Is it worth it for me to do additional summer research?

[Dr Meow]

Before med school, I got 7 publications.

In med school, class rank-wise, I'm more or less around in the middle so far

I got an opportunity to do summer research where chances are, I could maybe get 1 more publication for a total of 8 and be done with it.
How much benefit would having this extra done publication during med school be (in addition to my pre-med school pubs)?

If my specialty choices are between:
1. Radiology
2. Neurology
3. General surgery,

And chances are, I won't be any higher than class average in everything (Doing the best I can but that seems to be as far as I can get), would this extra publication help make or break anything for my specialty choices?

I imagine my steps would probably be average too.....(fingers crossed) in 2 years.....

I imagine on the extreme side, even if I had 50 publications, that wouldn't get me get NSG therefore, it would be a waste of time trying to pursue NSG. (Not that I want NSG, just an example). But is this logic true for radiology and general surgery? If I get this extra publication, would it help an average (likely exactly 50% student get the spot?). Is radiology and gen surg just too far out of reach for a 50 percentile student that an extra publication won't help?

If the additional benefit is another publication is negligible for radiology and Gen Surg, then I might as well spend the summer sleeping and eating....because I've lost my entire muscle mass, weight, and look and feel like an emaciated dog right now.

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[Kardio]

because I've lost my entire muscle mass, weight, and look and feel like an emaciated dog right now.

It sounds like you’re looking for someone to tell you it’s OK to cool off for a bit.

I had a couple big (not med school) problems come up at the very end of first year and decided to give myself some time for play and relaxation between M1 and M2. I picked up a new, leisurely hobby in that time that I would never have learned otherwise. It was a great time.

I don’t know how differently PDs view premed versus med school research. If they view it similarly, I don’t think the career benefit of one more pub is obviously worth the mental and physical cost of continuing the grind into the summer. You may even be a stronger M2/3 if you give yourself some free time to recharge.

 

[ortnakas]

If you want to do research, do it.
If not, don’t. Easy peasy.

 

[xjustcuious]

More publications/presentations are always better but at the end of the day most important are scores. For me, I spent too much time in lab and I neglected other extracurricular activities like volunteering which I regret. If other areas if your CV are lacking like volunteering or clubs I would focus on those since you already have research experience.