeling that “I should be driven to be the best,” which is the mentality that carried me to medical school. Time to shed it I guess.

I'd also add that some of the strongest FM programs that prepare you best for full spectrum practice (by which I mean outpatient primary care with lots of procedures and complex patients and not referral monkey-ing, with inpatient rounding and obstetrics if that's your jam) are NOT the traditionally recognized big names in the medical world. Most of these programs are in smaller cities with no other residency programs at the hospital. Research is seen at a plus at some places and many programs will be happy to support candidates interested in doing more scholarly activity, but far from a requirement. Community engagement, leadership, and advocacy tend to be more highly valued.

 

[Latteandaprayer]

I'd also add that some of the strongest FM programs that prepare you best for full spectrum practice (by which I mean outpatient primary care with lots of procedures and complex patients and not referral monkey-ing, with inpatient rounding and obstetrics if that's your jam) are NOT the traditionally recognized big names in the medical world. Most of these programs are in smaller cities with no other residency programs at the hospital. Research is seen at a plus at some places and many programs will be happy to support candidates interested in doing more scholarly activity, but far from a requirement. Community engagement, leadership, and advocacy tend to be more highly valued.

The bottleneck is that I don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere, because (if all goes well) my partner is going to need a larger city within reasonable reach for his career. It’s a little hard to convince him to go to a rural area for 3+ years and pause his career. Plus we’re gay and he comes from a rural area where he was treated horribly for being gay, and doesn’t want to go back. I know I’m painting people with broad strokes, but I’d rather not be somewhere where I feel rejected.

I realize I’m translating “smaller cities” into “rural areas,” but I just wanted to be clear that I don’t want that.

 

[ortnakas]

OP, you need to figure out what you want.
If that’s A Big Name Program, don’t completely drop research.

If that’s to be train in a decent IM/FM program and then be a PCP both in LGBT friendly areas, you can drop research and never look back.

 

[Latteandaprayer]

Was

OP, you need to figure out what you want.
If that’s A Big Name Program, don’t completely drop research.

If that’s to be train in a decent IM/FM program and then be a PCP both in LGBT friendly areas, you can drop research and never look back.

I just want to be in/near a major city (say 30 minutes at most), and to get excellent training.

30 minutes from a city can look like living at a halfway point between the city and the hospital/clinic. So if I drive 30 minutes north I’ll be in a concrete Heaven, and if I drive thirty minutes south I’ll be at work.

 

[LunaOri]

Honestly it’s lingering neuroticism and a feeling that “I should be driven to be the best,” which is the mentality that carried me to medical school. Time to shed it I guess.

Definitely! Choose the program that will best train you to be the kind of physician you aspire to become. If you don’t want an acedemic career, a “top” program may not be the best for you b

 

[LunaOri]

Was

I just want to be in/near a major city (say 30 minutes at most), and to get excellent training.

30 minutes from a city can look like living at a halfway point between the city and the hospital/clinic. So if I drive 30 minutes north I’ll be in a concrete Heaven, and if I drive thirty minutes south I’ll be at work.

You might be best off at a program in the Northeast, where the cities are closer together and are LGBTQ+ friendly.